They've taken my father. They'll take me next unless I comply with their demands. Taking down the most powerful man in Italy. Cato Marino. The man is accompanied by his security team everywhere he goes. His fortress in Tuscany is impenetrable. He's the most paranoid man in the country.

Joseph Ingram made the mistake of stealing from me - four million dollars. He took my intelligence without paying for it. And thought he could get away with it. Think again. Now I’ll take something from him - something irreplaceable. His sister. Collateral. But even when Joseph doubles the amount of money he owes me, I don’t give her up. Nope. I have an image to maintain. So I keep her. And I’m not giving her up.

When I tried to leave, Grave forced me to stay. He's obsessed with me, and not in the good kind of way. Griffin is out of the game, but he gives me a piece of information that can set me free. I travel to Cap-Ferrat, in the south of France, and find this powerful man. But he's not the least bit interested in helping me. Not for free, at least. If I want his protection, I'll have to make it worth his while.

I was 21 when the gypsy read my future: As punishment for your crimes, you will only love one woman...but she'll never love you back. I didn't believe a word of it. Until I met Sofia Romano almost 10 years later. I fell hard for this woman. Would die for this woman. But she left me. Now, years have passed, and Sofia needs a husband. Her father is gone, and her mother is trying to marry her off to a man that can protect their family, protect their company. Now, it's my chance to have the only woman I've ever loved...and I'll make sure she feels the same way.

I moved to Paris for my study abroad program and ended up staying, getting a French literature degree, studying the classics while sipping the best wine I'd ever had. My sister never makes the best decisions, always makes messes to clean up, and it's finally time for me to have my own life. But when she comes to Paris for a visit, she brings trouble with her. She gets herself into a bad situation, and, of course, I come to her rescue. Now we're in a labor camp in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and mountains, processing drugs for a group of men who never show their faces.

He’s one of my father’s guards at the castle. Goes by the name Mastodon. There’s something about him I don’t like. He takes me into a cavern, and we descend deep underground - to the Bottom of the Cliffs. When I leave for the Capital, Mastodon escorts me. And just as I feared, he kills my guards and captures me. Then he tells me why he’s doing this. Because my family took everything from him - and now he’s about to do the same.

My life has never been whole since my parents left forever. I have my brother, someone I can barely tolerate most of the time, and I have my best friend, Marie.And I have myself. But when Hawke walks into my life, there's an immediate connection. Our eyes lock and an unspoken conversation is exchanged. For the first time in my life, I actually feel something. But he doesn't. He keeps me at arm's length and pretends there's nothing between us when there clearly is. I'm not the kind of girl to wait around for any guy, so I don't.

They say there are three things you should do at least once in your life: Dance like nobody’s watching. Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me.

Jesse Ward has stumbled through life drinking and indulging himself within the rooms of his high-class sex club, The Manor, numbing himself to the pain, grief, and guilt of his wrongs. Pleasure and alcohol are his medicine. Hedonism is all he knows. It’s how he copes. How he survives. Until Ava O’Shea strolls into his office and knocks him back with her breathtaking beauty, ambition, and drive. It only takes one look into her eyes, one touch of her skin, and one word murmured, before his heart is kick-started, offering him something he never thought possible.

I’ve been raised to be the perfect mafia wife, but when my marriage turns into a horrific nightmare, I have no choice but to leave everything behind and start a new life. I find myself alone in Ibiza—a place that swallows innocent girls like me alive. I’m robbed the day I arrive, left with nothing but a few euros and the clothes on my back.

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

One wardrobe malfunction. Two people who don’t belong together. Three awful words: “Be my wife."

In the morning, she was gone and had taken my solace with her. I left for the military that day, vowing never to return to Pennsylvania. When my father dies, I’m forced to go home to bury him. At least I'll finally be rid of his farm, which is grown over and tangled with memories I've fought to forget. And that’s when I find her. She’s even more beautiful than I remember and has the most adorable kid I’ve ever seen. Years have passed, but my feelings are the same, and this time I refuse to let her go. They say you can't bury the past, and they're right.

Marrying the 70-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I’ve ever done. I’m burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together. Was. Until my fiancé’s nephew turns up to dinner uninvited. Angelo "Vicious" Visconti. A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue. They say I shouldn’t be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight. He’s barely a Made Man anymore. But I say, he’s the most dangerous Visconti of all.

When I met Donovan Kincaid, I knew he was rich. I didn’t know he was filthy. Truth be told, I was only trying to get his best friend to notice me. I knew poor scholarship girls like me didn't stand a chance against guys like Weston King and Donovan Kincaid, but I was in love with his world, their world, of parties and sex and power. I knew what I wanted - I knew who I wanted - until one night, their world tried to bite me back and Donovan saved me. He saved me, and then Weston finally noticed me, and I finally learned what it was to be in their world.

Nero is the king of Legacy Prep, living a life of power. Elle is the school's punching bag, living a life of fear.

Lucas Donahue is not ashamed of his criminal past, but after a brief stint in prison, he's ready to go legit and live a normal life. The problem is, no one leaves the gang without permission - even if he is one of the boss' top men. Plus, someone's placed a hit on him. And then there's that feisty little bartender who's going to cause him even more trouble. Heidi Greene knows to keep her distance from a ladies' man like Lucas - even if she can't keep her eyes off him.

They call me Girth for a reason. I’m a damn giant. The muscle in the MC. It’s why I get sent out on loan when some of our brothers down South need some help. And by help, I mean crush some guys' skulls. That’s what the Marked Skulls are good at. Name fits, right? But when I get there, I’m tasked with protecting the President’s daughter, Lila. She’s petite and gorgeous, and all I can do is look. The Pres made it clear; I can’t touch. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right? Until he finds out.

