Pretending Synonyms

The yacht that my parents and my younger sister, Amanda Portman, were on exploded in the middle of the sea. None of them survived. Despair and heartbreak fill my senses when I'm faced with an empty home and an astronomical debt. Just as I'm about to jump off a rooftop, I see comments appearing before my eyes all of a sudden. "The truth is, your parents have won a jackpot of 300 million dollars. They've taken Amanda on an overseas trip for some fun!" "Heheh! Amanda doesn't even know that the so-called poor and blind boyfriend, whom she's just broken up with, is the heir of the Wright family. He's just pretending to be poor around her." "Once Amanda comes home after spending all of her money, she will get imprisoned by the enraged Mr. Wright as a form of punishment." "Hey, cannon fodder! Hurry up and die already! I can't wait for Amanda to make her glorious return!" It's at that moment I decide not to die. That night, I barge into Xavier Wright's rented apartment while completely drunk and drenched.

My sister had just left for her night shift when Ethan cornered me in the hallway, voice low and rough: “You’ve been teasing me for weeks. Stop pretending you don’t want this.” I meant to push him away. Instead I whispered, “Then take it.” Seconds later he pinned me against the wall, shoved my panties aside, and drove his thick cock deep into my dripping pussy in one brutal thrust. As he pounded into me, the filthy realization slammed through my mind — I never knew my sister’s husband’s cock was this fucking good… ughh. My pussy clenched hard around him, wetness flooding down his shaft. Guilt tried to hit, but I only rolled my hips faster, moaning shamelessly as I took every inch like the forbidden slut I had just become. That was the night I let my sister’s husband fuck me senseless. Now I crave the man I’m not supposed to touch… and I don’t know how to stop.

I thought I was just a broke college girl with a traumatic past and too many cigarettes. I didn’t know I was born to lead a pack. I didn’t know I was being hunted. On the night of my twenty-fourth birthday, everything changed. One second I was at a club, pretending life didn’t suck. The next, I was being dragged out by a stranger with ocean-blue eyes, thrown into a black SUV, and told I was a werewolf. Apparently, I’m not just any werewolf—I’m the heir to a powerful bloodline, the only survivor of a massacre, and the center of a prophecy that could bring down one of the darkest witches in history. Now I’m stuck in a mansion full of secrets, locked behind doors I didn’t ask for, and shadowed by an Alpha who looks at me like I’m everything he’s ever wanted—and everything he’s not allowed to have. They say I belong here. They say I have power. But I didn’t ask for a bond I don’t understand, a fate I don’t believe in, or a love that might just break me.

As Christmas drew near, my little sister claimed she’d seen Santa Claus in the house. “He had four legs, real long, like dead branches. He crawled on the floor like a dog. His mouth was full of teeth, and I saw him with my own eyes, climbing out of the chimney. His bones were making this clicking, clacking sound.” The Santa she described was nothing like the legends. My parents and I thought it was just her imagination. Until I posted about it online. A user named “NocturneNotes” insisted my sister wasn’t lying, and that the thing was dangerous. Panicked, I asked him what we should do. He gave me three rules: “On Christmas Eve, from 11:30 PM to 2:00 AM, the entire family must ‘sleep’ by the Christmas tree.” “You can’t actually fall asleep, or you’ll die in your sleep.” “No matter what you hear or feel, you absolutely cannot open your eyes or stop pretending to be asleep. Once it hits 2:00 AM, it will leave on its own.”

“He walked in like he owns the school. But the truth was that he wasn't a boy at all, She was wearing his blazer.” When Sonia Vale's twin brother, Silas, dies in a suspicious accident, her world falls apart. Questions that won’t stay buried. Secrets no one else wants to ask. And a billion-dollar family legacy now left exposed. So she does what no grieving girl should ever have to do. She becomes him. At Daxton Academy, Sonia wears his name, his uniform, and his past. But every step in Silas’s shoes pushes her closer to the truth and the danger he tried to outrun. Girls fall for her. Enemies close in. And Eric Blackbourne, the coldest boy in school, keeps looking at her like he sees something more. "Who are you, really?” he asks one night, voice low, eyes searching. “Would you hate me if I told you?” she whispers. She came to find a killer. She never expected to feel alive while pretending to be someone else. But when her twin shows up alive… All lies burn. And the real game begins.

