The Grind Never Stops

His face was inches from mine. His breath ghosted over my lips—warm, whiskey-scented from dinner and my body remembered him instantly: the way he’d pinned my wrists, the slow grind of his hips, the filthy things he’d growled in my ear while I came apart beneath him. He leaned in. I felt the pull—like gravity, like hunger. My lips parted on instinct. Just one more inch and we’d be kissing again, messy and desperate, right here in his car like teenagers who couldn’t wait. But reality crashed in. I jerked back, pressing myself against the door. “We can’t.” His jaw ticked. “Why not?” "Because I practically raised you.” My voice shook. “Because your mom is my best friend and I'm way older than you..." "I don't care" he bit out, shocking me even further. "I’ve wanted you since I was old enough to know what wanting meant. And don’t pretend like you don't feel something too." Sophie helped raise him. She was there for homework, school runs, and the lonely years when his parents were too busy. To her, he was just her best friend’s son. Years later, she catches her husband cheating on their anniversary and loses her unborn child due to the shock, Sophie spends the night with a stranger that she never expects to see again. But the stranger is Antonio — the boy she once helped raise. Now he’s all grown up. Powerful. Successful. And off limits. She manages to escape from him — so she thinks — until days later, she gets hired in a fashion company where Antonio is the CEO.

Skye Hale swore she'd never let another person she loved die without answers. Her mother was silenced by a cartel hit, the case buried by the very agency she served. Skye became the hunter instead.  Undercover. Relentless. Willing to burn everything to uncover the truth. Then Zane, the only man who ever made her feel safe, forced her to choose: him or the ghosts. She chose him. They planned a wedding. She almost believed she could leave the darkness behind. Three days before the vows, her best friend Red was gunned down in the same strip club where she danced to survive. The same cartel. The same cover-up. On the morning she was supposed to walk down the aisle, an anonymous file landed in her phone. Proof that Red died trying to help her, and the killer's trail led straight back to the man who once ran her mother's missions. Skye walked out in her wedding dress, left Zane at the altar, and vanished into the night. Now she's deep in Australia's underworld, disguised as a stripper, chasing the same shadows that took everything from her. The addiction she buried years ago is roaring back. Every slow grind on stage, every stranger's hands on her skin, feeding the raw, aching hunger she can't control. But the deeper she digs, the more dangerous the game becomes. A former colleague wants her dead. A protector sent to save her is hiding his own betrayal. And the man who ordered her mother's murder is closer than she ever imagined. Close enough to touch. Close enough to seduce for the final piece of evidence. One wrong move, and she'll lose her life. One right touch, and she'll lose herself. Skye Hale came for justice. She might leave in ashes.

Thalia Ruelle had always loved Mikael Vireaux but her love was never returned. The day she finally confessed her feelings, he broke her heart with gentle words… and the announcement that he was marrying her best friend, Alina Lowe. Still, Thalia stayed by their side, hiding her heartbreak behind a smile. Until the night everything shattered. Thalia visits Alina to congratulate her on the engagement. But instead of celebration, she’s met with anger and screaming until Alina throws her out. By morning, Alina went missing. Everything was a mess and everyone assumed she was dead. And the last person to see her was Thalia. When Kael returns from a business trip and learns of Alina’s death and the rumors surrounding it, he makes a chilling assumption that Thalia who was consumed by jealousy and rejection, murdered her best friend. As punishment, he does the unthinkable. He imprisons her in his own home. Now bound to him, Thalia lives beneath Kael’s cruelty. His coldness, his rage, his quiet vow to make her suffer. And yet… she never stops showing him kindness and her love. But when Kael finds out the truth of Alina's fake death, Thalia’s spirit has already fractured. To prove her innocence, her only choice was to take her own life. Will Kael realize the truth in time to save her? Or has his revenge already destroyed the only woman who ever truly loved him?

Chelsey grows up with the desire to avenge her parents' death and her rape. Her five year old son is her only joy while she has this earnest desire for revenge. What will happen when she discovers that the person behind all these is her mate and the father of her son, the powerful and famous Alpha Aiden? Her discovery not only stops here but goes deeper into the real purpose he did this and the real character behind his act? It has lots of hidden secrets to be revealed, revenge and decisions to be made. PREQUEL TO ALPHA'S HIDDEN DESIRES.

