Olympia Tides Table Novels & Stories

Flash Marriage with My Stoic Boss: Cold in Public, Passionate in Private Blurb Nora Ward has two rules for marriage: low-maintenance and zero drama. As a chief cardiology resident running on coffee and four hours of sleep, she doesn't have time for romance. A blind date gone wrong lands her at the wrong table with the right man — Adrian Cross, a cold, brutally efficient cardiothoracic surgeon just back from the US. They size each other up over iced coffee. Same schedule. Same pragmatism. Same need for a spouse who stays out of the way. Thirty minutes later, they leave the courthouse with a marriage certificate and no intention of ever seeing each other outside a hospital. Problem is — they work at the same hospital. And Adrian Cross just happens to be her department's newly appointed deputy chair. Now she has to face him at morning rounds, pretend he's a stranger, and ignore the way his voice drops an octave when he says "Dr. Ward" — professional, distant, infuriating. Rules are easy to make. Harder to keep when your stoic husband corners you in the on-call room after midnight and proves he's anything but cold. This is why you don't flash-marry your boss.

On my birthday, my husband, Adrian Grant, suddenly showed up with my adoptive younger sister, Bella Reed, and her child, Tia Reed. When it was time to head out, he naturally arranged for Bella to sit in the front passenger seat. Then he turned to me and said calmly, "Tia gets carsick easily. The back seat is full of stuff. Since you're healthy, just take the bus." Our friends immediately chimed in, one after another, "You're the older sister. Taking care of your niece is only right." Four cars were heading out, yet not one seat was left for me, the supposed main character of the day. I sat on the bus, swallowing my grievance, and saw Adrian and Bella interacting ambiguously in the group chat. They were even talking about topics I knew nothing about. When I opened the newly sent video, nothing except leftovers remained on the table prepared for me. Adrian even treated the birthday cake I had carefully prepared as dessert, spoon-feeding it to Bella and her daughter. Someone finally couldn’t stand it anymore and asked whether this was appropriate. Adrian, who was carefully wiping Bella’s mouth, didn’t even look up. "We’re all family. Julia won’t be angry." At that point, our seven-year marriage came to its end.

After helping my husband build his business from the ground up, I settled into life as a full-time housewife. When our daughter's tenth birthday approached, I planned to host a grand celebration for her. I booked a party that cost 2 thousand dollars per table. But when I swiped my card at the hotel, the staff gave me a strange look. "Mrs. Richmond, this card doesn't even have fifty dollars in it to charge." Flushed with embarrassment, I went home to confront my husband. He wore an apologetic expression. "Lately, the company's been competing for contracts. The new government official is insatiably greedy, and I've had to spend a lot under the table to smooth things over. Once the funds turn around, I'll make sure our daughter gets the grand birthday she deserves." I gave him a gentle, understanding smile—but as soon as I turned away, I began tallying our assets. Because that so-called "new government official" was none other than my father. And in his office, there hadn't been any bids or contracts at all. Now I intended to find out exactly where my husband had spent all our money.

I died giving birth. I gave George Norris ten children in seven years and died with my last child during childbirth. Everyone said I was unlucky, but no one knew that I saw the comments on the screen as I was dying. [The cannon fodder is pretty pitiful. Now the female lead gets ten healthy babies for free.] [The female lead is so clever. She likes children but doesn't want to give birth to any for the male lead, so she added fertility pills in the cannon fodder's food.] [Tsk, tsk, tsk, the cannon fodder probably won't even know she gave birth to the male lead and female lead's children.] The comments made me so angry that I dropped dead right then and there. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back, right after I had married George. [Tsk, the female lead is so ruthless; she added three fertility pills to the chicken soup.] [Is the female lead not afraid that the cannon fodder will give birth to triplets and die on the operating table?] Watching the chicken soup Cheryl York handed me, I grinned, grabbed her mouth, and poured the soup down her throat. If she liked having children so much, she could have as many as she wanted!

The air in the Parisian haute couture salon smelled like money and fear. I’d waited six months for my wedding dress. Now, it was draped over the shoulders of Sofia Ross—the trending influencer, and my mafia fiancé Vincent Cassio’s god-sister. The salon manager was sweating bullets, his eyes darting between me and the man lounging on the velvet sofa. Vincent Cassio stood up. He adjusted a fold of the diamond-encrusted train on Sofia with a casual flick of his wrist. “Her premiere next week needs a statement piece. She’s borrowing it. Pick something off the rack and stop making a scene.” His tone was flat, final. Under the crystal chandeliers, Sofia admired herself in the full-length mirror, a triumphant smile on her lips. I looked at my reflection in the same mirror, wearing jeans and a soaked trench coat. I looked like a lost tourist. Suddenly, the entire past year of planning felt like a sick joke. I didn’t yell. I just felt cold. Numb. I slipped the five-carat engagement ring off my finger. It hit the glass coffee table with a sharp, final click. “You’re right, Vincent. I don’t need this wedding dress. This wedding… I don’t need it either.”

