Tends Toward

On New Year’s Eve, a poolside party was held at the hospital. There, my fiancee Valerie Charlton’s medical prodigy junior colleague, Cyrus Zeigler, drew the wildcard in a party game. His task was to select a woman from the attendees and enact an explicit scene in front of everyone. He scanned the crowd, and his gaze landed on Valerie. “Valerie, you’re about to get married. I know I can’t have you. So let me have this one time. Okay?” Valerie’s eyes welled up, and she was about to nod. I scoffed and tossed the unsigned medical equipment purchase contract onto the table. “You’d better think carefully. Either he gets lost, or your family’s hospital shuts down for good. Your choice.” Cyrus glared at me angrily when he saw that Valerie was torn with indecision. “Is it that Mr. Everest can’t take a joke? He’s already controlling everything you do before the wedding. After you get married, he’ll probably keep you in a cage.” Valerie calmed down. Then, she turned to me and said scornfully, “You are a grown man. Have some grace. What era are we living in? Do you have to flaunt your masculinity all the time?” I watched calmly as they walked toward the pool. Then, I turned and made a phone call. “Since she doesn’t care about this marriage, she can watch the Charlton family crumble.”

My wife, Ivy Hart, is about to give birth to the baby she conceived with Toby Clayton, her first love. Her parents hire ten bodyguards to stand guard outside the delivery room. Cora Norris, Ivy's mother, takes Ivy's hand and remarks, "Don't worry, Ivy. We'll make sure he can't get within two feet of you! Your dad is standing guard outside with the bodyguards. If he dares to stop you from having the baby, we'll report him to the police!" Ivy nods, her complexion pale, but she instinctively looks toward the door anyway. She doesn't see why I can't be more understanding of her. All she wants to do is help Toby have a child to carry on his family name. The birth proceeds without me showing up to cause a scene. She smiles gladly when she sees the crying baby in the nurse's arms. She thinks to herself that if I visit her tomorrow, she is willing to forget all about our previous fights. She is even willing to let me be the baby's father. What she doesn't know is that I've already submitted my application to the Alliance of Nations. In seven days, I will be leaving the country to become a field doctor for the Frontline Medical Corp, a humanitarian organization. I won't be coming back ever again.

Brielle Hartley swore she’d never return to Willow Creek, the small town packed with too many memories and one infuriating man she hoped to forget. But when her mother needs help, Brielle is forced back home—only to discover that the first person she runs into is the last man she ever wanted to see: Jaxon Reed, the boy who spent their senior year getting under her skin…and apparently still has the talent. Now older, broader, and annoyingly irresistible,Jaxon has become a respected volunteer in the community. But he hasn’t changed his habit of poking at Brielle’s nerves. Their reunion strikes immediate sparks some angry, some dangerously magnetic. What begins as avoidance turns into constant collisions: at the farmers market, around town, and eventually at the community garden project they’re roped into running together. With every stubborn argument and every unexpected moment of softness, the walls between them weaken. Tension turns into chemistry, chemistry into longing, and longing into something neither of them wants to admit. As Brielle fights the pull she feels toward the man she once despised, Jaxon battles with the guilt of the past and the fear that he’s already blown his second chance. What they don’t realize is that the very history that pushed them apart may be the key to bringing them together. Enemies? Absolutely. Attraction? Undeniable. Love? Inevitable…if they’re brave enough to take it.

Laura's life took a dramatic turn when she was forced to marry the arrogant and ruthless billionaire, Daniel Edward. Her family was on the brink of financial ruin, and her father was in danger of going to jail. Laura saw no other option but to marry Daniel to save her family. But what she thought was a way out of her troubles turned into a nightmare. Daniel was anything but a kind and loving husband. He was cold, and uncaring, and made her life a living misery. Laura was trapped, and she longed for a way out. As time goes on, Laura finds solace in the arms of Harold, Daniel's best friend. As she fell deeper in love with Harold, she began to hatch a plan to escape with him. But little did she know that Daniel was falling in love with her too. His change in attitude toward Laura was shocking and unbelievable. Laura found herself in the middle of a love triangle. Harold swore never to stop fighting for her, and Daniel was determined to have Laura all to himself. Laura was torn between two men, and she had to make a choice. Finally, Laura made up her mind and chose Harold over Daniel and they both planned to start a new life somewhere far away. But what would happen if Daniel found out about their plan? Will Laura be able to escape her past and start a new life with Harold, or will her past catch up to her and ruin everything? Find out in the book.

Irina Volkov has three most important rules: no emotions, no real names, and never meet in person. For two years she has survived on those rules alone — running romance scams on wealthy men, funneling every stolen dollar toward the crushing debt her abusive stepfather signed in her name before she escaped. She is not greedy. She is desperate. And she is very, very good. Until she targets Nikolai Dragunov. What Irina doesn't know is that Nikolai has known about her from the beginning. He created the perfect bait — a lonely businessman with money to burn — and waited for her to find him. Because in a world Nikolai controls down to the last detail, Irina Volkov is the only unpredictable thing left. He wanted to see how far she would go. Now the game is over. The con is exposed. And Nikolai isn't asking for his money back. He's keeping her. Trapped in his penthouse with nowhere to run and a Bratva boss who looks at her like she's both a puzzle and a prize, Irina has to survive the most dangerous mark she's ever made — and somehow stop herself from falling for him in the process. She's a liar. He's a monster. And neither of them expected to fall. "You took my money, Malyshka. Now you belong to me."

