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Kicking it with my Best Friend: Out and Kickin’ Book 3 by Riley Long: Blog Tour Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

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.                              .

A childhood pact changed everything.

I loved my life. Sleeping around. No commitments. But my mother kept prying into my love life, wanting to see me happily settled down.

The remedy seemed to magically reveal itself when I stumbled onto Travis, my childhood best friend, on a dating app. When we were in elementary school, we promised to marry each other if we were still single at thirty.

Reconnecting, I proposed we give the pact a real shot. To my surprise, Travis agrees. Somewhere in the midst of planning our wedding, the unthinkable happens. Our feelings for each other become… real.

As the day of our fake marriage grows near, how do I tell Travis I want the real thing and for him to be mine forever?

Title: Kicking it with my Best Friend
Author: Riley Long
Length: 40k
Series: Out and Kickin’, Book 3
Genre: Contemporary.
Tropes: Childhood friends to lovers, marriage pact, player/virgin, opposites attract, slow burn

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

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“Doesn’t it seem like a good idea? Don’t you think it would solve most of our problems?”

I shook my head and laughed. As outrageous as it seemed, the idea was taking root in my mind. I didn’t hate it. “Problems?”

“Yeah. We’re both single, you’re thirty already and I’m about to turn thirty, and we both have families that won’t stop meddling in our love lives and pestering us to settle down with someone. We agree that living alone can be lonely. Besides, we like each other. We’re friends. Hell, you know my past better than anyone. And, if we move in together, we can both save a ton of money on bills—which will help you with that park ranger salary you mentioned. Plus, we promised.”

He had good points. I was tired of coming home to a dark house every night, and I acutely missed having Parker in my life. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it?

I took a deep breath. “Well… I’d hate to let younger me down. But what if we start all this and decide we hate each other?”

“We won’t. It’ll be so easy, like we never spent any time apart. But if we hate each other, it’s not like we can’t back out. Wedding planning takes a while. We can cancel it. Or get divorced or whatever, if we have to.”

“What about money? Weddings cost money. Are you going to talk your parents into paying?”

He laughed. “I do okay working at the agency. I can pay for it. I can cover the wedding and the honeymoon.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Honeymoon?” When I said it, my voice came out sounding a little choked, heat flooding my gut and groin. I didn’t hate the idea of a honeymoon with Parker, even if it meant… well, I’d think of that later. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

He nodded. “Hell yeah, I’m sure.”

“You always were impulsive.”

“This isn’t impulsive. This is decades in the making,” he protested.

Book 3 which can be a stand alone. And while this book was fun, it was the weakest for me, so far.

I loved the premise. The one guy in the friend group who loves hooking up and one night stands, reconnects with his childhood friend-who happens to be a virgin. Oh. And they made that silly little “if we are still single at 30 we’ll marry each other” pact.

(We’ll ignore the fact that same sex marriage wasn’t legal then, mmmkay?)

Instead of rediscovering each other first, they pretty much immediately decide to get married. As friends. When one of them loves to hook up. And no long engagement either.

So, ya, it was a fun story, but so much of it was wedding planning, convincing their friends that they were seriously getting married and not communicating with each other. DUH! I guess what I was missing was the romance. And it could have been there. There was some, but just not enough. And the most romantic, completely swoony thing happened near the end. While it was awesome where it was, I wish there was more leading up to it.

Fun, quick read with a HEA.

3 pieces of eye candy

Riley Long is an author of gay romances novels spanning many genres from contemporary to paranormal. They live a quiet life in Virginia, with their husband, son, and two very silly pit bulls.

They spend their evenings writing, reading, and watching bad television (or not so bad television).

For fun, Riley participates in NaNoWriMo, GISH, and reads with her book club, the BAMFs.

They like things with silly acronyms.

Riley can tell you two different stories about getting covered in dairy products for a hug.

Connect with Riley:
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You Can Do Magic: Carnival of Mysteries by RL Merrill: Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

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From the author of Foreword Indies Finalist Summer of Hush and BookLife Prize Quarterfinalist Brains and Brawn comes a new installment in the series, a contemporary gay romance with a side of time travel and magic.

Musical prodigy Kallos Alexandrou has played his calliope for countless visitors at Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, but his one-year residency has come to an end. Scars from a terrible tragedy in his past are the only explanation he has for his loss of speech and memory, but it’s time to move on, so when a music festival sets up next to the carnival, Mr. Ame sends him off with identification, a bottomless billfold, and a set of new clothes. Outside the carnival’s perimeter, Kal finds himself in an unfamiliar world surrounded by strange instruments and vibrant people like nothing he’s ever seen.

