Showing results by author "J.L. Beck" in All Categories

She was a shy little virgin, looking to rebel. I was a bad accident waiting to happen. I’m the bad boy your parents warn you about. I’ve been to prison, killed for someone I love, and now I’m suffering through college. Then I see her…sweet, so naïve it hurts, and of course beautiful. She’s scared of me the moment we lock eyes, but beneath that fear is curiosity. From that moment on I’m consumed with a need to make her mine, to claim her...but when my past collides with my future, will I risk the chance of going back to prison to protect yet another person I love?

He was more than a bully, he was what living nightmares were made of. It started as a childish game played between two friends, which ended in heartbreak. She knew him once. A long time ago they may have even called each other friends. That was before she moved away, before her mother married his father, and before an entire life fell apart. She lost friends, popularity, and a future. This was supposed to be a fresh start, but it was real life hell.

The deal was sealed the moment she stepped onto that stage. It was like seeing a ghost: sunshine-blonde hair, pale skin, azure eyes that held a thousand secrets. I didn’t know what caused her to end up on that auction block, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to have her - no matter the cost. A million dollars later, she became mine. Mine to break. Mine to use. Mine to keep.

Grace was his first love, his forever, and then he lost her. He’d spent years watching from afar, knowing he could never have her again. The violence, the hate, and pain owned him. It took all the good away. It took her away. The mafia was the only thing that could curb his violent tendencies. Choosing to let her go was the hardest thing in his life, but he wanted her to be happy, safe, protected. Then everything changed. The moment someone tried to hurt her he knew he had to step in. Grace might not have been his, but she would always be under his protection.

For years, I’ve watched her - followed her, stalked her. At first, it was about protecting her, keeping her safe and out of harm's way. Then it became a full-blown obsession. I vowed to never touch her again, to protect her from everyone, including myself. But when enemies lurking in the shadows threaten to take all that away, I know I’ll do anything to keep my butterfly safe...even if it means betraying the only family I’ve ever known.

They say there is always a calm before the storm. A time when you think you’re safe, protected from the destruction that you know is going to eventually come. Harper was that calm. And I? I was the motherf--king storm. As kids, we were best friends. She was the light to my darkness. I used to protect her from her bullies. But now, I’ll become her most feared one. Seeing her for the first time after three years was like a bucket of ice water being poured on me. It chilled me to the bone, making me irrational, angry.

I’ve spent years trying to be someone I’m not. Controlled and humanized. Still, the darkness lurks inside me, waiting for a chance to break free. As the headmaster at Corium University, I must maintain professionalism and keep myself in check. I manage to do that until the day I discover I have a daughter and all the carefully constructed walls I’ve built around myself start to crumble.I know I need an outlet, a way to shut it off, and then she lands in my lap. Delilah. I want to punish her, humiliate her, and hurt her in the best ways.

I’m the shadows that reach out and take a bite. No one sees me coming, which is why I’m sent to do the things even our fearless leader won’t touch. After months of watching our enemies, it’s time to take them out. I’m ready to feel their blood on my hands, their worthless lives ground to dust. But I don’t get the chance when a dark haired beauty comes crashing into my plans, seeking sanctuary from our enemies. Now I’m stuck on guard duty, babysitting a mafia princess. As tensions rise, the flames of desire flicker between us. We shouldn’t cross that line.

Everything I knew was a lie. Everyone I loved betrayed me. Everywhere I go someone wants me dead. I’m no stranger to being alone. Even in my darkest hour, I knew I could count only on myself. Now, I have nothing and for the first time in my life I have to let someone else save me.

My life used to be simple—quiet, safe. But then I fell in love with dangerous billionaire arms dealer Callum Torrio. Our love story was doomed from the beginning—forbidden, a temptation we couldn’t touch. His secrets have the power to kill me, and when I discover the hidden truth and the part he played in my mother’s death, I have no choice but to run. But nothing will stop him from keeping me by his side. A king needs his queen.

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy, the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing, but he’s protective, fierce, and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not whom he thinks I am and when he finds out … well, I know I’m as good as dead.

Rivals since before birth, there has never been a time when my family hasn't hated the Lockwoods and their daughter Harlow. But she made it personal, no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she's here, at Bayshore University, without her family's protection. There's nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We'll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we'll send her back to her family with a warning: Cross the Bishops again and you'll pay.

She was a tiny little temptress of a woman that made my blood sing for vengeance. I should be punishing her, breaking her from the inside out after finding her in my father’s clutches. But when I discover the truth that she is just as much of a victim of my father’s wrongdoings as I am, I can’t follow through. I know then that I can’t break my little mouse. Not after she’s lured me in with her big blue doe eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and those pink painted lips that beg to be kissed again and again.

Elyse Silver was never mine to keep. The day I saved her life, I ensured we would forever be enemies. Hating her was easy. Bullying her, as simple as breathing. Stopping myself from falling for her… I had no idea how impossible that would become. The harder I fought, the deeper I fell. Love and happiness have never been part of my plan, but letting Elyse go isn’t an option, either. Unfortunately, the truth always finds a way of revealing itself, and by the time she realizes who the real predator is, it’ll be too late for her to escape the trap I’ve put her in.

She was a broken angel who had the light beat right out of her. He was the man responsible for her life, her protector.... He never expected to fall for the fragile woman, with soft eyes and lips that begged to be kissed. He knew what she saw when she looked at him, a ruthless fighter, a man with a broken past, too far gone to be reached, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Still, somehow her light reached him, the innocence inside her called to him and the moment her soul touched his, he was tamed, ensnared in her love.

Shattered. Broken beyond repair. I’m the shell of the woman I used to be. The deeper I fall from reality, the worse things get. Only there’s one person who refuses to let me derail. Romero Pierce. Calloused. Sinister. Lethal. He’s my father's second in command, and so goddamn handsome it’s disgusting. Assigned the duty of being my babysitter, aka personal bodyguard, he thinks he can protect me, but I don’t want his protection. What I want is security, safety, freedom. Everything changes when I choose to leave and find myself in the very town where my father grew up.

They say the truth will set you free. That’s a lie. The truth got me locked in an ivory tower, a victim of my new husband’s rage. If I’m going to survive, I’m going to have to make Enzo fall back in love with me.

He promised me one night and I took it, never expecting anything in return. Then a few months later, I see something I shouldn’t have and fate brings us back together again. I didn’t mean to see it and I wasn’t snooping. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that doesn’t matter to them. I’m a liability. Now Lex is everywhere I am. Following me, watching me, and making sure I don’t tell anyone what I saw that night.

Caught between duty and desire, which will I choose? I promised her father I'd keep her safe, and she is safe, safe from everyone except me.

She thought her life had changed in the blink of an eye the moment she came home to see her father strapped to a chair, a gun being held to his head. It was my life that changed that day, not hers. The blood of my enemy ran through her veins, and no matter how much she wanted to save me, she never would have. I am a monster. I can't be saved. I would consume the world in a blaze of fire before my need for vengeance was ever fulfilled.