Steamy Contemporary tagged booklist

Last Kiss Goodbye: A Fated Love Psychic Suspense Romance

by Melanie A. Smith

Sometimes your past comes back to haunt you… Anna Martella just wants to move on with her life. But two years after barely surviving a serial killer, she’s not sure she’ll ever be ready to date again. That is, until Matt, her best friend’s brother, who makes her feel safe for the first time in years. Sure, he's a little mysterious, but everyone has secrets, right? Matt Roberts can See the past with a single touch. Like his twin sister CJ who Sees the future, he's spent his life hiding his ability. After a disastrous relationship with someone who used him for his success, he's sworn off dating. That is, until Anna walks back into his life at his sister's housewarming party, and suddenly he can't stay away. But when the murders start again — young, blond women slain with the same signature as Anna's attacker — Matt realizes the killer he helped put away had an accomplice. And they're coming to finish what they started. Now he faces an impossible choice: Does he risk exposing his ability to change Anna’s fate, or does he try to protect her from the shadows? The police suspect him, time is running out, and the woman he loves is in the crosshairs of a killer's obsession. Will he change her fate or was it always set it stone? Note: While it is recommended, you do not have to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this story [Read More]

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Under the Weatherman

by Mary Ann Marlowe

My best friend ropes me into some pretty outlandish shenanigans, but tonight’s one for the record books. Up to her usual mischief, she dares me to hit up a random stranger at a bar--and tell him only lies. I’d rather hide behind a book than flirt, but inventing a fictional narrative gives me the nerve to saunter up to a magazine-gorgeous blond and say, “Hey!” When he turns his pretty green eyes on me, eyes framed by dark bookish glasses--my kryptonite--I panic. “I was in your class with, uh--” I snap my fingers, hoping he’ll play along with some vague long-lost connection, out of politeness if nothing else. At first, the sexy librarian only squints at me, then his camera-ready smile widens. “Lizzy Graham?” Oh, my god. He’s not supposed to believe me. I want to bail, but a dare’s a dare. As we catch up, I suspect Evan’s pranking me right back. I tell him I’m a zoologist who speaks Latin to pigs. He claims to be a TV weatherman from Indiana. Sure. He’s funny and cute, and I wish I hadn’t promised to lie to him. I want him to know me. The real me. So when the bar closes, I come clean and, assuming we’re on the same page, invite him to my place. When he doesn’t contact me for weeks afterwards, I feel like the dupe. Just as I’m getting over the mortification, who should show up at my workplace as the new face of weather at six and eleven? I might be frosty, but he’s even icier because somehow he’s only just discovered I’m not the person I said I was. [Read More]

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The Alpha's Healer: Fated Mates, Forbidden Bonds

by Marina Belle

He Rejected Her Once. Now He Can’t Let Her Go. Lucia is a ghost in the Blackwood Pack. A human healer with no memory of her past, she has spent years suppressing a gift that is as self-destructive as it is miraculous. Every life she saves chips away at her own, fueled by a power she can neither understand nor control. But Lucia is tired of being a shadow. Amidst the chaos of a dying pack, she is on a desperate quest to uncover the truth of who she was before the Blackwood claimed her—and to reclaim the identity that was stolen. Alpha Kaelen is a ruthless leader driven by a brutal breeding program to save his people. He guards Lucia with a suffocating intensity, driven by a visceral hunger he can no longer ignore. But as the pack’s numbers dwindle and Lucia’s scent transforms, the whispers of her true nature grow too loud to ignore. As the lethal Beta, Ragnar, begins to circle, offering to help her “explore the limits of her potential,” Lucia must decide: will she remain a caged asset for the man who once threw her away, or will she finally seize her true identity—and decide what the pack is allowed to take from her? The Alpha's Healer is a dark, slow-burn shifter romance. Featured Tropes: Rejected Mate, Forced Proximity, Touch Her and Die, Hidden Identity. Vibe: A volatile healer reclaiming her power from the Alpha who nearly broke her. Content: 3/5 Spice 🔥 | Growl Rating: 4/5 (Not a "sweet" healer story). [Read More]

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Carve Me Golden

by Mara J. Ova

Trapped alone with your ultimate daydream crush while a storm rages around you… do you dare take the chance? Forced proximity · She’s also an athlete · Celebrity athlete and his fan · European alpine settings · High‑stakes sport · Overcoming traumatic past · Exotic settings and fresh sports After seven years with a toxic ex, Czech language teacher Zlata knows a new relationship is the last thing she needs. She’s finally thrown herself into ski racing, the real kind, with after-hours training and no rewards but the rush. But a girl is allowed to dream… and sometimes, dreams come true. A broken gondola. A violent storm. And Fabio Baier, her untouchable, world-famous ski racing crush, close enough to feel, to touch, to make her feel alive, if only for an hour. This was never supposed to be real. But when fantasy collides with reality, it doesn’t come softly. It burns. Because Fabio isn’t just every woman’s dream. He has demons of his own to outrun. And until they both face their pasts, all they have is craving. Carve Me Golden is a standalone in the Carve series, a high-heat sports romance filled with forced proximity, emotional scars, explosive chemistry, and a compelling couple who know that love must be earned. If you crave intense attraction, high-stakes passion, and a fantasy that refuses to stay just a fantasy, this book is for you. [Read More]

