Showing results by author "Melissa Toppen" in All Categories

Our parents’ friendship meant we had to co-exist. But it didn’t mean we had to like it. He purposely did things to get under my skin. Like spreading rumors about me in junior high so no boys wanted to go out with me. Or sleeping with several of my high school friends, just to prove he could.

Macallan Stewart. Gorgeous. Untouchable. Idolized. Star football player—both on and off the field. Women love him. Men want to be him. And I… Well, I’m too busy trying not to stab pencils into his eye sockets to allow myself to feel anything but anger, which definitely beats the alternative.

It had a good laugh when I found my boyfriend of four years in bed with my best friend. It was rolling on the floor when the same backstabbing beasts stole my dream school, landing me in a different state, where I didn’t know a single soul. You’d think after all that, it’d cut me a break, right? Wrong. Enter its next jest, and this one’s a doozy. Kai Elliot. Campus womanizer. Self-proclaimed bad boy. And the new bane of my existence—but not for the reason you might think.

I remember the first time I saw Sutton Barnett in perfect detail–like a fragment of time suspended in front of my eyes. I remember his shirt–faded blue against tanned skin that had seen countless hours of the summer sun. Wet droplets peppered his shoulders from where his still wet hair had dripped onto the fabric. He rounded the bottom of the stairs, our eyes meeting for only a fraction of a second before he looked away, but it was long enough for me to know right then and there that nothing would ever be the same again.

It was destiny - the night I met Hudson Demasi. I remember how effortlessly he stole my heart - his dark eyes and quick smile forever etched into my mind. We spent one incredible night together under a haze of tequila - a perfect night. And when I woke the next day, he was gone. I never expected to see him again - especially not five years later standing on a stage in front of thousands of screaming fans as none other than hot, new country artist, Hudson James.

It’s funny how differently we view life when we’re young. Everything feels possible- limitless. If only things could stay that way forever. Then maybe life wouldn’t be so complicated. Maybe Jace would still be the same ten-year-old boy I fell in love with. Maybe I’d still be that same girl too. The girl who believed that there wasn’t anything we couldn’t overcome. But I’m not that girl anymore. Time has beaten me down, broken me, taken everything from me. And it’s taken even more from Jace. I naively believed that I could save him...From his dad. From his anger.

I met Thad Mitchell for the first time when I was just a child. I didn’t remember much about him - except that he pushed me off a swing set when I was four years old and broke my arm. Not the best thing to remember about a person, but there it is. He moved away a couple years later and soon became a distant memory. That is until I walked into my parents' house after being gone for four years to find him sitting at the kitchen table with my family like he’d been there all along.

Life is full of many things. Love. Loss. Heartbreak. Laughter. No matter how small, each moment has value. Then there are the big moments. The moments that define us. And the people who shape our very existence. Abel Collins is that person for me. From the very first time our eyes locked, I knew there was something about him. That he was the person that would change everything. And he did. But Abel isn’t just any man...His past is his prison. His guilt keeps him chained. His grief defines him. And now it’s up to me to set him free.

They say everything happens for a reason - that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. For the longest time, I didn’t think that was true. I had stumbled around in the dark for so many years that I didn’t think I would ever find my way out. But when I finally did, it came in the most unexpected way. Miles Hollins had been my brother’s best friend for as long as I could remember. We didn’t like each other much growing up. Or rather, we couldn’t stand each other.

Eight years ago I ran. I ran from my parents. I ran from my pain. I ran from him, and I never wanted to go back. If not for my best friend’s wedding, I likely never would have. The plan was simple. Get in, get out. Easy as that. Only I should have known nothing is ever that simple. Especially when Westin Carver is involved. He broke my heart once. Or rather, he completely annihilated it. And I have no doubt that if given the chance, he’d do it all over again. But even knowing that, it doesn’t change the way I crave him

They say life never gives you more than you can handle. Tell that to someone who didn’t just watch the perfectly placed pieces of her future go up in flames. Enter Liam Mason. Mysterious. Sexy. An obvious playboy. And even though he’s the last person I should want, I can’t help but be drawn to him. Like a moth to a flame, I simply can’t look away. I convince myself it’s just a rebound. Who could ever be foolish enough to fall for a man who might as well have womanizer tattooed on his forehead? But matters of the heart aren’t always so simple.

