Free · exclusive · read in your browser

Free Contemporary Romance Stories

Books by Alisson Bento

Find your next romance.

Kindle edition · free to read with Kindle Unlimited where available.

18 complete contemporary romance novellas, free to read online. A fake date to an ex’s wedding on the Amalfi coast with one bed and three rules. Three nights in a sleeper cabin with no names allowed. A whole valley that thinks she said yes, when she actually left him in November.

Real places, real jobs and real stakes: workshops to save, portfolios to finish, families to face. Fake relationships, forced proximity and second chances, all with happy endings.

18 free stories to read online

Browse all 138 free romance stories

Where to start

If you want fake dating and one bed, start with The One-Bed Rule. Wedding planner Margot Lyle has lied about having a boyfriend at her ex-fiancé’s Amalfi Coast wedding, and her grumpy downstairs neighbor takes the part in exchange for her fixing his dating profile. Their rules include a pillow wall.
If you want strangers to lovers with a ticking clock, start with Strangers on the Night Train. Newly divorced translator Clara Hughes shares a sleeper cabin from Paris to Istanbul with a scarred, unsmiling architect, and their bargain is no names, no past and one truth or one dare at every station.
If you want a second chance inside a fake engagement, start with Six Winters of Almost. Art auctioneer Sutton Marlowe flies home to Aspen and finds the whole valley congratulating her on an engagement to Bennett Garrison, the man she left at Thanksgiving. Then come two weeks of pretending.
If you want a why-choose story with found family, start with The Harbor We Chose. Its heroine has five days to save a boatyard in Brindle Harbor, three devoted men want her to stay, and she is done letting shame choose her future.
If you want a small-town single dad romance, start with When the Last Song Starts. An audio producer comes home to record the town and meets a musician who wants one song kept private. Its tropes include creative partners, earned trust and returning home.
If you want a bodyguard romance with enemies to lovers, start with Off the Record. Royal secretary Delilah Finch is the only suspect when the Crown Princess’s secrets start leaking to the press, and Everett Hayes has ten days to prove it, with one very short sofa to sleep on.

What is contemporary romance?

Contemporary romance is a love story set in the present day, in the world readers know. There are no shifters, no magic and no historical costumes. The obstacles are ordinary and real: a job on the line, a family emergency, a lease, a debt, an engagement that ended badly. That makes contemporary the widest shelf in romance. Romantic comedy, small-town romance, bodyguard romance and why-choose romance can all sit inside it.

Alisson Bento’s free contemporary romance stories cover that whole shelf. Two Tickets to the Unexpected and The Plus One Clause are romantic comedies. When the Snow Opens a Path is a survival romance set during a storm. Off the Record is a bodyguard romance inside a Crown Princess’s household, Before the First Play is a college romance, and The Harbor We Chose is a why-choose romance with one heroine and three men.

Where these contemporary romance stories take place

Some stories travel. The One-Bed Rule goes to a wedding on the Amalfi Coast. Strangers on the Night Train runs on a luxury sleeper from Paris to Istanbul. Before the Glass Went Dark is set in a Malibu cottage with glass walls, and Paid in Full takes on the coldest CEO in Chicago.

Others come home. Six Winters of Almost and Before the Snow Comes are both set in Aspen. When the Snow Opens a Path brings a woman back to Oak Creek to sell her father’s workshop, The Harbor We Chose gives its heroine five days to save a boatyard in Brindle Harbor, and When the Last Song Starts brings an audio producer home to record the town.

The heroines work for a living, and their jobs shape the plot. Margot Lyle is a wedding planner, Clara Hughes a translator, Sutton Marlowe an art auctioneer, Delilah Finch a royal secretary and Ondine Kerrigan a photographer. Sign painters lead both The Plus One Clause and A Place for the Three of Us. Camille Roux in The Taste of a Lie can taste a fake in one sip, and Chloe Novak in Paid in Full is the woman who pays everyone on time.

How to choose a contemporary romance by trope

Each story page lists its tropes. For fake relationships, The One-Bed Rule has a fake date with three rules and a pillow wall, The Plus One Clause has a small-town fake engagement, and Six Winters of Almost has two weeks of pretending to be engaged to the man she left at Thanksgiving. The One-Bed Rule and Six Winters of Almost also come with one bed.

