If there’s one thing I don’t need upsetting my quiet and comfortable routine in the small town of Darling, Montana, it’s newcomer Ash Alcott crash landing on my family’s ranch like some sort of blonde angel. I don’t need his flirting. Or his smile. I don’t need the way he makes me question whether or not I’m truly happy being alone at forty. I certainly don’t need to be giving him riding lessons or appreciating the meals he cooks for the ranch.

The exciting first installment in a brand new series by Cora Rose and Lark Taylor.

My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas. Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass. We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep. Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats. The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top. I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.

I'm trapped in the middle of nowhere with the sexiest man I've ever seen... what could possibly go wrong? My family sent me here thinking it would help lift my mood. When I think about it now, I realise I didn’t give nearly enough thought to what it would be like, or what I’d be doing on a farm. If anything, I had a vague, nebulous notion that it would be like some sort of retreat. Boy, was I wrong. Far from relaxing, I now find myself tending to actual sheep. If you knew me at all, you’d know how preposterous that is.

Falling for my girlfriend’s twin brother wasn’t what I had in mind when I hired him to be my son’s nanny. Working on my family’s cattle ranch, the hours are long, and sometimes unpredictable, so when my regular nanny quits, leaving me in a pinch, I have to think fast. In walks Ash Tudor. My opposite in almost every way. He’s cheerful and bubbly, has horrible taste in music, and does yoga in my yard almost every morning in the tightest shorts I’ve ever seen. Not that I’m looking.

What’s a straight guy to do when he accidentally goes on a date with his brand new gym-bro? Offer to be the best wingman ever, of course! It’s foolproof. Joey needs a man? I’ll find him one. He wants someone who looks, well, kind of like me? No problem! Not into watersports? I’ve got him covered. The issue is, going on all these dates with Joey makes me realize I want more of his time to be spent with me. I like the guy. And his smile. And the way he makes me feel like anything is possible.

I always thought of Silas Rush as my biggest rival on the track and a stuck-up loner off of it. He and his fancy pro career left our crappy hometown in the dust before high school even finished, and then I didn't think of him much at all. I was too busy trying to keep my little sisters from turning into addicts like our mom, and myself from turning into a rage-junkie like our dad. All while keeping food on the table. Now he's back, reminding me of all the things I don't have, just like he always did.

When I left Birchbark angry and heartbroken, I vowed never to return. Fate had other plans. The father I hate had a stroke, so now I'm back in the Upper Peninsula to take care of him. The locals treat Dad like royalty, while Dad vacillates between open anger and flat-out ignoring me. Throw in my messy relationship with my brothers, and being in Birchbark becomes unbearable.

When we were kids, Xavier Price understood horses, but somehow, he got me too. He'd made me feel like I wasn't just the overdressed, too sensitive 15-year-old geek who loved math and didn't always say the right thing. But all that changed the night he threw my trust back in my face and betrayed my family in the worst kind of way. And while I'm back in Eden to make sure my uncle's horse ranch is operating in the black, the one thing I know I won't have to deal with is the man who'd been on the verge of stealing my heart 10 years ago.

After years of drowning myself in parties, hookups, and pain, all it takes is one viral sex tape to be given a choice: Hide out on an island or lose my trust fund. Having to share a room with the one man I let hurt me is my worst nightmare. I’m the broken shell of the boy he walked away from on the worst day of my life. I hate him almost as much as I hate myself.

Being traded to the Seattle Vipers has left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, they’re my team, the team I’ve loved and supported since I was a kid, but on the other hand, he’s here. Him. Ant Decker. Infamous NHL bad boy. Right wing to my left. A man who’s made it his sole purpose in life to be better than me.

As a kid, you don't think about the sacrifices you'll have to make for your dreams. I surrendered a carefree childhood to hours upon hours of grueling practices. Abandoned life with my family in favor of a boarding school that would hone my skills to perfection. But my biggest sacrifice, the one I couldn't predict I'd have to make as a little boy, is denying who I am. I thought I could do it. I thought hockey would be enough. After all, as the top rookie in this year's NHL draft and the most promising defender the league has seen in years, my dreams were coming true. Enter Xander Nydek.

Who are we? Nobody really knows. We’re seven powerful heirs to empires, ruling Manhattan from our thrones on Park Avenue. By day, we’re the elite, untouchable, and more connected than you could ever imagine. By night, we revel in the darkness of our secrets, pulling strings that make the city bow to our whims.

I’m never one to turn down a bet. Especially not when it comes to retaliating against the dean for pulling a dick move before summer break. So when the dean’s golden child arrives at Astor for his freshman year, my fellow troublemakers throw down a wager I can’t resist. The target: the dean’s son, John Thomas Hawthorne, or “JT”. The bet: corruption in any way I choose. It should’ve been easy. With his mess of brown curls, pouty lips, and good-boy reputation, JT is the perfect revenge. And even better? He’s straight.

As the founder of Freedom Fighters, famed music composer, William Mayes, is often the first port of call when the FBI needs assistance with human trafficking victims. After receiving such a call one night, William abandons everything to catch the next flight home. Arriving at Manhattan Memorial, he finds a beautiful young man restrained to a gurney. His eyes are wild with fear, and blood stains his skin. No one has been successful in getting him to speak.

I have everything I could ever want—a great family, awesome friends, a girlfriend, and I’m headed off to my dream college. But the past is always there, lurking like a shadow in the night....