Time is a funny thing. It keeps moving even when it feels like everything around you stops. It is the catalyst for everything. How we grieve. How we heal. How we live. Time was the one thing I tried but could never escape. Days passed in his absence. Months. Years. And I stood still. Stuck in the past. Paralyzed by the memory of him. Nash Ketter had been my whole world for as long as I could remember. The person I loved with my entire being. He was the sun, the moon, and the stars. He was everything. And then one day, he was gone… Just like that. Like he had never existed at all.

I want him. Unlike I have ever wanted anything before in my entire life. I knew it from the very moment his eyes met mine; the way my skin burned under his dark gaze. I knew nothing would ever be the same again. Decklan Taylor isn’t just tempting; he’s dangerous - a storm who destroys everything in his wake. But even as I stand in the path of his force, I can’t turn away. While he may be the very thing that breaks me, he’s also the only thing that has ever made me feel alive. Sometimes falling in love is more than just crazy, it's downright stupid.

Ten hours… That’s how much time we spent together. How much time I got with the man whose bright eyes and sultry smile almost made me forget that I was sick. Six hundred minutes… That’s how long it took me to fall in love. Thirty-six thousand seconds... And then it was over. And all I wanted was more. More seconds. More minutes. More hours. More him. Ten hours… Such a small, insignificant amount of time. Yet those ten hours changed everything.

Arrogant. Egotistical. Playboy. Three words that perfectly describe Atlas Keaton. My twin brother’s best friend. The absolute bane of my existence. And my new college roommate. It wasn’t by choice of course. The last thing I wanted was to be forced to endure a full semester living under the same roof as him and my brother. But when a housing mix-up leaves me 3,000 miles away from home with nowhere else to turn, I don’t really have another option. It’s only four months, how hard could it be, right? Wrong...

It was destiny - the night I met Hudson Demasi. We spent one incredible night together under a haze of tequila - a perfect night. And when I woke the next day, he was gone.... I never expected to see him again - especially not five years later standing on a stage in front of thousands of screaming fans as none other than hot new country artist Hudson James.

Alec Murray. He was the one. From the first moment I saw him, I knew. I had never been more certain of anything in my 16 years on this Earth. But Alec didn’t notice me. At least not in the way that I wanted him to. He noticed my best friend instead. I stood by and watched their relationship blossom. An outsider looking in, wishing things were different. Torn between my loyalty to my best friend and the boy who had unknowingly stolen my heart.

Fabrication. The one word that describes my entire life. They didn’t want me to know my true identity. Now, I know why.... Abducted. Held against my will. I’ve become a bargaining chip in a blood feud that spans decades. Mateo Rivera is the one calling the shots. His father’s death put him in charge. Now he holds all the power. I should have known that he would ruin me the moment I laid eyes on him. And he did. He introduced me to a whole new world. One filled with danger and desire. I wasn’t just his prisoner. I was his prize.

I fell in love with Sutton Barnett the first time I saw him. I couldn’t explain it, or rationalize it, but in some weird way, it’s like I knew he was the one that would change everything. And he did. Just not the way I expected. I blamed him for my pain. Let it fester in my chest, until it had ripped apart any shred of the girl I once was. But he wasn’t the first to break me. No, that came before Sutton. Before his bright blue eyes made me believe in something more.

I had a lot of plans for my freshman year of college. Falling for my roommate’s older brother was definitely not one of them. Not like I had a choice in the matter. The second he walked in with that crooked smile and dark green eyes, I was a goner. But River Parker doesn’t exactly make it easy on me.