Derek Alexander is a retired Marine, ex-cop, and the top investigator in his field. Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past.

My job is to protect the innocent, but Blake van Hamilton has never been innocent. With killer curves, silky brown hair, and silvery-blue eyes, she’s been an inconvenient object of my lust since we were teens. Now I’ve been hired to guard her against a band of criminals who want her money, and maybe even her life. Still, I'm the last person she wants helping her. Blake van Hamilton hates me, but it won’t stop me from doing my job.

Stephen Hastings is a control freak. All I saw were his clear blue eyes, tight butt, and ripped torso. I gladly handed him my V-card that night, 10 years ago. I was so stupid. I swore I'd never be that stupid again...Emmy Barton works for a dry cleaner? She says she hates me, but when we fight, it's all heat and lust. I won't leave her this way. She will let me help her and her son. She will stay...It's a thin line between love and hate, and this line is on fire.

I blame the alcohol. I lost my restaurant business, was forced to sell my dad’s cherished 1967 Chevy Impala, and I got a little drunk. Now I’m waking up with the hottest, angriest guy I’ve ever seen, speeding down the highway like a bat out of hell. Ice-blue eyes hit mine with stomach-clenching force. And he swerves onto the shoulder, ready to kick me out. Needless to say, our romance doesn’t start out sweet.

Aiden Stone is a six-foot-two former Marine with a permanent scowl, dark hair, and dreamy blue eyes. He’s the oldest of the Stone brothers, and his “by the book” family has battled mine for control of our small town for generations. The last thing I should do is sleep with him. Or nearly run him down with my truck. Especially since he's sort-of my new boss.

To be “just friends” with a guy, you’ve got to follow The Rules: Don’t touch him unnecessarily. Don’t share your intimate dreams with him (even if he asks). Don’t kiss him, and definitely don’t sleep with him. Scout Dunne and I have been “just friends” since childhood. I’m one of the few people who knows the first-round NFL draft pick wants more than a life of sports.

Boss of Me is a stand-alone workplace, enemies to lovers, military romance with a badass alpha boss and the feisty woman who steals his heart. No cheating. No cliffhangers.

Taron Rhodes was my brother’s best friend. He was sexy as sin. But he was more than that.... He was ponytail-pulling, ice-down-your-shirt teasing, throw-you-in-the-lake screaming.... Strong, tanned arms and blue-green eyes over a heart-stopping, naughty grin.... Did I mention his tight end? I gave him my first real kiss, my heart, my everything. I said I’d wait for him.... I’m still waiting, because Taron Rhodes is still the man of my dreams. And I have a secret that has his blue-green eyes.

Angelica Treviño was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I wanted to make her smile, but I had no idea when she did, she’d steal my heart. Sunset eyes, waves of golden-brown hair, cute little butt....I’m ready to meet the family and put a ring on it. Instead, I’m on the wrong end of a gun, her older brother threatening to kill me. It all started with a kiss....

Secrets. Everybody has them. Big, small, innocent...forbidden. Mindy was a line I should never have crossed. But I did. She was beautiful...sassy and tempting. And rules were made to be broken. We broke them all. Now I’m home, released from service with hidden scars. Now my secrets are the demons that grow stronger every day. I try to send her away, but I can’t let her go. She’s my reason to fight, and I’ll walk through hell to be the man she deserves. To give her a reason to stay here with me.

Legend has it, the man you kiss at a wedding is the man you’ll marry. In my case, it’s nothing but trouble. Spencer Carrollton is a dark-haired, hazel-eyed beast. When I collided with him at my cousin’s wedding, I wasn’t looking for love. But his naughty eyes flashed, his full lips curled into a knowing smile, and I should have run. I didn’t. I kissed him instead. Then he gave me a job when I needed it the most.

Lila James is my best friend’s little sister, and I’ve always looked out for her. She's five years younger than me, and when she left for college, she was just a kid. But now she’s home for the summer—and she’s definitely not a kid anymore.

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.

Holt Sebastian is royalty in our world. As CEO of the Sebastian News Corp, he’s the man with all the power. The man who decides if I’ll always just be a local television anchor or if I’ll be the rising star of my own show.

Pine River was supposed to be a new start for me. And it was, especially attending school with my three overprotective cousins, who were the triplets at the top of the social hierarchy. Except they weren’t alone there, and the first day when I came to school, I saw him. Scout Raiden. Tall. Lean. Tattooed. Mesmerizing. He was a golden god with dark and piercing eyes—looking like he wanted to eat me up. The feeling was mutual, and that was a problem.

