Stolen Glances

Content Warning: This is a collection of dark, steamy age-gap romances centered on marriage, possession, and angst. These are stories where vows are a transaction, love is a battlefield, and the only happy ending is the one they fight for. He is always the other father—the guardian, the protector, the older man forced into a role he never asked for. She is the complication, the temptation, the younger woman who disrupts his carefully controlled world. Their unions are never simple. A marriage contract for protection. A vow sworn in desperation. A wedding to secure a future for a child. But behind every practical arrangement lies a dangerous, simmering tension that vows alone can't contain. This collection delivers standalone stories where passion is a privilege earned only after "I do." Expect charged glances across crowded rooms, kisses that feel like claims, and the slow, angsty burn of a man who believes he doesn't deserve her, fighting the overwhelming need to make her his in every way. For readers who like their romance dark, their heroes possessive, and their happy endings hard-won.

During Black Friday, the intelligent system I develop helps the company run highly targeted ads and brings in 30 million dollars in revenue. But when I apply for the project bonus, the director rejects it. "The system is just an auxiliary tool. The performance belongs to the sales department." I hold back my frustration and pull up the system logs. "88% of the orders come from the system's targeted pushes. According to company policy, I should receive a 0.5% commission." The director glances at me, twirling his pen. "If the sales commission doesn't go to the sales department, should it go to you? And your lousy system exceeds the API limit and racks up extra fees. You still owe us a hundred thousand dollars. We'll deduct that from your salary." Three days before Christmas sales are set to begin, the system completely shuts down because of API restrictions. Late at night, the director calls me. I stare at my computer screen. "Since the system is just an auxiliary tool, why don't you start with manual targeting?"

Danilo Ramos has always known how to survive—by staying invisible. At school, he’s the quiet, smart kid with just enough charm to ghost his way through hallways, avoid the spotlight, and bury every truth that might expose him. Carter Hayes, on the other hand, is all danger and detachment, a bad boy, and the last person Danilo should even be looking at. But Danilo couldn't stop himself. He craved him. Always has. And when Carter rescues Danilo one night in an alleyway, everything changes. Lines blur. Glances linger. "You keep looking at me like that, Ramos, and I might start thinking you want something." "And if I do?" "Then you better be ready for it." “I am ready.” But Danilo’s father—wealthy, cold, and homophobic—can never find out the truth about his son. In a world where one wrong move could mean losing everything, Danilo must choose: keep playing the part everyone expects… or step into the spotlight and finally live the truth he’s been hiding.

Many years ago, dragons discovered the supreme good that the Earth could offer to any of its creatures. A red gem, which the king of dragons named "The Heart of Magic" because of its shape, resembled a heart. The magic gem fulfilled their greatest desires. All the dragons in the world obtained a necklace with a small piece of the red gem that shone. All the dragons born afterward also carried the same necklace. Then, when the gem got stolen, this light went out of every necklace, and the dragons lost these magical abilities that the gem had given them. But before this could happen, after fulfilling these desires, the dragons used them against the humans, enslaving them, but when the gem got stolen, it was all over. Dragons are still looking for it, and humans wish never to be found so that they do not go through the same thing again. Princess Edith, after a family tragedy, she will be forced to go in search of the gem. Through the journey of investigation, she will discover that she possesses special powers that she did not know that she has until that moment. Drake is the Dragon King's son and will be secretly sent to help Edith seek the gem. Carrying his dark and heavy past on his back, he moves forward with his life with no regrets about his actions back then. Everything is about to change.

Sapphire's gripping journey from privilege to adversity as her father's wealth and freedom are ripped away by a ruthless adversary. Taken in by her protective aunt and cloistered by her safety, sapphire's life takes an unexpected turn when she secures a scholarship to california's most prestigious school. Amidst the opulence and secrets of the elite, sapphire finds love in the charming Quicney, only to have carefully guarded identity exposed. Will she reclaim her stolen legacy and forge her own path in a world teeming with betrayal and desire?.

A mistaken kiss. A ruined engagement. A contract that changed everything. When small-town doctor Mirabelle Santos accidentally kisses a stranger in Manila, she unknowingly shatters the engagement of billionaire Jiro Del Fierro. To protect his reputation, Jiro forces her into a one-year contract as his substitute wife. Living under one roof with the cold and dangerous Jiro was supposed to be a nightmare—until secrets unravel, feelings grow, and a past filled with lies, betrayal, and stolen identities threatens to destroy them both. Would love survive despite of all hindrances that traps their way?

Camile always thought she was the bane to Trevor’s existence but everything takes a dark turn when Vanessa, a woman she had never known existed came into the picture. In a matter of minutes, she finds herself bleeding profusely in the middle of the road and when help found her? It’s in the form of a man she thought she had buried forever but he gives her a choice; take back what was stolen from her or walk away. Gone are the days where she was weak. She was taking everything back!

Ewan is an assassin with a twisted idea of love and a troubled past. As a child, Taryn's heart was stolen by the broody bad boy. Too bad that he was her devious sister's boyfriend. When Ewan disappears, and her sister abandons her and her father to marry a rich older man, Taryn is left to survive. One chance meeting will change their lives forever. Will Ewan see what is meant to be and see the past for what it was? Or will he make the same mistake again, and lose the love of his life?

His gray eyes twinkled with mischief. “Are you scared Vee?” his throaty voice hummed tantalizing sensations down my spine and pooling between my legs. I bite my lower lips an involuntary, harmless act, at least so I thought, until the resulting burning desire in his eyes and the bulge in his cargo pants said otherwise. He wanted me, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that I wanted him too. “I am not scared of you,” my voice came out as an embarrassing whimper. I looked away from the burning desires in his eyes, afraid that it might consume me. Not that it mattered. I was already consumed by him. ______ When Vee McKenna is kidnapped by the Lycan king’s men, she finds herself facing execution for the theft of a mystical pearl stolen by her identical twin sister, Vera McKenna. The handsome but deadly Lycan King, Adonis Greyhound , has just one year to live and when his pearl is stolen by a half blood, he swears vengeance. But when he finds out that she is his mate and the only who can save his life, Adonis devises a plan to make her fall in love with him. But nothing in life ever goes as planned. Would Adonis give up his hate for humans and embrace love? Or would he give up on what could be the best thing in his life all for a game?

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Mine's been chilling for five years. The night James Reed kicked me out of his life, I was pregnant, penniless, and naive enough to believe love mattered more than money. He taught me better. When you're bleeding out in the rain, clutching your stomach while your best friend laughs from his doorway, you learn exactly what you're worth to people like them. Zero. But the woman who nearly died that night? She stayed dead. The one who came back is someone else entirely. Anna Quinn. Lost daughter of California's most powerful family. CEO of her own pharmaceutical empire. And the silent majority shareholder in James Reed's failing company. He's about to learn what happens when you build an empire on stolen foundations. His marriage has cracks he doesn't see. And the investors keeping him afloat? They answer to me now. He thinks he's untouchable. That my formula made him invincible. But success built on stolen work has a way of crumbling when the original genius decides to pull the rug out. I don't want him back. I want him ruined. And this time, I'm the one holding all the cards.