Ryan Wells is the troubled and celebrated lead singer of the metal band Backdrop Silhouette. He’s brought more than his share of baggage on the last cross-country Warped Tour, including harsh restrictions placed on him by his parole officer and the band’s label, but it’s the treatment from his bandmates that have him feeling unsettled. After a tough morning, he spots a strange young man playing carnival music on a keyboard backstage, and the sound takes him back to a particularly vulnerable time in his youth. Intrigued, Ryan asks the young man’s name, but he flees only to appear later as a replacement stagehand for the tour.

An invitation from the band Hush to ride on their bus gives Ryan and Kal a welcome distraction. They find the camaraderie and support they’ve both been craving…as well as a little magic and a fresh new romance. But personal secrets and the music business make relationships difficult to maintain, and when the tour ends, Ryan and Kal will have to make a choice: move forward together on an uncertain path, or let fear keep them from trusting that sometimes you really can have everything you desire.

You Can Do Magic is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains a Depression-era calliaphone, a Ouija board with a purpose, and tour bus hijinks that will warm your heart and make you gigglesnort. Reading Summer of Hush and Brains and Brawn before this book will give you the full Warped Tour experience, but You Can Do Magic can be read as a standalone as well as the other books in the shared universe. Recommended 18+

Title: You Can Do Magic
Authors: R.L. Merrill
Length: 60+k
Series: Summer of Hush/Carnival of Mysteries Shared Universe. Summer of Hush #3
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

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Despite Krish and Silas insisting I go with them to the carnival tonight, I’d convinced myself I would stay in, maybe write, maybe lay in my bunk and stare at the ceiling for many hours. I had this hollow feeling that, in the past, I would have filled with alcohol until I either passed out or found someone to fuck. Now that I’d made a promise, a commitment, that I wouldn’t partake of mind-altering substances, music was the only thing that kept me from drowning.

I’d had it out with Parker before the rest of the guys left to go to a bar in Nashville and hear some local music.

“I know the guys are annoying, but Ryan, you gotta get your priorities straight, man. If you can’t get along with them in the long run? Maybe we need to think about making some changes.”

What he meant was, changes that involved my future. Oscar and TJ had been embraced by the fans and were favorites at our signings, and they might accept me being out of the band by now. There had been a vocal minority who’d said I shouldn’t be allowed back after my prison stint. But the majority had welcomed me. I’d received letters from other ex-cons and even folks still locked up that thanked me for showing them there was life after prison. That meant more to me than being worried about Parker’s veiled threats.

“It’s carnival time, dude.” Silas hopped up the steps of the bus toward me and stuck out his hand. I grabbed it and pulled him into a bro hug, holding on a little longer than normal. He didn’t know it, but he’d just saved me from yet another downward spiral. He’d done it once before, the night he’d sang “Angel’s Son” with me. I’d been ready to say fuck it that night and go out looking for booze, but he’d agreed to my plan, agreed to help me finish the album I’d written with Gavin. Silas’s friendship was one of the only positive things keeping me going right now. I should tell him, but he probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“Shit. We’re doing this. Okay. Let me grab my wallet.”

I took a minute inside the bus to brush my too-long hair out of my face. It was scraggly at the ends. I barely looked presentable anymore. I grabbed a ball cap someone had given us from a canned water company called Liquid Death. “Murder Your Thirst” it said. So cheeky. I shoved it on backward and put on some lip balm, then turned back to Silas. He was bouncing his knees and looking up at the white board we had hung up on the wall for notes to each other. At this time, we had our schedule for the next five days, and then there were a couple of vulgar drawings.

“I can see you want to add something.”

Silas grinned at me and picked up the marker. He hummed as he drew pictures of TJ and Oscar, and then drew a giant dick ejaculating on them. He popped the pen cap back on and turned to face me. His shit-eating smile made me laugh for probably the first time since…well, since I’d met Kal.

“I mean, it’s not going to win me any awards, but you can tell it’s those two, can’t you?”

I sighed and gestured for him to exit the bus. “Yes, you can tell. I’ll probably hear about it later.”

He stopped and pushed past me. “Then let me leave my name. I don’t want them thinking it’s anyone other than me.”

He signed the drawing Love, Silas, July 2018.

“There! Perfect. I always take credit for my shenanigans.”

“Fucking Franklin. All right. Let’s go. You get Los to agree to come? He seemed leery about hanging out with some colorful folks tonight.”

