Showing results by author "Lani Lynn Vale" in All Categories

All Birdee Calvert wanted was to be normal. She wanted the parents who didn’t divorce when she was a kid and make her life a living nightmare. She wanted the sisters who actually liked her. She wanted to live in a town where everyone loved her and didn’t have a single bad thing to say about her. That was not the life Birdee was given. She had the exact opposite life. The kind of life where she slunk through the grocery store with a hoodie on so no one would recognize her. The kind of life where men like Creed Daugherty didn’t give her a second look.

For a solid five years, Jasper Madden has done nothing but look the other way when it comes to Calliope Hodges. At first, she was way too young for him, barely eighteen the first time he laid eyes on her. It also didn’t help that he’d witnessed her at the lowest of lows, practically making peace with rock bottom. But as time goes by, he realizes that Calliope is different. She’s a brave, stunning young woman that has slowly captured his heart while he was watching from the shadows.

When Mr. January himself tells Rowen to do what a gunman says, she’s had enough. Rowen has never really been a girl that does what she’s told. Mr. January won’t have to save her. She can dang well save herself.

Edith “Eddy” Wheeler was having a bad day. A no good, very bad day. It’s understandable, really. I mean, there didn’t seem to be anything worse than walking in on your elderly parents doing things no child should ever see. Add into that their proclivities, and Eddy is disgusted and disturbed. So of course, after seeing the atrocious things her parents—the pastor and pastor’s wife that are supposed to be holy and a teacher of faith—are into, she makes it her life goal to expose them to their masses.

She was enraptured by the man they called Romeo the moment that he turned those butterscotch-colored eyes her way. What wasn’t to love about a big, burly, plaid-wearing lumberjack? He was tall, gorgeous, and knew how to wield a chainsaw better than Leatherface. He could fell a tree in seconds, had thighs that were as thick as said trees, filled out a pair of Wranglers better than any cowboy ever, and didn’t care that she could operate heavy machinery better than him. He was everything a girl like Mable could ask for. The caveat?

He should’ve never left his house. He should’ve stayed at home. He has a legitimate excuse - he’s running a fever and he’s fairly sure he’s developing pneumonia. He should have called in sick...but he doesn’t. He goes to work, because his team is relying on him. Needless to say, when Samuel Adams walks into the pharmacy hours later, he only has one thing on his mind. Ibuprofen. Sadly, he never gets to the Ibuprofen. Mostly because before he gets there, he finds a junkie waving a gun around threatening to kill anybody that moves.

Nastya Semyonov first met Haze at a bar, but for Haze Hopkins, duty calls before either can act on their desires. He’s gone without a glance back, leaving her thinking that maybe all the hot looks were only one-sided. Fast forward to the next day, Nastya hitches a ride to her car that she left behind the night before, only to run into the same man from last night. Neither one truly thinks before they act, and they spend a hot fifteen minutes in a fast-food restaurant bathroom before parting ways again.

Ares saw him for the first time at a Kilgore Police Department benefit dinner. She’d gone with her dad as his plus one. Hayes Greer had gone by himself and brooded silently across the same table as her, drinking whiskey and not saying a word. It only took that one time for her to become interested. The next time she saw him, he was doing another benefit - but this one requiring a whole lot fewer clothes. And that was when she knew. She wanted him. Badly. But the morose Hayes was too busy thinking about his sins to see what was right in front of his face - Ares.

Finnian “Apollo” Reins met Dru Noel Rossi at his lowest. She was a bright ray of sunshine in his darkest, cloudiest night. He had no clue that he needed her. He was just struggling to keep his head above water, going from day to day, waiting for it to be his time to go. But then she catches his eye in the swankiest restaurant in Washington DC. She’s wearing all black and sticks out like a sore thumb among the elitists’ otherwise dressiest affairs. She may have been severely underdressed, but that didn’t stop Finnian from following her every move and becoming obsessed.

This is for charity. This is for fun. You are a professional. You can do it. Those are the words that Calloway Alvarez chants to herself as she watches all the large men gather into the small room where she’ll be doing the interviews for her employer - Hero Magazine. Honestly, she’s convinced herself that she can’t accomplish the task at hand. That is until she hears his voice, and her head turns to see him standing there. Louis Spurlock. Greek god. SWAT officer. Keeper of her secrets. Ultimate fantasy. Man who will break her heart.

