Tag
slow burn
Young Adult RomanceMy Tutor Is My Childhood Enemy
Seven years ago, June Marlowe froze on live television. Theo Ashby laughed. At least, that is what June remembers. The humiliating clip turned her worst moment into a town joke, destroyed the friendship she once had with Theo, and made mathematics something she could barely face without remembering that stage. Now seventeen, June has built a new life around art. She has even earned a conditional place at the Calloway Institute of Art and Design in New York. There is just one problem. She needs a B or better in AP Calculus to keep it. And she is failing. Then her mother announces that she has hired the best student tutor in Port Calder. Theo Ashby. The boy June has hated for seven years. Their tutoring sessions begin with insults, rules written on graph paper, and a contract designed to keep everything painfully simple. No talking about Brain Bowl. No touching her sketchbook. Sessions are strictly math. And absolutely no feelings. But the more time June spends across the kitchen table from Theo, the harder it becomes to fit him into the villain she remembers. He notices when she is about to panic. He teaches her mathematics through animation instead of making her feel stupid. He protects her when no one is supposed to notice. And every honest answer between them creates another crack in the story June has believed since she was ten. Because Theo has secrets. He volunteered to become her tutor. He has spent years carrying the truth about what really happened on that television stage. And the anonymous reader who has faithfully supported June's secret webcomic for three years may be much closer to her than she ever imagined. As old footage resurfaces, buried family guilt comes to light, and someone begins manipulating their past for personal gain, June must decide whether she is brave enough to confront the moment that changed her life. Not only to save her future. But to discover whether the boy she spent seven years hating was ever really her enemy at all.
New story · 0 savedRomanceWe Were Never Just Friends
Nora Vale has spent years believing there is one rule that can keep the most important person in her life from ever becoming another person she loses. Never date your best friend. Cal Hayes agreed to that rule when they were children. He also broke it in his heart almost immediately. For years, Nora and Cal remain inseparable, hiding behind friendship, inside jokes, birthday floor plans, rooftop debriefs, and a Pact neither of them is brave enough to question. Nora believes Cal is the one person who has never left her. What she does not know is that he has also been keeping the secret that could destroy them. Letters from the mother Nora believes abandoned her. A mother who never stopped writing. A father who made choices Nora was never allowed to know about. And Cal, caught between love and loyalty, convinced that protecting Nora means deciding which truths she can survive. When the secrets finally come apart, friendship is no longer enough to save them. College separates what childhood kept tangled. New relationships begin. Trust fractures. Family lies surface. Ambition turns dangerous. And just when Nora and Cal finally learn that loving someone does not give you the right to control their choices, injury threatens the future Cal has spent his entire life building. They have loved each other for years. But loving each other was never their hardest problem. The hardest part is learning how to stay without holding too tightly, tell the truth before fear edits it, and choose each other without demanding a guarantee that neither of them will ever leave. Because the rule was always a lie. They were never just friends.
New story · 0 savedYoung Adult RomanceThe Boy I Was Never Supposed to Notice
Hazel Adeyemi has spent most of her life knowing exactly how to survive around the Ashfords. See nothing. Hear nothing. And never, ever notice the boy. Theo Ashford is everything Hazel has been taught to avoid. He is rich, reckless, infamous, and suspected of pushing his own mother from the balcony of Ashford House. Hazel knows the story everyone at Ashgrove Academy believes. She also knows it is not the whole truth. Nine months ago, hidden inside the servants’ staircase, Hazel witnessed the moment before Celeste Ashford fell. She saw a man’s hand gripping Celeste’s arm. And on that hand was the Ashford signet ring. Now Theo has returned for senior year, and Hazel has been chosen as the peer mentor responsible for keeping him out of trouble. The closer she gets to the boy everyone calls guilty, the harder it becomes to believe he is the monster they say he is. But Theo is searching for the truth too. And Hazel is hiding the one thing that could change everything. Because in the Ashford family, secrets do not stay buried without a price. And falling for the boy she was never supposed to notice may cost Hazel everything she has spent her whole life trying to protect.
