When Penny Taylor runs into a handsome stranger in a coffee shop, she believes her luck has finally changed. After having her confidence unwound by her ex, she falls hard for a true gentleman. But once she realizes that her crush is her communications professor, her world is turned upside down. Haunted by dreams of the alluring Professor Hunter, Penny can't seem to dismiss her fantasies and the temptation to have him grows deeper.

Marcus Snackenberg is a born ladykiller. When Minnie Cooper moves back to her dad's hometown as a child, with her two brothers and Star Wars action figures in tow, they become immediate friends. By junior high, Minnie, although unaware, is in love with him. Snack is completely in touch with his feelings for her.

He was someone who belonged in my wildest fantasies instead of a rest stop in the middle of Nebraska. A sexy, cocky Australian named Chance was the last person I expected to run into on my cross-country drive. When my car broke down, we made a deal. Next thing I knew, we were traveling together, spending sexually tense nights in hotels, and taking unplanned detours. My ordinary road trip turned into the adventure of a lifetime. It was all fun and games until things got intense.

He was my dad's best friend - and my first crush. Falling for him was bad. Flirting with him and trying to get in his pants the night of my 21st birthday party was definitely worse. But can you blame me? I hadn't seen the guy in years and he comes back looking hotter than ever. Our fling shouldn't have even begun but now that it has, I don't want it to stop. I'm crazy for this guy - and he's obsessed with me. Too bad my father will kill him if he finds out. So we can't tell him. We just have to keep it secret. Right? That might have worked...until he got me pregnant.

Three novellas from Alexa Riley: Stay Close: A former Russian mafia soldier is hired to protect a friend’s daughter, but he knows he’ll do more than keep her safe - he’ll make her his. Forever. Hold Tight: A hotshot consultant hired to streamline Osbourne Corp. meets his match in Pandora Justice. Don’t Go: CEO Henry Osbourne has only ever desired one woman - the one who got away. She ran from a boy, but a man of power and persuasion now stands in his place.

He's rich, arrogant, and he's about to make me lose everything. Derek Conway is my first client. I was so excited about selling a house and finally making some money. But I never expected him to be the client from hell. Even if he's got abs of steel and a jaw that could cut through glass, the guy is completely awful. I'd punch him if I wasn't busy drooling on his shined shoes. Nothing I show him is good enough. In fact, the only thing that has caught his attention is...me.

After leaving the Big Apple and her bad memories for Tennessee, November starts working for her dad at his strip club doing the books. The one time she’s allowed there during club hours she runs into Asher Mayson. He’s perfect until he opens his mouth and makes assumptions. November wants nothing to do with him - but too bad for her - fate has other plans. Asher Mayson has never had a problem getting a woman - that is, not until November. Now all he can think about is making her his and keeping her safe.

Katya Tocci has never paid much attention to who lives next door - her career always kept her too busy. She's a good girl, working her way to becoming the most sought after cake designer in all of San Francisco. But even a good girl's gotta cut loose once in a while, right? So one fake dating profile later, and she's ready to tarnish her squeaky clean image. Little does she know, her fun time is closer to home than she ever imagined. Throw in a neighbor who wants to corrupt her, and another who just wants to own her, and her entire world is flipped upside down.

I’m not Mr. Settle-Down-and-Start-a-Family. Tried it. Failed at it. Don’t want it again. In fact, I like my solitary life in the mountains. I learned the hard way that life ain’t easy or fair. One minute you think you’ve got it all figured out and the next, you find your wife in your bed with your own best friend.

I hid in the shadows all my life. That was where I felt I belonged the most, because I was ridiculed by the ones I loved, by society’s view of women like me.

Evie and Leo met in foster care as children and formed a bond of friendship. As they grew, their bond turned to love, and they vowed to make a life together when they turned 18 and were no longer a part of the system.

I am loyal, but I will betray you. I am strong, but I have scars. I am an angel, but the devil. I met her when I was 16 and she was a breath of fresh air. She swooped in, making me smile. But then she left, taking my next breath with her. Her smile could light up a room, making my black heart pitter patter. I found her again 10 years later, with a syringe in her arm. Blood coming from between her legs. She was broken and I was glad she was broken. She wouldn't think less of me and my damaged ways.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.... I wasn't supposed to be boyfriendless, homeless, and jobless at 28. And I most definitely wasn't supposed to hit Hollywood's resident bad boy Gabriel Evans with my car and break his foot. Now I'm stuck in his apartment, taking care of him while he's incapacitated. Living with the hottest guy in Hollywood, who I've had a crush on forever, doesn't sound like a chore, right? Wrong. Gabriel Evans is rude and crude and drinks way too much, and as soon as his foot is healed I'm out of here. So why do I keep forgetting to check the classifieds?

Verity Michaels is new to New York City, but even she knows riding in a stolen cab is not a normal way to meet someone. Damn it if that tattoo-covered would-be felon isn't everywhere now, and lighting everything on fire under her skirt. His name is Hudson Fenn, and he's frustratingly impossible to pin down. He works as a bike messenger, but has the manners of a prince - along with a strange tendency toward breaking and entering.

When introverted doctor Ben Hardy's high-maintenance girlfriend wants to introduce a little more kink into their love life, he doesn't expect it to come in the form of the hunky new EMT who just moved to Blackwood. Ben's not gay, but damn! He can definitely see why all the women turn to mush when he's around: tall, blue eyes, body of an underwear model. The prospect of being naked in the same room with him is horrifying. So why the hell is he considering it?

