Nanashima Kiss Him Not Me

"This year, there's only one spot available–and I fought hard to secure it for you. "If things don't work out with Baron Cole, I'll talk to him. You two have a strong relationship. Waiting a few years won't matter." As I stared at the application form my professor handed me, my hands would not stop trembling. In my previous life, I spent forty years married to Baron. We raised a son and a daughter. I thought that was what a complete, fulfilled life looked like. However, after he died, while sorting through his belongings, I found a box filled with letters and photographs. That was when I learned the truth–he had always loved someone else. She was his first love… and the biological daughter of the family that raised me. Back in 1984, he hid my study-abroad application, giving the opportunity to her instead. From that moment on, I became a housewife. And he devoted himself to helping the woman he loved rise–until she returned from overseas as a celebrated professor. Even my own son later turned their story into a drama, glorifying their restrained, enduring love. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day I first received that application form. This time, I did not hesitate. "Professor, I'm going abroad."

I was seventeen the first time I saw him. He never looked at me twice. I spent years trying to forget a man who didn't even know I existed. I built my own life, my own money, my own name. I didn't need anyone. Then one night, everything I built fell apart at once. So I walked into a bar, and I let a stranger take me home. No names. No morning. Clean and simple. Except nothing about him was ever going to be simple. Because I walked into work the next day, and there he was. Sitting in the CEO's chair like he owned the world. Looking at me like he already owned me. I told myself it meant nothing. I told myself I could walk away. I've always been good at lying to myself. But there's one thing I never saw coming. One truth that was hiding right in front of me the whole time. And when it finally comes out — I don't know if what we have survives it.

“Some people walk into your life quietly, yet some ruin you without even trying to.” Isabella Young, a twenty-five-year-old woman, comes back to New York to rebuild her life. Her agenda is clear: find a job, get an apartment, get married. It all seems easy enough until she finds herself in the worst position of her life, with no job, no apartment, no partner, and running low on her resources. Prideful Isabella doesn’t ask for help or pity. She believes she will stay single forever. But fate is ruthless in her timing. Because when she least expects it, she meets him. Damian Sinclair, a thirty-two-year-old man, bound by duty, loyalty, and control. He knows what he must do: find a suitable match, get married, and have an heir. A son to carry the family name. Until he sees her. The timing is wrong. Circumstances are worse. Connections are inconvenient. Will either of them be able to resist the temptation and continue their lives as if the other never existed or will they risk everything for something neither was supposed to have?

At 20, I became known for two things. First, I weighed over 200 pounds, yet I still ended up dating Christian Fairmont, the coldest and most unattainable man in our circle. Second, I turned down Christian's proposal, changed my name, left the country, and became the one woman no one dared mention around him—the forbidden, unattainable love he could never let go. For the next five years, Christian shut himself away in a church and refused to see anyone. Just when everyone thought he was about to become a priest, he suddenly announced his engagement. He made such a spectacle of it that even I heard about it all the way in Goldridge. That alone showed how much he valued his bride-to-be. I booked the first flight home that same night. Everyone who saw me reacted the same way. First, they stared at how completely I had changed, how much weight I had lost, how I looked like a different person. Then they sighed. "Juliana, you came back too late." Even Christian looked at me with cold, distant eyes. "When you walked away and left me behind, did you ever think that five years later, you'd regret it?" Regret? I shook my head. "I don't regret it." I was already married and had a child.

Abandoned on a cold, stormy night at just 6 years old, Sudan Flair learned the harshest lesson of all that love cannot be trusted. The memory of his mother’s face disappearing into the darkness haunts him, shaping him into a man who keeps his heart locked away. Years later, as he begins college, Sudan is assigned a roommate, Zach Musk, whose warmth and kindness begin to thaw the ice around his heart. Their bond deepens, a quiet undercurrent of something more forming between them. Sudan fights it, terrified of losing control, until one day Zach’s stepmother comes to visit campus and Sudan’s world tilts on its axis. The woman is now called Mary Musk, Sudan’s mother. The mother who abandoned him, now living in comfort with a new family, her perfect life built on his pain. As old wounds reopen, Sudan’s desire for revenge burns hotter than ever. When Zach invites him to a family vacation, Sudan sees the perfect opportunity to destroy the family that replaced him but what begins as a calculated plan spirals out of control as Sudan’s feelings for Zach grows. When Bask Musk, Zach’s powerful and controlling father, learns who Sudan truly is, everything erupts. Secrets will be revealed, love will be tested and Sudan will have to decide whether to destroy the family that hurt him or risk losing the only person he has ever truly loved.

Forced to marry the cold billionaire heir, Adams Carter, to save her crumbling family business, Gina Thompson decides to have one last night of fun before taking her marriage vows. Unexpectedly, the man who caught her attention that fateful night turned out to be the billionaire himself, Christopher Carter, her father in-law. Will they both ignore their growing feelings for each other? What will happen when Adams finds out that his wife had a one-night stand with his father?

Lily's desperate plan was simple! One night with a stranger and her father's life would be saved. Out of the blue, she agreed to a mysterious proposal. She had no idea her life was about to spiral out of control. What began as a fleeting encounter turned into a marriage contract, sealing her fate for a year. The promise of a luxurious life, a hefty paycheck, and a peaceful existence seemed too good to be true. And it was. Without having a second thought, Lily jumped at the offer. A year of supposed bliss transformed into a chaotic descent, shattering her every hope of having a better life!

She was not supposed to fall for him but she did and now she can only blame herself for feeling that way because all he ever does is giving her pain.

New York’s youngest bestselling author at just 19, India Seethal has taken the literary world by storm. Now 26, with countless awards and a spot among the highest-paid writers on top storytelling platforms, it seems like she has it all. But behind the fame and fierce heroines she pens, lies a woman too shy to chase her own happy ending. She writes steamy, swoon-worthy romances but has never lived one. She crafts perfect, flowing conversations for her characters but stumbles awkwardly through her own. She creates bold women who fight for what they want yet she’s never had the courage to do the same. Until she met him. One wild night. One reckless choice. In the backseat of a stranger’s car, India lets go for the first time in her life. Roman Alkali is danger wrapped in desire. He’s her undoing. The man determined to tear down her walls and awaken the fire she's buried for years. Her mind says stay away. Her body? It craves him. Now, India is caught between the rules she’s always lived by and the temptation of a man who makes her want to rewrite her story. She finds herself being drawn to him like a moth to a flame and fate manages to make them cross paths again. Will she follow her heart or let fear keep writing her life’s script?

Have you ever had an affair? Because me I did it, I know it's wrong but why can't I forget that night? The way how he claimed me and made me feel even weirder when it came to bed. Athena Escarra is a promising young lawyer who loves her work more than anything. She's been married to her husband, Oliver Smith, for six years and would never indulge in an affair-until she met Alessandro Sinclair. Alessandro Sinclair, a prominent CEO of the Sinclair Company, is your everyday rich man who has casual flings and moves on-until he met Athena Escarra. He found himself irresistibly attracted to her and would do anything to have her again.