“Nah, he’s staying behind, but we brought someone else.”

I followed him down the steps, watching as I went because I’d already stumbled twice getting off the damn bus. The steps were really funky. When I finally looked up, there was Kal.

He held up a hand and waved hesitantly.

I wanted to hug him even tighter than I’d hugged Silas. I couldn’t believe how happy I was to see him. After I’d walked away from him earlier, I’d known it was the right thing to do, and yet it took all of my strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I wanted him near me. I wanted something good in my life.

Knowing full well I was an asshole for being happy, I grinned at him. “You survived your first day, huh?”

Silas put his arm around Kal and beamed. “He sure did, and if he survives the rest of the tour, I think we might poach him. Theo is going back to school and wants to be close to Merch Girl Mischa, so we’ve got an opening for a tech, and since we’re headed to Europe, we could really use someone good.”

Silas patted him once more and let go. Kal watched him with a shocked expression. I wondered what he thought about all that.

“I suppose it also matters whether Kal wants to remain with you heathens.”

Silas looked at me like I’d just suggested someone might actually be immune to his charms. “What do you mean? What could be better than touring with us?” His confusion quickly morphed into laughter. “You’re right. Kal, I won’t be offended if you think me and my band of messy men are too much of a mess for you. So, do you have other plans? Headed home after Warped? What do you think?”

Kal opened his mouth and then shut it, his cheeks flushing. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts—

Lord, whoever’d dressed him deserved my gratitude. His legs were paler than his arms, but they were sculpted like a statue I’d once admired in a museum, I forget which one. Long and lightly dusted with golden hairs that caught the fading light of the sunset.

My silence must have been noted by Krish. He cleared his throat. “We gave him some of the sample clothes from Roxanne’s brand. It’s so hot out—”

“Hot. Yes. Looks good.”

It was clear I was ogling him, and though these guys were used to my quirks, it was an awkward moment. I’d drawn Silas once. He wasn’t a good model, as he fidgeted and talked the whole time. I knew there were rumors about what happened at my drawing sessions. Nothing had happened with Silas. Couldn’t say that for all of my models.

“Right, well. Shall we?” Silas gave me a look like down, boy. “I keep smelling that damned cotton candy and my sweet tooth is begging me for some.”

I stood next to Kal and looked up at him. I liked the way he met my gaze, unafraid, unashamed, as if he were accepting my challenge, or challenging me. This back and forth had me fired up.

“We shall.”

This book sounded interesting to me. And it’s a stand alone that is set in the same world as 12 other books. But I think I missed the point by not reading at least the first of the others.

After a year in a magical carnival, Kal rejoins the world. He was in the magical world because something bad happened to him. And although we find out WHAT happened, it still doesn’t explain why he was in the carnival.

He meets Ryan, a musician in a band on the Warped tour. Ryan is also a mess- for several reasons. We get an explanation of them all but it didn’t feel complete.

I just felt like there was no real cohesion to the story. Kal is seemingly unsurprised at everything in the world even though a lot has changed since he was last in it. I know he saw things while working in the carnival but definitely not everything.

And everyone seems to crap on Ryan even though he is trying to make amends. He even goes out of his comfort zone so the band doesn’t lose money and they STILL treat him like crap.

I think I would understand Ryan and all of the different things going on with the bands if I had read those books by the author.

If you are a fan of this author and had read previous books with a lot of these characters, I think you will like this book more than I did. But there were too many loose ends that didn’t get tied for me.

3 pieces of eye candy

Whether she’s writing swoon-worthy contemporary romance featuring quirky, queer, and relatable characters or diving deep into the supernatural to give readers a shiver, R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after closing the book. Ro writes inclusive romance for the Happily Ever After collective, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and pens horror-inspired tales and music reviews for HorrorAddicts.net. A mom, wife, daughter, and former educator, you can find her rocking out in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…

Connect with R.L.:
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Josh’s Jackpot: An MMM Age Play Romance (Littles & Lace Book 6) by Anna Sparrows: RB, Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

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.                                        .

A Daddy, a dom, and a Little walk into The Grove. What could go wrong…or right?

Detective Josh Walker has been walking a tightrope, suspended between his deepest desires and what he feels people expect from him. Add an embarrassing condition and a punishing job, and it’s a recipe for disaster. After all, he’s convinced he will only ever be accepted for bratty scene play, and no Daddy will ever want him as a forever Little.

