Straight Bait Novels & Stories

Stanley Hamilton and I were basically Southport's favorite hate-watch couple. For Elodie—my oh-so-perfect adopted sister—he wrecked my company and had my parents thrown in prison. I, in turn, drove Elodie to her death, making him watch as she jumped off a rooftop. Our forced marriage? Just a slow ride from mutual disgust straight into mutual destruction. Then came the car explosion. Stanley, who'd hated me forever, still used his last breath to shove me out of the blast. "Vivienne Weston, one lifetime tangled with you is enough. If there's a next one, let's never meet." He touched the tattoo of Elodie's name on his neck, smiling faintly as the flames took him. After he died, I wandered through life half-dead myself until illness finished the job. When I woke up in the past, staring at two betrothal contracts, I didn't hesitate—I picked the guy everyone swore was insane. Stanley and my dad? I handed them right back to Elodie. This time, I wanted no meetings, no memories, no strings. Ever again.

She was a package and he was the devil. And the devil always deliver.  Hired to deliver a package within a week, he was up to the task but he never expected unforeseen circumstances to delay his efficiency in his work. Vowed to live up to his reputation, he was ready to go through anything to see that he delivers but what would happen when he started getting close to the package? Or the fact that he started going beyond his belief wondering what would become of her when he let's her out of his sight? This was wrong, he is El Diablo, he has no heart, no emotion. He doesn't feel, he is not compassionate. What he does is accept jobs, deliver and gets paid and if you cross him? He doesn't hesitate to put a bullet straight to the head.  His name is feared all around, he is neat, he is never crossed, even his employers fear him. Parents tell his story to scare children and the ground shake at the very mention of his name. He is El Diablo and no one challenges him, no one except her that kept defying his orders.

It was not until after I married Bennett that I found out he had a clingy little childhood friend who loved to play the victim. On the very first day of our marriage, at dinner, I simply asked Bennett to pass me a bite of food. She immediately exploded. "Holly, you're disgusting! Bennett already used those utensils, and you seriously asked him to serve you food? What, don't you have hands?" I froze, completely blindsided. Before I could even react, Bennett put down his spoon and went straight to her, wrapping her in his arms like she was the one who had been wronged. Then he turned to me and said I should just get my own food from now on. However, honestly, wasn't it normal for a husband to serve his wife a bite? What was so outrageous about that? I barely got a word out before Bennett shut me down in a low, firm voice. "That's final. If Rosie doesn't like it, then we're not doing it. End of discussion."

My roommate was a classic bimbo. When I went to arrange a jogging meetup, she mistyped it as a hookup and sent it straight into the group chat, then burst into tears and claimed she didn't know how to retract the message. When I went to meet my jogging buddy, she told everyone that she ran into my "hookup buddy." At the end, she even covered her mouth and giggled sweetly, saying, "I always mix words up." After a few stunts like that, my reputation was utterly ruined, and the entire class shut me out. Later, she used her "clumsiness" as an excuse to spike my milk with sleeping pills, causing me to miss a major exam. She even dropped toxic bacteria into my water cup and killed me outright. And all of it was over something that stupid: the guy she had a crush on had casually helped me carry my luggage on the first day of school. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very first day of freshman orientation. This time, I am going to let her experience what it felt like to be ruined—and killed—by a so-called idiot.

BLURB Lena Hale thought heartbreak couldn’t get worse until she walked into a luxury restaurant with a Christmas gift in her hand and found her boyfriend on a date with another girl. Broken and humiliated, she flees home for the holidays, hoping her mother’s new marriage will give her a quiet place to recover. Instead, she walks straight into a nightmare. Her cheating ex, Bryce Carter, is waiting at the mansion… as the beloved nephew of her new stepfather. And her new stepbrother, Cassian Ward, the cold, quiet son who sees too much and says too little can’t seem to look away from her. Trapped together for Christmas, Lena is forced to face the boy who broke her and the man who’s slowly undoing her in ways she doesn’t understand. Bryce wants her back. Cassian wants her safe. And Lena wants to forget she still feels anything at all. But secrets run deep in the Ward family… and desire runs deeper. And this Christmas, falling for the wrong brother might be the most dangerous mistake she’s ever made.

