Off The Deep End

The day after the new year, during a family gathering, my aunt sneered at me as I worked overtime, reviewing a proposal. "Why are you pretending to be so busy? It’s not like we don’t know you only make three thousand a month. Real money-makers are people like my daughter, a designer so successful she doesn’t even have time to come home!" I ignored her, but she directed her spoiled son to delete all my files while I was in the bathroom. My hands trembled with rage. "This proposal is due in ten minutes—if I don’t submit it, everything is ruined!" She scoffed dismissively. "He’s just a kid. What could he possibly know? Besides, your job isn’t even worth much. If you lose the files, you lose them. Worst case, you get fired." I chuckled coldly but said nothing. She had no idea it was the proposal her daughter had spent an entire month working on. And I was the client who held her daughter’s fate in my hands.

He straddled me, his hips swirling in slow, maddening circles. His body was right there, pressing into mine, and I couldn’t escape it; I didn’t want to. His hands found mine and guided them to his chest, and when my palms touched his warm skin, I was gone. My pulse was a blur of frantic beats pounding in my ears, drowning out the crowd's cheers and whistles. With his face inches from mine, Alec leaned in. His breath ghosted over my lips, his smile, cocky, knowing, playful, and somehow tender all at once. “You okay there?” he asked with an amused tone, and I opened my mouth, desperate to say something—anything—but nothing came out. My throat was dry, my skin was on fire and my mind was completely blank. All I could do was stare at him, completely mesmerized by how his body moved against mine and that wicked smirk on his lips. Before I knew it, heat pooled low in my belly, spreading downward, and I instinctively clenched my thighs together to stop the throbbing that ignited between my legs, but it was too late as I dampened the soft leather.

Feel the fear and marry him anyways.7 years ago Emilia's whole life turned upside down when she got betrothed to a Mafia boss, Adriano Romano.At first she was the one who always kept her head down and acted on the orders of other people. But she never knew that deep inside she had quite a rebellious spirit, that makes it even more difficult for her to survive in a 'male- dominant' world.A world where everything works as per the rules and regulations of her husband, will she be able to get tamed as a grateful obedient wife or will her rebellious spirit stop her from becoming one?

Grace Anderson is a striking young lady with a no-nonsense and inimical attitude. She barely smiles or laughs, the feeling of pure happiness has been rare to her. She has acquired so many scars and life has thought her a very valuable lesson about trust. Dean Ryan is a good looking young man with a sanguine personality. He always has a smile on his face and never fails to spread his cheerful spirit. On Grace's first day of college, the two meet in an unusual way when Dean almost runs her over with his car in front of an ice cream stand. Although the two are opposites, a friendship forms between them and as time passes by and they begin to learn a lot about each other, Grace finds herself indeed trusting him. Dean was in love with her. He loved everything about her. Every. Single. Flaw. He loved the way she always bit her lip. He loved the way his name rolled out of her mouth. He loved the way her hand fit in his like they were made for each other. He loved how much she loved ice cream. He loved how passionate she was about poetry. One could say he was obsessed. But love has to have a little bit of obsession to it, right? It wasn't all smiles and roses with both of them but the love they had for one another was reason enough to see past anything. But as every love story has a beginning, so it does an ending.

I'm three months pregnant when my husband, a doctor, personally performs an abortion for me. I can see the fetus in the trash can. Chuck Gross uses his doctor's coat to block Valerie Green's curious eyes. "Don't look, Val. You'll get nightmares." After the abortion, he throws a few tissues at me, looking icy. Then, he leaves with Valerie. Later, when Chuck learns the truth, he bursts into agonized tears. "Can we not get a divorce? Please?"

Calista Ivy Castillo made a huge mistake by accidentally entering an alternate world where she doesn't belong; it may have the same name as her country, but it's totally different from where she came from, from its cultures down to its places. It all started one night when Calista saw a lady who looked precisely like her from head to toe, and for no apparent reason, they both couldn't stop themselves from attacking one another when their eyes locked. Calista killed her doppelganger from another world by accident. And with a single gust of wind, she finds herself in another world-the world of a woman she murdered. In the blink of an eye, she transforms into a princess who must marry a cold but attractive prince named Theodore Mason Fuentes in order to save their kingdom.

Not long after getting married to my husband, he says he wants to teach me how to scuba dive. My leg cramps when I'm practicing alone in the deep sea. However, my husband, a swimming instructor, chooses to save his unattainable love—she's jumped into the sea to commit suicide. I don't ask him for help. Instead, I allow myself to slowly sink. In my past life, I stopped my husband from leaving. He saved me with gnashed teeth and allowed his first love, Millie Quirke, to drown. By the time he went to save her, she'd already disappeared in the water. He comforted me and told me it was okay, that he was glad he'd saved me. However, one night, he brought me back to the seaside. Just as I let my guard down, he grabbed my neck and plunged my face into the water. Then, he dragged me out before I could suffocate. "You were just cramping—it would've passed! But Millie got dragged away by the current because of you! You can remain in the ocean with her!" When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day I was scuba diving.

It’s already hard being Black in America, but it’s even tougher surviving America as a Black Vampire.N, who is a vampire, has been on a long search finding the police officer who killed his family and cut off his tongue when he was young. He believes that the cop is in Virginia and goes on a grueling battle to find him. But he also falls in love, meet other unique Black Vampires like him, and leads a revolution to end police brutality and racism.

Jade Warring is a brilliant interior designer committed to her faith and craft. Her friend Blake Duffy, who works at the prestigious Black Corporation, boasts of her expertise to the company's CEO, Tristan Black, who quickly hires her to decorate his new home. Upon meeting Tristan, Jade is surprised as he's young, handsome, and charming. His mesmerizing crystal clear, teal-blue eyes were enough to sweep anyone off their feet. Then he asked, "Have we met before?" Those three words heightened her curiosity even more because she had seen Tristan once before, in a dream. Despite various unexplained women and their relationship hanging on by a thread, Jade agrees to marry him. Soon he reveals he is far from the ideal husband, man, or even human. Clinging to the hope that love will conquer all, Jade begins an emotional rollercoaster with Tristan. His fetishes and unfaithfulness ultimately wear on her heart and mind. She is far from crazy, but everyone has their limit, and amidst all the drama, chaos, and confusion she struggles to determine what's real or merely a dream.

It's already hard being Black in America, but it's even tougher surviving America as a Black Vampire. N, who is a vampire, has been on a long search finding the police officer who killed his family and cut off half of his tongue when he was young. He believes that the cop is in Virginia; he goes on a grueling battle to find him. But he also ends up falling in love, meet other unique black vampires like him, find his true origin, and leads a revolution to end police brutality and racism.