But as he starts hanging out with Penny, his former best friend from next door, he realizes what he’s missed in the three years since they stopped talking. And when they kiss after a party, he starts to see a whole new future for his life. Penny Davis has her sights set on a softball scholarship, hoping to get out of Rosemont as soon as she graduates. Straight A’s, working at the local diner, and practicing her softball skills are the routine. Until she bumps into Jake White in the hall. When he starts paying more attention to her again, after nearly three years of next-door radio silence, she allows herself to hope that what they once had might be there again. But falling in love is easier said than done.

    In my defense, the first time I saw her I didn't know who she was.Kind, gorgeous, a little naïve. Ginny brightened my world from day one.I knew I was no good for her. She was just out of a relationship and I had a reputation for having a new girl in my bed every weekend. I tried to do the right thing. Honest.I'm the one who insisted we should be just friends. That lasted about as long as you'd expect.But Ginny? She's the best - best friend, best everything. So yeah, hooking up with the team captain's sister wasn't a great idea.Would I do it again?In a heartbeat.The first book in a new college hockey romance series.

    He doesn't know about the baby, dog, and two cats. He actually doesn’t know much about me, anymore.But it’s not him I’m really here to see.I’m going to tell Kash something and change his life forever. He’s tall, tatted to the hilt, slightly brooding, and he says and does all the right things.I want to trust him, but my past tells me men can change. Will he always be like this and will he turn out to be the one?KashI could tell she was special and from the moment I met her eleven months ago, and I wanted to make her mine. But she asked me to go without any contact.When the curious kitten with a body so hot it could melt metal takes a little time away from the baby, she asks me to lay down a design on her pristine skin.But the session gets away from both of us and I can't take back what I do or say.Her brother finds us and it’s never good when Cray’s involved.She can trust me. But maybe I can’t trust myself around her.

     Bree Phelts is shy, enjoys reading, and spends her free time helping her mom. Her biggest worry is figuring out a grand prize for the summer reading program. Her black and white life is splashed with color when Owen Mattox, a professional football player, asks her to step out from behind the refreshment table and dance. He’s wrong for her on so many levels but just what her heart needed to wake up. Devastated when he’s dumped by the only woman he ever imagined marrying, Owen Mattox pulls his heart in tight and doesn’t let go. He’s worked so hard to isolate himself from love—and the pain that comes when it’s lost—that he practically a recluse. He doesn’t even hang with the other Texas Titans players and builds his home outside of Dallas for privacy. The fewer people in his life, the fewer chances of getting hurt. But he can’t deny his interest in the quiet librarian and once they dance, he’s hooked. But Owen doesn’t open his heart easily which means Bree will have to overcome her shyness and be her own hero—instead of reading about one—in order to save the love that’s budding between them.

    Monday, bank manager Indie Chase thinks her day can’t get worse. She’s dealt with spills, an ex-husband, and her preschooler on bank time.She’s wrong, though.In a matter of moments, that day becomes the stuff of nightmares.Dax Reed is a reluctantly retired pro hockey player with a past he’d rather forget. He’s well on his way to doing so, on his way to Hawaii for a well-deserved vacation, when everything goes to hell.Together, they’re caught in a robbery that’s going to take everything they have to survive.It’s going to take trust.It’s going to take strength.It might even take … each other.

    And he’s probably the sexiest man in the entire city, if not the country. He also happens to be a total loose cannon, and I happen to have had his mouth between my legs before we’ve even been formally introduced. That’s right, sweet Midwestern girl Savannah Shaw hooked up with a complete and total stranger on her first night away from home. And the worst part of it is, it was also the hottest night of my life. But things are never that simple. Flynn Taylor is off-limits for a whole host of reasons, and continuing to see him, even in secret, threatens to turn my whole life upside down and destroy everything I’ve been working toward these last few years. The trouble is, I can’t seem to stay away from him. Even though I know everything about him is wrong, when he touches me it feels so right. I guess it’s true what they say. It’s not the size of the stick, but how you handle it that matters. And Flynn Taylor has a big, hard stick, and he also knows exactly what to do to score. And score. And score again… HARD STICK is a full-length romance with a guaranteed HEA

    But between vacation hook-ups, one player falling into bed with the boss and a surprise guest at the resort, there’s more action—and complications—than any of them could have predicted.Note to Readers: This story first appeared in the charitable anthology, Color Theory. It has been rewritten and expanded since its inclusion. This is a companion piece to the Hockey Hotties series but does not have to be read to enjoy any of the books in that series.

