My childhood was stolen by a monster. I've forgotten what love feels like. What happiness feels like. What hope feels like. I am numb. Him: He's possibly as damaged as I am. Maybe even more. Scarred just as much on the inside as the outside. Just like me. He doesn't speak. He doesn't smile. He hides in the woods like an animal. I should be scared of him, but I'm not. He's the only one that has ever made me feel. And I want to make him feel, too. Everything....

Jude "Lucky" Lucketti wasn't just a sexy, brooding construction worker. He was my own personal hero, showing up in all the right places at the right times. Like when my car broke down and I needed a ride home, and when I face-planted on the sidewalk right in front of him and had to be taken to the emergency room. We became friends, and it didn't matter that he was 16 years older than me. We had a lot in common - like our love of old rock music and vintage fast cars and our aversion to relationships.

He was the talented bad boy everyone wanted. I was the irrelevant geek everyone hated. He was the sun...drawing all of us in. I was a black hole...taking up space. He was destined to be a star. I was destined to remain an insignificant no one. Until he made me believe I was special...and then he destroyed me. I never thought I'd see Phoenix Walker again after he broke my heart, but fate had other plans. One tour. Eight weeks. Forty shows. Countless opportunities to make him pay. The world thought he was a god...but I know the truth.

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.

I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”

I wasn’t supposed to be on that roof on Valentine’s Day. Neither was Kellan Marchetti, the school’s designated freak. We met on the verge of ending our lives. Somehow, the tattered strings of our tragedies tangled and tightened into an unlikely bond. We decided not to take the plunge and agreed to check on each other every Valentine’s Day until school ended. Same time. One roof. Two restless souls. We kept our promise for three years.

Spencer Riggs is sexy, intense and driven in his pursuit of all things racing. That pursuit now includes me. The cocky bad boy of racing struts onto my team like he owns it. One look from him and I can tell he thinks he owns me too. I'm determined to resist that panty-melting smile he keeps flashing my way. I have no time for distractions. Fulfilling a last promise to my father is my only goal.

My reputation at Fairview University preceded me. I was the projected number-one pick in the NHL draft and the fan favorite at the rink. People wanted to be me or be with me. Except for Lyla James Marichal.

I never intended to fall in love. This girl had goals and guys were an unwelcome distraction. Until I met Garrick, my sophomore year of college, and he blasted through the walls I kept around my heart, tearing them down.

Vince Jennings has had two loves in his life. Music and Bristol Matthews. His guitar skills catapult him to stardom with the most popular rock band on earth. But it takes walking away from Bristol—his first love—to make this happen. Despite the groupies, the success, the fun, life under the bright glare of fame and fortune isn’t enough. Deep, dark pain threatens to derail all he’s worked for, until fate brings her back into his life.

My new neighbor is a firefighter - and a scorching-hot single dad - but I swear I didn’t set off that smoke alarm on purpose. (And I was beyond mortified when he rushed in and saw me naked.) Nothing happened, of course - because I, Winnie MacAllister, romance junkie and owner of a constantly broken heart, have sworn off men for one solid year. Even protective men with chiseled jaws, bulging biceps, and deep brown eyes that make my breath come faster.

He was the mysterious dark knight, always swooping in to save me when I needed it the most. I was the troubled girl with scars and a bleeding heart. He was the gifted guitarist destined for big things. I was the small-town girl battling her demons. He was my earth, always keeping me grounded. I was his sky, always just out of his reach. Our love was everything I wished for—until I destroyed it.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.

Quiet and aloof rock star Jake McKallister and outspoken, vivacious college student Casey Caldwell are polar opposites: Casey is bubbly and talkative; Jake is reclusive. Casey enjoyed a picturesque childhood; Jake’s childhood could only be described as a well-publicized nightmare. Jake’s life revolves around music, and Casey can’t carry a tune.

It's not every day your dean is a 6'4" dark god with ocean-blue eyes and a dimple. Just looking at him makes my heart pound and my stomach flutter. He's intense, filthy, and forbidden. Not to mention, he's my sister's ex-boyfriend. If I were smart, I'd walk away. Lines are getting blurred. Boundaries are being tested. And rules are about to be broken.

Diner waitress Allison Abraham has no idea her mundane life is about to change dramatically the day she serves a devastatingly handsome customer. Allison is immediately captivated by the mysterious man who stares through her soul with his electric-blue eyes. After he abruptly leaves the restaurant, she can't get him out of her head. She has no idea that he actually came on a mission to find her. Cedric Callahan wasn't expecting to fall in love at first sight with the pretty waitress he'd set out to find.

Ainsley came into my life in a flurry of vibrant colors, lighting my world up when all seemed lost. It wasn't our quiet nights by the creek or stolen kisses surrounded by a sea of cotton that saved me. It was her. She was my comfort when life threw one ugly tragedy after another at me. Until she dealt me the greatest blow. Now, abandonment, betrayal, and death darken every corner of my life. Anger and hurt burn bright where love and trust once lived. But now she's back.

Abby Davis isn't wearing a skimpy bikini or sipping umbrella drinks, not when she's busy chasing around four little ones. And Matt McKinney isn't looking for fun - he's a Navy SEAL, a grown man with a long list of missions and fallen brothers. Abby has brought her children to this beach to start over, to give them the enjoyable memories they deserve. Matt has been sidelined by a combat injury, and he is haunted by the loss of his best friend and the promise he made: to remain a SEAL - focused and dedicated.

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.

It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soul mates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soul mates. When I arrived in Edgewood, Wisconsin, I didn't plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.