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.

Mia Saunders needs money. A lot of money. She has one year to pay off the loan shark who has threatened her father's life and is coming after his unpaid gambling debts. One million dollars to be exact. Her mission is simple - serve as a high-priced escort for her aunt's Los Angeles-based company and pay monthly against the debt. Spend a month with a rich man whom she doesn't have to sleep with if she doesn't want to? Easy money. Unlucky in love with a spirit that never gives up, this curvy motorcycle-riding vixen plans to get in, make her money, and get out.

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.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases - a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with as well as way less experience in the dating department than the average 30-year-old. It doesn't help that she has Asperger's and that French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. She decides that she needs lots of practice - with a professional - which is why she hires escort Michael Phan.

As one of the big names at his family's gym, Legends, MMA star Rory Kavanagh is used to being in the spotlight - until a gruesome leg injury knocks him out of the cage. Rory is left feeling sidelined in more ways than one, battling the inner demons that come with losing the one shot at his dreams. Then Clare walks into his life and gives him a new dream: winning her heart. There aren't many new faces in Woodlawn these days, but this tough, beautiful stranger makes Rory want to get his life back into fighting shape.

Anna Rossi lives by one simple rule: Don't get attached, don't get hurt. But Alec Flynn doesn’t play by the rules... Anna never takes on a massage client without screening him first, but the paycheck offered by billionaire Maxim Stein is too good to turn down. Stein is the richest man she's ever laid her hands on, and despite the risks, she trusts that she can take care of herself. After all, she's handled difficult clients in the past.

Harper Connelly never expected to find herself outside of a tattoo parlor at one in the morning. The scars that decorate her back are just one more reminder of things she'd rather forget, the past she wants to leave far behind her. Running was the only thing that saved Harper last time, but each session at Second Circle Tattoos brings her closer and closer to Trent Andrews. His lingering touches seduce her, making her believe in a life without fear, where she can be happy, whole, in love.

Dean Barclay had nothing to do with my decision to flee my old life, but he is 100 percent of the reason I vowed to never look back. I've never forgotten how it felt to follow Dean - dangerous, daring, determined - away from the crowd and climb into his beat-up old Trans Am. I was 16 and gloriously alive for the first time. When I felt his hand cover my leg and move upward, it was over. I was his. Forever.

I'm used to being in charge. In and out of the office. So, when my parents go behind my back and hire a co-CEO to help me manage my family's business, let's just say I don't take it too well. Especially not when the woman they've hired is the one girl who hated my guts in college. She thinks I'm an overprivileged, womanizing man-whore. I think she's an uptight, stuck-up bitch. And now she's here, in my office, telling me how to run my company. I don't think so.

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.

Olivia Bishop is no fun. That's what her ex-husband said. And that's what her smart bob and glasses imply. So with her trademark determination, Olivia sets out to remake her life. She's going to spend time with her girlfriends and not throw it all away for some man. But when an outing with her book club leads her to a brewery taproom, the dark-haired beauty realizes that trouble - in the form of sexy Jamie Donovan - may be too tempting to avoid.

The rules of Society X are simple...break them and you're out. The Dark Room is the only place you can live out your fantasies and no one will ever know it's you. For Parker, what started out as a business transaction has turned into an addiction. For Mia, it's been a chance to discover who she truly is. What happens in the dark will have you begging for more...

Haunted by the responsibility of caring for her troubled family, Maya Jacobs gave the only answer she could when Cameron asked her to marry him. Years later, entrenched in a soulless professional routine, she distracts herself from the lingering regret of her decision with a "work hard, play hard" lifestyle that guarantees no man will ever find his way into her heart again.

So there I was, on a stage with two other men, being asked ridiculous questions by a woman I couldn't see, but whose voice made my pants tighten - and not around my ankles. Before I knew what was happening, I'd signed up for six weeks in paradise, isolated on an island for 42 days with a complete stranger. And when I finally laid eyes on the sexy brunette who belonged to that voice, a part of me thought this wouldn't be so bad.

With his tight muscles and vibrant ink, certified bachelor Reece Walker is the kind of man who’s used to having any woman he craves in his bed - except Jenna Montgomery. She’s been his best friend for years, and that’s a line he just can’t cross. Until a wild, stolen kiss changes everything. Now anything goes, and Reece is determined to use every wicked skill in his sensual repertoire to claim Jenna as his friend, his lover, his everything.