Amanda

Sex comes with a price tag. One I’m quite willing to pay. In fact, I prefer it. It’s easier that way, and in my life, I prefer ease. Prefer for most things to be transactional.

Protecting him is my duty, but falling for him could be my undoing. I’ve spent five years burying my past, leaving behind the violence and bloodshed of my former life as a Bratva enforcer. Now, I’m just Luca—the quiet guy who keeps his head down, working security for a professional hockey team. I don’t get close to anyone, and I definitely don’t let anyone get close to me. But then I’m assigned to protect Max Ryan, the team’s star defenseman, and everything changes. He's my obsession. My crush.

I’m in love with my best friend. Lie. I’m in love with my enemy. Truth. But they’re the same. They. Are. The. Same. Lines in my world are blurry between fantasy and reality. Truth and lies. Love and hate. Copeland Justice is my enemy. My once best friend. The sadist in my heart plucking and pulling at every thread of who I am until I’m unraveled at his feet. His mouth says he hates me. His eyes burn with animosity for me. His heart beats for someone else. But Copeland Justice is the best liar of us all.

I’m the first one to tell you I have issues. Trust issues. Family issues. Probably a few others I haven’t discovered yet. Which is why I prefer to keep my life as simple and uncomplicated as possible. Until him. Blake McAdams barrels into my life and refuses to leave. He’s relentlessly optimistic, sexy as hell, annoyingly persistent, and…wants to be friends? Because…he thinks I’m interesting? Yeah, I’ll pass. Thanks. Only, somehow, we end up doing just that.

Keep to myself. Don’t let anyone in. That’s how I like it. That’s usually how everyone else likes it too. My scowl keeps them all away—all except him. We may both be Park Avenue Princes, but we would never work. We don’t belong in each other’s real worlds. He’s too soft for mine; mine’s too harsh for his. But I can’t stop thinking about him. About those pale grey eyes that see right through me. The ballsy way he gives right back whatever I dish out. I like that. Respect it. Want more of it... Which is why when I find out his ex is bullying him, it makes me want to rip that bastard a new one.

I’m hiding a secret. A big one. One that could shake the very foundation of the Upper East Side elite. My secret has dark blond hair and a smile that could charm the pants off anyone—including mine. Charismatic. Powerful. Unbelievably gorgeous, with a body I fantasize about—not that they will ever know. This secret is one I’ll take to the grave. Because, you see, I am in love with a Carrington, just not the one I’m dating. And what’s a bigger scandal than falling for your girlfriend’s dad?

Showing up at a very indecent film shoot was an accident. I was a highly paid model. A professional. I didn’t get down and dirty for the cameras, but one look at the sex god needing a scene partner and I found myself reconsidering. After all, with a name like Sin, a body out of my rugged lumberjack fantasies, and a head full of dirty-blond hair I wanted to grab, he was almost impossible to resist. But I did—until fate put him back in my sights.

I’m never one to turn down a bet. Especially not when it comes to retaliating against the dean for pulling a dick move before summer break. So when the dean’s golden child arrives at Astor for his freshman year, my fellow troublemakers throw down a wager I can’t resist. The target: the dean’s son, John Thomas Hawthorne, or “JT 1�7. The bet: corruption in any way I choose. It should’ve been easy. With his mess of brown curls, pouty lips, and good-boy reputation, JT is the perfect revenge. And even better? He’s straight.

I have a soul-destroying corporate job, I iron my underpants, and I was unceremoniously dumped for an influencer hippie a few years ago. Every day feels the same, and I don't know how much longer I can cope before I do something unhinged like rip off my shirt in the middle of my co-worker's office birthday party and smear lemon cake all over my chest. Then, a case of mistaken identity suddenly lands me in the middle of a covert professional wrestling league, which is apparently being run in the basement of my office building. Weird. Even weirder are the wrestlers.

A bet turned into a nightmare. She broke my heart. Broke me. Broke us. Only one thing could mend the gaping wound she left behind. Her. Naomi. All mine for the taking. All mine for owning. All mine.