Towel Wrapped Around Waist

“You’re my goddamn stepbrother. You know this, so let’s set boundaries,” I whisper as if I’m speaking of something abominable. But it’s something that should be normal. Sane. Logical. Then Riven Rythrone lifts a hand and grabs my chin, forcing my gaze up to his. His eyes don’t belong to someone normal. They belong to someone dark. Abnormal. Insane. Illogical. “You begged to be mine. Remember?” My breath hitches, my pulse riots, and my body stupidly flinches as he snakes a hand around my waist, dragging me closer. Close into his twisted, demented world, where he rules, where reason burns, and where I’m the only thing he refuses to let go of. Twenty-year-old Adelina West has no reason to hate her mother’s marriage to a California millionaire. But when a devil with blue eyes is involved, resentment comes easy. She wants to escape him. He wants to own her. And when Riven Rythrone wants something, not even blood or sin can stop him.

My husband chooses to stay in a honeymoon suite with his secretary during a company teambuilding event. "I'm in poor health, so I need Mr. Lowe by my side to care for me when I'm taking a dip in the hot springs. I'm sure Elaine won't be mad because she's so generous, right?" My husband wraps an arm around her waist, sounding displeased as he says, "Ignore her. I'd have wasted my time on her if she's so petty!" Our colleagues chime in. "Exactly! It's best to get a divorce if your wife gets jealous so easily! Now, Ms. Klein is gentle and considerate. You're a lucky man, Mr. Lowe!" I'm the one who recruited all of these people into the company, yet they all now despise me. Since none of them like me, there's no need for the company to exist anymore. I text my parents. "Don't bother investing in the company anymore. I no longer want it."

The student I once sponsored, Lillian Pegg, jacked my identity, slapped on the "rich heiress" title, and started tossing out houses and cars like she was some fairy godmother for "underprivileged" students. Her big mission? Making sure everyone had a roof over their head. My in-laws? Wrapped around her finger. They swore up and down she'd saved their lives. Even Liam—my son with my late husband—acted like she was the only mom he'd ever had. Meanwhile, I was puking blood from ulcers, and everyone treated it like a bad improv act. Liam bought every word out of her mouth. Thought she and my husband were some kind of twin-flame couple and labeled me the evil baby snatcher. Fast-forward: I got locked in a bedroom and left to bleed out. Then I woke up. It was the exact day Lillian was playing Santa Claus. The crowd around her practically worshipped her. "You're the kindest boss in the world! You care about our food, clothes, housing, everything. We'll support you and your company forever!" Yeah, not on my watch. I shut down all her privileges right then and there. This time? Lillian and that backstabbing son of mine were gonna eat regret for the rest of their lives.

When her mother marries a billionaire, she’s dragged into a world she never asked for… private jets, elite academies, and a mansion that feels too big to breathe in. But nothing prepares her for him. Her new stepbrother. The school’s most dangerous playboy. The boy every girl wants… and every parent fears. The one person she must avoid if she wants her life to stay peaceful. But the moment their eyes meet, his gaze burns into her like a claim. At school, she tries to keep her distance. He pulls her closer. She hides from the rumors. He wraps an arm around her waist and whispers one word that changes everything: “Mate.” Suddenly, she’s the target of every jealous girl in the academy, trapped between school drama, a possessive stepbrother she can’t resist, and a bond she never believed existed. She only wanted a fresh start. Instead, she walked straight into the arms of the one boy she can never have… And the only boy who refuses to let her go.

Just imagine… You’re eighteen, innocent, and hopelessly devoted to the boy you thought would be your forever. You trusted him with every part of yourself. Loved him enough to ignore the strange late-night disappearances, the secrets, the distance growing between you. Until the night you followed him into a luxury hotel suite… and your entire world shattered. Because you weren’t walking in on another girl. You were walking in on your boyfriend wrapped around Julian Voss — the infamous billionaire every magazine in the country worshipped. And Julian Voss was drunk enough not to remember a thing. The next morning, he wakes up beside you instead. He looks into your eyes and believes you were the one in his bed. The one he touched. The one he wanted. Not Cal. You should tell him the truth. You should walk away. And suddenly revenge tastes sweeter than heartbreak.