She was supposed to be mine forever. But the night our fathers were killed, Sydney decided this life wasn't for her. So she ran. She left me, and our club behind. I never expected to see her on my doorstep six years later. With our child. She looks different, but she's still as beautiful as ever. Those hips, her sultry smile, I can't get over her. But she didn't leave the life, and she's got a DEA agent on her tail.

Dirk lives in the shadows - performing hits, maintaining order, and upholding the no-holds-barred legacy of the Sinner's Creed Motorcycle Club. A nomad with a restless spirit and a cold heart, the open road is his world. One of the few constants in his life is his desire for the one woman who has consumed his thoughts for years.

Theresa Drazen wants to know one thing: Is there something wrong with her? Because from what she can see, she has money, brains, and a body that does the job. Yet she keeps getting shelved - most recently by her fiancé, who happens to be the DA. And she'll get over it, really. No problem. She'll just have a nice, short encounter with a mysterious Italian named Antonio who may or may not be involved with some kind of alleged criminal activity.

Dominic Valetti is only interested in two things: getting paid and getting laid. He's a bookie for the Valetti crime family, and he knows his shit. Dom's busy doing business, no time to dabble in social niceties. The women that chase after him wanting more than a dirty, hard f--k are only gonna get their hearts broken. That is, until Becca stumbles into his office to pay off her ex's debt. A hot brunette who's just as guarded as he is and has a body made for sin...and for him.

When Emmy sleeps with Kyle after a night of drinking, she quickly tries to put the mistake behind her. When the duo is snowed in together over a long weekend, Emmy begins to discover there is more to Kyle than his mean-spirited behavior. Unfortunately, Kyle has a steady girlfriend he is unwilling to break up with. Moving on and putting that long weekend behind her, Emmy starts dating attorney Luke Kessler. Luke treats Emmy with kindness, reverence, and loves her unconditionally. He is everything Emmy should ever want in a man - sexy, intelligent, successful, and funny, with strong family bonds.

He loves me, and he doesn't even know my real name. The limelight that follows him could expose everything I'm hiding. But even knowing the risks, I can't force myself to stay away. I'm going to break his heart, but mine will shatter right along with it. Will we lose it all when I reveal what's beneath this mask?

Of all the hospitals in New York City, he walks into mine. I know from the moment I see him that Alex Volkov is dangerous. He’s the kind of trouble from which every woman should run. The bullet his bodyguard took for him proves that. My attraction to him is not rational, not logical...but it’s too strong to resist. I tell myself it will be just one night. One night to step away from the stress of work, to give into temptation. But before I know it, he’s pulling me deeper into his world of excess and violence, invading not only my life but my heart.

Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no 16-year-old should ever have to endure. She's spent years trying to forget that night, even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her - until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela's TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend's world....

It was never love with Daniel, and I never thought it would be. It was only lust from a distance. Unrequited love maybe. He's a man I could never have, for so many reasons. That didn't stop my heart from beating wildly when his eyes pierced through me. It only slowed back down when he'd look away, making me feel so damn unworthy and reminding me that he would never be mine.

Some secrets are meant to be revealed...or so you'll discover in three sexy, unforgettable Valentine's Day stories from New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Ryan and contemporary romance stars Candis Terry and Jennifer Seasons.

Brilliant, quirky twenty-three-year-old China Mack is totally satisfied with her carefully ordered, data-driven life. A computer prodigy who landed a coveted programming job at the cutting-edge tech company Cysnet before even graduating from MIT, China is happiest when following her routine: shower before coffee, pizza only on Mondays, bedtime at ten thirty sharp. But then things start to get a little...unpredictable.

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’s Christmas break. Gorgeous Piper loves nerdy Jake’s passion for buying her clothes, but her intuition tells her he does it not only because he loves her so much but also because of his hidden desire to wear them himself. She buys her love everything needed for crossdressing and transforming Jake into Jackie, her girlfriend. That afternoon, she enlightens him in the nuances of presenting his feminine side and immerses him in the pleasures of catering to his feminine persona.

When Charlie’s friend Vanessa crashes his gaming party and whines about the boys never wanting to have a night on the town, Charlie shoots back that he’d love to go out if he could get the kind of romantic attention she does for just one night. Without missing a beat, Vanessa offers to give him just that chance and see just what it’s like to be a gorgeous girl on the town. With his soft looks and slender body, she thinks she could make him into a rather pretty girl.... Why not, Charlie wonders? It might be fun.

Sam was just another lazy kid - no direction in life, hanging out at his parents’ house, no girlfriend, listless. His parents gave him choices: move out and work the only kind of job he was ready for, a minimum-wage job, or join the service, or go to a girls’ finishing school. Sam becomes Samantha and goes off to school - a school where the girls are taught how to take care of a man and be the ideal wife.

A house that turns boys into girls? A college student is looking for a house to rent and comes across an unbelievable deal. According to the gorgeous girl vacating it, the place is enchanted and has a closet with women’s clothing and accoutrements that can never be emptied. She also claims it turned her from a boy into a very special girl while she lived there.

Open All the Way marks Sadie Smythe's foray into long-range storytelling. Most well known for her outspoken commentary on her blog, about relationship paradigms and the navigation through her own alternative arrangement with her husband Scott, Sadie is very excited to offer her loyal readers a larger-lensed view into her openly married life. Each chapter of Open All the Way is an individual story in itself. But the combined ensemble compellingly chronicles her journey.