Life doesn’t always pan out as you expect. When it explodes in my face, literally, an old friend offers me a place to heal and a job renovating the kitchen of Burlington’s coolest wine bar. V&V is a chill fest. Living above it should be a blast. But I’m not built to be a social butterfly. Not anymore. I’m a damaged man. And I’m not its target clientele. At least, I think I’m not until I come face-to-face with the most beautiful human I’ve ever seen.

When it comes to hockey, I'm all about the game. I've worked for years to be one of the best in the league, and l've done it without splashing my orientation all over the tabloids. My hockey image is one I've carefully cultivated, and after one night with Ezra Palaszczuk, I risk it all. He's cocky, obnoxious, and has an ego bigger than Massachusetts. And okay, maybe he's the sexiest man I've ever known. We'll never get along. Not when we sleep together. Not even when my possessive streak awakens. That doesn't stop us from falling into bed together over and over again.

The furniture district is my personal hell. I don’t know my ass from an ottoman. But when a hot designer comes to my rescue, I realize my problems are bigger than the house I’m trying to furnish.

Being invited to my cousin’s wedding really shouldn’t be a big deal except, oh yeah, I haven't seen my family for a decade. My parents turned their backs on me, and I’ve done everything since to become successful and show them what they've lost. Only it’s kinda hard to be a success when you’re a walking trainwreck.

My loser high school friend never deserved him anyway. If I’d had the chance, I would have locked Remy down years ago. Only, when the party leads to a drunken kiss, going on their honeymoon, and sharing their marital bed, I have to say, I’m not entirely sad that their wedding went up in flames.

As a founding member of The Vers, a queer podcast I host with my three best friends, I’m "The Loner"—quieter than the others, and except for them, I don’t let myself get too close to people. Most of them just let you down anyway, or maybe it’s just that something about me chases people away.

Sex comes with a price tag. One I’m quite willing to pay. In fact, I prefer it. It’s easier that way, and in my life, I prefer ease. Prefer for most things to be transactional.

Conor: It starts with a drunken text pic. The kind I would normally never send. Only, instead of it going to the flirty hotel bartender, it goes to some random stranger who actually responds. Wells: The first thing I notice about Conor Newell when he sits down in my high-rise conference room is how delightfully nervous he is. Then I see his tie. The same geeky tie that’s held hostage on my phone. The one that belongs to my anonymous late-night texter. And it changes everything.

Life has been easy for me. Top of my class. Star quarterback of the football team. Every guy wants to be my friend, and every girl wants to date me. Yeah, life is pretty sweet. Except it’s not. It’s all fake. School comes too easy for me, and I’m bored. Football isn’t fun anymore. The guys I hang out with aren’t really my friends. And the girls? I don’t want to date them. The only one I want to date... He’s a little bit...hostile.

My name is Hudson Newgate, but my teammates call me "New Guy". That was my nickname in Chicago, too. And Vancouver. That’s what happens when you keep getting traded. Brooklyn is my last chance, especially after my poor performance last season.

Kyran Harbor is everything I'm not. Rich. Popular. A superstar football player who's awfully broody for someone who has it all. Basically, he's a preppy jock who hates me. Oh, and he's also my stepbrother. That's right. We're stuck together, sharing a school, a house, a bathroom. Honestly I wouldn't care if he wasn't such an uptight control freak who messes with me just because we're different. I had every intention of avoiding him when we got to college. Until abrupt misfortune forces us both into a compromising position.

When my mother told me she was getting married, I had no idea just how much my life would change. Her new husband does his best to make me feel welcome, but his son is a different story. Huxley Granger is rude and aggressive, and from the moment we collide, he makes it clear that he loathes me. Then, something happens. An event that alters everything between us.

Harper Reid has no money and nowhere to go, but he can't spend one more day under the same roof as his abusive boyfriend. Desperate to start fresh, he takes on a special case through the caregiver agency that contracts him. The client has fired everyone else, but this job includes lodging, so Harper will find a way to make it work until he's back on his feet.

I’ve had a crush on my brother’s best friend since the moment I laid eyes on him four years ago. Warner Ramsey is 225 pounds of pure hotness, a media darling, and one of the best NFL quarterbacks in the league. Hell, he’s the reason I figured out I’m solidly bi. It was easy to keep my crush under control when I was in college. Now, we play for the same team, and every time he talks smack, I want to shut him up. With my mouth.

