Especially after a filthy postgame kiss leaves me wanting all the things I can’t have.What's the risk in playing dirty just one time?**A Note from Lauren to Readers,When I finished reading KD Casey's debut novel Unwritten Rules I was so impressed that I asked her to co-write a fun little scene with me between two baseball players. We'd both written baseball romances so this made perfect sense. We had such a great time with these characters that a short scene turned into a sexy, flirty, dirty standalone novella that we love. I hope you enjoy reading Dirty Slide as much as we enjoyed writing it!XoxoLaurenA Note from KD Casey to Readers,I was ecstatic when Lauren reached out to me about potentially collaborating on a story. I loved the Men of Summer series, and jumped at the opportunity to create a new baseball romance. What started as a short story soon grew with the characters (which is one of the joys of writing!). We truly had a blast writing this and hope you have the same reading!Play ball!KD

    With nothing to distract me from this loneliness, it’s going to be a miserable summer.Then I hire Luca for one night.At least, it was supposed to be one night.LucaEthan isn’t like my other clients (not that I have many these days). He’s nice. He’s genuine. He doesn’t treat me like I’m here to earn my pay.When he asks me to make this a regular thing for the summer, my wallet doesn’t leave me much choice.But I’m pretty sure my heart isn’t supposed to get involved.Gentlemen of the Emerald CityLuca is Book 1 of Gentlemen of the Emerald City, a sexy series centered around the high class, high-dollar Gentlemen of Seattle’s most exclusive escort service. Each book is full of snark, sass, and sweetness, and like any Emerald City client, you’re guaranteed a happy ending.

    But now it's senior year and something about Finn is different. Max can't figure out why Finn is pulling away, leaving Max adrift without him. But when a drunken hookup takes them both by surprise, everything changes. Max is straight, right? So why can’t he stop thinking about Finn's lips on him? "I fell for my straight best friend. What a cliché." Finn Stevenson feels like a failure. It took him 22 years to figure out that he was gay, and he returns to campus dead-set on ignoring his true feelings for Max. But it’s impossible to deny he’s fallen in love with his best friend. How could he not? Max lights up every room and makes Finn feel like the most special person in the world. But after throwing himself at Max one night at a party, Finn knows he might have just jeopardized the most important friendship in his life. "You think I'm gonna change my mind, don't you?" How can Finn trust that Max's feelings for him are real if Max won't even come out? And as Finn struggles with the pressures of competitive rowing, Max fears losing the person who means the most to him. As the rowing season heats up and graduation looms, the future has never been so uncertain. Will their relationship drown under the pressure or can they find a way to stay afloat? Still Water is an m/m contemporary romance with out-for-you and hurt/comfort themes, plenty of heat, and a happy ending.

    The injury is minor, but his attraction to the doctor who patches him up is not.Dr. Jody Williams lost his heart to a man he buried five years ago. Still grieving, he's not looking for love. But the patient who's part Nordic God, part lost soul, ticks all his boxes, leaving him with feelings he didn't know he was still capable of having.Beneath the flawless jock exterior, Clark is hiding not just his sexual identity, but a challenging disorder. His controlling father won't allow him to take meds to manage his ADD, fearing they'll affect his performance on the football field. Now his academic struggles have put his entire future in jeopardy, and Jody is more than happy to ride to the rescue as a tutor. But playing white knight quickly turns to more and the wild attraction between them can't be contained.Athletes have started coming out but it's not without risk, especially without family support. Now Clark must decide. Hide his true self or risk it all for the man he loves?

    What could go wrong? Or will it be the moment they get all they’ve ever wanted? In discovering their bisexuality, will Reef and Ford be brave enough to reach for each other?Pro-snowboarder, Reef Reid, is at the peak of his career. He has it all. Except the one thing he desperately wants: a lover, the white picket fence and his happily ever after. Disillusioned and exhausted, he flees to a tropical paradise to defrost.But a ticketing mishap lands him in the ski village of Queenstown, New Zealand.Stratford ‘Ford’ Wallace loves the ladies, but rarely sticks around longer than a night. Falling for a man wasn’t on the cards, but everything he knows is flipped on its head when the enigmatic Reef Reid literally drops out of the sky.When a whiteout traps them on a mountaintop neither expects sparks to ignite. They’re unable to resist each other, but will they give into temptation? Or will the avalanche that tears through the mountain end them?Whiteout is book one in Ann Grech’s international hit male/male romance series, Unexpected. Books 2 and 3 continue Reef and Ford’s story through the highs and lows of the pro-snowboarding circuit. You’ll fall in love, want to slap a certain someone or two and swoon over these two men who are made for each other.

