Claire Contreras

He was my older brother's best friend.  He was never supposed to be mine.  I thought we would get it out of our system 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. This is a standalone.

In the twenty-five years I’ve known Cory York, the only thing I didn’t fake with him were my orgasms. In seventh grade, I faked a stomach flu to stay home and keep him company while he was sick. I ended up with a virus that kept me out of school for an entire week. In twelfth grade I faked an injury to avoid going to prom by myself. He took pity on me, dumped his original date and escorted me to the dance where the spurned girl dumped an entire pitcher of red punch over my head. In college, I faked being in a relationship with him to get him out of a bind with a classmate. Most recently, I faked a proposal, an engagement, and wedding date. Between the ring on my finger and the home cooked meals every night, I fell for him. So I left, because Cory York is a good friend, but a terrible boyfriend. I had to leave before he broke my heart. We went from best friends to silent strangers. Now that I’m back in town, he wants me to be his plus one for his cousin’s wedding. This time I’ll have to fake not loving him.

New York Times bestseller Claire Contreras brings you a sexy sports romance… I'm naturally gifted on the field and between the sheets. With flashy cars and enough media attention to put the Royal Family to shame, I’m the definition of Most Eligible Bachelor. Every man wants to be me and every woman wants to tame me. Until Camila. The moment I lay eyes on her, I know I have to have her. She wants to keep me at arm's length. I want her naked in my bed. She thinks our worlds are too different. All I want her to think about is screaming my name. She says I’m bad news. I have three weeks to prove her wrong.

You've heard of these groups - the secretive ones that only the crème de la crème are invited into, the ones outsiders speculate about for centuries - I'm the second in my family invited to attend, but to them, I'm fresh meat. New blood. New money, too. They think they'll elbow past me, that I'm here for their amusement, for them to walk all over, they'll find out soon enough that I'm not. I may look like one of them, with my designer bags and clothes straight from the Parisian runways, but I'm not. I'm here for answers, to take revenge for blood spilled on their centuries-old Persian rugs. I transferred here in search for answers about what happened to my older brother, who hightailed out of here, and my friend who seemingly disappeared into thin air. I certainly wasn't here for the attention of the star hockey player, regardless of how much he willed my eyes his way. I wasn't here for his scrutiny or his judgment or to read into his mysterious aura. I was here for the society, because only they held the answers I needed. That was, until I found out that in order to get those answers, I needed to to go through him. He's saying if I want in, I have to play by their rules, follow their lead. It's a game I'm willing to play. I may be the second person I know of to be invited into their society, but I'll be the first to make it out intact.

The list of things I hate is short. Not even my soon-to-be ex-husband is on that list. Nope. I save only the worst of the worst, the crème de la crème, the absolute I cannot even for this list . . . 1. Black coffee 2. Rude people 3. Nathaniel Bradley Which is why when my father informs me that he’s making Nathaniel Bradley his new business partner, and in turn, my boss, I flip out. 1. He’s an annoying know-it-all. 2. He calls me a spoiled princess every chance he gets. 3. He disapproves of everything I do. I go into this knowing I’ll hate every second in his presence. Except the longer he’s around, the more I find myself staring at his lips and remembering the one time they were on mine. I randomly find myself looking at his hands and wondering how they’d feel on my skin. I try to snap out of it, but I guess I’m not as smart as I thought I was. No matter how many times I remind myself of the times I’ve practically thrown myself at him and he’s pushed me away, I keep falling little by little. I’d always heard that it was a bad idea to mix business with pleasure and if that’s the case, this thing with Nathaniel has demise written all over it.

From New York Times best-seller Claire Contreras comes a new, sexy stand-alone mafia romance novel . . . Isabel Bonetti – One minute I’m mourning the sudden death of my father, and the next, I’m getting calls from a lawyer saying they needed to read me my father’s will. As far as I know, my father didn’t have much to leave. He was a blue-collar worker, through and through. Or so I thought. Everything topples down at once, the inheritance I’m left with and the truth about what my father did, but the biggest shock of all was finding out he’d married me off to a complete stranger without my consent. By the time I show up at my supposed husband’s nightclub, I’m determined to leave with divorce papers signed, but nothing can prepare me for the man that awaits me on the other side of those doors. Giovanni Masseria – My father has done a lot of messed up stuff, but marrying me off to Charles Bonetti’s daughter, a complete stranger, may take the cake. I didn’t even know old Bonetti had a daughter and I want nothing to do with her or this marriage, until I’m told what staying married to her would mean for the empire I’m slowly trying to build. There’s no harm in staying married a little longer if it means I’ll cash out on those promises. I decide that I’ll cut ties with her as soon as that’s done. That is, until barges into my office demanding a divorce. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected her to be like, but it certainly wasn’t . . . this. A week ago, I didn’t know of her existence, and now, I can’t seem to escape her presence anywhere I go. She doesn’t belong in this world and I know this won’t end well for either of us, but I can’t seem to stop reminding her who I am. Her husband.

My reputation at Fairview University preceded me. I was the projected number-one pick in the NHL draft and the fan favorite at the rink. People wanted to be me or be with me. Except for Lyla James Marichal. She didn't look at me like I was her next meal. She eyed me with disdain. Instead of vying for my attention, she ignored me and pushed me away. She was completely unattainable, and I became obsessed with her. When I finally got her, it felt like I was on top of the world. I was going to help the team win another championship, going into the draft, and had Lyla by my side. And then, without warning, she left me. Vanished. It took me three bitter, angry, long years to find her, but I did, and now she owes me a lot more than just an explanation. Three years ago, she ruined my life. Now, I was going to become her worst nightmare. Tropes: hockey romance, new adult, obsessed/possessive hero, boy falls first, #JP hero, dark themes (content warning in the book)