My entire life has been one steady plan after another. Go to college. Get married. Have a successful career. More than a decade goes by, and my entire world is rocked in more ways than one. Everything I thought I knew is ripped from under me in one fell swoop. Then I meet him: the enticing man behind the camera with the boyish grin and charismatic energy who makes me question everything. He was only supposed to be a means to an end. But what I got was so much more.

He was my older brother's best friend. He was never supposed to be mine. I thought we would get it out of our systems and move on. One of us did. One of us left. Now he's back, looking at me like he wants to devour me. And all those feelings I'd turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.

Bryna feels his eyes on her. Hot, seductive, enticing. He's at least 10 years older than her 17 years, and he knows exactly what he's doing to her with that look. Walking away would be the smart thing to do...but she can't. Not that first night when he takes her home and claims her body. Not when he shows up in her life again with expensive gifts to win her trust. Not even when she's falling for him, and everything else is falling apart....

Theo Decker might be the lead singer of Riven, but he hates being a rock star. The paparazzi, the endless tours, being recognized everywhere he goes - it all makes him squirm. The only thing he doesn't hate is the music. Feeling an audience's energy as they lose themselves in Riven's music is a rush unlike anything else...until he meets Caleb Blake Whitman. Caleb is rough and damaged, yet his fingers on his guitar are pure poetry. And his hands on Theo? They're all he can think about. But Caleb's no groupie - and one night with him won't be enough.

Anything can be fixed with a little Duct Tape and sass... At least that's what celebrity fixer, Delilah Donovan, used to think. She prides herself on being able to handle anything. But when she's asked to fix the new CEO of Synth Games, she never dreams she'll come face to face with the only man to ever break her heart. The past can't always be fixed... When a friend calls in a long ago favor, reformed hacker, Nate Williams, worries that his shady past will come back to haunt him.

Enemies turn to lovers in this bad boy billionaire romance with a twist. I had a plan. Finish law school. Start a job. Stay away from men like Brandon Sterling. Cocky, overbearing, and richer than the Earth, he thinks the world belongs to him, and that includes me. Yeah, no. Think again. It doesn't matter that his blue eyes look straight into my soul, or that his touch melts my icy reserve. It doesn't even matter that past all that swagger, there's a beautiful, damaged man who has so much to offer beyond private planes and jewelry boxes. But I had a plan: no falling in love.

Ryan Christensen just wanted to be an actor. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine a life where fans would chase him, paparazzi would stalk him, and Hollywood studios would want to own him. While filming in Seaport, Rhode Island, Ryan ducks into a neighborhood bar for a quick escape from legions of screaming fans... and finds much more than he expected. Nursing a recent heartbreak, Taryn Mitchell believes men are best kept at a safe distance. But when Ryan Christensen unexpectedly bursts through the front door of her pub, she can’t help but be drawn in

Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year. She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive - by NYC standards, anyway - apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling...except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.

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.

I'm about to throw an ashtray at my boss's head. Turns out, the mind behind my favorite, steamy romance novels...the ones I only read in private...the ones that are my only escape after a long day of dealing with The Boss from Hell? It's not Natalie McBride, the sweet, rural housewife. It's him. That's right: my boss, Adrian Risinger, the 33-year-old, maddeningly sexy, pissant billionaire "bad boy" who thinks he runs my life. He is also the author of all my deepest, most secret fantasies.

Benjamin Chase is not my type. He's abrasive. He's arrogant. He doesn't take anything seriously. I'd die before I dated him, but he has something different in mind. He has to get married in the next nine months, or he loses his company to his ex-wife. And apparently I'm the most eligible bachelorette in town.

His heart beats for the music. She's his favorite song. Lyric Cassidy knows a thing or two about bad boy rock stars with raspy vocals. In fact, her heart was just played by one. So when she takes an assignment as road manager for the world famous rock star, Wolf, she's prepared to take him on, full suit of heart-armor intact. Wolf is the sexy lead singer for the hottest rock band around with a line-up of guaranteed one night stands. Lyric Cassidy isn't one of them. That's fine with him.

