There are rules for being best friends with a mafia princess. For three years, I followed the rules. Vicky and I met once a week at the diner where I worked. I was her slice of normalcy; she was the one person in whom I could confide. It might have been unconventional, but it worked for us. One night, all hell broke loose, and I got caught up in a battle of bloodshed where we almost lost our lives. I ended up face-to-face with Vicky's dangerous older brothers: Anthony, William, and Nicholas Civella - the made men of the Kansas City Mob.  

Broken down, and wounded by my emotionally neglectful ex, I wanted someone to tell me I was good enough. Then, I stumbled into a new job with a boss who brought me to my knees - literally. He has me do things a real secretary would never do. Emerson Grant tells me I’m more than just good enough. I’m worthy of his praise. There are a million reasons why I should stay away. The owner of the Salacious Players’ Club is not just my new boss - he’s twice my age. And my ex-boyfriend’s father....I’m a good girl, but I’m falling for the wrong man.

Have you ever wished you could turn back time and do things differently? Like that one time you decided to use your ratty bra as a weapon and almost took out the eye of your dad’s hot doctor? Yeah? Me, too. But my nylon ninja skills must’ve impressed him, because he kept coming around, heating my blood with those tight jeans and sexy smiles.

Callum Griffin is the heir to the Irish mafia. He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me. We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house. Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare. I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps. This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.

BRIAR - I was infatuated with Asher Kelley the moment he came tumbling through my brother’s window five years ago. Even bruised and bloodied, he was the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. We couldn't ever be together. I was too young, and he was too untouchable. He was too troubled, and I was too naive. ASHER - I was drawn to Briar Vale from the first time she looked up at me with stars in her blue eyes. We could never be together. I was too old and she was too off limits.... 

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.  

I was a good girl. I ate my vegetables, volunteered at the local autism centre, and sat in the front pew of church every Sunday. Then, I got cancer. What the hell kind of reward was that for a boring life well lived? I was a 17-year-old paradigm of virtue, and I was tired of it. So, when I finally ran into the man I'd been writing to since he saved my life as a little girl and he offered to show me the dark side of life before I left it for good, I said yes.  

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone...I’m the second-most hated person in Amber Springs. First place honors go to my twin, Ethan; however, hate isn’t a strong enough word to convey how people feel about him. Not that I blame anyone - some days, I hate him too. Mostly, I’m just lost and afraid, drowning in a sea of betrayal and guilt, wondering how this happened right under my nose. There’s no choice but to leave. To move clear across the country in a last-ditch attempt to start over.

Remington Stringer has never been like most girls. She's outspoken and brazen and wants nothing more than to escape the Nevadan hell hole she calls home. On the brink of 18, with a deceased mother and a well-meaning, yet absent father, she's been forced to fend for herself. The only person she's ever been able to depend on is her borderline obsessive stepbrother. But even that anchor is quickly becoming a loose cannon. So when she gets the opportunity to attend the best private school in the state during her senior year of high school, she jumps at the chance.

We're not free to give into this. She's 19, and I'm 38. And I'm her boyfriend's father. Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

I didn't know she was my student the first time I paid to watch her at Voyeur. Once she walked into my classroom, another smiling college freshman, I knew I should stop going. Stop watching. But I couldn't do it. Everything about her makes me want more, and once I realize she wants me too, the temptation becomes irresistible. The worst part is that she has no idea her professor is the one watching behind the glass. I just have to hope that once she finds out the truth, she wants the same thing I do. Because now that I've seen all of her, I can't look away.

Looking back, I should have seen the signs. Perhaps I did, but I subconsciously chose to ignore them. From the time I was ten, when I first met Dylan, I knew he was my forever guy. Back then, I couldn’t put words to what I was feeling, but, as the years progressed, I came to recognize it for what it was - soul-deep love. The kind only very few people ever get to experience. Dylan was more than just my best friend, my childhood sweetheart, my lover. He was my soul mate. We were carved from the same whole - destined to be together forever. Until he changed.

Nora O'Brien chased a dream from Indiana to Scotland, so sure it was the right thing to do. Three years later she was left in her adopted country with nothing to her name but guilt and regret. Until Aidan Lennox entered her life. Older, worldlier, a music producer and composer, the sexy Scot should never have made sense for Nora. But somehow in each other they found the light they were looking for, the laughter and the passion - the strength to play on despite their past losses.

I kissed my father’s best friend, and it kind of didn’t go well. Not only because he’s 18 years older than me - but he also didn’t like it. Not one bit. In my defense, I didn’t mean to fall for him. It just happened. Nathaniel Weaver is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen with enough charisma to blind the sun. He’s bigger than the world, owns half of it, and conquered the other half. He was forbidden. Wrong. So I totally got over him. Or so I told myself. Until we’re forced to get married.

Wyatt King isn’t looking for love...because he’s already found it. Too bad she’s off-limits. He’s not going to be the jerk who messes around with his best friend’s little sister, so he keeps his feelings bottled up and settles for acting as her protector instead. Andie Lockhart’s dreamed of kissing Wyatt for as long as she’s known what kissing is. But since he’s dated nearly every woman in town but her, she’s long since accepted he’ll never see her as anything more than his best friend’s tomboy little sister.