    Unfortunately, he's earned a love 'em and leave 'em reputation, though. Finding a gorgeous gay romance author in this little Colorado town is a thrill, even if Conor says he's straight. When Aaron's landlord kicks him out, the solution is obvious: Aaron can stay with Conor, they can write and fix up Conor's cute farmhouse together, and they can pretend to date. That's all. Aaron won't fall for another straight guy again...even one as amazing as Conor. "What do I know about gay romance?" Conor Kennedy just wants to renovate and sell his old farmhouse, escape this small town, and find a nice girlfriend. His novels don't sell, though, and his repairs are taking forever. Everything feels broken until Aaron jokingly offers the perfect solution. Why not pose as a cute gay couple for the summer? Both of their careers will benefit and they'll both get the company of a great new friend... plus Hope, the stray golden retriever who's chosen to live with them. But all Conor can think about is the most illogical thing of all: he wants to do more with his gay co-author than write romance novels. "Will you sweep me under the rug again?" Living in tight quarters during the renovation while writing a book together challenges both men to stick to the terms of their deal. They're opposites in almost every way, and the tension is thick. As their fake relationship deadline approaches, questions loom over them both: were they only faking, or has something real blossomed between them? When the internet learns of Conor's past, will their love be strong enough to keep them together? Just a Summer Deal is a steamy, stand-alone GFY gay romance novel with a HEA ending and no cliffhanger.

    But Mike went off to be a star in the NHL and Jason stayed behind to start his life as the dedicated, deeply closeted coach of the town’s junior hockey team.Now Mike is back in town and Jason finds that their passion burns as hot as ever. But they’re both still in the closet and when Jason is threatened with exposure, he freezes. The flames of desire can’t melt Jason’s fears, but maybe, just maybe, the warmth of love will thaw the ice.

    He runs a successful construction business, leads a loyal team, and has a beautiful house with acres of land all to himself. Still, he can’t help but feel empty and alone. Though his friends have tried for years to hook him up with a nice girl, it never works out. Harley decides a dog would be great company, and so he heads to the shelter to foster one for the upcoming storm. When he enters the shelter, Harley doesn’t expect to finally meet someone who sparks a fire in his heart. He especially doesn’t expect for that person to be another man... After a string of failed relationships, Ash has all but given up on finding the right man. Though he is a talented artist, he has lost most of his inspiration and lives his days at home, doing web design to pay the bills. The only thing that brings him out of the house is his volunteer work at the local animal shelter. When soft-spoken Harley comes in to foster the shelter’s most misunderstood dog, Ash can’t help but think this man must have a kind soul. Too bad Harley doesn’t swing that way... or does he? The worst hurricane to hit the coast brings these two polar opposite men together. But can they weather the emotional storm of their pasts, and find peace in each other? Or will it all fall apart? Stormy Hearts is a standalone novel featuring two hot men, two cute rescue dogs, and a happy ending for all four of them!

    That is until he finds himself falling for the handsome stonemason, Sam Denham, who constantly occupies his thoughts. He wants Sam, badly, and can’t get the man out of his mind. Worse yet, he isn’t even sure if Sam is gay. When he finds out that Sam has signed up with a dating service searching for a guy who looks exactly like him Cody is even more eager, and confused than before.Sam can’t believe that he’s developed a huge crush on his obviously straight co-worker. Even worse, the job that allowed him to see Cody on an almost daily basis has ended and he desperately misses his buddy in a way that goes far beyond just friendship. In an effort to soothe his aching heart and body, he tries to get a blind date with someone like Cody so he can pretend for just one night that he holds Cody in his arms.When Cody himself shows up as Sam’s blind date, he is at once elated and afraid of having his heart broken by just another straight guy looking to sample the gay life. He wants to be so much more than Cody’s 1Night Stand and if he’s given the chance, Sam will do anything to prove that love doesn’t discriminate based on gender.