Emmett Reid has been secretly crushing on his boss’s younger brother. With twenty odd years between himself and Josh, he knows it’s a pipe dream. At least, that’s what he thinks until a night at The Grove, the city’s premier BDSM club, brings him up close and personal with Josh…and throws in a wild card in the form of one smoking hot -if kind of short- blonde dom. Then, suddenly, he can’t get either man out of his head.

Meanwhile, Max Dalton’s been telling himself that he messed up with Josh six years ago and he isn’t going to repeat those mistakes. Besides, he’s a dom, not a Daddy. How could that even work? But when he finds himself playing co-Daddy with Emmett -smoking hot counsellor extraordinaire- Reid for a night, a whole world of possibilities open up before his eyes.

Will Josh believe that he deserves not only one Daddy, but two? How on earth are they going to manage a three-way friends-to-lovers relationship anyway? And, worse, what is Charlie -Josh’s brother, Max’s former partner, and Emmett’s boss- going to say??

Title: Josh’s Jackpot
Authors: Anna Sparrows
Length: 75k
Series: Littles & Lace, Book 6
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM, Poly, Kink, Age Play, MMM.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

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Check Out the Series Here

Josh nods slowly, considering my suggestion. “I like rewards,” he admits shyly. There’s more lip biting before he says, “I do like to be a brat sometimes, though. There’s a reason I have that reputation.”

“I’m more than happy for you to explore brat play with me,” I tell him. Then I tilt my head, gesturing towards Max, and smirk. “But I think your other Daddy will have fun punishing naughty behavior. I think he might be more creative than me in that regard.” At least, as a dom, I hope he is.

Josh squeaks excitedly, then his gaze seems to go a little distant when he repeats ‘other Daddy’ with blatant awe.

Max chuckles a little and gives my hand a tug until I look at him and we share a fond glance at Josh’s expense. Then I sober a little and ask, “And while we’re on the topic of punishments, what do you want from us in order to still indulge your dom side?”

That gets Josh’s attention quickly. Max doesn’t rush to answer, though. He’s quiet and contemplative, and I appreciate that he’s actually giving the matter real thought. When he finally starts to talk, he surprises me with just how brutally honest he is.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “We’re going to have to revisit it as it comes up. I’ve always been pretty flexible with the kink. I don’t have a preference for any particular D/s practices. I dabble in it all, depending on what my subs need. So…maybe punishing Josh’s bratty behavior will be enough? But, I will say, the idea of tying you up, Emmett, and having you spread out for me is incredibly appealing.”

Immediately, I can picture it in my head and it’s not at all a turn off. I swallow. “Like shibari? Or…regular bondage?”

His eyes take on that hungry sheen from earlier. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Josh moans.

Max chuckles. “You think anything’s hot as long as people are naked.”

I’ve been writing* for as long as I can remember. I started with silly short stories as a kid, moved on to fanfiction in my teens (and still write it now), and am also a published MF romance author under a second pen name.

I have been an avid reader of MM romance my whole life. (Ask me about my beginnings with Buffy fanfic, haha.) I wrote a sweet and kinky MM romance novel in 2021 and the reader response changed my life. From there, I knew I had found my niche.

And thus Anna Sparrows was born.

*All of my writing is 100% my own. No part of it is generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) software of any kind. Yes, that means that it’s sometimes flawed, but I’m okay with that.

Connect with Anna:
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We Could Do This Forever by Emerson Beckett: Blog Tour, Exclusive Book Excerpt, and Giveaway

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.                             .

Preston James did things to me. Things that had me wanting more of him and his dirty mouth, even though I knew better. Things that made my heart race. Things that made me come to realize there was more to my boss’s best friend than met the eye.

Nick Reed
As one of the bartenders at Alejandro’s Bar, I’ve seen it all. I’ve even watched my friends, Christian and Cooper, both find the loves of their life. Six years after breaking up with my college boyfriend, I’m convinced that’s not the life I’m supposed to have until forty-five-year-old Preston James makes me the target of his relentless sexy stares and his straight-forward, dirty propositions.

Maybe being the object of his desire wouldn’t be so bad.

Preston James
The first time I laid eyes on Nicholas Reed, I knew I had to have him. There was something about my best friend’s bartender that captivated me. And I always got my way. But this twenty-eight-year-old grad student has me jumping through all kinds of hoops to get his attention. There’s nothing I won’t do to prove to him I’m exactly what he needs. I’m relentless like that and I won’t stop until he’s mine.

We Could Do This Forever is the first book in the We Could Do This Duet and is an MM Bisexual Romance. Additional tropes: Age Gap; Mutual Pining; Boss’s Best Friend; Secretly Wealthy; Humor.