New story · 0 savedBillionaire RomanceONE NIGHT WITH MY BILLIONAIRE ENEMY
Maya Stone and Evan Hale have spent years trying to destroy each other. She is the brilliant CEO of StoneBridge. He is the ruthless billionaire behind Hale Capital. Every deal is a battlefield, every meeting another chance to win, and neither of them has ever considered surrender. Until one reckless night changes everything. By morning, the attraction they refused to acknowledge has become something far more dangerous—because confidential information from both of their companies has been leaked. Maya believes Evan used their night together to steal from her. Evan believes she did exactly the same. They return to war determined to expose each other, only to discover a disturbing truth: the sabotage began long before they ever shared a bed. Someone has been watching them. Manipulating their companies. Feeding their rivalry. And profiting every time Maya and Evan tear each other apart. Forced into a secret alliance, two enemies who trust almost no one must begin trusting each other. But late-night investigations become personal conversations. Arguments become jealousy. Protection becomes instinct. And the night they both swore was a mistake begins to feel like the first moment they ever truly saw each other. Then they uncover something worse. Some of the betrayals that made them enemies in the first place may never have been accidents. Someone has been building their war for years. Now Maya and Evan must decide what matters more: winning the battle that made them enemies… or protecting the person who became impossible to lose. Because this time, destroying her billionaire enemy might mean destroying the man she loves.
New story · 0 savedFantasy RomanceThe Queen Without a Kingdom
In Orsanne, power belongs only to those who lawfully own the ground—and every use of magic destroys part of it forever. Eleven days after her coronation, Queen Ilva Adarre is stripped of nine million spans by a perfectly legal deed and exiled to a wasteland where she is powerless. But her father’s grave still belongs to her. With only a few feet of earth and the reluctant protection of Kell Sarrowe, a border lord ordered to let her die, Ilva begins uncovering why her father willingly gave away the kingdom. The truth could return her crown—or reveal that Orsanne was never meant to survive another queen.
New story · 0 savedFantasy Romance / RomantasyMarried to the Cursed King
Seren Aldworth never expected to become queen—especially not to a king whose love leaves people frozen in its wake. King Aurek Mourne has spent twelve years denying himself affection because every genuine feeling feeds the creature trapped inside him, and someone else always pays the price. But Seren was raised to bring warmth wherever she goes, and the more she refuses to fear him, the harder it becomes for Aurek to stay empty. Their marriage begins as duty. Then comes trust. Touch. A kiss. Love. And with every step closer, another road, village, or life turns white. When Seren discovers that the “curse” destroying Aurek was never truly a curse at all, she must decide whether freeing the man she loves is worth unleashing the thing his coldness has been keeping trapped. Because sometimes love is not the cure. Sometimes it is the most dangerous thing in the kingdom.
New story · 0 savedFantasy Romance / RomantasyThe Prince Who Stole My Magic
A prince stole her magic to save his life. The law said she had agreed. Elira Wren knows she never did. Left hollow and slowly losing her memories, she enters the royal court determined to reclaim the ember Crown Prince Corin Ashvane knowingly took from her. But the deeper they investigate, the uglier the truth becomes: her forged consent is only one piece of a centuries-old system built to keep the crown alive by turning sacrifice into law. Corin may be guilty of stealing from her, but someone else made sure her name was waiting for him long before they ever met. Now Elira must decide what justice looks like when the man she should hate becomes the one standing beside her against the kingdom that taught him her life was an acceptable price. And if they destroy the system that bound them together, neither of them knows what will survive.
New story · 0 savedEpic Fantasy / Myth / GodsWhen the Gods Went to War
One god chose a mortal to hold what was breaking. One mortal king chose to burn the sky down for what the gods let happen to his family. Neither of them asked her. Wren Ash is twenty-four, a swordsmith's daughter, and the last living Warden-blood — the only mortal alive whose vow can still hold a Seal against the Drowned Kings sleeping beneath the world. When Seal Four cracks, the Aureate Court marks her as its Herald, burning her mortal years to fuel a fire she never agreed to carry. As a grieving king marches toward the last Seal with a war nine centuries old and a debt no one will name, Wren has to decide whether being chosen is the same thing as being spent — and whether the only god willing to stand beside her is worth the cost of choosing him back.
