The Gamble Kristen Ashley

"Darby.” My name comes out as a low snarl and I struggle to think. “I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Alpha.”"That's how I like you.” This almost purrs. He shifts his weight to the thigh between mine, brushing against my clit and I tremble as agonizing pleasure spirals through me. His nostrils flare with his next breath and the purr is a low sensual growl. “The better to see to every pleasurable need you have.”Big bad devilishly sexy wolf. Oh shit.

The urge to protect begins with desire... A widowed researcher, Caitlyn Maddox, opts to take her second honeymoon trip with a hired escort, a mysterious man paired with her through an exhaustive agency matching process. Unbeknownst to her, the handsome stranger, Duke Carter, who her meets her at the airport isn’t the man she hired. Along the twisting channels of romantic Venice and the intimate eateries of sophisticated Florence, sparks fly between the duo. But the agency isn’t the only group looking for the spellbound scholar and her charming companion. Amid the narrow cobblestone streets, spectacular gardens and vitrine art galleries, dangerous secrets from both her late husband’s past and Duke’s present are swiftly encroaching on Caitlyn’s blissful fantasy. Against a firestorm of half-truths and flying bullets, Duke struggles to bring Caitlyn through safely. Not merely because it’s his job to protect her, but because no one is going to hurt what’s his.

When you find yourself paired up with the school's infamous badboy for a class project that has the power to crush or elevate your grades, will you whine and make a request to be unpaired from him? Or will you swallow your fear and work with him despite the odds? Well, Alicia Smith chose to whine and make a request to be unpaired from Luke Evans, her nemesis and the infamous badboy of Riverdale High, but after an outright non-partiality declaration by the project teacher, Alicia finds herself with no other option than to work with him. Tensions will rise, but feelings will also be caught. Especially when Alicia begins to unravel the facade that Luke is putting on to hide his true self and feelings from everyone else.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood as his lips brushed against mine. The warmth in his eyes made butterflies swarm in my stomach, and I pushed myself up on the balls of my feet to close the distance between us. I knew he must feel the same way I did, that the feelings between us ran deeper than either of us had admitted to. "Ember?”A man's voice made me pull back, and I turned to meet Tristan's eyes…my mate's eyes. They were full of hurt and betrayal. As if he hadn't rejected me when he found out I, a lowly Omega, was his mate. I told myself to never look back, and I won't let him bring me down again, so I averted my eyes. "Ember is no longer your concern. Get lost.” Dex growled, arm around me in a possessive way. His Alpha command making Tristan grit his jaw before the wolf beside him grabbed his arm and pulled him away to prevent him from causing a scene. I pushed down the churning in my stomach and smiled up at Dex, wanting to pick up where we left off, to show him how much he meant to me… how good we could be together, but I froze as he spoke. "No one is looking now. You can take your hands off me." His words washed over me like a bucket of ice water, though they were just low enough that no one else would hear, saving me from public humiliation. Dex pulled himself from my touch, turned, and walked away. Right, I shouldn't have wanted more. I was just his fake mate and needed to remember my place.

“Tis better to have loved and lost…” is utter balderdash. Losing love is devastating.When a horror-movie nightmare became real, it turned everything in Teri Munroe’s life on end, costing her all the relationships she held dear in one fell swoop, including with the one man she truly loved, Jim Erickson. The only option left to the sensitive and reserved IT security specialist was to rewrite the code of her life. Abandoning her childhood home and Jim, she made a life of contract work to provide for their child, the daughter Jim doesn’t know he has. But when random chance leads Teri to a lucrative contract in Jim’s hometown, she finds herself face to face with him again and the love she thought was lost. Can they find a way to restore it? And when Teri's nightmare comes full circle again, can they survive it this time together?

Just Before the engagement party began, Audrey walked up to Keith with the bad news. “Sophia is missing, am guessing she must have eloped with her boyfriend Frederick”. Keith dazed at her, everyone was gathered, his family, friends, business partners and reporters were everywhere all eagered to meet the young mistress of the Winslow family. He strode into the room and meet Lindsey, the event planner, staring at her, he uttered “Can you fit into Sophia's shoe" Audrey stared at him stunned, the suprise look on her face mixed with jealousy didn't escape Lindsey who gulped feeling nervous. "Keith what are you doing?" Audrey asked but Keith didn't spare her a glance

Evelyn Moore is just another disenfranchised American girl, trying to scrape by with the help of her best friend, Lily, during the Depression in New York City. When a tumultuous event cascades into a roller coaster series of them a few short weeks before the grand opening of the much anticipated 1939 World’s Fair, Evelyn worries how she’ll survive, even more so when she realizes that her every near miss ends up that way by the deliberate effort of her new and complicated boss, Andrew James. Cool, collected and complicated, Andrew James is the wunderkind behind much of his family and employer’s success but knowing the ropes so well you can always pull all the strings is only so rewarding. When Evelyn unexpectedly tumbles into his life, he finds himself pushed outside his wheelhouse and peering into a new and delightfully intriguing unknown, one with a future he relishes. A world of tomorrow.

They say I killed my father. They say I ordered my maid, my dearest friend, to poison him. They say she confessed before taking her own life. Lies. The real murderer stands before me, weaving her web of deception and has the entire Royal court in her grasp. Queen Andessa, my wicked stepmother. My father’s killer. She has stripped me of my title, my crown, my very birthright, and has offered me up as a tribute to the Dragon King of Drakarith. A mercy punishment, she calls it. But I am not broken. She thinks she has won. That I will succumb to defeat and forget who I am. But she's wrong. I am Dahlia Rhadaya Balerion, the rightful Queen of Velmira. And I will return to reclaim what is mine and rip out Velmira's corruption by its roots. Starting with Andessa's rotten fertilized eggs. My callous step-siblings. Velmira is my home, my kingdom, and I will not let it rot under the rule of vipers. But reclaiming what is mine will not be easy, especially trying to achieve that from the dragon lands of Drakarith, under the watchful vigilance of Azraelyrs, a dragon king I have heard rumors about his cold-heartedness and rules with an iron fist. To survive, I must play the game of seduction and manipulation against my enemies. To win, I must be sharper, stronger, and more ruthless than I have never been before in my life. Let the games begin.

At age 5, I met you. Understood that I was born to marry you. You were silent, you were shy. But I managed to make you be my friend. At age 13, I fell in love with you. I loved your cheeky smile. I loved the way I am the only person you rely on.At age 17, I became yours and promised myself to you. I pledged to wait for you no matter how long. You were sweet, caring, and treated me like I'm the only woman in your world. At age 18, you left. Moving to another country to meet the future that you are born to. I waited but you hardly called. At age 25, you came back for me, but you're not the man I knew. From the day I was born, I was meant to be his. It was okay. Everything was great. I loved him as we played on the playgrounds, as we watched grow up- and he loved me. Suddenly, he left with his father to go to Italy leaving me behind for seven years, he came back but he wasn't the same.From the day I was born, I was meant to be his. I was happy to be his. But he was no longer the man who I was betrothed to.

Nephilim exist. Lycans exist. Vampires exist. Witches exist. Now a mixed group of species race to stop two world ending threats while trying to save the only person alive that can stop the evil Goddess hell bent on taking over the world. The catch? This person has been trapped in purgatory for thousands of years and has no idea how to use her powers. Will the love from a man who doesn't love others be enough to save the planet from slavery and destruction?