Stepping Stones Synonym

“I do not need you to love me.” He rebuts coldly. “I need you to marry me.” “I do not want to, Mr Bolt.” I reiterate in case the stubborn asshole hadn’t understood my view on the subject. “I believe you think you have a choice in the matter.” He smiles wolfishly. “Marry me or I’ll let those wolves have a field day with tearing your company from your hands.” “I would rather take my chances with them than you.” He smirks, stepping close enough that his sandalwood scent wraps me in a cloud I wasn’t eager to escape. “Marriage to me wouldn’t be so bad as you well know it.” He smirked running an eye up and down my body. “I’ll keep your days busy with clients and your nights very warm.” *** Maria Belluci had lived a rather peaceful life as the daughter of one of London’s elite businessmen but she had her carefully organized life torn away from her when she found her half-sister in bed with her fiancé a few weeks before their wedding. Distraught, she had a one-night stand with the famed billionaire CEO Sebastian Bolt and left before he could wake up. She decided to leave her family, who had sided with her half-sister and everything associated with them, behind to start over, but her story was far from over as this gripping tale of passion, desire, and betrayal spun her into the arms of Sebastian again. Would they overcome all odds stacked against them or would their romance shatter under the weight of adversity?

To save his mother’s life as she lay critically ill in the operating room, Dante had no choice. The hospital bills kept piling up. Every door he knocked on for help closed, one by one. Until an offer came—dirty, dangerous, and binding. To become a mafia boss’s kept man. Leonard Virelli was not just a wealthy man. He was the shadow ruler of the city—ambitious, manipulative, and accustomed to getting whatever he wanted. Including Dante. Dante knew this was not simply a “relationship.” It was an unspoken contract of ownership. Of a body paid for. Of a life slowly brought under control. He had never imagined himself stepping into a world like that. But for the cost of the surgery, for the only family he had left, Dante was willing to swallow his pride. What he did not expect was how dangerous Leonard truly was. The man did not only want Dante’s presence at his side—he wanted obedience. Loyalty. Perhaps even… his heart. Behind the expensive suits and cold smiles, Leonard harbored an unhealthy obsession. He was not used to being rejected. Not used to losing. And the more Dante tried to keep his emotional distance, the tighter Leonard’s grip became. Trapped between guilt, desperation, and feelings that began to grow without permission, Dante found himself asking a question he was afraid to answer: Did he sell himself to save his mother? Or had he unknowingly surrendered himself to a man who would never let him go? In the mafia world filled with blood and betrayal, love is not tenderness. Love is possession. And Dante has just signed a contract with the most dangerous man in the city.

When the Earth slipped into a relentless, record-breaking heat, I exhausted everything I had to develop a constant-temperature shelter. Yet, my fiancée, Janine O’Connor, insisted on wearing a bikini and going out to sunbathe with her personal secretary. In my previous life, I stopped her. I warned her that an apocalyptic heatwave was coming, and that countless people would be burned to death simply by being exposed to the heat. However, her personal secretary looked as though he had suffered a great injustice. “I’m sorry, Will,” he said. “But I can’t bear to see Miss Janine stuck in a shelter for the rest of her life. I’ve done my research. This is a period of natural selection for the Earth. Only by adapting quickly to the environment can people truly survive.” Even so, I threatened my own life and forcibly brought Janine back into the shelter. Relying on the shelter I built, Janine survived the apocalypse and rapidly built a survivor base. However, on the second day after she became the base’s leader, she had me hanged outside the shelter and burned alive. “If you hadn’t forced me to come back, Mark wouldn’t have been devastated and killed himself in the heat! He was about to develop a new type of shelter, yet you stole all the credit! I’ll make you pay with your life!” Even after my death, her hatred didn’t fade. She ordered someone to skin me and turn my hide into a rug, stepping on it every day. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day I tried to stop her from sunbathing with Mark Davis.

