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I was nineteen the first time Cole Whitfield broke me. Not with cruelty. With a single word. Why. Not did you — why. Like the answer was already settled and he just wanted the story to make sense. I told him the truth anyway. He said nothing that mattered. So I picked up my bag, walked out of his apartment, and decided that a man who trusted a rumor over two years of me wasn’t worth a correction. I spent the next two years becoming someone I actually liked. New city. Graduate program. A published paper with my name on it. I was done with Cole Whitfield in every way a person can be done. Then I walked into Seminar Room 114 and he was sitting right there, gray eyes already on the door, like some part of him knew. I sat down. I opened my notebook. I did not look up. Here’s the thing about studying how people form beliefs: you understand exactly why he believed it. That doesn’t mean you forgive it. That doesn’t mean two years of silence disappear because he’s learned how to look at you like he’s sorry. He wants a conversation. I want my degree. But the campus is small, the seminar table is round, and the boy who broke my heart at nineteen is doing everything right at twenty-one — and I’m starting to understand that composed isn’t the same thing as healed. I hate that I still know the exact sound of his voice.

He shouldn’t have imagined her lying naked on his bed. She shouldn’t have imagined his devilishly handsome face between her legs. But it was too late. Kiara began noticing Ethan's washboard abs when he hopped out of the pool, dripping wet after swim practice. Ethan began gazing at Kiara’s golden skin in a bikini as a grown woman instead of the girl next door he grew up with. That kiss should have never happened. It was just one moment in a lifetime of moments, but they both felt its power. They knew the thrumming in their veins and desperation in their bodies might give them all they ever wanted or ruin everything if they followed it. Kiara and Ethan knew they should have never kissed. But it's too late to take that choice back, so they have a new one to make. Fall for each other and risk their friendship or try to forget one little kiss that might change everything. PREVIEW: “If you don’t want to kiss me then... let’s swim.” “Yeah, sure.” “Naked.” “What?” “I always wanted to try skinny dipping. And I really want to get out of these clothes.” “What if someone catches you... me, both?” “We will be in the pool, Ethan. And no one can see us from the living room.” I smirked when I said, “Unless you want to watch me while I swim, you can stay here.” His eyes darkened, and he looked away, probably thinking the same when I noticed red blush creeping up his neck and making his ears and cheeks flush. Cute. “Come on, Ethan. Don’t be a chicken...” “Fine.” His voice was rough when he said, “Remove that sweater first.”

BLURB: He's a grief counselor who lost his own family. He's an immigrant fighting for permission to stay. When Owen meets Lucas at a small restaurant called Roots, neither expects what happens next. Owen is isolated after his family abandoned him for being gay. Lucas carries the weight of an entire family his disabled brother, struggling sister, and the constant pressure to prove they all deserve to stay in the country. What begins as a chance encounter becomes something real. Between stolen moments at the restaurant and late-night conversations, Owen and Lucas find each other. But as they fall deeper, the world closes in. When Owen's boss discovers their relationship and forces him to choose his job or Lucas everything shatters. Owen can't afford to lose his income. Lucas can't bear to be the reason Owen loses everything. They're trapped between love and survival, belonging and rejection. Because sometimes permission to stay isn't about immigration. Sometimes it's about whether love is worth fighting for.

Okay, so this one's for everyone whose imagination has a mind of its own. You know exactly who you are. For the readers who love stories that linger long after the last page. The ones who chase tension, chemistry, forbidden attraction, and characters who blur the line between right and wrong. And for those who insist they're "just here for the plot"... I'll let you keep telling yourself that. Consider this your judgment-free corner—a collection of stories filled with temptation, longing, obsession, and unforgettable connections. Some stories will make you smile. Some will leave your heart racing. Others may have you questioning every decision your favorite characters make. Whatever you're looking for, there's a story waiting for you. Enjoy... and don't say I didn't warn you. ✦ Content Advisory This collection explores mature themes and may include coercive situations, violence, emotional manipulation, degradation, multiple-partner dynamics, and other dark relationship elements. Reader discretion is advised.

In the quiet, watchful town of Willow Creek, nineteen-year-old Rihanna has learned that loving too loudly is dangerous. Once betrayed by her first love and turned into a subject of gossip, she has spent a year and a half building walls around her heart. She is vibrant, outspoken, and endlessly warm—but in a town that mistakes kindness for weakness, she is labeled as someone unworthy of being chosen. When a pandemic lockdown brings an unexpected message from Dennis, the wealthy boy she has admired from afar her entire life, Rihanna allows herself to hope again. What begins as playful late-night conversations and secret meetings soon grows into something far more fragile and intense. Dennis sees her in ways no one ever has—but he is also bound by fear, reputation, and a need for control that clashes with Rihanna’s free-spirited nature. As their connection deepens, Rihanna is forced into her own survival game: choosing between shrinking herself to fit someone else’s expectations or standing fully in who she is, even if it means losing love. When Dennis offers her only something casual, she must confront the truth about what she deserves—and whether she is willing to risk her heart again. *Almost Yours* is a story about emotional survival, self-worth, and the courage it takes to grow beyond heartbreak. In a world that demands women make themselves smaller to be loved, Rihanna’s journey asks a powerful question: when love returns, will she choose it—or herself?

Some moments you plan for while most of the good ones, you don’t. Sweet Surrender is a collection of stories about the moments right before everything changes. It’s a storm that leaves two strangers with nowhere to run, a work trip that blurs every line that was supposed to stay straight, a wedding where the wrong person says exactly the right thing. These aren’t stories about perfect people making perfect choices. They’re a little guarded, a little stubborn to the point that whoever finds themselves in situations that make resisting feel pointless and surrender feel like the smartest and easiest thing they’ve ever done. Come in and get comfortable. Don’t make plans for the rest of the evening.