The Hard Thing About Hard Things Novels & Stories

Title: His Favorite Plaything (erotic short stories) Genre: Erotic Romance / Dark Romance / LGBTQ+ / Forbidden Love / Billionaire / Paranormal Blurb: No one in these pages is sane. No one is clean. And every one of them is starving for the kind of pleasure you only think about in the dark. This collection devours you, drags you beneath its surface, and leaves you raw, trembling and desperate for more. Inside, you’ll find possessive men who take obsession too far, women who crave what should break them, tangled power games that blur devotion and danger, forbidden affairs that taste like betrayal and heaven, and supernatural lovers who make surrender feel like damnation. These are the cravings you dare not admit. The ones that make you bite your lip when no one is watching. Don’t pretend you’re innocent. If a part of you aches for something darker, prepare to be consumed. Open the book. Surrender completely. Become someone’s favorite plaything… for as long as you can stand it. And remember: no one here will save you. No one will judge you. They’ll only give you exactly what you came for.

On the first day of her marriage, Lyra Leighton told her CEO husband, Wesley Cheswick, "I don't care if you fall for someone else later. But if she ever shows up in front of me, you'll never see me again." So when he did fall for a schoolteacher, he kept her tucked away. Gave her everything she wanted. Everything except permission to cross Lyra. But the side chick got bold on his affection and ignored the line. She showed up with a baby bump and shoved it in Lyra's face. "Wesley said it himself. He never loved you. He married you for your family's status. Know your place. Get an abortion and divorce him. Now. Otherwise, when Wesley dumps you, you won't get a dime." Lyra smiled and called her father. "Pull the investment from Cheswick Tech. I'm getting a divorce."

I once thought I would spend my entire life in love with my husband, Vincenzo, the Don of the De Luca family. In the end, our whirlwind romance was no match for a childhood promise. On the day Vincenzo went through with a sham marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Chloe, to honor a blood oath, I destroyed the penthouse we had filled with memories and left his city for good. When Vincenzo used the family's entire intelligence network and still couldn't find me, the untouchable Don was driven mad. Later, he offered a worldwide bounty for any information on my whereabouts and even publicly begged me to come back. Too bad for him, I already wore another man's ring. Vincenzo, nothing waits for you forever. Especially a love you strangled with your own hands.

When D.C. lawyer Hannah McCrae heads home for her brother’s wedding, she’s dragging a lot of baggage along with her—and she doesn’t mean suitcases. Betrayed personally, and humiliated professionally, the last thing she wants is a new man. That’s fine with square-jawed, rugged contractor Calder Blue. He and Hannah may be wildly attracted to one another, but all he wants is to build the town’s hotly contested new yacht club and mend a centuries-old family feud. Yet thanks to resentments old and new, day after day the pair wind up tangled in each other’s business—and maybe soon in each other’s arms. Every bride needs something “blue”… Includes a delicious wedding cake recipe!

18++ "Damn, you're so tight." Hailey Bruce arched her back against the cold wood of the courtroom desk as Zeke Maximo, the ruthless crime lord she had sworn to fight, ripped her innocence away one thrust at a time. His hand clamped around her throat, and his voice was a low growl in her ear. "Your mayor daddy would be so proud watching you right now." But it wasn't until Hailey noticed the red recording light flash in the corner of the room that she realized Zeke wasn't just taking her body. He was systematically destroying her reputation. Hailey Bruce is twenty-four years old and has a perfect record. The youngest lawyer in Virginia, untouchable, unshakeable, and desperate to earn her father's approval, but she was never the daughter he desired. He chose Vivian, a surgeon, a doctor, and her perfect twin. Hailey was nothing more than a shadow. Until zeke maximo walked into her courtroom. Her father's greatest adversary, a man who never remained in prison. He turned trials into theater and made her tremble in anger. and in need. What started as a case evolved into a dangerous obsession. And once Zeke had her, he never planned to let her go. When crime and justice collide, there are no rules—only submission.

During summer break, I took my son, Luke Thorne, diving at our private beach. Ralph Foster, a hotshot TV actor, suddenly showed up with a whole entourage and barged in. "This is a private beach that Gloria personally secured for me to entertain VIPs. You two nobodies had better get lost right now!" He threw his weight around and even dragged my wife, Gloria Stokes, out as a threat. When he learned who I was, he went a step further and mocked me as a kept man living off my wife. I actually laughed. I was the head of the Thornes, the most powerful family in Frenkinston. Since when did I become some freeloading, useless husband? On top of that, Gloria's film studio and every bit of her backing came from me. But when Gloria arrived, she sided with Ralph and actually tried to force Luke to put on a show for some sleazy investors. Sneering, I made a call that only the head of the Thornes had the authority to make. "Shark Vanguard, clear Crescent Bay. Now."

When model student, April gets involved with the alpha players on campus(including her stepbrother, Xaden and his friends; Ace and Nick, it’s a win-win situation for them. She gets to live out her wildest and kinkiest fantasies while they get to punish her for daring to go against them, they thought it was going to be three months of intense pleasure and they'd say bye bye to each other. But things take a different turn when feelings got into it, when they realized that there's a blurred mate bond between them all, and a curse that doom them all to hell. This is a very dark romance book with lots of explicit sex contents. The male leads are actual pyschos that'd do dark and twisted things to the female lead so skip if this isn't your thing.

⚠️ Trigger Warnings: Contains explicit sexual content, consensual power dynamics, manipulation, dominance/submission themes, obsession, emotional degradation, and morally gray characters. 18+ only. Reader discretion is advised. My Reluctant Plaything is a raw, intoxicating collection of gay erotica where lust blurs the lines between love and control. Every story is a clash of dominance and resistance of men who crave power and those who refuse to kneel... until they do. From ruthless mafia heirs and calculating professors to damaged billionaires and possessive strangers, these stories dive deep into forbidden desires, reluctant submission, and the thrilling high of surrendering to the one man you shouldn't want. It’s not about romance. It’s about obsession. They said no. But their bodies said everything else.

She is a nerdy Omega everyone picked on. He is the bad boy Alpha who hated her. Until fate changed everything. Lily Mittens had always kept her head down, hiding behind books and oversized sweaters, secretly crushing on Joe Wellington, the rude, arrogant future Alpha who never even looked her way. So when the Moon Goddess marks Joe as her fated mate, Lily is excited, but Joe doesn’t want a weak Omega for a Luna. But Lily is no ordinary wolf. She has a power that could change everything but she doesn't know it yet. Will Joe see the real Lily before it’s too late? Will Joe Wellington accept her as his fated mate? Find out in this story!

God is always fair, but the world is never fair. Sometimes to defeat bad people, you must become a bad one yourself. His bloody hands rested on his knees which were spread apart. His head was bent and he looked perfect for the job. I just offered him my hand."I don't need your help. I can get up on my own."I raised an eyebrow at him and connected my hand with his. I attempted to pull him up. But, he didn't budge. I tried again, but no luck. This time, he growled. "Stop it and get lost. Leave me alone." He pointed his finger at me. I immediately caught hold of the finger and attempted to snap it, but he was quicker than me. He caught my hand which was holding his finger and twisted it so that my arm was strangling my own neck and I was pressed against his chest. We broke into a fight and in the end, we both were breathless and I was straddling him.