Open Water

Lorraine Davis, a talented yet struggling painter has her world shattered when she catches her fiance cheating the night before her wedding. Consumed by grief, she struggles to move on until her best friend Maia jostles her to a local art event where she meets Clay Winston, a young Billionaire CEO of a prestigious fashion brand, who is also running from the nightmares of his past and trying to avoid an arranged marriage. He proposes a deal to Lorraine and offers her five hundred thousand dollars on the condition that she becomes his wife. Driven by her shattered beliefs in love and the urgent need to save her brother's life who needs chemotherapy, she accepts his proposal. But as she adjusts to her new world, she begins to question her husband’s identity, as secrets unravel; why Clay married her and his true motives, especially after learning that he was betrothed to someone else. Tragically, Lorraine’s brother doesn’t survive the chemotherapy. She struggles with grief, but through her husband's help, can she unlock her creativity and find true love in him? "Dared to love" is a thrilling and captivating Billionaire Romance that will keep readers on the edge of their seats As Lorraine navigates through her struggles, she must confront her past traumas and learn to open her heart to the possibility of love once again. Can she overcome her struggles and find true happiness with Clay in the strangest situations? Will she win or lose the daring game proposed by her husband? Or will her past trauma haunt her and destroy everything she's worked for and built? Follow Lorraine on her journey of loss, love, healing and self-discovery in this compelling novel.

When I was six, I spilled hot water, slipped, and burned my face. My face was ruined. My parents learned their lesson and never let my younger sister do housework. To everyone they met, they praised her beauty, her charm. They turned to me with nothing but disdain. When I was ten, I had a high fever. They didn't think much of it and let it drag on until my brain was damaged, leaving me slow and dull. They learned their lesson again. From then on, if my sister so much as coughed, they would rush her to the hospital in the dead of night, showering her with care. I was like a failed experiment. Every mistake they made with me, they corrected for her. I was ugly, silent, dim-witted, unwanted. She was beautiful, sweet-talking, clever, adored by all. When I was diagnosed with depression, I gathered what little courage I had and told them. Mom lashed out, called me sick in the head, and accused me of being petty. If I was so capable, she said, I might as well die. It wasn't until my sister pushed me off a high-rise that they found out, by sheer accident, that she wasn't their child at all. I was their one and only biological child.

On my birthday, I personally prepare 16 dishes. After setting up the candlelight, I open a bottle of red wine. I take a photo and send it to my husband, Eric Sinclair. "I'm working late tonight. Don't wait for me," he replies. I choose to believe him. But after midnight, I notice an Instagram story posted by Shirley Huxley, his secretary. Eric was there with her, dressed in the trench coat I once gave him. They sat side by side in the VIP seat of football stadium where my favorite Super Bowl take place. Entwined in a passionate embrace, they kissed beneath a sea of shimmering lights and the roar of thousands of fans. That game is the one I have always longed to experience with him. I look down at the cold food on the table. Eric's words keep ringing in my head. "I hate kissing." "Marriage is a partnership, not about love and kisses." Though we've been married for ten years, we've never shared a single kiss. Meanwhile, he's out there, kissing Shirley openly and passionately. Despite it all, not a single tear falls from my eyes. The next day, Eric settles into his chair, completely unfazed. "Return the gallery to Shelly," he commands. I nod quietly, saying nothing. Suddenly, Layla Sinclair, my daughter, comes running down the stairs and throws herself into Shirley's arms. "Aunt Shirley, you're my favorite. I don't like Mom!" In that instant, it hits me—the home I devoted my heart and soul to means nothing anymore. It doesn't matter that I've been married to Eric for a decade. Now, all I want is to find myself again. I decide to accept an invitation from the Parisoir School of Fashion Design. From this moment on, I won't wait for them to come home, and I won't look back.

My neighbor is a physics genius. He's spent the past six months preparing for an important physics competition. However, he wants to skip it to care for his girlfriend, who has a fever. I tell his parents about it. So, he's forced to participate in the competition. He wins first place and is admitted to Quinver University. Later, he establishes his own business and finds success. I become one of his employees. He looks down at me imperiously in a dim basement. He stomps on my fingers, shattering them. "You deserve this for being so wicked, Larissa Clarke." When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to before any of this ever happened.

When my husband Joshua dragged his student Linda Moore into our apartment, I didn't even blink—I gave up the bed. Last time, it'd been pouring when he showed up with her in the middle of the night. Told me to crash on the floor with my daughter Mia and gave Linda the bed like it was nothing. I lost it. Fought with him, snapped at her. She bolted, slipped into a ditch, and supposedly drowned. Joshua said nothing. Then, one night, with the storm going wild outside, he pried open a manhole and dumped me and Mia in like trash. "Linda's my mentor's daughter. She's dead—how am I supposed to face him? You two can apologize yourselves." We didn't even get to scream before that freezing, disgusting water swallowed us whole. Turns out, Linda faked the whole thing. Just a twisted joke to punish me. Joshua moved her in right after, like nothing happened. Now, thunder cracked again as the door opened—and there he was, Linda right behind him.