“I thought you wanted to sleep, my Queen,” Lorcan whispered. “I changed my mind,” Niamh kissed Lorcan again, deeply, hungrily. “Besides, you owe me a wedding night.” “I stand reminded,” Lorcan bowed his head. Looking up, he grasped Niamh around the waist and turned to lay her beneath him, kissing her passionately. *** Niamh had dutifully fulfilled her obligation to marry King Lorcan of the Elven Realms, only to watch her new husband ride off to battle the very next day. But he was lost in battle, and she was left to face her new role as Queen among haters, admirers, and potential suitors… and a traitor. Despite the challenges she formed new alliances, treaties, and friends, and, once the King was found, they built an unshakable love while facing turmoil. Once free to leave, what choice will she make? Will the love they formed be strong enough to endure more than time? Rising Storm in the Elven Realms is created by Heather Dilts-Baiano, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

On the day Andrew Zelenski confesses his feelings to the pretty transfer student, everyone thinks I'll break down. They expect me to come running while crying and trying to stop him. I don't show up even after he confesses, though. Andrew has no idea that while he's busy confessing, I'm wearing his roommate's hoodie and sitting on his roommate's bed. I look at his roommate innocently and ask, "How are we going to sleep tonight now that I've wet your bed?" Spencer Lithgow looks away from me as his Adam's apple bobs. He throws a towel at me. "Go dry your hair. You can sleep once I've changed the sheets."

This is the ninth year Dante and I have honored the Month of No Masters. The Corinni family's heir apparent believes this will make our relationship last longer. For one month after our dating anniversary each year, he is free, and we stay out of each other's lives. If either of us finds someone more suitable, we are to wish them well. If not, we go back to the way things were after a month. Around me, the men of the family are spraying champagne with abandon. "To another year of freedom! Congratulations to our Underboss on reclaiming his bachelor status!" "The family betting pool is open! Place your bets on the left if you think they'll still get married, and on the right if you think it's over for good!" Through the hazy cigar smoke, I sat on the corner of a leather sofa, a cold observer, as if this whole farce had nothing to do with me. Dante's hand was curled around Scarlett's waist as he brushed past me, whispering, "Don't get any ideas. You'll always be my only Donna." "I'm a kite. No matter how far I fly, the string is always in your hand." I pressed my cold fingers against the gentle swell of my belly, my expression a blank mask. Dante, this time at the family's betting table, I'm putting my money on "the end." I'm going to vanish from your world completely. That kite string you're so proud of? Tonight, I'm cutting it myself.

I breathe heavily as he pins me to the wall, his hands wrapped tight around my throat I could barely breathe. ‘You hear me, Sera? I found you first. I noticed you first! I fell for you first. No one else, I mean, no one should put their hands on you, because if they do, I swear to God, Sera, I'll fucking break their arms and legs and serve it to you to eat!’ He growls. Seraphina Puckett is the perfect definition of trauma. A walking trauma. She tries to navigate her life, trying to bring in sunshine but as the world is determined to make it rain on her, what does she do? Does she get beaten in the rain or walk through it? When her abusive father gets out of prison and is out to get her, how does she face her fear?

"I'd love to see the look in your eyes when you kneel with a leash around your throat and do as your master says," Marshall Domayne, the hot guy I'd hated from highschool said to my face. "You'll make a great sub." "I'll never be a sub," I countered. "I love clean sex and can never be interested in your kinks." His lips lifted in a small smirk. "Ladies like you who are always in denial are the sweetest to break." .... All her life, Solayne wanted a man who would love her the right way. Fuck her the normal way. What she never prayed for was to get entangled with the rude difficult brother of her male best friend. She hated him terribly, but when the arrogant shithead became the only person that could help her with a scandal that was threatening to ruin her future, she had to go to the devil for help. But her best friend wasn't happy with the entanglement. He hated the way they looked perfect in public. Hated the way his brother's hand fit around her waist, the way he brushed her hair in public, and the way he kissed her like no one was watching. CONTENT WARNING! This book is rated 18+. It is twisted and dark in its own way. The MMC is a sadist and not someone that could pass for a saint. Raad with discretion.