Showing results by narrator "Loretta Rawlins" in All Categories

"Be careful, man. Don't be seduced by the bright lights of the city. Even the strongest of men find their weakness." When Jackson spouted his advice, I laughed. A man in my position doesn't have weaknesses. Or so I think. The night I meet Poppy Malone, everything changes. The breathtaking bohemian is an irresistible temptation I never saw coming. One night is all it takes for her to seal our fate. She's convinced the odds aren't in our favor. I've never backed down from a challenge. When someone from her past reappears, delivering the ultimate betrayal, the stakes grow higher.

Here's the deal. I'm 16, and I'm getting married. Super weird, I know. It was just me and my dad. We lived on a cattle ranch in Montana. He died suddenly, leaving me an orphan (which is still a thing). I'm 16 months away from being a legal adult, so I have two choices. A foster home or marry Jake Talley. My dad's foreman and really, my best friend. It's legal. It solves all my problems. Except now, I'm living with Riverbend's hottest cowboy - my husband in name only - and I'm still in high school. Where no one wants to date weird, married Ellie.

Business and Pleasure shouldn't mix. Yet, that's exactly what I'm contemplating after Seattle's most eligible bachelor strolled into the diner where I work and made me an offer I'm having a hard time refusing. Beckett Anderson has the looks and money to get the attention of any woman, and yet he wants me to be the one at his beck and call. If I accept, I'm to be his assistant in and out of the boardroom. In exchange, I'd finally have a chance to use my college degree and escape the cycle of poverty I've known my entire life.

A beautiful stranger. That's all she was when I moved into the house beside her. And then I discovered something. My neighbor isn't your typical girl next door. She's a preacher's daughter. She's a business professional. She's a fiery vixen who desires a strong alpha in the bedroom. And a firm grip around her throat. That's what I give her. But more than that, I want to leave my mark on the most intimate, untouched part of her body. Her heart.

They call me Big Pickle. It's not what you think. (Although that's true, too.) I happen to be the oldest Pickle in the family deli business. And we have the best salami. Take that one however you like. But when my father announces the franchise will go to the most profitable of the three brothers, I learn that even though I'm the eldest Pickle, I'm dead last. I hightail it to Texas to see what's happened to my restaurant, only to find a sassy little spitfire named Nova Strong in charge. She's amazing. She's sexy. She runs our deli like she owns it.

Matt Osborn had no idea coaching his five-year-old nephew's soccer team would get him so much attention from the mothers—attention he doesn't want now that he's given up on love and having a family of his own. Yep, Matt's the last of his bachelor buddies and plans on staying that way. That is until he finds himself face to face with the woman who broke his heart.

Three novellas and an unforgettable short story, now available together in one festive package!

Romance isn't an option for Holly Greenwood. With her wedding planner career on the line, she needs to stay focused, and that means pleasing her demanding boss, not getting distracted by her mind-alteringly hot neighbor.... Ex-marine Kevin Vandemeer craves normalcy. Instead he has a broken-down old house in need of a match and some gasoline, a meddling family, and the uncanny ability to attract the world's craziest women. At least that last one he can fix.

Trey Sheenan has cultivated his reputation as Marietta's resident bad boy, until one day he lets things go too far and he loses everything - his freedom, his fiancee McKenna Douglas, and his infant son. McKenna has loved Trey since they were kids, but she's had enough. When Trey is sent away for five years, McKenna is determined to do what's right for her and baby TJ, which means putting her mistakes - namely Trey - behind her, and move on.

Ellie: Quick recap. My dad died leaving me an orphan. Jake stepped in and married me rather than letting me go to a foster home. Did I mention I was only 16 at the time? It was okay for a while until it wasn't. Because those feelings that I had for Jake as my oldest friend slowly turned into something else over the years. Feelings he could not deal with. So I did the right thing and divorced him. It was the right thing. I'm pretty sure it was the right thing. Okay it was probably the wrong thing...but I don't think either of us know where we go from here.