For second chances, try Six Winters of Almost or A Place for the Three of Us, where a pregnant sign painter’s baby’s father has finally found her, and he is also the man who may sell her home. When the Last Song Starts pairs an audio producer with a musician single dad. For strangers to lovers, Strangers on the Night Train allows no names and one truth or one dare at every station.

Why-choose readers, who want one heroine with more than one partner, can pick The Harbor We Chose, The Taste of a Lie or Before the Glass Went Dark. In The Taste of a Lie, Camille Roux digs into the poisoned wine of three dangerous partners who want her in their cellar. In Before the Glass Went Dark, Ondine has spent four months watching her two roommates through glass walls when the professor who called her work cowardly turns up as their oldest friend.

How long are these stories, and where to begin

These contemporary romance stories online run from 14,765 words, about 64 minutes, for Before the Glass Went Dark to 26,776 words, about 116 minutes, for Strangers on the Night Train. The One-Bed Rule is the other long pick at 25,450 words and 111 minutes. The rest fall into two groups: about 14,700 to 15,500 words, roughly an hour of reading, or about 20,100 to 21,900 words, around an hour and a half.

Choose by mood, too. For something light, the romantic comedies Two Tickets to the Unexpected and The Plus One Clause start with a switched suitcase and an engagement nobody scheduled. For pressure and suspicion, Off the Record gives Everett Hayes ten days to find a leak and one very short sofa to sleep on. For a quieter community story, Before the Snow Comes follows a woman who wants to bring books to people who need them. For higher stakes, When the Snow Opens a Path leaves eight people depending on the workshop door she wanted to close. For a campus setting, Before the First Play begins with a flooded room that threatens Lia’s portfolio.

Reading works the same for every one of these free contemporary romance stories: the opening chapters are free on the page, and the rest unlocks free once you confirm your email and join the author’s reader newsletter. No app is needed.

Every story in this collection

After the Ferry Stopped

4,591 words · about 20 min read

Bicycle-frame maker Dahlia Mercer needs a waterfront workshop. Chef Ben Navarro wants the same lease, and his easy smile is doing nothing for her patience. When the last ferry is canceled during Bellweather’s harbor festival, the rivals share an inn’s only spare room—and finally unfold their competing plans. A different future might fit between them, if desire can survive daylight, difficult numbers, and the freedom to choose separately.

Tropes: rivals to lovers, Only One Room, Forced Proximity, Small-Town Harbor
The One-Bed Rule

25,450 words · about 111 min read

Wedding planner Margot Lyle is planning her ex-fiancé's dream wedding on the Amalfi Coast, and she just lied about having a boyfriend. Her grumpy downstairs neighbor, a scarred ex-firefighter turned carpenter, volunteers for the part in exchange for her fixing his disastrous dating profile. The rules are simple: no kissing unless someone's watching, a pillow wall down the middle of the only bed, and nothing counts in Italy. Then the wall comes down at two in the morning, and nobody is watching at all.

Tropes: fake dating, One Bed, neighbors to lovers, Grumpy/Sunshine, jealous ex
Strangers on the Night Train

26,776 words · about 116 min read

Newly divorced translator Clara Hughes boards a luxury sleeper from Paris to Istanbul to start over, and finds a scarred, unsmiling architect holding a ticket for the same cabin. With the train full, they strike a bargain: no names, no past, and one truth or one dare at every station. Three nights, one narrow berth, and a game that grows more dangerous with every border, until the city at the end of the line delivers the one truth he never told her.

Tropes: strangers to lovers, Forced Proximity, anonymity, truth or dare, ticking clock
The Plus One Clause

The "Fake Fiancé" Files · 20,640 words · about 90 min read

Home for the Jubilee, sign painter Mel Quinn invents a fiancé to escape family matchmaking—and accidentally recruits precise event planner Theo Avery. Their ten-day social agreement has clear limits. Their first real kiss does not. As rain rearranges the festival and her former fiancé challenges her work, Mel must choose what deserves her name, and whom to ask to stay.