April Moore’s played by her family’s rules all her life. Now, she’s outlived most of her family and those rules she’s forced to live by have the world seeing her as worthless. April believed she loved David Moore, and she believed he loved her when they married. Soon after the wedding, his sweet compliments, and generous gifts disappeared. Two years later, April said goodbye to her deadbeat husband and enjoyed being challenged by an interesting billionaire. What’s a woman who’s claim to fame’s the yearbook’s ‘Ms. Plain Jane’ going to do with the football captain. Sure, it’s years after graduation but, the things he remembers! Damien Jones is busy pretending to maintain the image of a useless playboy. While he’s stepping in for his father at the new resort because his father wants to hide his slow death. Now corporate sabotage hits the resort during the wedding of a friend Damien is acting as best man for. It becomes complicated. The resort booked for the wedding for the week. The harm came from a guest or staff member. Competition is steep in this town and reputations can die if this leads back to someone. April’s full of talents and secrets. She always was. damien believes he has a chance with April. she’s lost the training wheels and she’s coming out swinging at life. to damien, April’s beautiful in everyway. But will society have something else to say about their relationship through the backdrop of their friends’ wedding and business gone awry? April and Damien will confront social climbing relatives, corporate saboteurs, steamy nights and more. After that, will they find love?

He was told to protect me and yet I want him to ruin me. “Zyran?” He didn’t turn. “What is it, Myra?” I took a shaky breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Our arrangement. I want to understand my part in it.” Finally he turned. His pale eyes gleamed in the dim light, his gaze fixed on me so intently, it felt like a predator tracking its prey. “Your part is to be my wife and mine to give you protection.” “But you are the only one giving. I want to give you something too.” “I’m tired of being just a painting on the wall,” I whispered, stepping closer to him, the air crackling with so much tension, I may have forgotten how to breathe. “You're my husband. In every way, so I want you to teach me.” A muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes darkening with every word I said. “Teach you what?” “Pleasure.” I said, biting down on my lip out of sheer nervousness “Your kind of pleasure. Show me what you like. Let me learn how to touch you. Let me make you feel something…” I agreed to marry Zyran Theon because he was my brother’s best friend and by far the safest option. A year of cold indifference seemed better than a lifetime of horror. However I never expected to find a man shattered by his own psyche and a constant repression of his urges to claim me and even worse I never expected to want him too.

Imran Khan’s life falls apart the day his father disappears, leaving him drowning in debt and hunted by dangerous men. With no way out, he makes a desperate choice, selling one night of his life to a stranger. But that stranger turns out to be Rafaelle Moretti, a powerful and dangerous man who doesn’t just want one night… he wants control. What starts as a deal quickly turns into something darker. Possession. Power. Desire. Imran wants freedom. Rafaelle doesn’t let go. “Say my name, Gattino.” His voice came out low, smooth, and controlled, the kind that didn’t need to be loud to make your body react. It wrapped around me, heavy and dangerous, as his body pressed mine deeper into the mattress. I could feel the weight of him, solid and unyielding, hovering just enough to remind me that I wasn’t going anywhere unless he allowed it. I swallowed, my throat dry, my chest rising and falling too fast. Even thinking his name felt like stepping into something I couldn’t come back from. His hand pinned my wrist above my head, not rough, not painful, just firm enough to remind me who was in control. The other slid slowly along my side, fingers dragging in a way that made my skin heat up against my will. Every touch was deliberate, like he was studying me, learning how I reacted without me saying a word. “Say it,” he murmured again, his face closer now, his breath warm against my lips.

Raya Monroe had always belonged to Noah Vale, at least, that’s what she made herself believe. He saved her once, long ago, and from that moment, her heart beat only for him. She obeyed every command, bore every sacrifice, even when it meant stepping aside for the girl fate chose in her place, Nora. But nothing shattered her more than his final request. “Give her your wolf, Raya. And when it’s over… I’ll mark you as mine.” She agreed. And she died for it. On the other side of the lake, Riley Hart, Alpha princess without a wolf, newly mated, newly betrayed by her mate, alpha Eric, fell to her knees begging for the agony of rejection to end. “Who wants a wolfless mate like you?” Two girls. Two broken hearts. Two final wishes whispered into the same night. “Let me come back.” Raya whispered. “Please… let it end.” Riley cried. __ What if those wishes intertwined? What if death answered them both? Raya returns, reborn in a new body, carrying the pain of two fates, and her second life is bound to the wrath of the Alpha King, Ajax Blackstone. His armies are rising, his vengeance is unstoppable, and Eric and Noah’s pack stands at the edge of ruin. What is Ajax hunting? Can Raya take revenge from the pack that destroyed her… while living in the body of the girl that was cast aside? Or will fate destroy her a second time? One thing is certain. They took everything from her for love. Now love turned wrath is coming back for them all.