New story · 0 savedContemporary RomanceThe Billionaire Who Wouldn't Say My Name
Damian Vale has never been in love. At thirty-two, the billionaire is still a virgin. Not because women haven't wanted him. They have. But Damian has spent his entire adult life building an empire, and intimacy has never been something he wanted to give anyone. No girlfriends. No casual relationships. No secret women. Not even a first kiss he considers meaningful. His reputation isn't that of a playboy. It's worse. He's known as the billionaire nobody can get close to. Then Amelia Hawthorne walks into his company. And Damian dislikes her before she finishes introducing herself. Not because she's beautiful. Not because they've met before. Because of one thing. Her name. Amelia. Damian's grandmother—the woman who raised him—had hated that name with almost comical intensity. Years ago, when Damian was a child, an arrogant woman named Amelia repeatedly made his grandmother's small catering business miserable. She complained about everything, looked down on their family, and once publicly humiliated his grandmother during one of the hardest periods of their lives. His grandmother eventually turned it into a family joke. “If you ever meet an Amelia, Damian, run.” Damian never forgot it. After his grandmother died, the joke became one of the strange little things he kept from her. So when his newest employee smiles across the conference table and says— “Amelia Hart.” Damian's expression changes immediately. “No.” Amelia frowns. “No?” “I don't like your name.” She stares at him. Then laughs. Nobody laughs at Damian Vale. And that's where their war begins. Amelia refuses to let an arrogant billionaire judge her because of something as ridiculous as her first name. Damian refuses to admit that she's getting under his skin. She starts deliberately making him say her name. “Who prepared the report?” “Ms. Hart.” “My name is Amelia.” “I'm aware.” “Then use it.” He doesn't. Until one day, he does. And Amelia notices. Their relationship develops slowly through work, arguments, accidental tenderness and increasing attraction. Damian has never dated, so money doesn't make him romantically experienced. He can negotiate a billion-dollar acquisition without blinking but has absolutely no idea what to do when Amelia flirts with him. Their first hand-holding matters. Their first hug matters. His first real date matters. His first kiss matters. And when their relationship eventually becomes intimate, that matters too. Amelia slowly realizes that the intimidating billionaire everyone assumes can have any woman he wants has actually never given himself to anyone. Damian doesn't immediately become smooth just because he falls in love. He is awkward in ways nobody expects. Protective without understanding jealousy. Possessive feelings frighten him because he's never experienced them. He researches restaurants before asking her on a date because he has no idea where people actually go. He can buy Amelia almost anything but struggles to tell her that he misses her. And Amelia refuses to let his wealth become a substitute for emotional effort. Their central conflict isn't a mystery. It is two stubborn people learning how to love each other while working together, dealing with workplace boundaries, family expectations, public attention, jealousy, differences in power and Damian experiencing romantic love for the first time. Eventually, the name Damian once refused to say becomes his favorite word. Because Amelia becomes his first girlfriend. His first kiss. His first lover. His first real relationship. And, if he has anything to say about it— his last.
New story · 0 savedRomanceThe CEO Who Never Sleeps Alone
Every night, a different woman enters Adrian Vale's penthouse. By morning, she's gone. No woman stays twice. No woman talks. And the billionaire CEO has never cared what the world thinks happens behind his locked doors. Until Maya Bennett becomes the exception. One late night. One forbidden encounter. One glimpse of the man beneath Adrian Vale's ruthless reputation—and suddenly Maya knows something she was never meant to know. She expects him to fire her. Instead, he offers her a contract worth more money than she has ever seen. Her only job? Spend every night with him. No questions. No feelings. And whatever happens after the bedroom door closes stays there. Maya knows she should walk away. She doesn't. But the deeper she enters Adrian's private world, the stranger his rules become—and the more dangerous his secrets feel. Then one night, with Maya beside him, Adrian whispers a woman's name. Evelyn. Maya has never heard of her. Apparently, neither has the rest of the world. Because according to every record Maya can find... Evelyn never existed.
New story · 0 savedWerewolf RomanceMy Mate Belongs to Another Pack
Her mate died in her arms. She watched his eyes go empty. She felt their mating bond tear apart. She prepared his body herself. She watched him buried. For three years, Lyra has known one truth. Kael is dead. Then Alpha Darian of Blackridge crosses into her territory. A stranger. A powerful Alpha with his own pack, his own life, and no memory of ever meeting her. But the moment Lyra scents him, her wolf awakens after three years of silence. Mate. And beneath Darian’s unfamiliar scent is something that should be impossible. Kael. Darian insists she has the wrong man. Lyra knows she buried the right one. But as forgotten memories begin to surface and secrets from the night Kael died refuse to stay buried, one terrifying question remains— If Kael truly died three years ago, who exactly is Alpha Darian?
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Romantic FantasyThe Garden Where Time Kneels
A royal gardener can make time kneel for flowers, but not for the prince who asks her to save a dying kingdom.
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RomantasyGlass Dragon Contract
An exiled noble signs a marriage contract with a dragon prince and discovers the fine print can burn cities.
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RomanceLunar Heiress
An exiled heiress returns to the moon estate that disowned her and finds her inheritance tied to a vow she never made.
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RomantasyThe Heiress of Paper Moons
A paper artist inherits a court of folded moons and a betrothal contract that changes shape whenever she trusts the wrong person.
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