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Looking for a steady supply of romance short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

11870+ Romance Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From the thrill of a first date to a snapshot tour through an entire relationship, our collection of romantic short stories will give you everything your heart desires.

Romance Short Stories – Page 705 of 792

What Could Have Been

Submitted to Contest #54

The warmth of the mid-day sun flushed across my face as my mind wandered to thoughts of no job, no kids, no duties or obligations. A simpler time seems so far out of reach as my fortieth birthday looms like a dark cloud overhead. To think that once upon a time I was just a reckless teenager without a care in the world, running wild and having fun. I am quickly snapped out of my daydream when I hear the sharp whirring of the coffee machine and the smell of freshly ground bean flood my nostrils. I jolt at the sound that has become synonymous w...

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Time Capsule

Submitted to Contest #54

I stared into the cloudy brown broth in my bowl, my own disinterested face reflecting back at me. I half-heartedly attempted to disturb the liquid with my spoon and some of the half liquefied vegetables floated momentarily before returning to the bottom of the dish, like debris back down to the seabed. I sighed and took a long swig of my beer instead. It had been so many years and I still hadn’t gotten used to the food. I still longed for food served by a woman with leathery charcoal coloured skin, sitting on a plastic chair by the side of t...

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Blackmail Is A Way Of Life

Submitted to Contest #54

Mary Ann's life was quiet and peaceful which now consisted of going to work and back home. She usually stop at a fast food establishment to pick up something to eat because on one hand she hated to cook and on the other hand, it was cheaper to buy a hamburger than to make a hamburger at home. Having some friends that at first kept asking her to spend the night out with them. She agreed twice and found the nights boring and the music especially loud. She was a home body person which was just fine with her. She spent most of her nights e...

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An Unexpected Comeback

Submitted to Contest #54

“My Buddy lies over the ocean/my Buddy lies over the sea/my Buddy lies over the ocean/Oh bring back my Buddy to me…” It’s been over 60 years since I’ve seen him. My sweetheart of a man, Buddy Tolen. We had chaperoned dates throughout our last two years of high school. But then he got shipped off to the War and I haven’t seen or heard from or anything about him ever since.  It really broke my heart. But I knew that he needed to do what he needed to do to keep our country free.  So I went to work as a secretary and bus driver w...

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The Night

Submitted to Contest #54

Jill wrote in the cafe down the street from her apartment. She shoved her curly red hair underneath an old hoodie and listened to the new Beck album through old headphones. She stared at the screen of her laptop, her chin resting in her right hand. Her left hand rested on her bicep. She picked out a sentence on her keyboard with her index fingers and then immediately erased it. She rested her chin back in her hand and stared at the blinking cursor on the blank page. The blinking slowed down. “Jill…?” Jill didn’t register anyone saying he...

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10,512 to Zero

Submitted to Contest #54

If God allows for our paths to intertwine again and we are both still single, maybe then we can still get back together. Those were her last words to me… Today actually marked the ninth year since she’s left, I thought to myself as I looked through my spacious office’s large windows. It’s almost a decade. And, to be honest with you, I really don’t know how I had managed to get past these nine years without her - my childhood friend, my best friend, my love - Misa. I’m not trying to sound cliche but she was the half to my whole. We ...

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What We Needed (Not At All)

Submitted to Contest #54

“You’re practically inhaling. Slow down. Are you trying to drown yourself in beer?”  I raise my eyebrows. Rather unsuccessfully, it seems, because he’s looking at me like I’ve licked a streetlight. Also, I can’t feel my eyebrows.  “For your information, I have no intention of plummeting to a foamy death. This is nothing. I’m not even drunk, you know? I’m just getting a little tipsy so I can get it on.” I wiggle my eyebrows, this time hopefully with greater success.  “Get it on?” He’s struggling to keep a straight face. M...