Tropes: fake-relationship, Small town, Opposites Attract, returning home
Two Tickets to the Unexpected

Romcoms em Caos · 21,186 words · about 92 min read

Adriana Freire only needed to create an audio keepsake for Vera’s sixtieth birthday. Bernardo Teles arrived with two rulers, a switched suitcase, and ideas of his own about how a party should work. Between visits around the city, a disastrous rehearsal, and a kiss off the program, they discover that hearing someone takes more than a good recorder.

Tropes: creative rivals, workplace proximity, opposites attract, rehearsal kiss, repaired trust, Happy Ending
When the Last Song Starts

Modern Love Stories · 20,605 words · about 90 min read

Audio producer Nora Keene has six weeks to rebuild her love of work and three weeks to prepare Magnolia Creek’s River Day listening concert. Piano technician Eli Turner offers patient hands, a private duet and a reason to stay a little longer. When a rehearsal reaches the wrong audience, desire alone cannot repair what Nora has failed to protect.

Tropes: Single Dad, Small town, creative partners, earned trust, returning home
The Harbor We Chose

Forbidden Empires · 20,181 words · about 88 min read

Marine surveyor Mara Vale returns to Brindle Harbor expecting a short job and a cold welcome. Instead, a threatened boatyard brings her a patient shipwright, a quick-witted radio technician, and a captain who knows how lonely competence can be. As they follow a paper trail to protect an old passenger launch, Mara must decide whether home can hold the whole truth of what she wants.

Tropes: Why Choose, homecoming, Found Family, capable heroine, working-class heroes, boatyard under threat
When the Snow Opens a Path

Guerra & Sobrevivência (Amor em Conflito) · 20,692 words · about 90 min read

Lia Azevedo knows how to calculate water’s path, but not how to get through grief. Theo Mercer repairs machines and avoids any place he might call home. When a blizzard turns a workshop into shelter, they must trust each other’s competence—and discover whether desire survives when the road reopens.

Tropes: Forced Proximity, War Veteran, Engineer Heroine, Small Town, Starting Over After Loss, Mutual Care
The Measure of Trust

Domínio & Cura · 20,553 words · about 89 min read

An order for boxes and a writing desk brings Clara Matos, a thirty-six-year-old bookbinder, together with Vicente Azevedo, a forty-two-year-old woodworker. Between measurements, kisses, and a negotiated encounter, trust seems possible. But a professional promise made without asking could silence the very voice he wants to hear.

Tropes: Professional Partnership, Mature Romance, Slow Burn, Negotiated Trust, Making Amends Through Actions, Happy Ending
Before the Snow Comes

Corações do Interior · 21,136 words · about 92 min read

When the Bells' reading room closes by its owners' choice, Clara Duarte imagines a Saturday of books across the valley. Tomás Reed agrees to help with clear limits: he has bills, a workshop, and an offer in Denver. Between maps, coffee, and a mountain kiss, they must discover whether staying can be a free choice.

Tropes: Small-Town Romance, Adult Fresh Starts, He Notices the Details, Community, Volunteer Romance, Choosing to Stay
A Place for the Three of Us

Bound by a Baby · 20,262 words · about 88 min read

Sign painter Iris Moss wants a working phone number, a safe studio, and the freedom to decide what comes next. Theo Vale wants a second chance with the woman from Newport. An unexpected pregnancy and a leaking roof force them to learn whether help can leave room for choice.

Tropes: unexpected pregnancy, Second Chance, capable heroine, landlord romance, earned trust
The Night Clause

Contratos Sombrios · 21,844 words · about 95 min read

Daniela Reis knows ink and paper. When a suspicious guarantee turns her workshop into payment for a missing shipment, she agrees to work with Raul Sampaio for three days. The contract defines the job. Their attraction demands choices no signature can make.

Tropes: Workplace Forced Proximity, Earned Trust, Professional Secret, Disputed Debt, Starting Over After Loss
Before the First Play

Amores Universitários · 21,475 words · about 93 min read

Lia Duarte needs to present a sound installation to compete for a paid position in the lab. Theo Vale needs to prove he can build spaces for real people. Over one week at Camden University, wrong measurements, a smaller budget, and an overlooked credit put their partnership to the test, while their desire to stay close no longer fits inside the word work.

