Palm Beach State Library Novels & Stories

Cassie Cruz is a twenty-two-year-old who has never met her parents and was raised by her grandfather. Cassie's grandfather passes away and she moves in with her best friend, McKenzie in South Carolina. There, McKenzie gets Cassie a job working with her in Myrtle Beach, cleaning Mansions for the wealthy. The two of them end up cleaning a mansion together, and in a twist, the owner, Devin Deacon accuses McKenzie of stealing a flash drive. After Devin realizes he only misplaced it, he steps outside by the pool and meets Cassie. Cassie falls into the pool, beginning to drown and Devin saves her. Once again Devin proceeds to save her as she's leaving from an intruder who tries stealing her purse, finally convincing Cassie to go on a date. That date turning into another that makes the two of them feel something strong for each other. As days go by Cassie cleans another mansion owned by John Myles. John is obsessed with Cassie, even going as far as trying to force her to leave with him, but Devin once again comes to Cassie's rescue. Cassie falls ill, sending her to the hospital where Devin stays with her, even taking care of her after she returns home. They find out John poisoned Cassie, forcing Devin, Cassie, and McKenzie to go find John in The Cayman Islands, leaving Cassie in for an even bigger surprise. Money is nothing when love is involved. Will Cassie and Devin become soulmates? Or will their million-dollar kiss only turn into a wild seduction between the two of them?

“This….this is not right,” she whispered, closing her eyes as let her head fall back as he kissed her neck. Pleasure engulfing her, her mind hazy but at the same time working. “What isn’t?” He asked, in that rich, smooth, velvet voice that was quite enough to make her drop to her knees. She opened her eyes, staring right into his hunger filled ones. “It’s forbidden.” She whispered. “It won’t be nice if we get caught,” His lips twitched and he rubbed the back of his palm down her face, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Who said anything about getting caught, Rivers?” •••• If there was one thing Sloane Rivers loved most, it was Christmas. After working her ass off all year as an attorney, she was disappointed when she was nominated to go on the mandatory firm retreat. A day after she arrived, she found herself sharing the lodge with an unexpected “roomie” Ethan Hale. An arrogant, 6’2”, ridiculously wealthy CEO due to a storm. Their cohabitating came with plenty of back-and-forth bickering and arguments that slowly turned into something she looked forward to even after he moved out of her lodge. After the retreat ended, Sloane returned to her normal life. What she didn’t expect was for Ethan to crash into her world again, challenging every principle she’d lived by. The man she’d met a week before Christmas might just be her undoing, because mixing business with pleasure was strictly forbidden.

Maximilian McTavish is a 35-year-old billionaire who seems to have the world in the palm of his hands, but his life comes crumbling down when he catches his fiancée in their bed with another man. Hurt and angry, he closes off his heart and himself from the notion that he'll ever find love again. He occupies himself with his work, putting women and dating aside, until one weekend his best friend, Paxton, takes him on a trip to Las Vegas, where he invites him to a private party. There he meets an extraordinary girl, Meredith Carver. *********** Meredith Carver is a 20-year-old waitress who dropped out of college to take care of her sick mother. She is barely making two ends meet, but her luck changes after her best friend's Sugar Daddy offers Meredith a job as a bartender that caters to the rich and famous. One night, while serving at one of those prestigious events in Las Vegas, she meets 35-year-old Max. They spend a steamy night together and she wakes up the next morning to an empty bed with a check on the night stand and a thank-you note. Feeling cheap and used, Meredith keeps the encounter with this Max a secret until a week later, when he finds her with a contract and an offer she would be a fool to refuse. He wants her to be his Sugar Baby. He promises to pay her five million dollars. Half now and half when he chooses to end the contract. Will Meredith sign the contract, or will she let a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity pass her by?

Everyone in the upper circles knew I was the Xander family’s delicate little porcelain doll, someone who could not tolerate even the slightest grievance. I always had to sit in the seat of honor at gatherings. My drinks had to be served ice-cold. If anything annoyed me even a little, I would have my childhood friends clear the room. That was, until the fallen heiress returned. She did not rely on men. She had built her own business from scratch and was ruthless in the boardroom, radiating a wild, untamed beauty. Slowly, my dear brothers began to find me insufferable and too high-maintenance. When they pulled their investments from my gallery to back her projects instead, only my fiancé stayed by my side, comforting me. “Forget them. They’re all opportunists. I’ll always keep you safe in the palm of my hand!” That was until one day, I saw that same proud fiancé bent low like a servant, humbly wiping wine stains off the heiress's shoes in a corner of a club. His eyes were filled with a devotion I had never seen before. “All I need is one look from you, and I’ll drop the whole wedding.” I took off my engagement ring and tossed it into the drain. Then, I went home and told my grandfather, “Grandpa, I’m going to Africa for that development aid project. “I’ll agree to the arranged marriage. Just don’t make me see them again."