PASSION IN THE OFFICE One shot of vodka + a dare + one steamy kiss = LOVE? Willing to prove she really can ‘live a little, Navy Remington accepts to play truth or dare in a cool nightclub. She chooses dare… After one shot of vodka, enough to help her build up some courage, Navy goes straight to a gorgeous man at the bar, puts her arms around his neck, and gives him a passionate, steamy kiss. What Navy doesn’t know is that the man she just made out with in the nightclub, is mogul and playboy extraordinaire Victor Hook. Furthermore… he's going to become her boss... real soon. Even so, Navy won’t let anything get in the way of her ambition. And she’s determined to be taken seriously as she begins her career, and not give in to the heat that’s constantly driving her to distraction. Still, the more Navy and Victor ignore the fire between them, the stronger it gets. But she’s not going to end up in her boss’s bed, because saying yes to Victor won’t just be Navy’s wickedest fantasies come to life... it will be the end of her dreams.

For seven years, Elara has been on the run. Moving every few months, hiding her powerful witch blood, and shielding her younger brother, Orion, has become her miserable existence. The only thing she knows for sure is that her luck is fading. When an anonymous, blood-written note forces her into the fastest escape of her life, she is suddenly abandoned by the one person she swore to protect. Alone and vulnerable, she falls straight into the clutches of the most dangerous, wicked males in the supernatural world. Kaelen, Lysander, and Xavier are the ruthless lords of the Penumbra Syndicate, a Fae, a wolf shifter, and a vampire. They are cursed by an enchantress to find their one true love before a magical hourglass drains the last of its red liquid, condemning them to eternal torment. They are convinced the beautiful witch they’ve captured is the very woman who hexed them. Chained in their opulent mansion, Elara fights for her life even as she’s overwhelmed by a searing, impossible attraction to her three captors. As the clock ticks down, the men must decide: is Elara the wicked enemy who ruined their lives, or the fated soulmate who can finally save them all?

I was hired to care for a sick child. I never saw his face. Never heard his voice. Until I stepped into the house of nightmares. Ezra Kade thought the job was simple, to take care of a bedridden heir hidden away in a mansion dripping with wealth and secrets. But the moment he crosses the threshold, he realizes he’s been fed a lie. The child isn’t a child. He’s a man. A man who watches him from the shadows. A man with a past written in blood. Kieran Valen survived the unthinkable—an accident meant to erase him from existence. For two years, he’s played the part of the broken, helpless heir, a puppet in his siblings’ twisted game. But Kieran isn’t weak. He isn’t helpless. And Ezra? Ezra just walked straight into the web, into his hands. In a house ruled by deception, where the walls whisper secrets and the floors are stained with the past, Ezra must decide… run, or let himself be caught. Because Kieran doesn’t just want a caretaker. He wants devotion. Obedience. Worship. And he’ll break Ezra apart to get it.

Kendra Hayes lives by one rule, stay invisible. Straight A’s, no drama, no mistakes. But when Professor West, the man who controls her grades and her future, starts blurring the lines between mentorship and something far more dangerous, her silence becomes a cage she can’t escape. Then Axel Cross storms in. The campus golden boy. Star quarterback. Infuriatingly confident and the last person she expects to notice the cracks in her perfect facade. One glance changes everything. He sees what no one else dares to, and suddenly Kendra has something she’s never had before… an ally. But West plays a long game and he never loses. With every step Axel takes toward her, the professor’s hold tightens. Rumors ignite. Secrets surface. Loyalties shatter. And Kendra is caught in a deadly tug-of-war between the boy willing to risk it all for her, and the man determined to own her completely. She can stay silent and survive… Or speak up and lose everything, except maybe her heart. If West doesn’t destroy them both first.

Because of a last-minute business trip, my husband missed the Thanksgiving family dinner. I spent the entire day helping out at my in-laws' place in the countryside with our five-year-old son, only to receive a complaint from the downstairs neighbor just before dinner. "Ari, could you please close your kitchen window when you're cooking? I can smell the hot sauce from all the way here. My husband has a lung condition—he can't handle it." My neighbor's words shocked me, and I immediately called my husband, who was allergic to chili peppers. "Honey, did someone break into the house? The neighbor said there was smoke coming from the kitchen." His breathing hitched for a second before he let out a casual laugh. "No break-in. My flight got canceled, so I was home alone cooking. When are you two coming back? I really miss you." I smiled and told him we'd stay a couple more days, but in the middle of the night, I packed up our son and drove straight home.