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Friends to Lovers

Characters who start as friends and develop romantic feelings

8 items found (2 series, 6 stories)

Can Love Survive?

Can Love Survive?

Story

by Jacob Harvey Redloh & Véronique Margot

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**Two agonized hearts, what can become of them?** **Love-lost and weariness prevail within his forlorn and aging heart. He has not seen love beyond his childhood home, which was true in his life. When love was claimed, it was not real, or in time turned away, never having been actual. Mutual affections were no more than dreams or lies. His heart had become hardened until she came to ease her way between the blocks set so long within his mind to protect his damaged heart.**  **She was lonely, emotionally bruised, and many false loves came into her life, with her being used to fill their needs, their only purpose. Bravely, she remained hopeful despite the troubles seen through time.** **A man to be loved, cared for, and preserved, her dream, and for which she is expressly skilled. He is an image online, yet important. As chats begin and continue, things change for each; affections build slowly for him and rapidly for her. He resists every allusion that more could be between them than good company, while she is determined to break down his emotional walls to mend his broken heart. Reluctantly, he is drawn in by her. Their chats become deeply important.** **All seems well, with love growing and moving forward to mend hearts and lives**  **A heartless hacker steals the love-determined woman’s social media account. With evil, tricky, and conniving means, the interloper took her place, deceptively cutting into the love-dance between this man and this woman, taking him in through the use of his lady's exciting words spoken earlier, newly restated with evil intent**  **While his true lover is grieving his loss, his precious and gracious words and poems, she yet remains unable to give up that last vestige of hope which would have him return and be restored to the love she and he had found together.**  **Here is the story, told in verse, an epic of love lost, deception, with a struggling possibility of love’s recovery, and restored trust the key.**

Friends to Lovers
The Bride Agreement, a contract for love.

The Bride Agreement, a contract for love.

Story

by Leslee Kahler

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Tristan has inherited a title and many debts left by his debauched father and brothers. To save his family from poverty he has to marry his late uncle's ward. Can he convince the independent young lady to marry him? And can they not only find love but discover who is trying to destroy his family?

Action-Packed
Friends to Lovers
The On Darkness Trilogy

The On Darkness Trilogy

Series

by Corbie De La Luna

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An Adult Dark Fantasy series. A tale of tragedy and triumph, of a black lotus rising from the muddy and bloody waters he was planted in.\ \ Book I Our hero sells his soul to his wife to keep their daughters safe from her, however when they both fail their agreements, she keeps his soul and places their daughters in a cosmically demonic level of danger. The lives of those he loves depends on him getting free of her. Book II Malencia is a goddess scorned by losing her ex-husband despite maintaining her hold on his soul. She slowly, patiently, crafts a plan not only to drag Koriath back to her, but to eliminate anyone who would distract him or try to stop her. Including her own daughters and the people she once fought wars for. Book III In first draft stage. To be brought in later.

Dark
Thought-Provoking
Survival
Friends to Lovers
Hidden World
NSFW
Chaos Systems - Supercells

Chaos Systems - Supercells

Story

by Shawna K. Whaley

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Kathleen Smith decides it's time for a vacation. After carefully checking the weather for possible storms, she and her daughters fly to California. She was expecting fun and relaxation but Mother Nature had other plans.  Chris thought he was going to spend a weekend with his best friend hanging out playing video games and relaxing at home. He was wrong.  Join Kathy and her daughters, along with Chris and Brian, as they navigate this new world devastated by tornadoes, flooding and earthquakes. Can love blossom in this new world or will survival be their only focus? This story started as a recurring nightmare that I decided to turn into a story to help process my fears.

Action-Packed
Found Family
Survival
Dark
Friends to Lovers
NSFW
Accidental Princess