Five years ago, I gave my heart and soul to my professor. He made me fall for him, only to destroy me with his silence. I've never been the same. I finally have the chance to leave this town, start over, and try to move on with my life. But what happens when fate insists the chapter of your life that haunts you isn't over?

Falling for my girlfriend’s twin brother wasn’t what I had in mind when I hired him to be my son’s nanny. Working on my family’s cattle ranch, the hours are long, and sometimes unpredictable, so when my regular nanny quits, leaving me in a pinch, I have to think fast. In walks Ash Tudor. My opposite in almost every way. He’s cheerful and bubbly, has horrible taste in music, and does yoga in my yard almost every morning in the tightest shorts I’ve ever seen. Not that I’m looking.

After years of drowning myself in parties, hookups, and pain, all it takes is one viral sex tape to be given a choice: Hide out on an island or lose my trust fund. Having to share a room with the one man I let hurt me is my worst nightmare. I’m the broken shell of the boy he walked away from on the worst day of my life. I hate him almost as much as I hate myself.

Sebastian “Bash” Vogel, the magnetic, cross-dressing CEO of AnaVoge, has long been a lone island when it comes to his personal life. Self-assured and playful, he’s never left wanting for suitors - but Bash isn’t looking for something permanent. He’s more than fulfilled with his company and his closest friends, and no one is going to shake up the status quo. That is, until he’s thrown over the shoulder of one of Chicago’s finest and hauled out of a burning building.

The emo kid, the loner, the cynical wallflower with an attitude. It's no secret that I've never quite fit in. But it's glaringly obvious now that I've moved to this Podunk small town that seems to run entirely on sugar, friendliness, and cheer. (And cows, an ungodly number of cows.) I hate it—this place where everyone knows everyone, and I'm still the outsider. Who wants to fit in anyway? I've never really tried, never even thought I wanted to…until I met him. Jimbob is living his best life out here, farming the fields of Kansas, well and truly happy. And I just don't get it.

I'm trapped in the middle of nowhere with the sexiest man I've ever seen... what could possibly go wrong? My family sent me here thinking it would help lift my mood. When I think about it now, I realise I didn’t give nearly enough thought to what it would be like, or what I’d be doing on a farm. If anything, I had a vague, nebulous notion that it would be like some sort of retreat. Boy, was I wrong. Far from relaxing, I now find myself tending to actual sheep. If you knew me at all, you’d know how preposterous that is.

As a kid, you don't think about the sacrifices you'll have to make for your dreams. I surrendered a carefree childhood to hours upon hours of grueling practices. Abandoned life with my family in favor of a boarding school that would hone my skills to perfection. But my biggest sacrifice, the one I couldn't predict I'd have to make as a little boy, is denying who I am. I thought I could do it. I thought hockey would be enough. After all, as the top rookie in this year's NHL draft and the most promising defender the league has seen in years, my dreams were coming true. Enter Xander Nydek.

My entire life has been one steady plan after another. Go to college. Get married. Have a successful career. More than a decade goes by, and my entire world is rocked in more ways than one. Everything I thought I knew is ripped from under me in one fell swoop. Then I meet him: the enticing man behind the camera with the boyish grin and charismatic energy who makes me question everything. He was only supposed to be a means to an end. But what I got was so much more.

A part-time professor and photojournalist, Hayden immerses himself in work, finding it easier to face the world from behind his camera lens. When his one-night fling walks into his classroom four days later, his carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. Carefree frat boy Tyler Statler loves a good time. He's eager to take advantage of everything college life offers before embarking on his dream job as a music journalist. But when the bright-eyed stranger from a few nights before turns out to be his new professor, his world changes.

The Devils of Vitality always spot a liar. Rin Varun’s got something to hide. That’s a lie. He’s got several things. Traveling to a different galaxy was meant to make his life less complicated, but a year in on this new planet and he’s still fighting off his demons. There’s no better place to learn how to keep skeletons buried than the Academy, where they teach their cadets how to uncover them, and Rin is determined to graduate in order to ensure those demons stay hidden.

At 12, he was my best friend. At 16, he became my crush. And now, at 34, he’s the man I’m still pining after. Falling in love with Easton was never part of the plan. But now that I’ve done it, I can’t seem to stop. It doesn’t help that we’re living under the same roof. Or that Easton is so dang sweet I want to lick him from head to toe.

Of all the people who could have seen me when I was at my most vulnerable, it had to be him. Caleb. My stepbrother and the golden child of our messed up blended family. We barely know each other, but for some reason, he takes care of me when an incident at the club leaves me helpless and alone. He hates me as much as I hate him, but something about his bossy attitude and unflappable calm soothes me. I don't want to want him, but no one has ever made me feel the way he does.

It's a new start—brand new school in a completely different state. For the first time, I now have the freedom to be unapologetically me. But as my luck would have it, I have shit taste in men. The first man to pay me a compliment has so many red flags, that I think I'm in a storm. Life can't get any worse… until he turns into a stalker. Then my stalker ends up brutally murdered, I walk blindly into a serial killer's nest, and I catch the attention of a sociopath.

Egon Wolf is on a hockey scholarship but failing at everything else. Knowing he's going to lose his ride if he doesn't get his academic act together, he seeks out a tutor. Rakesh Aahnu is a dual major and dangerous when bored. What he enjoys more than anything is the challenge of making straight men fall for him before walking away. Just because he can. Both Egon and Rakesh are about to discover that life has a way of throwing you in the sin bin when you least expect it.