She wanted the life. The money. The power. The man. Mara Collins is tired of counting tips and pretending her dreams don’t reach beyond the coffee shop counter. When the bills pile higher than her hope, she decides it’s time to stop waiting for luck—and start creating it. All she needs is one man. One chance. One lie. Her plan is simple: learn how the rich play their games, then beat them at it. With a fake designer dress, a new name, and a heart of steel, she slips into the city’s most exclusive events—until she catches the eye of Adrian Holt, a man who has everything she’s ever wanted. Charming. Ruthless. Obsessively private. Adrian isn’t the kind of man you play with… but Mara’s willing to risk everything to make him hers. But the higher she climbs, the more fragile her lies become. And when Adrian discovers who she truly is, the illusion shatters—leaving behind nothing but betrayal, anger, and obsession… and a love that should never have existed in the first place. Now love becomes a weapon, and every night in his sheets feels like a war between truth and desire.

Ericka Matthews has been in love with her roommate for two years. The problem? Dominic Anderson made her sign a contract when she moved in: no romance allowed, or she's out. She's respected that boundary, hidden her feelings, and watched him from across the breakfast table every morning without letting on. Then Dominic kisses her. And immediately tells her not to kiss him back. Heartbroken and humiliated, Ericka decides to disappear. She has a backup plan, savings, and an apartment lined up. She'll be gone before he even notices. But when she collapses on campus and ends up in the hospital, Dominic is forced to confront what losing her actually means. The contract gets torn up. Confessions are made. And it turns out their mothers have been running a secret spy network dedicated to getting them together for three years. Now they just have to survive Sunday dinner with both families and Aunt Linda's unopened Christmas presents. A contemporary romance about two idiots who wasted three years pretending to be "just roommates," the meddling families who saw right through them, and the kiss that finally broke all the rules.

Jolene was never supposed to stay. An omega with a shadowed past, she’s been hiding in the ruthless Dark Slayer Pack, keeping her scent cloaked and her secrets even closer. She’s counting down the days until she can disappear — quietly, without leaving a trace. There’s just one problem. Alpha Jayden. Her fated mate. He doesn’t know. He can’t know. Jo has spent years pretending the bond doesn’t exist, burying the pull in silence. But when a she-wolf named Lucy — an outcast on trial for murder — accidentally wears Jo’s unscent-masked clothing, everything crumbles. Jayden catches Lucy’s scent… and believes she’s the one. Now Jolene is forced to watch her mate fall for someone else. As strange deaths ripple through the werewolf world and the Royal Generals arrive to investigate, the lies Jo built her world on begin to crack. Why is she hiding her bond? What truth is she protecting? And what will happen when her scent is no longer hidden? In a world ruled by destiny, love, and betrayal — Jolene may be the only one who can stop what’s coming… But only if she dares to be found.

“You’re insane.” “Maybe,” Robert admitted, his eyes locked on mine and his face too close. “But I always get what I want and right now Kayla, what I want… is you.” ~~~ He needed a wife. I needed the money. Robert Moore is ruthless and dangerous, a man who terrifies the entire city. I’d paid no mind to the warning bells that rang in my head when I proposed to marry him for money. When I’d agreed to be his fake wife for a year. The rules were simple. No falling in love. No asking questions. Marrying him was supposed to be my solution-a business deal, a clean exchange. But nothing about Robert is simple. He’s bossy, arrogant, and so sinfully attractive that every look he gives me feels like a dare. Then came the threats. The enemies. The danger and guns. Now, I’m not sure where the act ends and where the truth begins. Because the longer I stay by his side, the more I realize I might not be pretending anymore… And the mafia boss who swore he’d never love might be willing to burn the whole city down just to keep me.

Mia James needs a lifeline—fast. Accused of stealing company funds, she’s on the brink of losing her job when billionaire Adrian Knight offers her an unexpected way out: a contract marriage. Marrying him will clear her reputation, and for Adrian, it means silencing rumors, handling the press on his terms and fulfilling his grandfather's last wishes. It’s strictly business... or so they both say. Their plan seems simple enough: smile for the cameras, keep the story airtight, and definitely don’t fall for each other. But when Mia’s furious ex crashes their first press conference, she's forced to get closer to Adrian than she'd ever imagined. Suddenly, staged kisses feel dangerously real, and “pretending” becomes harder with every look they share. Now, Mia’s balancing a fake marriage, a very real connection with Adrian, and the risk of her entire world unraveling. With secrets on both sides and her heart on the line, can she keep her cool—or will they both get swept up in the game they started? In this rollercoaster of passion, scandal, and deception, Mia and Adrian are about to learn that in love and life, nothing ever goes exactly as planned.