There was right, there was wrong, and then there was the in-between. The place where normal people reside, understanding that there are two sides to every coin. People that do bad things for good reasons. People that do bad things for bad reasons. First, I knew that Shasha Semyonov was a bad man. One that did bad things for bad reasons. That didn’t mean that I was rational when it came to him.

It wasn’t easy being considered the ugly friend. She’s known since she was young that life wouldn’t be easy, and that she would have to work hard for everything she got. Life was tough when you had a face that only a mother could love. For years, Sutton Sway goes through life knowing that she’s never going to have a happily ever after that she’s always dreamed of. So she settles. She marries not for love, but for companionship, choosing a man that she never should’ve looked twice at, all so she could have a family of her own.

Her: I wanted to have a pity party of one when I went for that beer. I never imagined I would meet a dark and dangerous man. That man took me on the wildest ride of my life. Literally and figuratively. He quickly became my entire world. Him: I didn't know I was looking for her. I saw her warming that bar stool and knew she would be mine. A man like me doesn't deserve the likes of her. But damned if I didn't take it. Her: When we met for the first time we didn't know that we already had a connection.

Booth Pena definitely didn’t make the smartest of decisions when he was a teenager. At eighteen, he knocked a girl up and signed up for the military all in the same day. There weren’t a lot of things that the baby’s mother and he saw eye to eye on after that. He honestly wasn’t sure why he even slept with her in the first place. Okay, that last part is a lie. He knows exactly why he slept with her. Because the real woman he’s in love with, her twin sister, Dillan, won’t give him the time of day. Five years later, and he still wants her.

The first day that she walked onto the surgical floor that Chevy Clayborne spent most of his time on, he knew that he’d do anything to make her his. For two years, he played the long game. He slowly insinuated himself into her life, and the moment that she needed him, he swooped in like the knight in shining armor that he only pretended to be but most assuredly wasn’t. He’s no real knight. In fact, he’s the villain in everyone’s story but his own.

Going from a professional baseball player to a SWAT officer should’ve been seamless. Should have been. But it wasn’t. All it took was one single calendar shoot for word to spread that Nathan Cox was not only no longer playing professional baseball, but he was also the man behind saving the life of Reggie Morton, the city of Kilgore’s princess. Reggie didn’t know that by agreeing to provide the expertise and the know-how for the Police Officer’s Ball that she would be required to actually attend the function.

Baker Ritter knew how to pick them. She met the man she thought she was going to marry in middle school, gave him some of the best years of her life, for him to leave her pregnant and alone hours before she’s due to have his baby. To make matters worse, he brings his side chick to the birth, and she’s left with a decision—fight for what she wants, or cut her losses. What she should’ve done was cut her losses. What she does instead is take him back and experiences what it’s like to live in hell.

From the moment Creole Williams met Audric Ingram, they were inseparable. But not the way one would think. They shared a best friend. What they did not do, however, was like each other. You could say that it was a war to win the best friend title. The only problem was, their best friend would never choose a clear winner. So they spent their teenage years fighting it out. What Audric didn’t know, though, was that Creole was desperately in love with him. The same went for Audric. He wanted Creole more than his next breath. But it was never the right time.

Piers “Webber” Webb knew two things for certain. One, he needed to stay the hell away from Silver Donahue. Two, he didn’t think there was a chance in hell that he could. He tries, though. For a solid year, he does his best to be dismissive to the point where he appears cold and threatening. But when Silver finds herself in danger, he forgets why he was giving her the cold shoulder to begin with. The thing is, Silver didn’t forget.

After a horrible marriage, Haggard has zero plans of ever finding a woman again. One-night stands not counting, he adores his life as a single man. There are no expectations. No "where are yous" and "are you coming homes". The life he chooses to live is a simple one. Until he makes a huge mistake, and he steps over that line between "daughter’s best friend" and "a woman he desperately wants". Before long, he can’t stop thinking about her. Can’t stop wanting her. Can’t stop feeling things for her that a man 20 years her senior should never feel for a girl he watched grow up.