Showing results by author "Staci Hart" in All Categories

Hate is a strong word. Depending on the company, loathe is a good substitute. Abhor might be a little fancy, but it gets the job done. But the word that really sums up how I feel about Liam Darcy is, without question, hate. He doesn't seem to think much of me either. The second he lays his fault-seeking eyes on me, he sets out to oppose me. Everything about him is imposing, as if he consumes the nearby air to power the rise and fall of his broad chest, and it's clear he resents my presence on his advertising team.

Olivia Brent has one summer to save the dairy farm she just inherited. But there's one problem, and it's not her lactose intolerance. It's Jake Milovic. The brooding farmhand has inherited exactly 50 percent of Brent Farm, and he's so convinced the city girl can't work the land, he bets she can't save it in a summer. Determined to prove him wrong, Olivia accepts what might be the dumbest wager of her life.

Sometimes your life is split by a single decision. I've spent every day of the last seven years regretting mine: He left, and I didn't follow. A thousand letters went unanswered, my words like petals in the wind, spinning away into nothing, taking me with them. But now he's back. I barely recognize the man he's become, but I can still see a glimmer of the boy who asked me to be his forever, the boy I walked away from when I was young and afraid. Maybe if he'd come home under better circumstances, he could speak to me without anger in his voice.

I’ve always been able to separate feelings from chemosignals. A shot of dopamine, a dash of serotonin, and a sprinkle of oxytocin - and bam - you’re in love. And when egg meets sperm, you’re pregnant. I couldn’t even be surprised as I stared down at the little blue plus sign - because I knew exactly when and how and with whom it happened. The upside? I don’t have to go looking for a suitable mate.

Here I stand, clutching a bouquet of pale pink roses behind the doors of a Las Vegas chapel, and at the end of the aisle is the absolute last man I imagined would be waiting for me. Thomas Bane. Best-selling author. Notorious bad boy. Savagely handsome, dark as sin, chiseled as stone. And, somehow, my soon-to-be husband. Marry him, and I’ll land my dream job. Save him, and I’ll walk away with everything I’ve ever wanted. All I have to do is remember it’s all for show. None of it is real, no matter how real it feels.

The second Annie Daschle tumbles into my arms, I'm a goner. When she asks if we're hiring at Wasted Words, I can only say yes, even though we aren't - it's that early on that I realize I can't say no to her. Not when she asks me to show her around New York, even though I already know I should stay away. Not when she asks if we're friends because I want her so much more than that. But she isn't mine, and she never can be.

Twelve years ago, my first and only love left town and never came back. How dare he show up now, looking like that, and he’s running against me for mayor. It’s unfair, him standing there, too tall and handsome for his own good. It’s audacious that his clothes accentuate every lean, strong curve of his body. It’s universal BS that his smile makes my heart flipflop, and it’s patently un-freaking-believable that my body would betray me when he turns that gorgeous smile on me.

No one can ever have Keaton Meyer. Least of all me. The brooding construction manager is a man of myth and legend, rarely seen in the wild. Once upon a time, he was the star quarterback, the smiling homecoming king, royalty in our small town. Until tragedy struck. And then he disappeared completely. Now he’s resurfaced, and I can’t keep my eyes off him. He’s an island surrounded by lava, bound by a desert and guarded by dragons. I don’t stand a sunshine’s chance in a hail storm.

When the devil comes to town, you have to meet him head-on. Which is exactly what I did when Grant Stone rolled into our small Texas town, driving a sports car I could fit in the bed of my truck, wearing a suit as black as his soul. He’s here to acquire mineral rights to half a dozen farms in town. And there’s no way he’s getting mine. I don’t make deals with the devil.

Everyone hates parts of their job. Maybe it’s the paperwork. Maybe it’s the day-to-day grind. Maybe it’s that client who never knows what they want or the guy who always cooks fish in the microwave. But not me. I love every corner of the Longbourne Flower Shop, every flower, every petal, every stem. I love the greenhouse, and I love Mrs. Bennet, my boss. I love creating, and I love being a florist. I don’t hate anything at all. Except for Luke Bennet. The Bennet brothers have come home to help their mom save the flower shop, and Luke is at the helm.