Title: We Could Do This Forever
Authors: Emerson Beckett
Length: 88k
Series: We Could Do This Duet, Book 1
Genre: Contemporary

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

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Once the door had closed behind us, I turned and caged Nick up against it, my body blanketing his.

My hands went to his face, and Nick leaned into my touch as I skated them through his soft hair to cup his cheeks. His arms wound their way around me to pull me closer.

“I don’t know how much longer I can restrain myself from kissing you.”

“Then don’t,” he whispered, inching closer.

When our lips met for the first time, the slow sensual glide of our tongues, tasting and devouring each other, became our world as everything else fell away. We could have been in the middle of the street and we wouldn’t have cared.

Releasing a year’s worth of sexual tension made me yearn for more, but I pulled back and placed an adoring kiss on his forehead and on each cheek. I never wanted to take my hands off him.

“Now I really wish I hadn’t waited so long to do that.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop.”

I laughed and looked at him. “What if I can’t stop?”

“I hope you don’t.”

One kiss wasn’t enough when I’d waited so long. I leaned back in with a sensual swipe of my tongue over his lips before diving in for another kiss to explore his beautiful mouth, beginning the journey to learn what he liked and what turned him on. Nick’s moans and whimpers were a road map to pleasuring him.

Breaking the kiss, I laid my forehead against his and swiped my thumbs along his stubble. “For the record, I knew I was right.”

Nick chuckled as he inhaled a shuddered breath. “About what?”

“That we were going to be good together.”

“It’s been less than five minutes. What makes you so sure?”

I looked into his light blue eyes that swirled with the same lust I was feeling. “You’ve had my full attention since the first time I met you. You’re been camped out up here in my brain, and every time you looked at me or told me you didn’t like my shirt, it just threw another log on the fire. And now that I’ve kissed you, it’s like the world is on fire.”

Nick grinned as I turned his head to the left and kissed down his neck. “And I’m sure because of the way you hold on to me like you’re afraid I’ll stop,” I whispered into his ear. I placed more open-mouthed kisses along his neck and down to his shoulder.

Nick was lost in my sensual treatment as he shivered and moaned. When his hips bucked and his cock brushed mine, I almost lost it.

I dug down for the control to stop and pulled back. I watched his tongue snake out again to lick away the remanents of our kiss. And there he went again, throwing another log on my fire. We had to get out of the alley.

“Let’s go, Nicholas,” I whispered, running my hands down his arms to take his hands. I pulled him from the door. “We have work to do.”

Emerson Beckett is an avid sports fan and lover of M/M romance books. She loves her new career as an author of gay romance. It’s even more fulfilling for her when she can combine the two.

Emerson is the co-author of The Package Deal Series, which includes The Quarterback Keeper, Pass Interference, Unnecessary Roughness, Two-Point Conversion, Illegal Motion, Ineligible Receiver, and Roughing the Kicker.

Besides being a retired teacher and author, Emerson lives in North Carolina and has been married to the same man for 33 years. She is a mother of three, one of whom is proudly part of the LGBTQ Community and completely responsible for her addiction to MM Romance. Even though the kids no longer live at home, they filled the empty nest with an Australian Shepherd, three cats, and a cute bunny rabbit.


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Treading Water by Alex Winters: Release Blitz with Exclusive Excerpt

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.                                        .

Actor Tucker Crawford is having the worst summer ever. Thanks to a viral video of him trying to swim, he’s the laughingstock of Hollywood and his role in a hit TV series is in jeopardy. The only bright spot is Tucker’s sexy new swim coach, Reed Oliver, but even that has its problems—because Tucker is deep in the closet and has never been with a guy.

Reed Oliver is having the best summer ever. He’s just scored a high-paying freelance gig teaching a Hollywood actor how to swim. The two of them have the run of a deserted summer camp, complete with an Olympic-size swimming pool. But when cocky playboy Reed meets shy, virgin Tucker, sparks fly and Reed’s walk-in-the-park coaching job becomes a minefield of temptation. Once they kiss for the first time, there’s no way to overcome their mutual passion and no looking back. But after two weeks of secluded intimacy, can they keep their romance alive in the real world?