My obsession was born of innocence and good intentions, and it began the day I spotted a handwritten journal lying in the bushes outside a townhouse on Lexington Avenue. It was raining sideways that morning, and my plan was to return it the next day, safe and dry. Only I kept it. I kept it, and I read it. A week later, overwhelmed with curiosity and feeling guilty for harboring secrets that didn't belong to me, I tried to return it. Only I wasn't expecting to meet him. Unapologetically heartless and enigmatically sexy, he claims he knows nothing about the journal.

My employee's daughter. That's all she was when I let her do odd jobs around the warehouse for a few extra bucks. And then she went away for college. This now beautiful, sexy, desirable woman is no longer the tomboy I once called Kiddo. I want to see how she responds to my kiss. I want to feel her body tremble as she anticipates my touch. I want to learn all the places that bring her pleasure. And I do...in secret. She's my intern and under me for the summer. Literally. This was supposed to be a fling. A little fun between the sheets without commitment - that’s what we called it.

Ellie: I married Jake Talley when I was 16 because I was an orphan left with a cattle ranch to run, and getting hitched was the only way to keep me out of a foster home. It was supposed to be easy; a marriage of convenience. Only I'm not a kid anymore and my husband is the hottest guy in Riverbend, Montana. The plan was to get divorced when I turned 18, but life got in the way. Life, my feelings...the kiss. Did I mention the kiss? Only now he won't let himself touch me. The right thing to do would be to divorce Jake. But I can't help wonder, what would it be like to be Jake's wife?

Stay out of the forest, Gran had said: it’s no place to be at night. Especially, when it’s a full moon. Zoelle Baudelaire should have listened. Now she must navigate a world she’d only ever read about in fairytales, full of formidable witches and domineering werewolves out for blood. Yet no story could have prepared Zoelle for Aleksandr ‘Xander’ Adolphus - the volatile Alpha of the Adolphus Pack - or the seductive soulmark that bound their souls together.

When I was a child I thought I'd marry my best friend. Our relationship flirted on the edge of becoming something more for years. That was before I accidentally married his older brother. One forgotten night in Vegas changed the course of my life. Ours is a marriage of inconvenience. Stryker Lawson is older, constantly grumpy, and my new boss. He's also my every fantasy made flesh, but I won't be ruled by my emotions. No matter how hard I try to push him away, he won't give up on the idea of us. Neither will his brother.

Marnie Somerset's new job at the Mystic Springs Library seems almost too good to be true. Yes, the small Alabama town is populated with more than its share of odd people, and she did have a flat tire on her way into town and hallucinate Bigfoot crossing the road, which made for less than a stellar start. But the library is fantastic, her new house is charming, and the hot local writer keeps crossing her path.

If anyone asks, I knew better than to flash my boobs for Mardi Gras beads. I still don't know why I did it. Maybe it was the dare from my two best friends. Maybe it was the guys on the balcony saying they'd throw Fireball shots with the beads. Or maybe it was the quiet guy in the corner of that same balcony with piercing gray eyes, wavy dark hair, and a smile so tempting I wanted to climb up there and lick it off his face. Maybe it was because I never thought I'd see them again. Not that it matters. Not today. Because the hotel I manage was finally bought.

Women haven't been hired to work in my bar for a reason: they're too tempting and too distracting - too much of a liability. That's why I shocked myself by hiring Avery Cole. She's young, carefree, and happy - a beautiful distraction. When she's around, the devastation of my past gets buried under layers of lust and desire...hints of a life I once lived but have completely given up on. I've already had my love and now that's gone; there's no need to try again. Even if love is staring me right in the face with a pair of deep brown eyes and no expectations.

Marietta, Montana's new librarian, is the quiet type who likes her glamour between the book covers. When she's pushed into attending the formal Valentine Ball with Marietta's Most Eligible Bachelor Troy Sheenan, Taylor can't imagine a worse pairing. What in the world would she have in common with a wealthy playboy like Troy?

For Gabi Lawson, Mystic Springs has been the perfect hiding place for her and her daughter. For the past year she's kept her head down and made a decent living cutting and styling hair. Even though she's becoming comfortable in her new home, she's always behind locked doors when the sun goes down. The last thing she wants or needs is a man in her well-structured life.