He was my dad's best friend - and my first crush. Falling for him was bad. Flirting with him and trying to get in his pants the night of my 21st birthday party was definitely worse. But can you blame me? I hadn't seen the guy in years and he comes back looking hotter than ever. Our fling shouldn't have even begun but now that it has, I don't want it to stop. I'm crazy for this guy - and he's obsessed with me. Too bad my father will kill him if he finds out. So we can't tell him. We just have to keep it secret. Right? That might have worked...until he got me pregnant.

My name is Salvador Rosas. Back in the barrio, my past is written on the walls: ESHB. Short for East Side Hollenbeck, my father's gang - my gang. Hell, it's a family tradition, one that sent both my brothers away. They used to call me "Ghost" because I haunted people's dreams. Now I've got nothing going for me except a hipster gringo mentoring me in a new career. An ex-con making craft beer? No mames. Still, people in this neighborhood look out for one another.

When I was 13, he stole my heart. When I was 18, he took my innocence. When I was 23, he said he would love me forever. When I was 28, he broke my heart. Now I'm 33... and there's a knock at the door. He's back, again. And this time he's not alone.

Football star and Internet sensation Gavin "Anaconda" Adams is the biggest celebrity our little town has ever seen. But I had no idea who he was when I accidentally walked in on him naked. I was shocked, seeing all of him, a cocky grin on his face. I didn't know what to do. So I ran. No matter what I do, I can't get that image out of my head. To make matters worse, Gavin wants a date with me.

He's rich, arrogant, and he's about to make me lose everything. Derek Conway is my first client. I was so excited about selling a house and finally making some money. But I never expected him to be the client from hell. Even if he's got abs of steel and a jaw that could cut through glass, the guy is completely awful. I'd punch him if I wasn't busy drooling on his shined shoes. Nothing I show him is good enough. In fact, the only thing that has caught his attention is...me.

I always remember Scarlett as the one-night-stand who got away from me. I fell in love; she took off. It feels like a lifetime ago now, though. I traded in my guitar for a needle, working at St. Skin, bringing other people's stories to life through tattoos. Though I still think about her, I know I'll never see her again. But I never knew that after she left our one night, she left pregnant.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.... I wasn't supposed to be boyfriendless, homeless, and jobless at 28. And I most definitely wasn't supposed to hit Hollywood's resident bad boy Gabriel Evans with my car and break his foot. Now I'm stuck in his apartment, taking care of him while he's incapacitated. Living with the hottest guy in Hollywood, who I've had a crush on forever, doesn't sound like a chore, right? Wrong. Gabriel Evans is rude and crude and drinks way too much, and as soon as his foot is healed I'm out of here. So why do I keep forgetting to check the classifieds?

Carrie Wells is nothing but trouble. She's wild and difficult. Not worth anyone's time. Carrie Wells is a beautiful little brat. She's also a vulnerable young adult on my case list.... I'm breaking every rule of friendship by holing her up in my best friend Jack's house while he's away on business. I thought life was difficult enough when I fell for the girl, but it gets a whole lot harder when Jack comes home early and finds a beautiful stranger causing chaos in his house.

I didn't think answering someone else's cell phone would change my life. But the stranger with the low, deep voice on the other end of the line tempted me, awakened my body, set me on fire. He was looking for someone else. Instead he found me. And I found a hot, secret world where I felt alive for the first time.

Taylor Shaw had the perfect life - until she was 16. That was when everything changed. From that moment on, life went from bad to worse...to the worst. After recovering from a brain tumor, months later, she suffers the tragic loss of her whole family. Since that fateful day, she's been coasting through life. Now the brain tumor has returned, and Taylor decides she's had enough. She's going to take her fate into her own hands. No more hospitals. No more surgeries. No more anything.

Five Aston has known Rory Shrike for as long as he can remember. He played with her in the sandbox. He went to every damn horse show just to be supportive. He helped her with her French, walked her home from school, and faked his test scores just to stay with her a little longer and not be sent off to college early. But eventually he had to move on. And so did she. Never has a second chance meant so much to a boy who loves a girl.

Claire is a 20-something, single mom who grudgingly helps her best friend sell sex toys while she attempts to make enough money to start her own business to give her foul-mouthed, but extremely loveable (when he's asleep) toddler a better life. When Carter, the one-night-stand from her past that changed her life forever, shows up in her hometown bar without any recollection of her besides her unique chocolate scent, Claire will make it a point that he remembers her this time. With Carter's undisguised shock at suddenly finding out he has a four-year-old son and Claire's panic that her stretch marks and slim-to-none bedroom experience will send the man of her dreams heading for the hills, the pair will do whatever they can to get their happily ever after.

For Katie Conners, being a good girl just isn't worth it anymore. It used to mean getting the life she always wanted. But that was before she got dumped and her ex got engaged to his rebound. So, after a bad day and one too many mojitos, Katie starts making a list of things a girl like her would never do, not in a million years....

Five seconds. A deafening blast. Pain. Silence. That was all it took for an IED to end my life as I knew it. The man I was shattered in a hard wave of sound and debris that rained down on me like death itself. And six months later, after waking up to an inescapable hell, I found myself wishing that death had found me. Until her. Miranda Jacobs swept into my life like a cool breeze on a smoldering day.

Four years ago, race car driver Tracey Bradshaw almost died in a horrific crash. Now scarred inside and out, she's making a comeback, but her team is plagued by a series of "accidents."