    Young, rich, handsome, and talking smack about my profession, he was the walking stereotype of a speak-before-I-think hockey player.The second time I met him, I was sad and he made me smile.The third time, we got married.His proposal took me by surprise, to say the least. But Dustin needed a marriage to save his image. And as a bonus, it put an end to my visa issues.Thing is, now we've got to play like we're truly married and in love. Turns out there's this thing called marriage fraud and it can land you up to five years in prison if they catch you. We'll have no problem faking our way through this relationship, right?Except every day we spend together, the more real our connection seems, and we start to fall in love for real.If only it wasn't for those pesky skeletons in both of our closets.And the twist that neither of us could have imagined coming.

    

    

    He gives me what I think I want; passion, release, and a chance to wipe away past hurt. He takes what he needs, controlling me in a way I've never experienced before.I think it will be enough, but it isn't. Even before he's left my hotel room, I'm craving more. I don't even know his name.But sometimes people are not who they seem, and when my stranger reveals his true identity, things get complicated. Rich and powerful, Aaron is a man who could destroy everything I've worked for, but underneath his dominance there's something about him that draws me.Is it possible to trust a man who concealed his identity in order to possess you? Aaron has secrets that are wrapped around his heart and finding love was never part of the plan. But as I learn more about my stranger, resisting him might just become impossible.This is a standalone romance, but characters from Billion Dollar Daddy do make an appearance!

    An ad for a cook and nanny at a remote ranch seems like the perfect opportunity to get away. She thought she’d learned her lesson about having a workplace romance—until she met Colson Westland, a hard, taciturn man who’s as hot as he is serious. Working for Colson and caring for his young ward, Adam, is testing her resolve to stay uninvolved and it doesn’t take long before she not only loves the little boy, but she’s terrifyingly aware she’s falling for Colson. He may be a hard man, but Jolie recognizes a soft side, one that makes her heart melt just a little too much.Ever since Jolie came to work at the ranch, the place seems lighter. Happier. And Colson has felt lighter and happier too. Caring for Adam has been a pleasure, but ever since his best friend left the little guy to his care, he’s felt a bit overwhelmed. Jolie, with her laughter and spirit, seem to be just the right touch his ranch needs. But when Adam’s grandparents sue for custody of him, claiming a bachelor’s home is no place to raise a child, Colson immediately thinks of marrying Jolie. Not for himself, of course, but for Adam. He’d do anything for the kid. It’s a marriage of convenience, just until he wins the custody battle. The problem with his plan, though, is that it didn’t include the matter of him falling in love…Mary Sue Jackson and USA Today Bestseller Leslie North invite you to indulge in a heart-warming small-town western romance with a smoking hot cowboy and the woman who tames him...

    The next thing I know, I’m on the ice, flat on my back. Broken. Paralyzed.Surgery is risky, but if I don’t agree, management will drop me from the team. As a widower and single dad, the stakes are high.Hockey is my life, or was, until I met Doctor Trina Reeves, my surgeon and sexiest woman alive. She’s older, smarter and prejudiced against a jock like me.I may be broken, but I’m tough and determined to prove myself worthy of her love.I want Trina and I won’t stop until I make her mine.TRINA REEVESA lifelong hockey fan, I was at the match when Benji’s sickening accident happened. The sound of his daughter crying out for her daddy broke my heart in two.Benji and I are opposites in every way. He’s younger, but he’s bossy, tough and definitely the one in charge. After one unexpected night, he teaches me that we really aren’t that different.My job as his surgeon is to heal him but team politics make my work impossible.I lost my heart the day I met him, but can I do what needs to be done without losing my head and risking it all?If you love instalove, opposites attract, reverse age gap steamy short romance, you’ll love Benji and Trina. Safe, with a steamy sweet HEA guaranteed.

    Or maybe it's just me. But either way, I've always got girls lined up around the block, just waiting to jump into bed with me.And what can I say? I'm pretty good. Both on-field, and off.But when I met Danielle... damn. She was cute as hell, and smart as a whip to boot. One look and I knew I had to have her, and I'd do whatever it took to get her in bed with me. And I had a feeling once just wasn't going to be enough, this time.When Danielle figured out the owner of my team was trying to screw me over, and he started trying to keep her quiet, I knew I'd do anything to protect her.The guys going after her had better watch out. Because there's not a thing in the world I won't do to stop them.DANIELLEAs a sports journalist, working my way up the world, I'd met my fair share of arrogant douchebags who think they're God's gift to women.But Kieran Michaels was by far the worst.And just when I thought I'd finished with the brash, infuriating, cocky asshole, he offers me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I just can't say no.What I don't realize is that this good girl's about to get into a whole lot of trouble... *** Game On is a safe, full-length novel with a HEA ending. For a limited time, it also includes TKO by Olivia Lancaster as a bonus. ***

    That was as clear as the sun goes up and the moon goes down.But for the sake of a billion dollars, will they be able to see through their differences?Follow their story and find out if their love blossoms or dies.