It's been 12 years since Tru Bennett last saw Jake Wethers, her former best friend and boy she once loved. Jake Wethers, sexy, tattooed, and deliciously bad lead singer, and brains behind The Mighty Storm, one of biggest bands in the world, left Tru with a broken heart when he moved from England to America with his family when they were both 14. Sent to interview Jake for her music column by the magazine she works for, they are both unprepared for the sparks that fly the instant they reconnect.

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.

Virginity. Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible - a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half a brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theater professor....

Donya Stewart's chest filled with the soft beating wings of butterflies when she first met Emmet Grayne's green eyes at the ripe age of five. Unable to identify the tugging pressure within her when in his presence, Donya moved through the first several years of her life addled by her feelings for the boy who was her best friend's brother and very much like her own sibling. But one cool autumn night in her mystifying teenage years, Emmet erases any ideas Donya has of him being anything like a sibling.

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."

What do ice cream and Sadie Montgomery have in common? They're both ice cold, but one taste is never enough. I wanted to be friends - I would have even settled for her seeing me as anything but a nerd - but there was no getting through. So just like any hard-headed, red-blooded man out there, I made up my mind. I'd make my coworker fall for me.

Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn't expect - an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she's been in since the night a fire took half her family.

Love is fatal; a snake that slithers into your life, poisons you with its venom, and leaves you there to die. I swore I wouldn’t be my parents. I swore I would stay away from the limelight. Falling in love with a musician was definitely out of the question. Weston Carter was all kinds of wrong for a girl like me. He was a musician, a womanizer, and a first class heartbreaker. I didn't know a love like this could exist. Our love was epic, the kind people wrote stories about. We fell into it hard, unable to control our feelings. I set myself up for a shattered heart.

Four lives. Four stories. Four sets of letters. Four brave souls in need of guidance while facing life's greatest challenges. The anonymously published Dear Life program is designed to help them step outside of their comfort zones, face their obstacles, and relinquish their demons...and prove their existence.

Before senior year, I was forced to move away, leaving behind the only man I have ever loved. He promised he'd love me forever. He vowed nothing would tear us apart. He swore he'd wait for me, but Jack lied. Six years later, when our paths cross again, his broad shoulders, rock-hard chest, and rippling muscles almost make me forget his betrayal. His rugged voice, tempting lips, and sinful smile make it harder for me to deny the feelings I still have for him. He wants to make me his again, but our past may be too much for us to overcome.

Jude "Lucky" Lucketti wasn't just a sexy, brooding construction worker. He was my own personal hero, showing up in all the right places at the right times. Like when my car broke down and I needed a ride home, and when I face-planted on the sidewalk right in front of him and had to be taken to the emergency room. We became friends, and it didn't matter that he was 16 years older than me. We had a lot in common - like our love of old rock music and vintage fast cars and our aversion to relationships.

My childhood was stolen by a monster. I've forgotten what love feels like. What happiness feels like. What hope feels like. I am numb. Him: He's possibly as damaged as I am. Maybe even more. Scarred just as much on the inside as the outside. Just like me. He doesn't speak. He doesn't smile. He hides in the woods like an animal. I should be scared of him, but I'm not. He's the only one that has ever made me feel. And I want to make him feel, too. Everything....

Chained in brutal darkness, they fell in love. Free in the world, they were torn apart. Empires rise, empires fall, and still, she burns in his soul. But between them now runs a wild river of ambition, greed, and blood. So much blood. He'll do anything for revenge, and she'll do anything to protect him.

When I was five years old, I told Toren Grace we were going to get married someday. He’d been my closest friend, my protector, and my rock since the day I was born. But during my senior year, our relationship slowly changed. Silly conversations morphed into serious heart-to-hearts. Innocent friendship turned to stolen glances. Then one day, an unexpected kiss changed everything.

Saving lives is the end goal. It's a responsibility I live with every day, the reason I wear the badge. Built on a brotherhood that runs deeper than blood, this way of life has become my very existence.... Until Liberty. I thought I was saving her. I never expected her to be the one saving me.

Las Vegas Mafia boss Nico Toscani is used to getting what he wants, whether it is having the City of Sin under his rule or a beautiful woman in his bed. But when he meets his match in the gorgeous, headstrong Mia Cordano, the daughter of a rival crime lord, all bets are off.... Sexy computer hacker Mia struggles to break free of her ruthless father's Mafia ties...but she can't resist the powerful and seductive Nico, who will stop at nothing to possess her. With their families locked in a brutal war for control of the city, Mia and Nico enter into a forbidden game.

Taryn Malone is stranded, broke, and desperate for help. But even if the sexy bartender she's been eyeing offers her a job for the evening...even if he seduces her with his impossibly intense blue eyes...even if every fiber of her heart tells her to stay with him, she can't. Because Taryn Malone doesn't exist. Jake Callaghan has been running the family's Irish pub for years now. When he sees Taryn standing out alone in the rain, he does what he's been trained to do as a SEAL - he rescues her.

I like my sex dirty. It takes a hell of a lot to tilt my moral compass, and I always follow when it's pointing at something I want. That goes double when it points straight at the one girl in all of Chicago who's not dying for a piece of me.

When I meet Julian Ashburn, the reclusive frontman of indie-rock legends Breaking Giants, I do what any sane woman would do. Embarrass myself, then insult him. Because you only live once, right? Besides, keeping my distance from the enigmatic songwriting genius is an act of self-preservation. Julian is dangerous - a pool of kerosine to my pyromaniac. I have a weakness for broken men.

I was raised by the violent laws of the streets, spilling blood without the hindrance of useless emotions or connections. Unfeeling. Unloved. Alone. My life was perfect. Until her. While on a manhunt for a mysterious enemy, one hellbent on taking both my business and my life, I find Mickey. She's covered in mud, rambling nonsense, and clearly out of her mind. She's also a distraction I don't need.