S.J. Tilly

VAL When I was nine, I went to my first funeral. Along with accepting my father's death, I had to accept new and awful truths I wasn't prepared for. When I was nineteen, I went to my mother's funeral. We weren't close, but with her gone, I became more alone than ever before. Sure, I have a half-brother who runs The Alliance. And yeah, he's given me his protection — in the form of a bodyguard and chauffeur. But I don't have anyone that really knows me. No one to really love me. Until I meet him. The man in the airport. And when one chance meeting turns into something hotter, something more serious, I let myself believe that maybe he's the one. Maybe this man is the one who will finally save me from my loneliness. The one to give me the family I've always craved. DOM The Mafia is in my blood. It's what I do. So when that blood is spilled and one funeral turns into three, drastic measures need to be taken. And when this battle turns into a war, I'm going to need more men. More power. I'm going to need The Alliance. And I'll become a member. By any means necessary.

Payton Running away from home at 17 wasn’t easy. Let’s face it though, nothing before, or in the ten years since, has ever been easy for me. And I’m doing okay. Sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people’s way, off people’s minds. So when a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home, and my life, I should be scared. Frightened. Terrified. But I must be more broken than I realized, because I’m none of those things. I’m intrigued. And I’m wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him. Nero The first time I took a man’s life, I knew there’d be no going back. No normal existence in the cards for me. So instead of walking away, I climbed a mountain of bodies, and created my own destiny. By forming The Alliance. And I was fine with that. Content enough to carry on. Until I stepped through those open doors, and into her life. I should’ve walked away. Should’ve gone right back out the door I came through. But I didn’t. And now her life is in danger. But that’s the thing about being a bad man. I’ll happily paint the streets red to protect what’s mine. And Payton is mine. Whether she knows it or not.

There are a few things that life doesn’t prepare you for. Like what to do when a super-hot guy catches you sneaking around in his basement. Or what to do when a mysterious package shows up with tickets to a hockey game because, apparently, he’s a professional athlete. Or how to handle it when you get to the game and realize he’s freaking famous since half of the 20,000 people in the stands are wearing his jersey. I thought I was a well-adjusted adult, reasonably prepared for life. But one date with Jackson Wilder, a viral video, and a “I didn’t know she was your mom” incident, and I’m suddenly questioning everything I thought I knew. But he’s fun. And great. And I think I might be falling for him. But I don’t know if he’s falling for me, too, or if he’s as much of a player off the ice as on.

I have a nice life - living in my hometown, owning the coffee shop I’ve worked at since I was 16. It’s comfortable. On paper. But I’m tired of doing everything by myself. Tired of being in charge of every decision in my life. I want someone to lean on. Someone to spend time with. Sit with. Hug. And I really don’t want to go to my best friend’s wedding alone. So, I signed up for a dating app, and agreed to meet with the first guy that messaged me. And now here I am, at the bar. Only it’s not my date that just sat down in the chair across from me. It’s his dad. And holy hell, he’s the definition of Silver Fox. If a Silver Fox can be thick as a house, have piercing blue eyes and tattoos from his neck down to his fingertips. He’s giving me Big Bad Wolf vibes. Only instead of running, I’m blushing. And he looks like he might just want to eat me whole.

- Elouise - I fell in love with Beckett when I was 7. He broke my heart when I was 15. When I was 18, I promised myself I’d forget about him. And I did. For a dozen years. But now he’s back home. Here. In Darling Lake. And I don’t know if I should give in to the temptation swirling between us or run the other way. - Beckett - She had a crush on me when she was a kid. But she was my brother’s best friend’s little sister. I didn’t see her like that. And even if I had, she was too young. Our age difference was too great. But now I’m back home. And she’s here. And she’s all the way grown up. It wouldn’t have worked back then. But I’ll be damned if I won’t get a taste of her now.