Tropes: college romance, creative partnership, campus proximity, Slow Burn, Happy Ending
The Taste of a Lie

Forbidden Empires · 15,489 words · about 67 min read

Camille Roux can taste a lie in one sip, and tonight she called one out in front of the wrong man. Now Darrow Pryor’s broker wants her silenced, and three dangerous partners want her in their cellar. The deeper she digs into their poisoned wine, the harder it gets to choose just one of them.

Tropes: Why Choose, Competence Kink, Forced Proximity, Morally Gray Heroes, Protective Heroes
Off the Record

Towers of Obsession · 15,496 words · about 67 min read

Royal secretary Delilah Finch knows every secret in the Crown Princess’s household. Now someone is selling them, and the only suspect is her. Everett Hayes has ten days to prove it, and one very short sofa to sleep on while he tries.

Tropes: Bodyguard Romance, Forced Proximity, Enemies to Lovers, Secret Relationship, Workplace Romance
Before the Glass Went Dark

Forbidden Empires · 14,765 words · about 64 min read

Photographer Ondine Kerrigan has spent four months watching her two roommates through the glass walls of a Malibu cottage without ever stepping into the frame. Then the professor who called her work cowardly turns up for dinner as their oldest friend. Grades are in. The rules are hers to write.

Tropes: Why Choose, Roommates to Lovers, Former Professor, Sensory Play, Found Family
Six Winters of Almost

The Fake Fiancé Files · 14,933 words · about 65 min read

Art auctioneer Sutton Marlowe flies home to Aspen when her mother falls, and finds the whole valley congratulating her on an engagement to Bennett Garrison, the man she left at Thanksgiving. Two weeks of pretending. One bed. And one secret she still hasn’t told him.

Tropes: Fake Engagement, Second Chance Romance, Only One Bed, Forced Proximity, Small Town Gossip
Paid in Full

Bound by a Baby · 14,785 words · about 64 min read

Chloe Novak pays everyone on time. It is the one promise she never breaks. Then an ice sculptor storms into Miller Enterprises with his unpaid bill frozen in a block of ice, and Chloe has three weeks to fight the coldest CEO in Chicago for a man who refuses to need anyone.

Tropes: Grumpy Hero, Blue-Collar Meets Corporate, Opposites Attract, Secret Sacrifice, Workplace Crusade

Reading guides

How it works

Three steps to your next obsession.

01
Pick your obsession
Mafia, shifter, billionaire, cowboy and more: each one is a complete, exclusive novella.
02
Read the opening free
The first chapters are right on the page. No app, no download, any device.
03
Unlock it all with one email
Confirm once and the rest of the story opens, along with the whole Reader Vault.

Questions

Before you fall in.

Are these free romance novels or short stories?

They are complete novellas: longer than a short story, shorter than a full novel. Each story page shows its exact length and reading time.

Can I read them on my phone?

Yes. Every story opens in your browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and your place is saved on each device.

Are they free?

Yes. The opening is free on the page and the rest unlocks free with a confirmed email.

Are there small-town romance stories here?

Yes. The Plus One Clause, When the Last Song Starts, When the Snow Opens a Path and Before the Snow Comes all carry a small-town trope, and Six Winters of Almost adds small-town gossip in Aspen. Several are also homecoming stories, where a heroine returns to a place she left and finds a workshop, a boatyard or a whole valley waiting for her.

Are any of these stories part of a series?

Many carry a series name. Forbidden Empires covers The Harbor We Chose, The Taste of a Lie and Before the Glass Went Dark. The Fake Fiancé Files covers The Plus One Clause and Six Winters of Almost, and Bound by a Baby covers A Place for the Three of Us and Paid in Full. Some are prequels, such as Before the Snow Comes, a standalone prequel to Only One Bed in Aspen. Each one is a complete story.

Which stories are workplace romances?

Several start at work. In The Night Clause, a dead man’s signature threatens a woman’s workshop, and the auditor who can help her has his own name in the wrong file. Two Tickets to the Unexpected pairs two professionals who end up off script. Paid in Full sends Chloe Novak to fight the coldest CEO in Chicago for an ice sculptor, and The Measure of Trust is built on a professional partnership.