Eri Sunville, an intelligent and hardworking female who needs to earn enough for her sister's surgery. She needs any job she can get at any moment and so when she gets the job as a secretary to famous and arrogant multi billionaire, Don Jones, she finds herself having to keep up with his behavior to earn for the surgery. Don Jones, an arrogant yet strikingly handsome CEO who cares about nothing else but the success of his company and will be getting married to his fiancee who has been kept anonymous to stir up the media. --- "Why are you late?" A deep and cold voice called. I had not even noticed the man sitting on the chair in front of the table that lay close to the wall. I stared at him and my goodness, was this how handsome Don Jones was. Nobody told me he was this hot. He had well defined jawlines, a prominent nose and high cheekbones that made me wonder how on earth a man could been so damn gorgeous. He had smooth and straight black hair that fell on his forehead. I only realized I had been staring at his full and perfectly shaped black eyebrows when they furrowed to form a frown. I stared at his eyes and he held my gaze with those devilish dark blue eyes.

I’m raising someone else’s kid. My sister’s daughter, and where I thought I’d never make it as a single father bachelor, I was wrong. This little girl has my heart. And only her. Until a stray dog happens upon my place and we’re forced to call a vet. And a beautiful woman showed up. I didn’t believe in fate. But it seems to believe in me. The beautiful woman who helped us out with the dog shows up again later on a blind date across the table from me. And I’m sold out for her before I realize what’s happening. Pulling back is my only hope for survival. After losing my sister, I’m far more protective of me and her little one. But it’s a losing battle. No way I’m going anywhere, until I’m forced to. It would seem I have a kid of my own in the world. Maybe this is the breaking point where I can walk away from the all-consuming passion of my new romance. Because I’m good with giving my time, my body, and all of my money. But to her? I’ve accidentally given all of me.

Astrid's world shattered at six months pregnant when she found out that her mate's love was a lie, orchestrated by her own parents. He'd seduced her for one purpose: to harvest her unborn child's cord blood for her dying sister. Every moment of their relationship had been a betrayal wrapped in false promises. They’d forced her onto an operating table, taking what they needed and leaving her to die. And in those final moments, Astrid realises that she was all alone with no one on her side. She was supposed to die that day, forgotten and used. Instead, she vanished into the shadows and forged herself into something new. Now Astrid has returned with a different name, a different face, and a singular obsession. The family who orchestrated her destruction thinks she's dead and buried. They're about to learn that betrayal cuts both ways and Astrid has been sharpening her blade ever since they left her for dead. But when the moment comes to destroy them all, will Astrid choose vengeance or mercy? And when her former mate realizes who she really is, will the truth be enough to bring them all down or will Astrid's heart betray her one last time?

Nora’s tarot readings were never meant to matter. They were simple moments. A card flip. A quiet truth. Nothing that could ever disturb fate itself. Until the night the cards tremble in her hands. Until the air in the café sharpens and chills. Until something impossible steps out of the shadows. He does not belong to the world around him. His presence presses against it, ancient and heavy, unseen by everyone else. People walk past him without noticing a thing. But Nora sees him. And he is not pleased. He came to investigate the force that dared to bend fate. He expected danger. He expected power. He did not expect the girl sitting at the table with trembling cards. Every instinct tells Nora she should fear him. He is not human. Not mortal. He was never created to feel. Yet something in her pulls at him with a gravity he cannot escape. The more he watches her, the more impossible she becomes. And the more he realizes that whatever awakens inside him will not fade quietly. She may have changed someone’s fate. Now she has his attention. A forbidden attraction. A girl with a gift she barely understands. An immortal who was never meant to want. Until her. Once their paths cross, fate doesn’t just unravel. It begins to fight back.

Abductors bind me in a basement, subjecting me to the torment of dozens. Meanwhile, my husband, Evan Foster, dines by candlelight with his lover, Carmen Locke. My abductors grant me one chance to call for help, and I dial Evan's number. I'm certain he will come for me. I believe Evan would give his life for me, as he once vowed that his future held no meaning without me. Clinging to hope, I call the number etched in my heart. However, Evan scolds me for interrupting their date. "You think I'll come get you? Dream on. Maybe I'll bother to collect your body if you die out there." His words crush me, and I do die. Five days later, Evan stands before the autopsy table, grimacing at the mangled remains before him. Even as the police department's finest forensic expert, having dissected thousands of bodies, he condemns the killer's brutality. Yet, despite his cold dismissal of my desperate plea over the phone, he now wears a look of pity. Evan, if you knew these fragments belonged to me, would you still find me worthy of your compassion?