Abused by her criminal father, Gail developed a trauma that didn't want to be touched, especially by men. One day, her father's karma came in Michael's form, killing him and leaving Gail alone. Not knowing what to do with her, Michael decided to take her in, originally planning on using her. However, what will happen if Gail, who only wants to experience genuine love, and Michael, who stops entertaining the concept of love at all, live in one house? Or when the original plan of using her completely changed to taking care of her?

Three weeks after Lily had a one night stand with a stranger, she discovers she's going to be a mother at the age of twenty-three. Her father, a business tycoon, hurries to marry her to a rich man's son to avoid scandalous rumors. However, on their wedding day, just when she is about to say 'I do', a man appears at the door of the church and stops the wedding. To Lily's horror, it's the man she had one night stand with, and turns out he's not an ordinary man but a filthy rich don, and she just found herself marrying him.

His mouth claimed hers with a hunger he’d clearly been holding back for years, tongue sliding deep, slow, possessive. Large hands mapped her body like he’d memorized it from stolen glances—cupping her breasts through her thin top, thumbs circling her nipples until they ached and peaked. “You’ve been driving me crazy,” he rasped against her throat, teeth grazing the sensitive skin. “Every time you walked through that door in those little sundresses…” He backed her against the wall, one thigh pressing firmly between hers so she could grind down on the hard ridge of him. Melanie whimpered, already soaked, hips rolling shamelessly. Marcus groaned approval, fingers slipping beneath her skirt to find her drenched panties. “Fuck, sweetheart,” he breathed, stroking her clit through the lace in slow, deliberate circles. “So wet for me already. Been thinking about this?” “Yes—God, yes,” she gasped, nails digging into his shoulders. ********** She knew it was wrong, craving her best friend’s father, but it was a sin she was willing to indulge in... damn the consequences, even if that includes a heartbreak.

Paige Aviva thought she had it all love, stability, and a marriage others admired. But everything falls apart on her fifth wedding anniversary when anonymous photos reveal her husband, Ethan, in an intimate act with her best friend. Her heartbreak deepens when she discovers her younger sister is pregnant with his second child only weeks after Ethan coerced her into aborting theirs. Crushed by betrayal and grief, Paige tries to end her life. But a mysterious, powerful stranger named Raymond stops her at the cliff’s edge, offering her an unusual bargain: he’ll give her the power to make everyone who hurt her suffer if she agrees to his terms. Paige signs a contract, unknowingly stepping into a world of werewolves, mate bonds, ancient curses, and dangerous secrets. As she becomes entangled with Raymond and later discovers he has a vengeful twin, Ryan, Paige learns she is no ordinary woman. She’s a cursed wolf with rare powers, a prize everyone wants to control or destroy. Torn between love, revenge, and survival, Paige must choose who to trust, embrace her true nature, and fight for her life and the life of the child she never expected to carry.

His large hand wraps around my throat just enough to make my pulse race, pinning me to the rain-slicked cabin wall as thunder rolls outside. “We can’t keep doing this,” he growls, but his hips grind against mine, hard and insistent, while his free hand slips under my skirt to find me already soaked. I whimper, arching into his touch, craving the sharp sting of his palm across my ass, the way he commands me to come for him like I’m his dirty little secret. My father’s best friend, the man who’s been in my life forever finally breaking every rule to claim me roughly, deeply, until I’m trembling and marked by him. What begins as one reckless, forbidden night spirals into an addiction of heated stolen moments, whispered dominance, and raw need… until the truth crashes down, pregnancies and betrayals threaten to shatter us, and everyone we love demands we end it. But how do you walk away when the only person who owns your body and heart refuses to let go?

‘It’s not that there aren’t good people in the world. It’s that the bad ones are so much easier to find.’ A teen mother raises her daughter on a looping road trip, living hand-to-mouth in motel rest stops and backwater towns, stepping occasionally into the heat and chaos of the surrounding cities. A life without permanence, filled with terrors and joys, their stability is dependent on the strangers—and strange men—they meet along the way. But what is the difference between the love of a mother, and the love of a friend? And in a world with such blurred lines, where money is tight and there’s little outside influence, when does the need to survive slide into something more sinister? ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing