I wasn’t a keeper. Guys just didn’t pick me, and after one too many threw me away, my heart couldn’t take it anymore. When I was traded to the Buffalo Warriors, I knew things wouldn’t be any different. Skate. Score goals. Work out. Repeat. That’s my life. I’m living the dream by playing professional hockey, and I have some amazing friends. I’m happy. Really, I am. Or at least I’m trying to be. Until the night I run into Luca.

I caught the attention of a savage beast. My fault–ish after I crashed into Crestwood hockey team's star defenseman on my way to class. In typical Eli Holmes fashion, instead of walking away after he threw my books across the hall, I stood up to Alexei Petrov. Even sat right next to him in class, letting him know exactly what I thought of his brutish behavior. Someone should’ve reminded me not to go around poking monsters. But I’m not one to cower. Until a heated encounter leads to a steamy kiss.

Sometimes I want to punch that smirk off Atlas McCallister's pretty face. He's cocky. A troublemaker. A pain. And, unfortunately, my stepbrother. We've been fire and kerosene since our parents got together, and to keep from exploding into fistfights, we've used challenges, dares, and bets to battle out our differences. Our past bets have been a little inappropriate—scandalous, even—but Atlas's latest bet has gone too far. Do I really believe if he loses, my straight stepbrother is gonna mess around with a guy? And not just any guy: me, his rival and nemesis?

When I left Birchbark angry and heartbroken, I vowed never to return. Fate had other plans. The father I hate had a stroke, so now I'm back in the Upper Peninsula to take care of him. The locals treat Dad like royalty, while Dad vacillates between open anger and flat-out ignoring me. Throw in my messy relationship with my brothers, and being in Birchbark becomes unbearable.

Fred Brennan's father was a brutal man, both professionally and personally. When the kingpin died, Fred welcomed it, but not the brutal role he was thrust into. As a doctor, he's devoted his life to helping people. The last thing he wants is to fill his father's shoes, but after three years, he's no closer to offloading his dad's title onto someone else. As a mafia boss, he's forced to deal with the elite assassin organization, Lex Talionis . . . bringing him face to face with the man who runs it.

Gideon York is one of the most famous queer men in the world, but since his very public sex scandal, he’s on the verge of being permanently cancelled. Up for three Grammys this year, he needs to get through his six-week European tour without further incident or bad press. That’s where I come in. Call me his security detail, bodyguard, babysitter, or handler—I’ve been hired to keep him within my line of sight and out of trouble until the award ceremony. Should be a cakewalk.

My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas. Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass. We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep. Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats. The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top. I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.

As the founder of Freedom Fighters, famed music composer, William Mayes, is often the first port of call when the FBI needs assistance with human trafficking victims. After receiving such a call one night, William abandons everything to catch the next flight home. Arriving at Manhattan Memorial, he finds a beautiful young man restrained to a gurney. His eyes are wild with fear, and blood stains his skin. No one has been successful in getting him to speak.

I'm stuck in an uptown lobby while my dreams of making it as a model in New York hang by a single thread. Meanwhile, Olivier Arnaud lives his best life as a useless socialite, flaunting his wealth, his looks, and his privilege. His gaze taunts, and his nightly, condescending smirks burrow deep beneath my skin where I simmer with bitterness and hate. The day he asks me to deliver his mail directly to his twelfth-floor penthouse, he makes it personal, and the thread snaps—violently. With my hand around his neck, I feel alive for the first time in months.

Being traded to the Seattle Vipers has left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, they’re my team, the team I’ve loved and supported since I was a kid, but on the other hand, he’s here. Him. Ant Decker. Infamous NHL bad boy. Right wing to my left. A man who’s made it his sole purpose in life to be better than me.

Falling for my girlfriend’s twin brother wasn’t what I had in mind when I hired him to be my son’s nanny. Working on my family’s cattle ranch, the hours are long, and sometimes unpredictable, so when my regular nanny quits, leaving me in a pinch, I have to think fast. In walks Ash Tudor. My opposite in almost every way. He’s cheerful and bubbly, has horrible taste in music, and does yoga in my yard almost every morning in the tightest shorts I’ve ever seen. Not that I’m looking.

I'm trapped in the middle of nowhere with the sexiest man I've ever seen... what could possibly go wrong? My family sent me here thinking it would help lift my mood. When I think about it now, I realise I didn’t give nearly enough thought to what it would be like, or what I’d be doing on a farm. If anything, I had a vague, nebulous notion that it would be like some sort of retreat. Boy, was I wrong. Far from relaxing, I now find myself tending to actual sheep. If you knew me at all, you’d know how preposterous that is.

If there’s one thing I don’t need upsetting my quiet and comfortable routine in the small town of Darling, Montana, it’s newcomer Ash Alcott crash landing on my family’s ranch like some sort of blonde angel. I don’t need his flirting. Or his smile. I don’t need the way he makes me question whether or not I’m truly happy being alone at forty. I certainly don’t need to be giving him riding lessons or appreciating the meals he cooks for the ranch.

This year is my last chance to take the Titans to victory. I cost us the cup last year, but I'm not making the same mistake again. And I'm determined to get drafted by the end of this season. The success I anticipate is built on three years of razor-sharp focus and hard-earned respect. Not to mention how much of my personal life I sacrificed for hockey. The Titans trust me to lead them and I won't betray that. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Until the former love of my life and current arch nemesis, Cameron Martinez, skates back into my life.

Welcome to Big Bend—my nightmare and my home, all in one. I don't fit in here. I don't fit in anywhere. I've made so many mistakes. Over and over. Two of those mistakes haunt me. One, being responsible for a friend losing his job and reputation in this town. And two, well, that one is even worse. I ruined so many lives with one stupid decision I barely even remember. And now, I'm going to pay for it.