The Pleasure Pact
by JC Harroway
Newly single Grace Metcalf is ready for some no-strings thrills in tropical Fiji—and gorgeous paddleboarding instructor Ryan Dempsey is the perfect man to share them with. But when their electrifying chemistry becomes a passionate connection, can she convince Ryan to risk something deeper?
Under His Obsession
by Cathryn Fox
Will Carson carefully vets his staff. So how does domestically challenged bombshell Khloe Davis get hired as his assistant in St Thomas? She keeps him up at night. Soon she’s changing his rules, including very naughty things. But is she hiding something that could break his heart?
Dirty Work
by Regina Kyle
Resisting gorgeous millionaire Jake Lawson is harder than maneuvering an Irish wolfhound through Times Square. So when Jake hires Ainsley Scott as his dog walker, it’s only a matter of time until a night of passion turns work into a sexy adventure...and maybe more.
Intoxicated
by Taryn Belle
CHAPTER ONE
THE BRIDAL SHOP was at the corner of Spring Street, conveniently located beside a bakery displaying a flower-adorned wedding cake in the window. Standing on the sidewalk stuffing the last of her street vendor veggie dog into her mouth, Laina Rose stared at the fluffy white dresses with loathing. It seemed like everywhere she looked these days she saw some sort of display of everlasting love, which she guessed came with spring everywhere, not just downtown Atlanta. Businesses trying to cash in on the illusion of forever, still pretending in this day and age that it could be a real thing.
It made Laina sick.
Sighing deeply, she opened the door to the bridal shop and entered. She heard a squeal, and then a bundle of silk chiffon and strawberry-blond hair was launching itself into her arms. “Banger!” Kiki shrieked.
“Mash!” Laina shrieked back, using the old nicknames they’d given each other during a high school trip to London. Just seeing her friend’s beaming face was enough to make Laina’s bad mood vanish. “You look amazing!” It was true—Kiki was lit with a glow from within that could only mean one thing. “Oh my God,” Laina said as realization hit. “The adoption came through, didn’t it? You’re getting a daughter.”
“Yes!” Kiki’s eyes were dancing. “I still can’t believe it—Dev and I go to China to pick her up in a month. Right after the wedding!”
Laina grasped Kiki’s hands happily, her fingers closing around a large ring. She looked down at it and laughed. “Wow. All those climbers must be really disappointed that Mount Everest has been relocated to your finger,” Laina said, lifting the impressive chunk of jewelry up to eye level. “Dev doesn’t mess around, does he?”
“Nope.” Kiki grinned back at her. Despite Laina’s cynicism about marriage, she was truly thrilled for her best friend, who’d weathered more heartache on the path to happiness than anyone she knew: the loss of her mother, divorce, multiple miscarriages and infertility. The girls had met in ninth grade and become inseparable at their Atlanta private school, with their friendship continuing after Kiki moved to LA for university. Later, when Kiki had needed a getaway after a shattering divorce, Laina had offered her the perfect solution. Her parents owned a second home on the Caribbean island of Moretta, where Laina had spent her holidays growing up. Even though it had meant the unpleasant task of asking her parents for a favor, she hadn’t hesitated in offering the estate’s guest cottage to Kiki. It didn’t take long for Kiki to decide she was staying on the island, finding a bartending job and moving into her own cottage. Eventually she’d met Dev, a fellow Moretta resident who also happened to be a chart-topping rock star, and now they were getting married on the island in just two weeks.
“So, what do you think?” Kiki asked, pulling Laina over to the dressing area and doing a spin in front of the three-way mirror. On closer inspection, Laina could see that the dress had a faint blush-pink hue—Kiki’s signature color.
“It’s perfect,” Laina said, glancing at her own reflection over Kiki’s shoulder. She’d been up for work since 5:00 a.m., and it showed. Her dark curls had escaped the loose bun she’d put in that morning, allowing errant springs of hair to dance around the neckline of her navy work dress. Up close she could see that she’d forgotten to put mascara on, not that it mattered much. With her roundish face and a mouth that always looked too wide to her, Laina didn’t think of herself as particularly beautiful. But her eyelashes were her pride and joy, framing her large brown eyes in way that prompted friends to ask where she got her extensions done.
Kiki was twisting back and forth in front of the mirror, holding her hair off her shoulders in a mock updo. “You’re really up for this? I still can’t believe you’re going to host a wedding on your parents’ property.”
Laina shrugged. “It was their idea, remember? They almost never use it anymore. Plus they adore you.”
“They’ve met me exactly once.”
“To know you is to love you.”
Kiki dropped her hair and turned to face Laina with a look of concern. “Still... I know this must be at least a little uncomfortable for you. I mean, you haven’t even stayed at their estate in what, ten years?”
“Twelve. Since I was twenty,” Laina said more tensely than she’d meant to. She relaxed her tone. “But it’s not like I’m staying at the main house—I’ll be in the guest cottage. Besides,” she added, lifting an over-the-top crystal headpiece and placing it playfully on Kiki’s head. “My parents were right—if the press got wind that the rock god of the century was getting married, the paparazzi would be all over his house. Hibiscus Heights is the perfect decoy.”
“Well, I hope you know how much we appreciate it.”
“Of course I do. Just remember to keep my name out of it.”
“Pinkie swear,” Kiki said, and Laina grinned. She knew no further discussion was needed; Kiki had been there to nurse her broken heart several times when Laina had discovered that certain men were only after one thing. And it wasn’t her body—it was what they assumed she had in her bank account.