While exploring the wilderness, my younger sister—Charlotte Forrester—and I accidentally stumble onto the territory of supernatural beings. She grabs the hand of the noble, elegant male elf, her posture coy and intimate. Before I can react, a wolfman with a scar on his face wraps his arm around my waist and leads me away. Charlotte, who judges others by appearance, is unaware that the male elf—Elwin Duskwood—belongs to a tribe of half-elves. Half-elves are beautiful but possess no real capabilities. They are considered a marginalized group among elves and struggle to make ends meet every day. On the other hand, the wolfman—Morgan Nightshade—is a mid-tier wolf tribe's Highlord. After giving birth to an extremely rare silver wolf for him, I have become the Highlady of the tribe. I'm respected by everyone in the tribe and feast on delicacies every day. Meanwhile, Charlotte becomes emaciated after suffering from starvation for several months. When she sees how plump I am, she goes insane from jealousy. While the wolf tribe is entertaining guests at a banquet, she uses poison to kill me. The next time I open my eyes, Charlotte and I are back at the moment we first entered the supernatural beings' territory by mistake. Charlotte immediately hugs Morgan by the waist and kisses him. She showers him with flattery about his strength, calling him the man of her dreams. I can't help but laugh out loud. Silly Charlotte. As a wolfman, Morgan is ill-tempered, and he easily loses control of his emotions. He also becomes even more bloodthirsty after transforming. It's not all sunshine and rainbows being his mate. But I never imagined the elves could be so… in that regard.

"Are you telling me that the triplets might not be mine?"I don't know, Robert, I don't know who the father is." Christine shouted at the top of her voice and slammed the door behind her after being rude to her husband. ****** Christine was successful, married woman juggling the demands of her career and personal life. On the surface, everything seems perfect. But beneath the façade, Christine keeps a secret that could shatter her marriage. Christine has been having an affair with her charming and wealthy boss.Their passionate encounters are a stark contrast to her routine life at home. Everything takes a dramatic turn when Christine discovers she's pregnant—with triplets. Panicked and desperate, Christine decides to keep the paternity of the babies a secret. She convinces herself and everyone around her that the children are her husband's. But as the months pass, the truth becomes harder to conceal. The moment of reckoning arrives when it's undeniable that the triplets bear a striking resemblance to her Boss. Whispers and suspicions turn into open accusations, and Christine's carefully constructed life begins to crumble. Caught between her loyalty to her husband and her undeniable connection to her Boss Christine must navigate the fallout of her choices. Will she find the courage to face the truth and fight for her family's future, or will the secrets she's kept tear everything apart? "Love &betrayal."

Natalia Shaw and Noah Shaw had always looked very happy to the general public, and everyone who knew the Shaw couple wanted to be like them. But there was something else... Nobody else knew about it, even Natalia's best friend, but Noah had a bad habit of hurting Natalia. It had started out small, like all bad habits did, but then later, Noah had morphed into someone that Natalia could not recognize. Piero Teodoro D' Ricci was Noah newest acquaintance, and he got invited to Noah's home by Noah, himself. Piero is able to recognize the signs of abuse, no matter how subtle, and after meeting Natalia, the warning bells in his head kicked in. He left their house eventually, promising to get to the heart of the case. He met Natalia again in a social gathering, and then he proceeded to use that to his advantage, and spoke to her, trying to get her to tell him what she was passing through. Natalia did not open up, but she did get two of his business cards "in case she lost one.", he had said. The abuse from Noah got to a head and Natalia eventually decided to contact Piero, and then she let him know that she was ready to open up and receive his help. Natalia and Piero worked together, and all seemed fine until she showed up with divorce papers and got beaten up by her husband, Noah. Piero stood by Natalia in the dark, as she did not want him to in public, as a friend and attorney. And maybe as something else too. What happens when Noah finds out that his wife was in cahoots with an acquaintance of his? And what would happen to Natalia when her drunken affair with Piero gets to light?

A brother's LOVE knows no BOUNDARIES. They said FIRST LOVE never dies. But what might happen when two brothers FALL IN LOVE with their first love? Is BLOOD thicker than WATER? Or it goes the other way around? Ethan and Aiden Parker were brothers who fell in love with the same girl at the right place at the wrong time. Their first love and first mate. One is willing to bend rules to get the love of his life while the other is willing to sacrifice everything in the name of love. Let the battle begin!

She was breaking out. She was struggling to breathe, she tried to pull away from him but no, he was gaining in on her. He had her sprawled on the couch unfastening the rope of her robe and clutching her bare skin. Her mouth fell open and her face threw to the back with her hair spread all over the couch as his lips came to her neck, and he was grunting into her ears with raw need. “I need you Bambino Mio (my baby)” he whispered as his tongue touched her naked breast. Her hands were useless against him. Her toes curled up as a ticklish feeling transferred from her body and straight to her brain. Her mouth let out a sweet moan. She has never felt this good before. “I will make you feel beautiful.” He said as he kissed her face sticking his hand into her panties. “I will make your pain go away for a while, bambino.” She screamed when she felt his hand inside of her, their eyes locked into each other before their lips met again. “Do you feel better now?” He grunted out and she tried to nod her head. “No Bambino, you have to be grateful by replying me with words.” He said driving deeper into her. Amora’s life turned topsy turvy down when the powerful and brutal cold billionaire of Venice walks into it. A man filled with a raw taste of need and affection and he offered her what she wanted most in her life. AFFECTION but it came with a price which will cost her a lot more than she would gain. Will she survive being in the billionaire’s world or will she be consumed? This book is RATED 18+