Showing results by author "Saxon James" in All Categories

For the last three years, I've lived and breathed hockey with one goal: team captain. There's only one thing standing in my way. TJ Beckett. Beck is irresponsible and immature, and I've hated him since the moment we met freshman year. Yet the coaches see something in him I obviously can't, and they refuse to choose between us. The captain spot is going to a team vote. And the team thinks that what we need are a bunch of challenges to prove our worth.

"Look out for Zach, and don't hit on him." My brother's request sounds easy enough. Keep an eye out for his best friend on campus and keep my hands to myself. Easy. Even if Zach is a quintessential nerd, who I've always thought was cute, I don't have the time to think with my...stick. There's only one stick I should be focused on this year, and that's my hockey stick. My goal once I graduate is to get an NHL contract. The last thing I need is a distraction. On or off the ice. Only, keeping to the rules is harder than I thought it would be.

My best friend is uptight, gorgeous, the greatest person I know … and I might be a smidge in love with him. Just a small amount. Barely worth the mention. Which is a stupid choice on my part when the guy is straight. Starting a landscaping company with him was the perfect mix of doing what I love and an excuse to spend time with him, only it hasn’t completely taken off yet and now he’s telling me he’s lonely.

It turns out making out with my best friend in high school could be considered gay. Who knew? Apparently, everyone but me. Now that it's been pointed out, I can't help reliving it in my head. Repeatedly. Good-bye Denial Town, hello Confusionville. When my path leads me down the gay dating app route, I don't expect to meet anyone I like, but then I meet him. He can't be more opposite than me. He's smart, he hates hockey, and he identifies as demi - something I've never heard of. Yet I can't deny something's there.

Hockey, studying, and school runs. That's my life now. After a tragic accident that took our parents' lives, it's up to me and my big brother to take care of our five younger siblings. In between burning their meals and keeping them from killing each other, I'm supposed to get a college degree. If I don't get my grades up, I'm in danger of losing the one thing that makes me happy: my spot on the hockey team.

You know what’s the worst feeling in the world? Being in love with someone since you were twelve years old, knowing they only see you as a little brother type. Not even becoming an NHL star has made him realize I’m all grown up now. All of that changes when I ask my brother’s best friend to ref a charity match and we spend an entire week in each other’s pocket. Being close to him is torture, but for the first time since my adolescent crush started, I begin to feel hope.

The worst part of being in love with my straight best friend is the fact he’s too oblivious to see it. Years of pining have left me exhausted, and I need a break from Dex. I need space to get over my feelings. But when his relationship falls apart and he turns to me for comfort, I cave immediately. If there’s one thing I hate more than being hurt, it’s seeing Dex struggle. I can’t leave him in a time of need, even if my friends say it’s my biggest downfall. They say Dexter Mitchale is my weakness, but if that’s true, I don’t want to be strong.

Being invited to my cousin’s wedding really shouldn’t be a big deal except, oh yeah, I haven't seen my family for a decade. My parents turned their backs on me, and I’ve done everything since to become successful and show them what they've lost. Only it’s kinda hard to be a success when you’re a walking trainwreck.

The fall from NHL superstar to domestic disaster was swift and painful. When I became the legal guardian of my five younger siblings, I had no idea what I was doing. One year later, I'm still lost. Coaching CU's hockey team might be the only thing I'm excelling at. But when our star forward is failing math, I have to do what it takes to keep him on the team. Even if it's going head-to-head with Jasper Eckstein. One minute I'm confronting the notorious hockey-hating professor, and the next I'm agreeing to be his date to a twenty-year high school reunion. I don't know how that happened.

It started in high school. We grew apart. Bit by bit, then all at once. The friend who was my ride or die suddenly wanted nothing to do with me. Now Cam's back from college, living in the house next door, and pulling stupid pranks just to annoy me. Between my intense family and my failing relationship, I'm struggling enough without his antics. But Cam won't go away. And I'm not so sure I want him to.

When I show up to surprise my boyfriend in a barely-there festive outfit, I’m expecting him to be alone. Not hosting family. His fiancé’s family. Down one boyfriend and up a lot of embarrassment, I flee with my tail between my legs. The broken heart will fade. My humiliation, not so much, but my saving grace is the fact that I never have to see either of them ever, ever again. Until I walk into work and come face to face with my new boss.

Moving to Seattle is supposed to be all about getting a fresh start and leaving the bitter man I was becoming behind. I have new roommates–quirky, sometimes strange, roommates–a nosy next-door neighbor, and a grumpy kitty for company, but even surrounded by people, I still don’t feel like I belong. Plus, it turns out the men in Seattle are exactly the same as the ones I left behind, and my string of romantic disconnections continues.

The idea of moving away from Seattle was a joke at first. I have too many failed relationships here. Too much baggage. So when I find myself signing with Nashville and leaving everything behind, I’m hopeful a new start will cure me of my attachment problems. I fall fast and hard, and I’m quickly realizing it’s not so easy to escape my emotional damage. That follows no matter where I go.

My loser high school friend never deserved him anyway. If I’d had the chance, I would have locked Remy down years ago. Only, when the party leads to a drunken kiss, going on their honeymoon, and sharing their marital bed, I have to say, I’m not entirely sad that their wedding went up in flames.

At Rho Kappa Tau, I’m a legacy. It’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve always been responsible, never had that rebellious need to rock the boat - and I like it that way. But after a party at Sigma - the jock frat - I meet Chad Doomsen, and for the first time in my life, I want to step outside my square. Our houses have always had a rivalry, but some of the guys seem to hate Chad specifically, and I don’t know why. He’s surprisingly sweet and kind. I need to stay away. A relationship with Chad would be betraying the very legacy that brought me here. But I can’t help myself.

Moms are good at one thing: the guilt trip. It’s the only reason I’m at the funeral of a man I’ve never had anything to do with. I’ll show up, make her happy, and get out. At least that’s what I think until I learn daddy dearest has left me a crap load of money and the obligation to learn about the family business. All from his eldest son who looks nothing like the rest of us.

When it comes to regrets, I have none. My life is perfect. I own a bar, work hard, party harder, and smother my niblings in all the love they deserve. I don’t need to settle down, as much as my sister might want me to. But then, Joey Manning walks into my office and leaves me all but begging to give him a job, and wanting to give him so much more.

When it comes to hockey, I'm all about the game. I've worked for years to be one of the best in the league, and l've done it without splashing my orientation all over the tabloids. My hockey image is one I've carefully cultivated, and after one night with Ezra Palaszczuk, I risk it all. He's cocky, obnoxious, and has an ego bigger than Massachusetts. And okay, maybe he's the sexiest man I've ever known. We'll never get along. Not when we sleep together. Not even when my possessive streak awakens. That doesn't stop us from falling into bed together over and over again.

After a little mishap in an alleyway with CCTV, my public image needs fixing. Oops? It might have been a stunt to get the attention of Lane Pierce, San Jose’s new PR manager, but I didn’t realize what the consequences would be when I did it. I’ve got Lane’s sole focus now in all the wrong ways.

Being president of a frat house means everything is on my shoulders. Idiot brothers, epic pranks, a list of organizational duties long enough to make my eyes bleed. None of it fazes me. But senior year is almost over, and I’m ready to take a step back.