Football star and Internet sensation Gavin "Anaconda" Adams is the biggest celebrity our little town has ever seen. But I had no idea who he was when I accidentally walked in on him naked. I was shocked, seeing all of him, a cocky grin on his face. I didn't know what to do. So I ran. No matter what I do, I can't get that image out of my head. To make matters worse, Gavin wants a date with me.

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.

Walter Lucas doesn't believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible - except his shy, sad little sack of a roommate is seriously screwing up his world view. As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he'll have to finally show up for class - and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last.

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.

Harrison Phillip Fletcher III isn't supposed to be here. Not in Burlington, Vermont, not running Vino & Veritas, a quaint inclusive bookstore and wine bar, and definitely not still alive, at 42. Also not supposed to be here? An unexpected delivery of chickens. Finn Barnes knows chickens. The burly organic farmer knows all about rare breed poultry, but dealing with a hot older bookseller is an entirely different matter. City-slicker types like Harrison never end up staying in Vermont for the long-term. They should steer clear of each other. But the flare of attraction is mutual.

Life doesn’t always pan out as you expect. When it explodes in my face, literally, an old friend offers me a place to heal and a job renovating the kitchen of Burlington’s coolest wine bar. V&V is a chill fest. Living above it should be a blast. But I’m not built to be a social butterfly. Not anymore. I’m a damaged man. And I’m not its target clientele. At least, I think I’m not until I come face-to-face with the most beautiful human I’ve ever seen.

As a kid, you don't think about the sacrifices you'll have to make for your dreams. I surrendered a carefree childhood to hours upon hours of grueling practices. Abandoned life with my family in favor of a boarding school that would hone my skills to perfection. But my biggest sacrifice, the one I couldn't predict I'd have to make as a little boy, is denying who I am. I thought I could do it. I thought hockey would be enough. After all, as the top rookie in this year's NHL draft and the most promising defender the league has seen in years, my dreams were coming true. Enter Xander Nydek.

When I met Leonardo Ricci, he was determined I would only be a fling, while I was certain he was my forever. Seven years later, we’re the perfect couple. Happy, married, and in love–in sickness and health, till death do us part.

I avoid him. Every time Kepler Quinn steps into a room, I get the hell out. He does...something to me. When those discerning gray eyes flick toward me, his brow rising in a silent greeting, there’s a tightening of my abs. A zapping hum quivering low along my spine. There are about a million reasons it shouldn’t be what the little voice in the back of my head insists...a crush. Because Kepler isn’t just some random guy. He’s my brother’s best friend. He’s also my TA for physics this semester. And also...a guy.

What happens when drunken idiots, aka your friends, use a silly drinking game to sideswipe you and your BFF with the truth bomb that you're actually in love with each other? Truman: You impulsively kiss the best friend you've been in love with for ages . . . then wake up with a hangover—and regrets. Lyle: You freak out because you're not gay or bi, before realizing the kiss wasn't *actually* bad. Then you begin to wonder . . . should we do it again?

He was my first love. Will he be my last? Going home after twenty years was supposed to be a short stop. Before following my dreams. Instead, I’m forced to face my past... and the ex that betrayed me.

At 43, Holden Barnett is getting along just fine. His job as a pilot keeps him from getting restless, and he’s got a man who doesn’t want promises for the future. One phone call from his estranged sister changes everything. She needs his help, so Holden drops everything and heads to Harmony, a small town in Briar County, which represents everything he’s tried to avoid in life.

This year is my last chance to take the Titans to victory. I cost us the cup last year, but I'm not making the same mistake again. And I'm determined to get drafted by the end of this season. The success I anticipate is built on three years of razor-sharp focus and hard-earned respect. Not to mention how much of my personal life I sacrificed for hockey. The Titans trust me to lead them and I won't betray that. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Until the former love of my life and current arch nemesis, Cameron Martinez, skates back into my life.

When my mother told me she was getting married, I had no idea just how much my life would change. Her new husband does his best to make me feel welcome, but his son is a different story. Huxley Granger is rude and aggressive, and from the moment we collide, he makes it clear that he loathes me. Then, something happens. An event that alters everything between us.