Accidental Princess

Story

by Janell Rudd

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Staying 'just friends' was always the safest bet that neither of them wanted to gamble with. However, one drunken late night mistake changed everything and may even cause them to admit that sometimes love is worth the risk.\ \ Aziza McIntyre has always tried to do everything right. Whether if it was studying hard, budgeting carefully, or staying loyal to the people she loves, whatever it was, she did it to the best of her ability while avoiding unnecessary attention. However, after ending a long painful relationship, everything changes when she agrees to one reckless thing: a road trip to Las Vegas with her closet friends. A weekend to forget her heartbreak which worked a little too well. One wild night of drinking and the next day she's waking up in a Vegas hotel room next to her friend and study buddy, Greg. They didn't just sleep together... they got married. Yet, Greg's secret is much bigger than their nuptials and will push Aziza to her limits. \ \ Although he fell for her the moment they met, Greg Wallace, better known as Prince Alexander Gregory Wallace Percy Kensington III of Valoria, didn't intent on things to get out of control. Coined as the Wild Bad Boy Prince by the tabloids back home, he fled to the United States under strict agreement with his parents: stay out of trouble, finish school, and enjoy a few years of freedom from royal duties. His only request; to have only one bodyguard, posing as his roommate. Any scandals would send him back home to Valoria... permanently. A surprise wife was never part of the deal, yet now it's a deal that Greg refuses to get out of, even if Aziza can't handle the fact that he's a prince. \ \ Now, with their lives tied firmly together, they must find a way to navigate through their new roles, while battling against everyone whose against it and finding true love in the process.

Friends to Lovers
Second Chance Romance
The Day I Stopped Being Invisible

The Day I Stopped Being Invisible

Story

by Shelly Meyer

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**THE DAY I STOPPED BEING INVISIBLE** is a contemporary romance about emotional neglect, self-reclamation, and the quiet, radical courage it takes to be fully seen. Thirty-year-old Celia Ortiz has built a life that looks perfectly fine from the outside: a steady job, a comfortable apartment, and a long-term boyfriend who is dependable, successful, and safe. But inside her relationship with Brian Callahan, Celia is slowly disappearing. Brian never yells, never cheats, never makes a scene. His cruelty is quieter than that. He half-listens when she speaks, dismisses her feelings as overreactions, and treats her needs like inconveniences. Over time, Celia learns to ask for less, say less, and want less, convincing herself that stability is love and silence is peace. Then one afternoon on the crowded Newport Beach boardwalk, everything shifts. After enduring another joyless outing filled with Brian’s complaints and indifference, Celia wanders away alone through the farmers’ market, drawn toward the bright fruit stands, salt air, and a version of herself she can almost remember. There, she quite literally collides with Aiden Mitchell, a local surf instructor and boardwalk shop owner whose warmth and attentiveness catch her off guard. When a woman from Aiden’s past confronts him aggressively, he blurts out a desperate request: will Celia pretend to be his girlfriend? On impulse, she says yes. The moment is brief, awkward, and almost absurd. But afterward, Aiden thanks her with a level of sincerity that unsettles her more than the fake-dating stunt itself. He listens when she speaks. He looks at her as though what she says matters. He notices her in a way Brian hasn’t in years. For Celia, that fleeting encounter does not ignite instant romance. It ignites something far more dangerous: recognition. Once Celia has experienced what it feels like to be seen, she can no longer ignore how invisible she has become. When she finally tries to voice her loneliness, Brian dismisses her as insecure and needy, forcing Celia to confront the truth she has avoided for years: she is not asking for too much. She has simply been asking the wrong person. Their breakup is not explosive, but devastating in its calm. Brian is less heartbroken than inconvenienced, and his reaction confirms the deepest ache of all—he never really knew her. Alone for the first time in years, Celia moves into a small beachside apartment and begins the fragile work of rebuilding her life. She pours herself into her career, reconnects with neglected friendships, and starts learning how to occupy space without apologizing for it. Then fate intervenes again: Aiden turns out to live in the same building. What begins as a coincidence slowly deepens into a connection. Unlike the relationship Celia left behind, the one that grows between her and Aiden is patient, tender, and grounded in mutual care. Their intimacy is built in quiet moments rather than grand declarations: shared meals, morning walks along the shore, surf lessons that become unexpected lessons in trust, and long conversations where vulnerability is met not with dismissal, but with kindness. Aiden is steady, whereas Brian was indifferent, attentive, and absent. He asks permission. He checks in. He gives Celia room to choose. And for Celia, that kind of love is both healing and terrifying. Because being truly seen means risking loss. As Celia begins to believe she may finally be worthy of a love that does not require self-erasure, life delivers a personal crisis that cracks her open. Grief stirs the old instincts she thought she was leaving behind—the urge to withdraw, to endure in silence, to disappear before anyone can leave her first. Aiden, burdened by his own wounds and his fear of emotional chaos, struggles to reach her as the distance between them widens. Their relationship is tested not by betrayal, but by the raw vulnerabilities both of them are still learning how to survive. Celia must choose between the false safety of invisibility and the terrifying possibility of remaining present in a love that asks her to be fully known, even in pain. In the end, Celia chooses visibility. She allows herself to grieve out loud. She allows herself to be witnessed in her fear instead of hiding from it. She allows herself to lean on someone rather than disappearing into solitude. In doing so, she breaks the pattern that has defined her adult life. She no longer mistakes silence for strength or emotional absence for safety. She learns that real love is not dramatic or consuming, but steady, attentive, and brave enough to hold the truth. By the novel’s close, Celia stands fully in the space she once abandoned—a woman who no longer shrinks to keep the peace, who no longer confuses being tolerated with being loved, and who finally understands that the greatest transformation is not simply falling in love, but learning to exist fully within it.

