D C Stone

Introduction by Julie Ann Walker. Four best friends struggle with decisions that affect their lives, their hearts, and their futures. As sisters, they embrace the Girl Code.Hope by Jessica Jayne: Josephine "Joey" Lockhart escapes her past, herself and her home town of Pearl, Ohio to Florida after high school. Years later, she meets a man that refuses to let her hide behind her camera lens and encourages her out of her shell. Will he be the one to push her to feel for the first time?Live by Lea Bronsen: After seven years in drug hell, detoxing Juliette "Juls" Carrington returns to her hometown Pearl to attend her grandmother's burial. Once more rejected by her family, she has a swim in a pond nearby when a mysterious camper, an ex-drunk, coaxes her to come to his hut in the woods. Together they must fight their inner demons for a chance to love...and live.Faith by Cait Jarrod: Selena Bodine escaped into the United States Air Force to leave behind a painful past and the one man who she refused to let herself love. Years later, an urgent call from her father brings her back to Pearl, Ohio and face to face with the man she still loves. But will the secret that Cullen is investigating her threaten their second chance?Persistence by D.C. Stone: Laydi Michaels has been running away from her past and bad memories for years. Finding herself wasn't an easy task, but she's managed to finally get to a point to where she wants to be. Only to wake up married to her boss....who fired her the night before. Wrapped in a case that puts her life in danger, and dealing with a grave situation back home in Pearl, Laydi figures out she wasn't close to finding herself, and now, she's risked everything.

Juliette Scaglione doesn't think her world can get any worse. Recently dumped by her longtime boyfriend while on a vacation she paid for, she returned home only to find the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on her heels. DEA Agent Matt Gonzalez is sent on a task to uncover a mule at the airport, one he discovers is a feisty and beautiful woman whom he can't take his eyes off of. Problem is, things get out of control for both fairly quickly as they are kidnapped by the cartel and taken to a prison in Mexico. The two have to learn how to rely on one another to escape the clutches of this violent operation. Through their journey across a country far from home, both of them recognize fighting their attraction may not be the only challenge they have to face.

A mission has gone almost deadly wrong in Afghanistan. Special Forces military working dog handler Chris Gonzalez and his K-9 partner, Delta Alpha, are sent home to heal after being injured during an operation. The military has decided Delta Alpha can no longer continue as an active military working dog, but Chris refuses to leave him behind. Coming home to Nyack isn't something he expected to do so soon, but in order to help his partner heal, he needs to do so with the help of the new local veterinarian, a woman who seems to have a dark history of her own. Juliette Graham had only wanted to escape her past and start over, this time with a new life and a new name. She didn't expect to find two males, one human, one canine, burrowing under her skin so quickly. That's the problem with secrets, though...they often have a habit of catching up when people least expect it...

Yesterday, he was married to her best friend.Tomorrow, her world shatters.Today, she denies everything...including her heart.Aimee isn't a stranger to death and pain, but guilt drives her to make decisions she'll come to regret. Choices she'll have to take. A life with a man that shouldn't be hers.

Four dangerously dark and delicious stories that will awaken your dirtiest fantasies.Introduction by USA Today bestselling author Jenika Snow.NOT ONE NIGHT by D.C. Stone: One night of pleasure isn't worth losing a lifetime of friendship. Or a reputation. Or a career. A spot in the social standing. That irritating innocence. Or the always-so-present pride. ...But it is worth losing her heart.REDEEMER by Kastil Eavenshade: His family has the wealth and power to give him anything ... except approval.Gianni Bencivenni marks his time in lines of cocaine. One lover is the same as the next within the walls of addiction-until his family puts a contract out on his life. On the run with the last man he wants to be in close quarters with, Gianni has to decide whether his yearning for acceptance and love can overpower his need for a drug-filled haze.Johnny "Butcher" Mascagni marks the black sins he commits. Death is his profession and ghosts of the dead haunt his waking moments. His penance for the dark life he's led. Through all the men who have shared his bed, love is a promise that eludes him. When a former lover becomes his last assignment, Butcher must decide if he can set his demons free and open his heart again.SLICK by Lea Bronsen: Ex-convict Luke has been fortunate enough to land a small job as a kitchen assistant, but he's lonely and crippled by baggage from the past.CEO Roman Spencer also has his share of problems. It doesn't help that a tough and hot-headed kitchen worker begins to plague his mind...and body.The more Luke runs into Roman, the more his dark fantasy turns into attraction. If he surrenders, his thug pride will effectively go down the drain.ADDICTIONS by R. Brennan: Alexis Harrison is a mess. She's managed to blow out her knee, lose her scholarship, and get hooked on pain killers. Now she's playing mule to her dealer, who is her only friend, to support her ever increasing habit.If something doesn't change soon, her addiction is going to cost Lexi more than just everything.

A sleeping threat has awakened in the cozy village of Nyack, and Detective Charlese "Charlie" Lopez is tasked with stopping the deranged perpetrator. Ready to prove herself, Charlie's surprised by the arrival of two FBI agents sent to assist, one of which is the charming and sexy, but guarded, Trent Rossi. As the crimes progress, so does Charlie's desire to know Trent on a very personal level. She finds her attraction surging for the agent-only to realize that his random disappearances, his silence when questioned, and his exceptional knowledge of the perpetrator make him the primary suspect. Dark secrets begin to blur the line between who is on which side of the law. If she can't solve these crimes, Charlie's attraction to Trent could become fatal. It may be too late already.