CASSIE How to make the handsome, brooding man across the street notice me. Step one: Deliver baked goods to his front porch, even though he never answers his door and always returns the containers when I'm not home. Step two: Slowly lose my mind as a whole year passes without ever running into him, no matter how hard I try. Step three: Have my boudoir photos accidentally delivered to his mailbox instead of mine. Have him open the package. Then have him storm into my home for the most panty-melting scolding of my life. Step four: Still figuring out step four. HANS I'm a dangerous man. A man who has spent the last two decades removing so many souls from this earth that it's a miracle my hands aren't permanently stained red. I'm a man who belongs in the shadows. I certainly don't belong in my pretty little neighbor's bedroom when she's not home, touching her things and inhaling her scent. I shouldn't follow her. Shouldn't watch her. Because no number of cookies on my doorstep will change the fact that love isn't an option for me. The only option left for me is violence.

You thought Nero was a red flag... Okay, so, my bad for assuming the guy I was going on a date with wasn’t married. And my bad for taking him to a friend’s house for dinner, only to find out my friend is also friends with his wife. Because, in fact, he is married. And she happens to be at my friend’s house because her husband was busy working. Confused? So am I. Unsurprisingly, my date’s wife is super angry about finding out that her husband is a cheating asshole. Girl, I get it. Then, to make matters more convoluted, there is the man sitting next to my date’s wife. A man named King, who is apparently her brother, and who lives up to his name. And since my date is a two-timing prick, I’m not going to feel bad about drooling over King, especially since I’ll never see him again. Or at least I don’t plan to. I plan to take an Uber to the cheater’s apartment to get my car keys. I plan for it to be quick. And if I had to list a thousand possible outcomes… witnessing my date’s murder, being kidnapped by his killer, and then being forced to marry the super attractive but clearly deranged crime lord, would not have been on my Bingo card. But alas, here I am.

I caught her staring at me from across the quad, eyes fixed on the football jersey stretched across my wide chest. And if I flexed my muscles, showing off the strength of a defensive tackle, it was just to see her blush. And then she did, and I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Her wide eyes. The freckles on her cheeks. I needed to know her. The girl who scampered away every time we bumped into each other—by accident and by design. The girl who shyly agreed to come to my game, getting her first taste of football. The girl, Hannah Utley, who worked at the campus library and let me rest my head on her shoulder as she read to me in one of the study rooms. It was innocent. Mostly. Until we lose track of time and discover that the library has closed. And we’re locked inside. Now it’s me and Hannah in the stacks. Alone. With nothing but desire between us.

I’m so sick of watching the world spin by. Of letting people think I’m plain and boring, too afraid to just be myself. Then I see him. John. He’s strength and fury, and unapologetic. He’s everything I want. And everything I wish I was. He won’t want me, but that doesn’t matter. The sight of him is all the inspiration I need to finally shatter this glass house I’ve built around myself. Only he does want me. And when our worlds collide, details we can’t see become tangled, twisting together, ensnaring us in an invisible trap. When it all goes wrong, I don’t know if I’ll be able to break free of the chains binding us, or if I’ll suffocate in the process.

Hannah Maddox Lovelace. The captivating football player I met in college. The one I only knew for a week. A week that was… life-changing. Until my phone rang, and I had no choice but to go home. I left Maddox a letter, putting my feelings on paper, giving him my number, hoping he’d call. But he didn’t call. He never called. He got drafted into the professional league and lived like a king while I stayed home and struggled to stay afloat. I may have followed his career, but now that he’s retired from football, I’ve forced myself to stop thinking about him. And it’s okay that I won’t ever see him again. That week in college was fifteen years ago. I’m not in love with Maddox anymore. I might even hate him. Maddox Hannah Utley. The name that’s haunted me since my senior year of college. The girl who caught my attention with her wide eyes and freckled nose. Who spent one week twisting up my insides until she stole a piece of my heart the night we got locked inside the campus library. The girl who disappeared without a word. It’s the name of the girl I’ve been trying to forget for fifteen years. And it’s the name looking up at me from the résumé in my hand. Because Hannah Utley works for the company I just purchased. And that makes her mine. Whether she likes it or not.