Friends to Lovers
Self-Discovery
Slow Burn
NSFW
The Krynn Legacy

The Krynn Legacy

Series

by Raven Hawthorne

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To save Earth from an orbital war between an unyielding automated armada and an organic hive-mind, a scarred survivor and an astrobiologist must team up with an exiled cybernetic commander to awaken the forbidden technology of the planet’s true creators. ​The Universe: Millennia ago, a primordial cosmic race known as the Builders ruled via the authoritarian Krynn Consortium. They engineered humans as a specialized genetic strain before their First Fleet mutinied, plunging Sol into a total communication blackout. Left behind, humanity evolved in ignorance—until the blackout abruptly breaks. Two automated threats arrive to settle an ancient score: The Vanguard (the Consortium’s automated execution fleet burning the atmosphere for energy) and The Xylos Swarm (a parasitic collective harvesting biomass). ​The Story: \* Part I: After the double-invasion destroys modern infrastructure, tactical survivalist Marcus Burke and researcher Dr. Elena Ross breach a subterranean ruin. They inadvertently awaken Aris Tarek, a marble-skinned commander from the ancient Krynn mutiny. Fleeing Vanguard cleanup drones in a hidden silver transit craft, they escape to a secret Builder staging terminal inside the Moon. They force a brief override signal to pause the atmospheric purge, but their position is bombed. They escape via an unstable transit gate into the deep void. ​Part II: Cast into the freezing Kuiper Belt, the crew evades a persistent Vanguard Scout Stalker and locates The Crucible—a colossal, silent space shipyard. Elena and Aris bypass a hostile Loyalist AI to awaken automated manufacturing bays, mass-printing a small fleet of Krynn heavy cruisers. ​Part III: The new fleet executes a slipstream jump back to Earth for a three-front interstellar clash. As Marcus rallies surface survivors against the Swarm, Elena discovers the key to victory rests in Earth's core repository. By merging human DNA with Krynn command architecture, they activate the global shield, permanent-banishing the invaders. Humanity officially claims their birthright not as property, but as the true heirs to the Builders' legacy.

Action-Packed
Ancient Secrets
AI/Robots
Atmospheric
Friends to Lovers
NSFW
The Art of Intimacy

The Art of Intimacy

Story

by Tabitha Polenz

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--- What if everything you thought you knew about sex, love, and intimacy was just the beginning? This book is funny. It is crude. It is psychologically precise and occasionally so direct you will feel personally called out — because you probably should be. We are going to talk about pussies, cocks, scrotums, licking, sucking, and the kind of lovemaking that lasts nine hours and leaves you permanently ruined for anything less. We are also going to talk about childhood wounds, generational trauma, the chakra system, plant medicine, Tantric philosophy, and why so many grown adults are still operating with an eight year old's emotional toolkit. At the center of it all is a love story. A real one. A man named Seymour who was brilliant, quietly charming, and a prisoner of wounds he didn't know he was still carrying. A woman in the middle of her own becoming who thought she was just dating and ended up in the most profound classroom of her life. This book is the map she built from that experience. From the dating field through the blockades and the wounds, through the chakras and the sacred body, all the way to the other side where Tantric lovemaking sessions last twelve hours, orgasm is not a moment but a sustained state, and two people who have actually done the work discover what connection was always supposed to feel like. If you are tired of the same old patterns producing the same old outcomes, this book is for you. So, buckle in buttercup. Let's go for a ride.

Thought-Provoking
Second Chance Romance
Self-Discovery
Slow Burn
Friends to Lovers
NSFW