    Now the pressure’s on. He needs a coach who can keep him in line, but top coaches don't come cheap, and Matty can't afford to stay in the game no matter how badly he wants to win.When a lucrative house-sitting gig brings him to rural Montana, Matty does his best to maintain his training regimen. Local residents turn out to be surprisingly tolerant of his flamboyant style, especially handsome young rancher Rob Lovely, who proves to be much more than a cowboy stereotype. Just as Matty requires a firm hand to perform his best on the ice, Rob shows him how strong he can be when he relinquishes control in the bedroom. With new-found self-assurance, he drives himself harder to go straight to the top.But competition has a timetable, and to achieve his Olympic dream, Matty will have to join his new coach in New York City, leaving Rob behind. Now he must face the ultimate test. Has he truly learned how to win—on and off the ice—during his training season?

    Both men are hungry for connection – Brian needs the acceptance, encouragement and support he never had growing up, and when he finds out his new best friend is gay, it brings his own identity into question. Roger needs a big brother, a best friend, but that will never be enough, especially not when he’s this close to big, strong, handsome Brian. And both men want something more – careers as professional athletes. For Roger, the demands of the closet, the need to reject the love of a man to fulfill his love of the game, will be a crushing burden. For Brian, his downfall will be the substances he uses to get an edge over the competition, and to suppress his gnawing self-doubt and guilt.One set of desires will bring them together, the other will force them apart…

    But when Jamie returns home after twelve years in the Army, Sean finds himself still drawn to the boy who broke his heart. It's a choice between the past and present, and Sean is determined to choose Tyler, the man who has his heart now. Just when Sean thinks he's got it all figured out, sparks begin to fly between Tyler and Jamie, and Sean realizes that maybe he won't have to choose after all.(Originally published by Loose Id, October 2011)

     Rowan's all too willing to believe that he met the love of his life at the Alpha/Omega mixer. It was a perfect night, followed up by a perfect date, and a perfect evening. The only trouble is: Max stopped calling after their one night together. And now Rowan's pregnant, and it's definitely Max's baby! Until it's all wiped away... Max wakes up with three weeks of his life wiped out in a motorcycle accident. His friends are there to help him reconnect the pieces, but there's something missing. Something just out of reach. Something that draws him to this new guy he just met, but how can he make a move on Rowan when the guy's already pregnant with someone else's kid? Can that spark be reignited? Rowan doesn't know why Max is pretending not to know him, but he's not going to fall in love again with that kind of trifling man. Still, there's a chemistry there that can't be denied. Can a forgotten past be regained, or are these two lovers going to be ships passing in the night for a second time? ***Forgotten Omega is a 35k word non-shifter mpreg novella with no cliffhangers and a HEA.***

    Tommy’s coming off a bad year, finally made better by the purchase of a new house. Losing his job would mean losing the house, however, and his newfound lease on life. Jim can’t let that happen to the man he’s secretly come to love, so he proposes a swap to his boss—forfeit his own job to save Tommy’s. Now suddenly out of work, Jim reluctantly accepts a job helping Tommy remodel his house. Having the work is great, but it also chafes Jim’s pride to be employed by his friend, and creates one of several obstacles in their budding romance. Can Jim and Tommy get past their differences and finally make this swap work in their favor?

    It sounds like a total snooze-fest until Gabe learns that the event’s Santa is a mystery man. He shows up in costume and no one has a clue who he is. Uncovering Santa’s identity sounds like the perfect angle to turn a fluff piece into serious journalism.Mack “The Mountain” McDonall, at 6’10”, is University of Wisconsin-Madison’s enormous star wrestler. When Gabe first claps eyes on him at a wrestling match, it’s lust at first sight. Gabe’s friend, Jordan, sets up the pair on a date. But when Gabe chatters on about his plans for outing Santa, Mack goes cold, and their first meeting becomes an epic fail.As Gabe researches the children’s home, he learns that Mack has secrets a guy famous for being a brute wouldn’t want the world to know. Can Gabe find his holiday spirit, write a killer article, win the heart of a surly giant, and give everyone a very merry Christmas?NOTE: This 50,000 word short novel features a new couple but includes Jordan and Owen, from the author’s book “Superhero”. It can be read as a stand-alone.