Synonym Hardly

"Meet my older son, Dino." I can hardly believe my eyes. My mother’s new fiancé is a billionaire Mr. Alessandro. But it’s his son, Dino, who makes my stomach twist. Dino Alessandro, my worst high school nightmare. The boy who made every day a living hell, who left me with a scar that serves as a constant reminder of everything I endured. Now, he’s going to be my stepbrother. But Dino is different now. Gone is the reckless teenager, replaced by a charming, arrogant man who acts as if our past never happened. He seems intent on winning me over, pushing boundaries and testing limits, as if he can erase the hurt with a single smile. But I haven’t forgotten the scar he left on me. I swore to hate him forever. So why can’t I ignore the way my heart races whenever he’s near? When love and hate collide, will my past wounds finally heal, or will he scar me all over again?

On a scale of one to ten, my life had always dangled between three and four, thanks to my very wretched humble background, until the day it hit zero. "I will give you the money on the condition that you send that text to Asher." Mia Harper began with a mischievous smile on her face. "Asher?" I repeated. "You heard me right." No way. Asher Thorne was the hottest, attractive and most popular kid in school. Bad boy, star hockey player, arrogant and snobbish, were the perfect words to describe him with. He hardly ever smiled and didn't talk to just 'anybody'. I stared down at the ridiculous message typed on my phone screen... And that was how it all started for the scholarship student, Grace Williams, the cool genius who preferred to stay invisible and out of trouble. But not for long. Thanks to Mia, she gets tangled with Asher and fresh troubles that came with their forbidden alliance. Determined to tame the bad boy, she steps into a world of secrets, rivalry, and dangerous attraction. Will she survive it? And more importantly… will she dare to step into the love zone?

When fate played a cruel card on me, I was forced to shed my way of life and become someone I hardly recognised to survive in my new world. Only one thing was clear: Everyone who hurt me would feel the wrath of my anger. Dever, my ex-mate, for betraying. The Gray brothers, for taking a life from me. I had a plan. I made new alliances. But little did I know, fate wasn’t done playing its hand. My wolf recognizes her fated mate in one of the brothers. Now I’m caught between two cursed brothers—dangerous, possessive, and broken in ways I can’t begin to understand. Klaus, with eyes that see too much and walls I can’t break through. Kade, with a wicked smile that masks the storm raging inside him. I wanted revenge. But the deeper I fall into their world, the harder it is to tell where my pain stops... and where my heart begins. I must decide this time, to take what I’m owed or let fate take its course… even if it means losing my life.

SECRETS. Too many secrets! Naiah is a girl who grew up with hardly any guidance from her parents. She, however, grew up fine. Really fine! She had been traveling for so many years and finally settled in a place she wants to call home. Naiah went into a school, called Coded University, where she meets or better say, someone, introduced her, to an odd male cousin. From then on she meets many vibrant people along the way. She felt out of place upon meeting these people, they all seemed much too familiar with each other. That's when she learned, they all had a secret that can shatter you down the core. Those secrets, how deep did they go? How sharp can those secrets be? Time goes by and everything begins to become unleashed from their secretive tight grip. No one knows what will be the consequences once they are exposed. How deep will their scars be? Secrets! A simple word that can make your life a living hell. A sharp word that can hurt you more than you could ever think. A dangerous word that will be your greatest enemy.

The ninety-ninth time my Alpha mate blocked our mind-link, I was in the final stages of Wolf Spirit Decay. I dragged my broken body into the Council Hall. The cold marble steps grated against the soles of my feet, and with every step, a tearing pain ripped through my chest. "I am here to petition to leave the pack." The council official studied my pale, thin form with a pitying gaze and asked softly, "Are you certain, Miss? You would be giving up the pack's protection." Since childhood, my wolf has been unstable, making me frail. Ever since my father brought home my adopted sister, Lydia, when I was ten, my parents have treated me like a disgrace to the family. Despite being his marked mate for years, Caleb never promised me a Luna ceremony. He rarely even took me to pack gatherings. As a result, hardly anyone in the pack knew who I was. "It doesn't matter," I said, my voice calm despite the effort. "I will be dead in three days."