“Stay,” Chance rasped, his thumb tracing the curve of my bottom lip. “One night where you don’t think about the past.” ​I leaned into him, the heat of his skin against mine, making me forget why I ever ran. “And if I don't want to think about tomorrow, either?” ​“Then don't,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck. “Just feel this.” ____ ​Zara Payson was discarded like yesterday’s news by her billionaire husband, Wilson Adams. He didn't just break her heart…he stripped her of her daughter and her dignity. Now, she’s hiding in a small town, rebuilding her life on a single vow: Never trust a man with a gold-plated name again. ​Then there’s Chance, her rugged, brooding neighbour. He’s a fallen hockey god with a body made for sin and a past concealed in shadows. Zara thinks he’s just a man running from an injury. She doesn’t know he’s the disowned third son of the very empire that destroyed her. ​When Wilson discovers he’s sterile…making Zara’s daughter his only heir…the hunt begins. He’s coming to reclaim his property, and he doesn't care who he crushes to get it. ​Chance is the only man powerful enough to stand in his way, but protecting Zara means stepping back into the billionaire world he loathes. As the brothers go to war, Zara is caught in the crossfire of a dangerous game. ​Chance is playing for keeps, but is he saving her from a monster…or is he just the more dangerous brother?

This was the greatest mistake I made. An unplanned pregnancy from a one-night stand. Right after losing my baby, the only soul I had on earth to comfort me, to adoption, I realized I'd made a great mistake, worse than engaging in a one-night stand. So I was determined to find her and take her back. So I became a nanny and got posted to take care of a little girl who had only Alpha daddies, no mother. It's however a great surprise to realize this girl looks pretty much like the baby I sold off in adoption. “Am I dreaming?” What? She looks so much like me, could this be a coincidence of what I just had in mind or she's– My daughter? It's at this point, I see seven hot men, all identical, same height and faces, muscular, hot and stepping out of the estate. Here is another mighty distraction. “Who are these?” I mutter, asking the little girl. “They are my daddies. Seven Alphas raised me up after the death of my mom. That's why I'm asking "why do I look so much like you?” As the confusion in me heightens, the seven Alphas are coming closer. It hits me deep to realize that they all have the same scent. My wolf, which has always been calm, immediately leaps up, growling so loud. What's really going on? “Mates! Mates!! Mates!!!” I hear my wolf leap and screaming. I need one man, not seven Alphas. How can all these cute, charming, young men be mates with such a lowly girl as I? I'm sure the moon goddess made a pretty big mistake by doing this.

She wasn't supposed to be mine. She had her man wrapped around her arms the night I stormed into her world. But she owed the family a hefty debt; one that she couldn't pay because she didn't have the money. I should have ended her life for it—that was how it usually went. No one owed the family and lived to tell the tale. They’d end you once your time was up and you couldn't deliver. And the man they always sent out for the job? Me. I had no business collecting nothing more than their debt; in blood or in cash.  That's why I definitely had no business offering her a way out but in exchange for her body and the world that laid between her thighs. One look at her and I wanted her. I craved her. One taste of her was all it took. I became obsessed. But I had to let her go after our deal had ended. She was never meant to be mine. She didn't belong in my world and she had no business stepping into it. But she did. She stumbled in and crashed everything in her path, including my restraint. My need to possess her nearly drove me insane. I should have pushed her away. I was only a tool in the hands of my master. The odds were highly against us. And I would only bring her pain. But it was too late now. I had a taste of her again and I was lost… completely. She was mine and I was keeping her. And if I had to burn the whole damn world just for her, then I would fucking gladly set it ablaze.