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Blue and Green Meet Again

Submitted to Contest #54

I'm stumbling along the street, weaving in and out of stands overflowing with fresh produce when a flash of bright green catches my eye. I consider ignoring the urge to look, because on some level I already know the sight that will meet my eyes, but as always, curiosity gets the better of me. Slowly, I drag my blue eyes away from the wrinkled pepper in front of me and force them to meet the bright green ones staring at me from across the street.Our eyes meet and I suddenly find myself lost in those pools of flashing emerald. It's been so lon...

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The Hands of Time

Submitted to Contest #54

You see him in the pasta aisle.  At first, you’re not quite sure. He is the right height and has a similar relaxed posture. The hair is the same black fuzz, buzzed close to the scalp. You inch closer for a better look but his head is bent down. You watch him study a can of marinara sauce. He gently places it back on the shelf, label out. You pretend to look at a gluten-free box of bowtie noodles, but really you’re looking at him. You crane your neck just so, trying to catch a glimpse of his face. You need to know for sure. Then he l...

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The Lingering Melody of Days Long Past

Submitted to Contest #54

A chirping bell rings noisily above the glass door as Callie nudges it open. The warm air evokes the fall of a small sigh from her chapped lips as her long chestnut hair settles around her small shoulders. The cozy Starbucks café is a pleasant escape from the busy downtown street and its crisp early autumn air. With grace to be desired, Callie shrugs her backpack to the side and pulls out a leather wallet, longingly imagining her favourite blueberry scones as she searches it. In the momentary distraction, she nearly stumbles into the counter...

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Confess

Submitted to Contest #54

What a pleasant weather! Spring has casted it's spell to the nature. Everything is looking so joyful. The slight breeze is giving a pleasant vibe. And the fragrance of flowers is soothing the heart. This season is like a healer to every wounded. Suddenly Chris's heart beats increased. He started to feel uneasy. He hasn't feel something like this in this 5 years. But he knows the cause of this feeling. It's Miley. She just crossed him. It all started 7 years ago. Chris was in school then. On that year a cute girl joined the...

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Temporary

Submitted to Contest #54

I never loved my job as a temp at a big tech company, but I didn’t hate it. My boss’s name was Kevin, he had a balding head and kind blue eyes, a real friendly-executive face. Kevin had a habit of pacing around the office and stopping by to talk to people at the watercooler and the printers. Back then I only knew two of the software engineers that worked on my floor, Jay, and Cathy, because their cubicles were across from my desk. On Monday, we all happened to take a water break together, and of course, Kevin spotted us.  “Hello Dylan...

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A Man's Final Cigarette

Submitted to Contest #54

On a temperate, late, sunny afternoon in early October, an old man sat on a bench in Ocean City and smoked his last cigarette. He was a thin, frail thing, with drawn out paper-dry skin attached to hollow cheekbones and covered with hair grey as faded papyrus. He wore a long, blue and white button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and tan board shorts of a youthful fashion which, when rode up at just the right angle, revealed the long-ago faded remnants of a sailor’s tattoo resting just above the man’s knee. His sperry’s were as tan ...

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Detective Lycan and the Lost Trinkets of Istanbul

Submitted to Contest #54

This is a story about mystery and culture, but more importantly, reunion. Desired reunions that keep our hero up at night in hopes to finish what is unfinished. It was a dark winter night in downtown Indianapolis. The Indiana State Museum was shipping out some exhibitions that were covered by crates. By the time the trucks had left out from the back, the curator had exited out of the front doors. He walked beside the canal parallel to the road in which a mysterious shadow was walking from far away, with each step they took, coming closer. I...

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Dreams, Coffee, and the Wind

Submitted to Contest #54

I used to dream of him randomly and often. When I did, I awoke with sweat on my brow and a sinking, aching ball in the pit of my stomach. The morning brought reality. Time with him was not real. I awoke exhausted from seeing him again, having spent the night finding new ways to repair old broken bridges, new ways for him to apologize, new ways for me to forgive him. Each time I discovered him in my dream, I saw the rope of hope dangle loosely in front of my face, teasing. I grabbed it without hesitation every time. Reconciliation awaited me ...

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RBE | RBE Romance | 2024-03

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