The Gaze

What happens when your best friend turns out to be your new stepbrother? ~ Elizabeth Roberts has one secret. She harbors unusual feelings for her best friend, James Hall. What James doesn't realize is that his every subtle gaze makes her heart flutter and his every new relationship with another girl breaks it all over again. Having to hide it all while being his best friend, and supposedly the only girl he can’t get is harsh enough for Elizabeth but what happens when they are put together under one roof? What happens when her best friend turns out to be her next-room stepbrother? Will Eliza fight against her growing unruly yearnings for him or will she finds herself giving in despite the new connection between them?

Illustrator Isabelle Montrose arrives in Valmont’s rain-soaked quarter, sketchbook in hand but ideas elusive beneath the amber glow of Café de Minuit. One evening, architect Alexander Vale seeks shelter under the same streetlamp, crimson umbrella in hand. His measured gaze meets her restless creativity, and a silent bond forms as raindrops dance on cobblestones. As Isabelle’s graphic-novel deadline approaches, self-doubt claws at her confidence; Alexander, torn between family expectations and his passion for design, struggles in silence. A misread glance threatens to sever their fragile connection, forcing both to confront fear and longing. In lavender-tinted twilight and beneath flickering lanterns, Isabelle and Alexander choose vulnerability over solitude. Together, they discover that true art—and true love—arises when two hearts light each other’s darkest moments.

Emberlyn is drowning in medical bills, student loans, and a sister whose life depends on money she doesn’t have. One reckless night at a strip club forces her to break her own rules, and in doing so, she collides with Jaxon Sullivan, a man whose gaze feels like possession and whose touch awakens something feral inside her. By morning, Emberlyn learns the truth; the man she gave herself to is her professor and he will not let her go. Jaxon is an Alpha heir fighting for a stolen throne, and Emberlyn is his forbidden mate, human, fragile, and dangerously tempting. A bond ignited by desire puts her directly in the path of his enemies. Protection turns into possession. Desire turns into obsession. And loving him might cost Emberlyn her humanity or her life.

Two months into my cold war with Sean, the lover he’d been keeping finally danced her way right up to me, the real deal. Everyone expected me to react the same way I always had before, kicking up a huge scene to stake my claim. Instead, I looked at the intimate photos of Sean and her in the group chat, smiled, and sent them my blessing. [Looking good. Wishing you two a long and happy life.] The chat went dead silent. Sean must’ve sobered up from his little paradise because in the middle of the night, he drove home and pounded on my door. He was furious. “Do you think this is funny?” However, I only met his gaze calmly. “Honestly, after all these years, none of it is.”

"You are not going anywhere Alina, especially not to that green-eyed bastard." He said, slamming her against the wall & caging her in his arms. "Who do you think you are to tell me that? You are not my boss, Shane." She glared at him. He smirks, "I think you forgot who the boss is. You want me to remind you again?" He licked his lips as his gaze darted towards her lips. Her lips quivered under his hot gaze, as his lips almost touching hers. She took deep breaths, 'Control yourself Alina. Don't get him under your skin.' "Don't play with fire, Shane. You don't know who you are dealing with." She smirked. "Try me." He whispered, lightly grazing her earlobe with his teeth. ____ Alina, a strong headed & badass woman whose life is perfect as a Event planner. She just wants to increase her branches with her best friend & live a simple life. The only thing that bothers her is, her insecurities with men. Everything is normal until she crosses paths with the most powerful gang leader in New York. Shane Vincent King. He’s hot, mysterious, sexy yet dangerous. If you ever dare to come in his way then you’ll no longer be in this world... Every woman wants to be with him but he has his eyes only for one woman. What if Alina is that woman who he wants for all his life? Can she be able to put her insecurities aside for him? What if she got dragged into a dangerous life after entering his life? Or is her life already dangerous because of her unknown past? Will Shane help her to know her past, leading her into a new life & fall in love with each other or fate has some other plans for them?

I died... and then I died again. “Vale,” I moaned, my voice fractured. He met my gaze, his heart racing. “Yes, baby.” I whimpered softly, my breath hitching as his name escaped my lips once more. “V–Vale–!” “You want to make a mess in your pants again, don’t you?” He asked, locking his gaze with my watery eyes as he pulled my face down to meet his by my throat. “Such a naughty vampire, you were so messy and sticky all over your thighs just earlier, and now you want to do it again,” he murmured hoarsely, watching as I cried out in response. Where had all that macho boldness disappeared? He wondered. Just moments ago, I was ready to drive him insane with my teasing, and now I was a mess, a puddle melting away in his hands, completely at his mercy. The power dynamic shifted, and he reveled in my surrender, eager to push me further into this wild desire. **** Talon/Virgil faces an agonizing cycle of deaths. In his first life, his love was crushed, and he was murdered—only for fate to repeat its cruel game in his next existence. How many more deaths must he suffer before he can find the happiness he's been relentlessly pursuing? Just when Talon believes he’s finally found peace, fate spins him back into chaos, casting him into a void once again. This time, he awakens from a coma to discover he's inhabiting the body of a stepbrother he never knew existed until, of course, he awakened in his body—a married man with a family. As Talon grapples with his new reality, he must balance the façade of being a devoted stepbrother, husband, and father while yearning for the one true love that has haunted him through the ages.