Title: Treading Water
Authors: Alex Winters
Length: 310 pages
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary

Amazon – All Regions

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Reed squirmed where he stood, tan lines aglow atop the slipping-down waistband of his baggies. His skin was smooth and radiant, almost hairless. No, Tucker realized, he was hairless—smooth and slick as a baby’s butt. Tucker let his eyes covet Reed’s body from afar, admiring the place where his happy trail should be and finding none. The realization made him wonder if Reed was smooth everywhere else as well. All the way down, for instance. Hollywood, Tucker knew, was full of dudes who manscaped to various degrees. He hadn’t taken Reed for a pretty-boy spa-day salon type, but maybe he preferred the feel of nothing, nowhere, anywhere. Tucker couldn’t help but wonder what that might look like—smooth and clean and hairless. He scrubbed the thought away as quickly as it had come. The last thing he needed to be doing at that moment was picturing Reed’s smooth, slick junk.

Or at least, he tried to stop.

“I’m getting mixed messages here, Tuck.”

Tucker chuckled, glad for the return to normal, civilized above-the-waist conversation that didn’t necessarily involve manscaping and literal navel gazing.

He glanced up from Reed’s bare waistline and grinned. “Yeah, I guess I’m all messed up. Hate the Hollywood game but am kind of addicted now. Maybe this hiatus will actually be good for me, you know?”

Reed nodded as he sank down slowly beneath the surface of the crystal-blue water until only his head poked out. His big brown eyes, soulful and searching, made it clear he wanted Tucker to join him.

He licked his lips, torso still broiling in the late August sun, bare shoulders already reddening from an early burn. He sighed and sank down to join Reed. The water claimed his sweaty bare skin and forced a sudden involuntary smile from his lips.

His feet were still firmly on the shallow-end concrete, knees slightly bent, chest buoyant as he clung to the pool deck with one hand, just in case. He realized, in that moment, he had gone deeper than he’d intended to go and far quicker.

Reed gave him a satisfied grin and nodded at his bobbing form. “Look at you, half-submerged and everything. And on your very first day, no less.” His tone, as always, was part nurturing, part smartass. The sound was quickly becoming music to Tucker’s ears.

Alex Winters is the pseudonym of a busy restaurant manager whose curious young staff would love nothing more than to follow him around the dining room reading his steamiest, most romantic passages aloud! When not writing romantic holiday stories of various heat levels, he enjoys long walks with his wife, scary movies and smooth jazz. Visit him at www.awintersromance.com to see what stories are brewing up next!


Connect with Alex:
Website: www.awintersromance.com
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Time To Shine by Rachel Reid: New Release Review

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For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me” vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks.

Casey treats Landon like an old friend, even though they’ve only interacted briefly in the past. He’s endlessly charming and completely laid-back in a way that Landon absolutely can’t relate to. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.

As roommates, Casey refuses to be defeated by Landon’s one-word answers. As friends, Landon comes to notice a few things about Casey, like his wide, easy smile and sparkling green-blue eyes. Spending the holidays together only intensifies their bromance-turned-romance. But as the new year approaches, the countdown to the end of Landon’s time in Calgary is on.

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A hockey book, by Rachel Reid, without ILYA??? Gasp!

But a different team brings us new players, new characters, new chances at love. This time we are in Calgary with a farm team back up goalie temporarily replacing the regular back up goalie who was hurt. Landon is a VERY quiet guy. Like, painfully quiet. And then Casey, a temporary teammate he met once before, latches onto him like a koala bear. Casey is the COMPLETE opposite of Landon. Loud, friendly, never stops moving and hates to be alone.

What comes next is two guys, each with their own issues and trauma, who are completely opposite from each other, trying not to fall in love. Because once the back up goalie is healthy, Landon will be sent back down.

So Casey OBVIOUSLY has ADHD and I can’t believe it isn’t mentioned. Like at all. You’d think his friends and teammates would even joke about it, as friends and teammates are wont to do. I found that odd. Add in the actual joking he gets about being “stupid”, I wonder if anyone has actually paid attention.

Moving on. Landon’s trauma is so much deeper. A fractured family that he emotionally and physically distanced himself from after his sister died. He doesn’t have any close connections. Is that because he is so withdrawn and quiet or is he so withdrawn and quiet because he doesn’t have any close connections? He isn’t that guy who obviously has walls up, if that makes sense. He is just pretty much accepted for being a quiet loner. Casey doesn’t accept it though.

I love how settled down Casey gets with Landon. Like he is his own personal Ritalin. He is so tender and sweet and loving with Landon. And while it takes Landon a bit to open up enough, it’s so worth it.

Landon and his family begin to heal as well. Parents admitting they were wrong, how novel. But so amazing.

So yes, another winner here from Rachel Reid. I can’t wait for more.

4.5 pieces of eye candy