I've spent the last three years raising my daughter and wishing for things I couldn't have. When I came back to New York, I thought I could find my way back to her. But that path was lost, grown over and hidden from everyone, especially me. Her obsession over her best friend's death is dangerous, and the man she's after could put her life at stake. She'll never let it go, not until he's behind bars or dead. She just doesn't realize it might not be him who pays in the end.

For nine long months, I've been fighting to figure out how to be a single dad, how to be alone. For nine long months, I've been failing. When Hannah walked through the door, I took my first breath since I'd found myself on my own. She slipped into our lives effortlessly, showing me what I've been missing all these years. Because Hannah made me smile when I thought I'd packed the notion of happiness away with my wedding album.

Even the gods cannot betray the will of the stars. It's been a hundred years since she's warmed my bed, a hundred years spent waiting for her. Now we'll compete again in a game that matters little to me. My prize is far greater than a token to be paid for a favor - I want her. And for the first time in a very long time, I have the chance to keep her. Because now the ground has shifted, tilted in my favor, and with her footing unsteady, she will fall. I will catch her. This time, I won't let go.

Nothing good comes after the third date. Date three is the crucial point when things get real, which is exactly why I bounce out the door, twiddling my fingers at whatever poor boy I've left behind. Because, if I stick around, one of three things will happen: he'll profess his undying love, he'll get weird and stalky, or I'll go crazy. Like, Sid and Nancy crazy. Like, chase-him-through-the-streets-begging-him-to-love-me crazy. Seriously, it's better for everyone this way.

She's everything I want, and she can never be mine. I thought my heart was too mangled to love. I thought my soul was too sullied to touch something so pure. I thought I knew myself. But the truth is that it's all a lie, and she's the only one who can save me from myself. But I don't deserve her. And she can never be mine, no matter how much I need her. Best-selling author Staci Hart brings you an addictive romantic mythology series where love is the ultimate game, and Aphrodite always wins.

He plays the bass with expert fingers. He plays women with intoxicating charm. And he’ll play me with the ease of a virtuoso. Who better to teach me to play than the master himself? I’m his model student, front row, pencil sharp. Pick-up lines? I’ve got them. Free drinks? By the dozen. Kissing? Let me grab my chapstick. But the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that there’s so much I don’t know - like why his touch sets off a chain reaction straight to my nethers…or how I’m certain each kiss is the best I’ll ever have…until the moment his lips take mine again.

His body is as chiseled as Adonis. His lips are as sculpted as David. And his ego is the size of the Guggenheim. You know the type: wolfish smile and the gravity of a black hole - the kind of man who sucks all the air from the room the second he enters it. My cocky boss thinks this internship was wasted on me, and he doesn’t hesitate to let me know. But he’s wrong, and I’m going to prove it to him. If I can stay away from his devil lips, that is....

You are cordially invited to the party of the century. There's no greater thrill than in the moment a courier hands you the heavy invitation with those words etched on the front. Because you've just joined the most exclusive group in New York. The Bright Young Things. Lavish parties. Irreverent treasure hunts. Every event is a sparkling spectacle, stalked not only by the media, but by the law, who's declared war. They're out to ruin everyone's good time, starting with uncovering the mysterious benefactor leading the group....

My mother has summoned me home to take my place at Bower Bouquets, and as the heiress, I’m expected to do as I’m told. I’m expected to sit by her side as she does her best to decimate the Bennet family and their flower shop, Longbourne. I’m expected to play by her rules, or she’ll ruin me too. But the day I crash into Marcus Bennet changes everything. And the kiss seals the deal. If my mother finds out, I’ll lose everything - my family, my life, my security. Worse, she’ll make sure the Bennets pay for my mistakes.

They say there’s no such thing as perfect, but I’ve built my life to perfection - the perfect boyfriend, the perfect apartment, the perfect career planning celebrity weddings. My job - my only job - is to make sure every event is absolutely and completely perfect. What’s not perfect? Kash Bennet. And I wish I didn’t find that so appealing. But nothing is what it seems. And in the span of a heartbeat, my perfect life is turned inside out.