"You have no idea do you?" He whispers, his lips only a millimetre from mine. "No idea about what?" His fingers slip around my waist, pulling me firmly against his body. I feel him everywhere. He's hard where I'm soft. Calm where my heart is beating. He lifts a hand to my face, gently cupping my cheek as he tilts my gaze to meet his. His thumb brushes against my lower lip and I suck in a sharp breath when I notice just how dark his gaze is. "You have no idea the power you have over me." ... Born to a mother who abandoned her family and a father who never even knew he existed, Aaron O Sullivan has spent his entire life fighting to prove he belongs. With a chip on his shoulder and blood on his hands, he’s determined to reclaim the legacy stolen from him. When no one moment of anger causes the one person he's grown to care about everything he's determined to step up and save her despite even if she thinks she doesn't want his help. And what way to protect her other than a fake engagement. Waitress By Day, Stripper By Night, Elle will do whatever it takes to pay off her uncle and finally buy her freedom. But behind her sharp tongue and seductive smile is a secret and trauma so depe she wasn't sure she could heal. Until him. She doesn't understand why he wants to protect her especially because he's the reason she's in this mess to begin with. She's got pain and he's got secrets. What happens when the two collide just how far are they willing to go for the things they desire.

His sharp intake of breath hit her, gaze dragging over her breast to her mound. Every part of her body his dark, hungry gaze touched, burned. His voice was deeper than any she'd ever heard. “On the couch.” She obeyed. She made her way to the couch and sank into the plush cushions. “Spread your legs.” She hesitated, biting down on her lower lip. A frustrated groan left Jason's lips and Anna jumped at the sound. Before she could blink, she was pushed back on the couch, Jason's lips over hers. His hands grazed her nipples, and he shoved her thighs apart, settling between them. He took her breast into his mouth sucking until sparks shot to her core. "Jason—" she gasped, desperate. ******** Anna was supposed to be enjoying her sister’s wedding after-party, not stuck in a locked car with the groom’s infuriating older brother. Jason Knight—best man, shameless flirt—had been under her skin since they met for rehearsals, and now, in her space. He wasn’t supposed to make her skin heat with one touch. And she wasn’t supposed to end the night tangled in bed with him. One night. That’s all it was meant to be. But what Anna doesn't know: Jason isn’t just her brother-in-law’s maddeningly smug brother, he’s the boy she once humiliated in high school—the one who never forgot, and he’s spent every one of the years after changing everything about himself. Now, he's back with a grudge, a memory that cuts deep, and a plan. Twenty-one days. One dangerous game. Anna is about to learn that some grudges don’t fade, they smolder and ignite. When old wounds collide with white-hot chemistry, will revenge blur into something even more dangerous? or will it be their ruin?

"What am I to you? A trash picker?" I asked him sarcastically, looking at him from head to toe in disdain. "Lauren." he growled, clenching his fists tightly, glaring at me in disbelief. "Yeah, I know this is my name. You don't need to remind me, and please don't pop up in front of me like an unwanted ad in the middle of an interesting scene. You irritate me the most in this way." I scolded him, still with an ugly expression in disgust on my face. "So, now I disgust you, huh? Why didn't you disgust before when I." "Because I was a fool back then. I assumed a filthy rock as a gem and paid a heavy price for that." Before he could complete his sentence, I interrupted him, scolding him in a loud voice. His already widened angry eyes widened more in shock this time. I took a step forward while locking my gaze with him. "A scum like you who used me when he needed me and then slapped the divorce paper doesn't deserve even a glance from me, Gabriel. Never bother me again, or else what I will do to you, you can't even think about that." "Hey, babe. Why are you here?" I beamed when I heard his magnetic voice calling me from behind. I immediately moved towards him when Gabriel held my wrist. "You are making a mistake, Lauren," he warned me in a stiff voice. I yanked my hand from his grip and threw a disgusting gaze on him before walking towards the boy who treated me like a treasure. Gabriel’s devotion to his first love made me realize that loving myself is the only thing that can make me happy forever. I grabbed Vincent's arm with a beaming smile.

“I don't want to see this angelic face of hers that deceived me and murdered my child, she disgusts me, she is nothing but a worthless, good for nothing, liar. I was so good to her and this is how she repays me? I fucking loved her, I changed who I was for her sake. I put up with her annoying and embarrassing ass but you know what, take her back to Ryan if you must, I'm sure he was so relieved when I took her off his hands but even I regret taking her.” Camilla composes herself, finding her balance but still a crying mess. “You don't mean that, you're just mad. You love me, remember?” she mummers, her gaze drifting to Santiago. “Tell him he loves me and he's just mad.” she begs, when Santiago doesn't respond, she shakes her head, her gaze falling on Adrian again and he stares at her with disdain. “You said you love me forever.” she whispers. “No, I fucking hate you right now!” He yelled. ***** Camilla Mia Burton is a Wolf less seventeen-year-old with insecurities and fear of the unknown. She is a half-human part-werewolf; she's a powerful wolf even though unaware of the power within her and has a beast too a rare gem. Camilla is as sweet as she can be. However what happens when she meets her mate and he is not what she dreamed about? He is a cruel cold-hearted eighteen years old Alpha. He is ruthless and in disapproval of Mates he wants nothing to do with her. She endeavors to change his perception of how he sees things, yet he loathes and rejects her pushing her away but the mate bond proves to be strong. What will he do when he regrets rejecting and hating her?