“I didn’t force myself on you, you make it sound like…” “Yes, you did Eric. My body might have been willing, but you know my mind wasn’t, yet you still took me.” She accused. Cat short for Katherine has been Eric's lover! Because honestly she didn't see herself as more and she had finally had enough, she wants more! Eric has been so busy with work and is forever traveling, it's got so bad lately. Cat really feels like she is losing him. She hardly sees him .... Making Cat believe he is getting bored with her. Had she gone past her used by date. So to protect herself from heartache Cat decides to rip the bandaid off first. She tries to end things with him. Eric being the man he is doesn't see the need to end anything. Wants the easy sex she was sure. Even though their encounter had been the longest he had had with any woman.

"This is nothing kitten, nothing at all." He whispered into my ear, each word punctuated with a deep thrust of his fingers. "It hardly compares to what else I could do to you." I couldn't even think about what else he could do. There was no more space in my brain for anything other than the overwhelming crash that was seconds away from crushing me. "I'm gonna..." I squeezed my eyes closed, helpless to the sensations as my climax drew near. "Cum for me." He commanded darkly. **** He’s the bad boy she’s supposed to stay away from... She’s the good girl he can’t stop craving. Ariana Bennett had her entire life scripted out, yet everything changes the moment her world collided with Nick Beaufort.... the sinfully hot, cocky quarterback. He’s everything she should avoid. Yet when the chemistry between them burns hotter than she could ever imagine. Ariana is torn between giving into her deepest desires or staying away from the man who might just ruin her life. "I’ll ruin you, Ariana. And you’ll crave it."

Part OneFirefighter Kristi Gregory was just enjoying an evening off in everyone’s favorite hangout, sipping her beer, when hot cop Patrick Hayes walked in. They’d just worked a disaster together that very day, and he was not only professional but one very hot cop. Patrick had eyes on Kristi but was still trying to prove himself at his new precinct. But when danger brings a sexy firefighter and a hot cop together, it’s incendiary.Part TwoMisa turned hot and bothered when sexy firefighter Sam Braddock moved into the house next door. she could hardly get him out of her mind. Who wouldn’t want to do everything with a six-foot-four blond hunk with sculpted muscles that didn’t come from any gym, and a smile that made her panties wet? He was the stuff any woman’s dreams were made of. And she had a problem. And she wanted to have hot, sweaty, off-the-wall sex with her neighbor, king of the alphas. When he agreed to be interviewed for hew newspaper, neither of them expected the hot inferno that would explode between them.Incendiary is created by Desiree Holt, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

It was about time because my dad got a new girlfriend and said he wanted us to have a meal together to introduce the new woman into our lives. On the day we met, my college roommate saw my chat background, which had a photo of me and my dad, along with a series of transfer records. She lost her mind. She enlisted the support of our other roommates, who rarely paid me any attention and began to attack me, insisting that I was a side chick who deserved to die. I did not expect that my roommate would soon become my stepmom. Before I could explain, she accused me of trying to seduce my dad behind her back, shouting, "Shameless side chick! Going behind my back to seduce my boyfriend! All those times you said you were out studying?! Who knows if you were just meeting up with him?" I was once physically assaulted, stripped of my dignity, and forced to the restaurant for a public confrontation wearing ragged clothes. Then my dad came running to where I was hardly breathing and barely moving on the floor, bruised to the extreme. “Sweetheart, who did this to you?!”

The Duke was standing in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets, his head tilted to one side. It was a relaxed, casual pose, and yet the way he looked at her was anything but casual. The deep midnight of his eyes burned and he radiated a subtle, sensual energy that made the air around him crackle. He looked like a man who’d never heard the word ‘no’ in all his life. Unluckily for him, ‘no’ was the only word she had. “There's no reason why I should stay,” Anna clasped her shaking hands together in an effort to still them. “I’m not marrying you.” His gaze flickered, his mouth curving slightly, and she had the disturbing thought that far from putting him off, her insistence was only inciting him further. “But you haven’t heard my proposal yet,” he said mildly. “Isn’t that why you’re here?” “I don’t need to hear it. I already know that my answer will be no.” “Of course. But you can hardly tell your father that you heard me out when you haven’t, in fact, heard me out…. Anna.”