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Carve Me Free: A Steamy Enemies‑to‑Lovers, Forbidden Ski Romance

by Mara j. Ova

She is ice and scandal. He is speed and sin. When they meet, they turn heat into a weapon they can’t stop using. But can that last? Having spent her life as a decoration for her scandalously rich father, Élise Moreau finds her rebellion in a reckless downhill racer. Escaping an Olympic gala, she takes him up on his offer to be free and wild in his arms. One reckless Olympic night. No names. Just escape, freedom, and the kind of sex that brands itself into your bones. Nico Reiner is the golden, reckless Super-G talent of Austria, hurling himself down the ice like he’s furious at the mountain and flirting his way through camera crews and fan girls. He’s used to casual hook-ups, easy worship, and being the wildest thing in any room—until one perfectly polished princess looks at him like he’s beneath her, then kisses him like she wants to burn her whole life down. They were not supposed to meet again. But months later, Austria’s new speed hero locks eyes with his mystery girl at a World Cup sponsor party—and finds out the wild stranger from his bed is the Moreau heiress whose disgraced dynasty now quietly owns his skis. What starts as a filthy, anonymous rebellion turns into a season-long obsession they can’t tame. As the stakes climb, they learn lust is easy; love is brutal. When crashes threaten careers, tabloids circle like vultures, and her father moves in for the kill, Nico and Élise have to face something far scarier than breaking rules: sacrifice, letting go of each ot [Read More]

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Carve My Heart: A Steamy Forbidden Olympic Sports Romance

by Mara J. Ova

The tension between them crackles and sizzles in every stolen moment. But they can't. Both their careers depend on it. Katharina Berger crashes into Austria's golden boy, Thomas Kern, on a glacier half on purpose, just to feel his eyes on her: sharp, amused, and hungry. One reckless dinner turns into a night of desperate moans, whispered commands, and breathless surrender that leaves her aching for days. Katharina is a PR manager who fought tooth and nail for her career and swore she'd never lose herself to an athlete, as her mother did. But one look at the way he moves, at the dangerous confidence in his voice, at the hunger in his eyes, and she's never wanted to break her own rules so badly. Austria's ski champion, Thomas Kern, isn't just good. He's the best in the world, and he knows it. But Katharina isn't just another distraction. Her sharp mind cuts straight through his defenses, and her body, the way she takes control, the way she comes apart for him, he's obsessed. When Katharina lands her dream job as the Austrian team's new PR manager, they're forced to work side by side. They know exactly how the other tastes. No one else on the team can ever know. As Thomas struggles under Olympic pressure, Katharina is the only one who sees the man under the legend: the exhaustion under the arrogance, the flicker of fear behind his grin. And he can't stop picturing the heat of her skin, the taste of her lips, the way her gaze cuts straight through every defense he's built. [Read More]

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Power of Shadow

by Violet Hale

Power. Control. Blood. Obsession. Ryker is the heir to the Pact — a ruthless mafia organization built on power, loyalty, and violence. A man raised to rule, trained to destroy, and sworn to a code that demands sacrifice above all else. Ashley was never meant to cross his path. She is Shadow — a legendary assassin feared in the criminal underworld. Silent. Deadly. Untraceable. She doesn’t miss. She doesn’t hesitate. And she never lets emotions interfere with the job. Until him. Their meeting was supposed to end in blood. Instead, it ignites a dangerous obsession and dark desires neither of them can escape. He should kill her. She should betray him. And yet every choice they make pulls them deeper into a world of lies, power struggles, and forbidden desire. As secrets unravel and loyalties are tested, one truth becomes clear: love is the most dangerous weakness of all. Because in the world of the Pact, it's not the one who loves the most who wins — it's the one who pulls the trigger first. Power of Shadow is a dark mafia romance featuring morally gray characters, enemies-to-lovers tension, obsession, violence, and a ruthless antihero. This book is the first in a series and ends on emotional resolution, while the danger is far from over. [Read More]

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A Field Beyond Notions

by Atria J. Merian

Alchemist scorned. Grim Executioner. The scythe meets its match in a spicy tale of mutual obsession. Rosario My alchemy degree is as useless as the men I’ve been dating. Dreams are for teenagers. But I had goals. They were ruined by an alchemy mogul with sticky fingers and enough power to blacklist me from the industry. That’s how I ended up working for the divine Executioner—an immortal being descended from the God who abandoned Earth millennia ago. My new boss is notorious for tallying corpses and lovers in equal measure, and I have a bad feeling he wants me next.  But this isn’t the time to lose focus on what’s truly important. My future. My independence. And I won't let anyone take that away from me ever again. The Executioner Humans think I’m a psychopath. I don’t think about them at all. My routines keep me in check. Seven days for a prisoner. Feed off their fear. Dispose. Paperwork. Repeat. But ever since Rosario had stepped into my office for an interview, I’ve been lovestruck. For the first time in centuries. I watch her sleep. I plan our life together. I hear the bells toll. She may be trying to outrun her past, but she will never outrun her future. Till death do us part is a wonderful notion. Especially since I have no intention of ever dying. [Read More]

