Cheryl's Book Nook

  She bet me she could break the wildest horse on the ranch. I should've known she'd break me instead. I gave up bull riding when a two-thousand-pound monster shattered my leg and nearly killed me. Now I break horses for the Shotgun Saints and keep my head down. Stay loyal to my Prez. Don't touch what doesn't belong to me. Especially not Dakota—Phantom's daughter, Sharp's rodeo princess, and the woman I've been trying not to want for the last few years. She was too young when I patched in. Jail bait wrapped in denim and daddy's protection. So, I kept my distance, watched her climb the barrel racing circuit, and told myself she was off-limits. Then she won regionals, got drunk on victory, and made a bet in front of the entire she'd break the meanest mustang on the ranch. If she succeeded, I'd take her to nationals. Not as her protector—as her man. I should've walked away, should've laughed it off. Instead, I shook her hand and sealed both ...

  She kept my blood from me. Now she's going to give me everything Phantom Twenty-one years ago, I let Marlena Hutchins walk away. She was eighteen. I was twice her age, drowning in divorce and club business. I convinced myself pushing her out of Sharp was the right thing to do. Turns out she left pregnant with my kid. A daughter I've never met. Twenty years of birthdays, first days of school, graduations—gone. Stolen by the woman who just walked back into my life like those two decades don't matter. Now Marlena's back in Sharp. Back in my bed. And pregnant again. My ex-wife wants her dead. My daughters want answers. And my secret daughter—Presley—is coming home for the summer, ready to meet the father who abandoned her. Except I didn't abandon anyone. I didn't even know she existed. Marlena kept that from me. Lied for twenty fucking years. I should throw her to the wolves. Let my psychotic ex have her revenge. Let Marlena face the consequences of hiding my bloo...

  I thought I escaped hell when I ran from the Sanctuary. Eden I was wrong. Hell found me on a Valentine's Day auction block, where men in black ties bid on virgins like livestock. Where the highest bidder owns you—body, mind, and soul. Vaughn Sutherland paid more for me than most people see in a lifetime. He put me in a room with silk sheets and locked doors. He touched me in ways that made me forget my own name. He never took what he bought, only taught me how much my body could betray me. So I ran. I made it three days before he found me. They say the devil is patient. They say he's cruel. They don't know Vaughn. He gave me freedom after he dragged me back—a house instead of a cell, choices instead of chains. But every door I open leads back to him. Every breath I take, he owns. And the worst part? I'm starting to forget why I wanted to leave. The Sanctuary stole her childhood.   Vaughn Sutherland bought her virginity.   And when she runs? He'll hunt her down and...

  She writes about killers.   He kills.   This December, they'll meet. Celeste Sterling came home to the Adirondacks with writer's block and daddy issues. She'll leave with blood on her hands and a monster's ring on her finger. Between now and then? Twenty-three days of being hunted by a man who makes her fictional villains look like choir boys. A man who collects deer skulls like love letters. Who knows every filthy word she's ever written—including the ones she deleted. Welcome to a small town where everyone's keeping secrets, Daddy's gun won't save you, and the local serial killer has been waiting two years for his favorite author to come home. Celeste thought she understood darkness. After all, she's made millions writing it. But there's a difference between typing "he's dangerous" and having danger learn your daily routine. Between writing "touch her and die" and watching him make that promise literal. Between creatin...