I had just returned from studying design abroad when my grandfather insisted that he had already arranged a childhood betrothal for me. The moment I got back to the country, he dragged me straight to the Hunt family's residence to discuss the engagement. The adults talked endlessly, and I quickly grew bored sitting there. Slipping away quietly, I wandered into the Hunt family garden for a walk. Out of nowhere, a woman rushed toward me and slapped me hard across the face. "Where did this shameless woman come from? How dare you steal my things!" I covered my cheek and stared at her in shock. The woman lifted her chin arrogantly, her tone dripping with condescension, as if she were granting me charity. "That ruby on your hand was a birthday gift from the young master of the Hunt family. A poor girl like you—how could you possibly afford to wear it?!" I opened my mouth, about to explain that it was mine. But before I could say a word, she struck me across the face again. "Do you even know who I am? I'm the Hunt family's future daughter-in-law—the future Mrs. Hunt! The entire Hunt family will listen to me!" I pulled out my phone and, right in front of her, sent a message to the contact labeled Fiancé. "Lucas, there's a mad dog in your house. Are you going to do something about it or not?"

During my vacation, I'm in the middle of a riverside stroll with my wife, Wendy Summer, when I suddenly hear someone screaming. "Please! Save my drowning son!" Before I can regain my senses, Wendy, who's pregnant, quickly pushes the crowd apart and rushes toward the center of the conflict. "I'm a doctor, so I can help save the patient. I'll perform CPR on him right away." As Wendy speaks, she moves to lean over the patient. But that's when I grip her by the wrist tightly. "You're not allowed to save him. If you dare administer CPR to him, we'll get a divorce." Wendy stares at me in shock. "Have you gone nuts? Healing the sick and treating the injured is a doctor's duty! You're a doctor as well, Rowan! How could you say such things?" The onlookers begin admonishing me. "If you don't heal the sick and treat the wounded, then what sort of doctor are you? You're just an unethical bastard!" "I can't believe doctors like you still exist! You have no right to remain as a doctor! I'm going to record your actions and upload the video to the Internet!" I say firmly to Wendy, "We shall not be discussing this matter. If you save him, we'll get a divorce right away!"

“You are so hot, doll,” He gruffed. “I have no idea how I managed to hold on for a fucking week.” “So you find me attractive?” I half-moaned and half-asked. “Attractive is an understatement,” Niccolo mumbled against my tit. “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Pleasure tinged with elation simmered within me at his response, causing my panties to become more saturated with addictive lust. “I want to eat you out, doll,” Niccolo uttered, as he removed his mouth from my breast. “Will you let me?” + When Talia Wilson’s dormitory is suddenly gutted by fire, she is forced to stay with her father’s hot, younger friend, Niccolo Gonzalez. There, she familiarizes herself with the walking sex dream of a man, who she has secretly loved since she saw him at her eighteenth birthday dinner, three years ago. Based on Niccolo’s casual demeanor, Talia convinces herself that he doesn’t feel the same way about her and nothing scandalous could ever happen between them. However, what she doesn’t know is that beneath Niccolo’s suave facade lies his intense sexual longing for her. What happens when alcohol mixes with their passionate desires for each other one night, causing them to surrender to their forbidden attraction toward each other? Will they forget about it or will they continue playing a wild game of lust?

“This is your cheque.” He said, making her frown. “I didn’t ask for your money.” She said, and he rolled his eyes. “You didn’t need to. But you served, and you are getting paid for it.” He said coldly before walking toward the door. “Now just be sure to keep that mouth of yours shut about it…” ********************************** She gave him one night. He gave her money for it. Mia knew it was reckless. Sleeping with a stranger, no names, no promises, just a fleeting escape from the weight of reality. But when the night ended, and he left cold bills on the nightstand like she was just another transaction, the burn of humiliation carved into her soul. She hated him for it. Hated herself for needing the money too much to throw it back. She never expected to see him again. But fate has a cruel sense of humor. Because now he’s standing in her office… powerful, arrogant, and very much her new boss. Nathan Lockwood doesn’t recognize her at first. To him, it was just one night. But for Mia, it was the night everything changed. And when he finds out the secret she’s been hiding, the game between them turns into something far more dangerous than either of them ever anticipated. He paid to forget her. Now he’ll pay anything to keep her.

Luciano Salvatore 'The Bullet' was born, raised, and comes from a long family line of serial killers. But he wants nothing to do with that legacy. The block that has made it impossible for him to run away from all of it is his uncle, Don Mauro. The most powerful drug lord and a serial killer who had snapped a long time ago. Don Mauro promised to kill Luciano's remaining family to keep him in check. On his mother's death anniversary, Luciano tried to go against Don Mauro to make his mother proud by doing the right thing and trying to save a woman named Keirah from becoming his uncle's victim in his sex trade. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with her at first sight. He finds out later that Don Mauro was not after Keirah for the sex trade, but Keirah is a biomedical engineer his uncle has been searching for. A person Don Mauro will do anything to possess. Succumbing to his heart's desire, even after Luciano finds out about this information. He tries to protect her in the only way he knows how. By kidnapping her and running away with her and his family out of the Mafia world. Setting them both on an expected path toward a love-and-hate relationship while discovering the hidden supernatural fate set upon them. What chances does Luciano have for survival and redemption while caught up in his unfamiliar feelings for Keirah?