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Bare

by Alex W. Wells

Neil Ashworth has spent four years not being looked at. He teaches English at a Manchester comprehensive. Arrives at 7:20. Takes the back staircase, drinks his coffee before the staff room fills, and locks his office door twice before he leaves at night. His ex-wife knows he is gay. His five-year-old son does not know there is anything to know. His colleagues see a quiet, competent teacher. Neil plans to keep it that way. Then the school hires Rory Cavanaugh to paint a mural on the courtyard wall. Rory has paint under his nails and a lip ring that has no business in a Key Stage 4 briefing. He is warm and loud, and he has been raising his younger brother since the boy was eight. He paints what he sees. What he sees is Neil. One school year. A mural on the courtyard wall. A portrait in oil that nobody gave him permission to start. A Manchester gallery show that will hang Neil's face six feet tall, in public. If Neil lets him finish, his father will see it. His son. His colleagues. Neil himself. This is a contemporary literary MM romance featuring slow-burn intimacy, a closeted single dad, a warm artist, forced proximity in a school setting, explicit on-page scenes between adult men, and a hard-won HEA. 18+ only. Note: Bare is already live on Amazon, so you can post your honest review the moment you finish reading. [Read More]

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Last Save

by H.A. Laine

Risa Kwon is thirty-seven, a league compliance attorney, and the woman they sent to Portland because they expected her to find nothing and write a report that said so. She packed eleven case files, running shoes, and the binders her mentor built over twenty-two years before choosing the pension over the fight. She does not intend to make the same choice. Milo Varga is twenty-four, a goaltender in his fourth NHL season, and a man who has spent five years turning silence into architecture. He reads shooters the way she reads depositions: looking for the tell, the inconsistency, the moment before the truth arrives. When Risa sits across the interview table, Milo reads her file arrangement in the time it takes to cross the room. She reads him editing her questions before he answers them. Neither of them can stop. [Read More]

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Last Change

by H.A. Laine

Vince Mercer is thirty-four, a veteran defenseman who has been quiet about one conversation for seven years. Elara Vasquez is thirty-three, a single mom who lost six years to a marriage that ran her schedule. And Leo is seven. He sorts dinosaurs by geological period. He negotiates bedtime like a contract attorney. He has never met an adult he can't see through, and he is paying close attention to Vince. When the Wolves hire Elara to produce the Heritage Season celebration, the contract puts all three of them in the same rooms. This is a single parent romance told in three voices. Leo is not a prop. He is paying attention. The Heritage Season contract also has a second shape: it's an excavation. When Elara uncovers a memo proving the organization covered up Vince's career-threatening injury, she has to choose between the man she's falling for and the truth that could burn down the ceremony she was hired to build. Perfect for fans of Mariana Zapata, Hannah Grace, and Becka Mack. [Read More]

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Short Side

by H.A. Laine

Carter Knox is twenty-three, undrafted, and running out of charm to burn. The Portland Wolves gave him a roster spot nobody expected him to keep, and he's been performing ever since, because if he stops, someone might notice there's nothing underneath. Wren Gallagher photographs the Wolves with the precision of someone who learned the hard way what happens when you let people get too close to the lens. When a PR situation forces them into a fake dating arrangement, the rules are simple: public appearances, strategic chemistry, a clean exit. But Carter keeps being genuine when he's supposed to be performing, and Wren keeps seeing something real through the viewfinder when she's supposed to be composing a shot. [Read More]

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Between the Glass

by H.A. Laine

Renee Lavoie did not become the best sports journalist in the league by falling for surfaces. She has watched Ben Kowalski charm every room since her first press scrum, and she knows the grin is armor. He is the Portland Wolves' funniest player, their emotional backbone, and the saddest person nobody notices. When a story that could end both their careers forces them together, Renee has to decide what matters more: the truth she was trained to chase, or the man she was never supposed to want. [Read More]

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Unassisted

by H.A. Laine

Elena Marlowe is the best shoulder specialist in North America, and she does not get emotionally involved with patients. But when she takes on Declan Rourke, captain of the Portland Wolves, his injury is the least complicated thing about him. He has spent twelve years performing invincibility, and she can see through every layer. Day by day, session by session, their professional vocabulary becomes something far more dangerous. When her fingers stop assessing and start choosing, the clinical distance she has maintained for twelve years collapses into a language neither of them can take back. The question is not whether the chemistry will ignite. The question is what they are willing to risk when it does. [Read More]

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steamy contemporary