"I kissed you because I wanted to, make no mistake about that. I have never regretted, in fact, it has given me some hope." he was more candid than she expected. The fact that he wanted to kiss her was beyond her. "Hope?" she echoed. Unable to fully comprehend where the conversation was heading. "I have an arrangement I would like to propose." he was blunt, his voice strong and serious. There was no longer any hint of the gentleman she witnessed the day before. "What kind of arrangement?" she found herself hanging on his every word, it was clear who controlled the state of the conversation. "A temporary one...between us." he waited for her reaction but Ivory herself was unsure of how to react or respond. She had never found herself in a situation such as this and she thought the likelihood of it actually happening was nil. "I want you, Ivory, in more ways than one. Last night proved that you may have the same desires." He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

"A worthless bitch is what you will ever be! " Her husband yelled, his hands swung to hit her across her face! "Why don't you just go and die already, can you stop forcing yourself on him, he will never love you, you're so pathetic! " His mistress spat in disdain and hatred. Aurora James thought she married the love of her life, but he turned out to be her greatest nightmare. When he forced her to bear another man's child, she had no choice but to give up her child. Four years later, broken and shattered, she set out in to find the man who fathered her child. Never in her wildest dream had she except it to be Tremont Stone. The cold-hearted and ruthless Billionaire that owns half of her state! He stared coldly at the tiny ugly woman who had bumped into him. "Who are you, woman! " He thundered. "I want one thing from you, that is my son!"

Love is something to never be ashamed of, it's okay to fall in love even if that person is someone of the same sex. That's the way I feel towards the person who showed me how to love. I love him, I want him and I want to hold him but the problem is... His married. Leslie Campbell is a young omega who is married to a beta. He is a book enthusiast who became an editor for a successful publishing company and he is assigned to his favorite author, Azrael Mitsuki Bethan, a Japanese American writer who paints the world in white and black. However, there is one serious problem... Azrael hates omegas especially male omegas. Leslie is determined to be Azrael's editor but their relationship becomes complicated when forbidden emotions start to develop leaving Leslie in a state to choose between his marriage and his soulmate while Azrael battles with his heart and his conscience. Heartwarming relationship between the alpha who desires to hate and the omega who knows only how to love.

I jump off the seventh floor on my wedding day. Why? Because everyone has abandoned me to pick up a fake heiress from the airport, my fiancé included. I expect to see them riddled with heartbreak and regret after my death. However, my father merely shakes his head stoically and looks at my body while saying I was too willful. My mother bites her lip and sighs in relief. My fiancé, Magnus Gilmore, shields the fake heiress. He's afraid she'll see the horrible state of my body. The fake heiress is scared to tears at this, and everyone crowds around her to console her. No one cares whether I'm still breathing while lying in a pool of blood. I'm stunned when I see this, but I soon laugh self-deprecatingly. When I open my eyes again, I've been brought back seven years in the past. It's the day I've just stepped foot at home.

Who meets Prince Charming in an elevator while carrying their broken shoe? Lena Masterson was having a rough day. Her coffee pot exploded, her favorite heel broke on the way to work, her computer died, and her coworker sabotaged her performance review that she should have aced. To top it all off, she had to stay late. So when she ran into a handsome stranger at work, she was certain that it was the worst day of her life. Instead, it was the start of something wonderful. From the moment she nearly bowled the man over, she thought about him. She didn’t know anything about him, and could only assume that he was someone’s assistant. Still, the encounter left her with new self-confidence. She made a move assertive enough to get the attention of her boss’ boss, and be granted a new position as the personal paralegal of the head partner. This promotion soon led to an important trip to the Caribbean, where she saw a familiar face on the beach… Everything seemed perfect when she was in Aiden’s arms, but he was holding something back. Worse, Lena was keeping a secret from him as well. She knew that she couldn’t keep up her little white lie forever, but it turned out that Aiden’s secret was much bigger. Much much much bigger. A billion times bigger, in fact. Even though he treated her like Cinderella at the ball, it was possible that the billionaire playboy just thought of her as one of his “flavors of the week”. After saying goodbye with one last barefoot kiss and returning to the real world, there was a burning question on Lena’s mind: Did this Prince Charming love her as much as she loved him?

Ambelyn did something terrible six years ago. She willingly gave her virginity to the college bully who had been tormenting her because she was forced in an arranged marriage by her family to marry the son of their biggest investor. Now stuck in a loveless marriage, where she watches her husband parade his first love and their second child hurting her and her miracle baby. Her husband hated her after divorcing she wasn't a virgin, which was the main requirement for their marriage and decided to show her how worthless she was. She swallows the insult for the sake of their child, but when her husband refuses to sign the papers for their son to get surgery or loses his life, and their second child bullying her and his elder brother and wishing for a new mummy, she decides to do what she never thought and divorce her husband, granting him slow custody of the second child, while she takes sole custody of the first child. The only issue was, she started working for the Heartless Cruel CEO who returned back home after six years abroad and it was the same man who pinned her against a library shelf and deflowered her. Would Ambelyn be able to survive working under the bully who once made her life a living hell, or would she be able to find her happily ever after in the hands of someone unexpected.