Thursday, November 5, 2026

Release Blitz: Like A. Villain by Willow Dixon

Cover of Like a Villain by Willow Dixon, a jock-nerd, bi-awakening dark MM college romance.
Release Blitz
LIKE A VILLAIN
by Willow Dixon
Series: Silvercrest U #6
Release Date: November 5, 2026
Genre: MM Dark College Romance Standalone
Tropes: Frat brothers to lovers, bi awakening, opposites attract, jock x hacker, blackmail, implied dubcon/implied coercion, mirrors, cameras and recordings, voyeurism, exhibitionism (between MCs, not in front of other people), marking, dirty talk, d/s vibes, “touch him and die”, morally ambiguous heroes, not-so-secret societies, first times/virgin MC
Cover Design: Lori Jackson Design
Photography: Michelle Lancaster
Synopsis

Hazen

Just when I think my life can’t get any crazier, I wake up after a night of partying and find out that the person I hooked up isn’t just one of my frat brothers; he’s also our hacker, and my direct subordinate.

I might not remember what happened that night, but Liam does, and I have video proof of everything that went down. After using my proof to blackmail him into hooking up again, I find out that he’s into the same stuff I am, and the more we hook up, the more I crave him.

Liam is the opposite of what I usually go for, but there’s something about his shyness and quiet nature that draws me in. I’ve never wanted to mess around with a guy before, and what starts as a game turns into something real, and my amusement becomes obsession.

Then I find out that someone has been targeting him, and I vow to do everything in my power to keep him safe. Liam is mine, and I will burn the world down to protect him.

If someone wants him, then they’ll have to go through me, first.

OMG! This book was amazing. I absolutely love this series, and like the others, I could not put this one down. We get another couple and some cameos from previous books. Great characters, great story line, and the plot thickens. It is def a must read for me. 5 stars. 


Teaser for Like a Villain by Willow Dixon, a jock-nerd, frat-brothers-to-lovers dark MM college romance. A man's bare torso in black and white. Quote: "I've had a thing for Hazen since we met back in freshman year, and I've spent the past three years trying to get over my crush on him while simultaneously pretending I don't think he's the hottest human to ever walk the planet."
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Teaser for Like a Villain by Willow Dixon, a touch-him-and-die dark MM college romance. A shirtless man in an open white shirt and jeans. Quote: "Once someone is mine, they're always going to be mine. And I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt him. Whoever's behind these attacks on Liam will pay, and I don't care if I have to burn the entire school—and the world—down to find them."
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About the Author

What can I say about myself? It’s kind of like being the new kid in school and being asked to tell everyone a bit about yourself. Anyone else forget everything they’ve ever liked, thought of, and even their name in those moments?

A few facts about me; I’m a veteran, I’m Canadian, and I love books! I’ve been writing my own stories since I was eight and wrote my first novel at sixteen. I’m the first to admit those attempts weren’t my best work, but they started me on a journey of creating stories that has led me to fulfilling my dream of becoming an author. I’ve written and published in several genres under different names, but MM is by far my favorite, and I’m so happy to be able to share my stories with people today.

I currently live on Canada’s east coast with my kiddo and my cats. I have a shoe collecting addiction, and I enjoy taking long walks, discussions with friends, and reading anything and everything I can get my hands on.

Connect with Willow Dixon

Website: https://www.willowdixon.com/

Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3hQpa68

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3vjfWmg

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3WGqR5z

Reader Group: https://bit.ly/3FZeg66

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Gi2C7U

TikTok: https://bit.ly/3WEX7p0

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3YPBq7H

BookBub: https://bit.ly/3I3LvI9

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Release Blitz: The Devil Wears Nada by Mika Lane

Title: The Devil Wears Nada
Author: Mika Lane
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Trope: Steamy Why Choose Romance
Release Date: November 5, 2026
They pay a filthy fortune and think that makes them the boss of me. Bless them.

By day I'm Agnes, the receptionist three of the richest men in the city walk past like I'm a houseplant. I pour their coffee. I book their jets. I have made an art form out of being nobody, and honey, it pays the bills.

Barely.

So by night I'm Diablo: red lipstick, fake name, a camera that never shows my face, and three obscenely wealthy "whales" who pay a filthy fortune to do exactly what I tell them. Beg when I say beg. Wait when I say wait. Come back tomorrow and pay me again.

Here's my favorite part, the little secret that gets me through every beige, invisible workday: those three big spenders bankrolling my whole operation? They're my bosses. The cocky one. The quiet one. The one with manners. Every night I bring three masters of the universe to their knees, and they have no idea the woman running them is the girl at their front desk.

I know exactly who they are. They don't have the faintest clue who I am.

I'm the one holding all the cards.

…Right?
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
Read in Kindle+
I’m USA TODAY bestselling contemporary romance author Mika Lane, and am all about bringing you sexy, sassy stories with imperfect heroines and the bad-a*s dudes they bring to their knees. And I have a special love for romance with multiple guys because why should we have to settle for just one hunky man?

Please join my Insider Group and be the first to hear about giveaways, sales, pre-orders, ARCs, and most importantly, a free sexy short story: https://mikalane.com/join-mailing-list

Writing has been a passion of mine since, well, forever (my first book was The Day I Ate the Milkyway, a true fourth-grade masterpiece). These days, steamy romance, both dark and funny, gives purpose to my days and nights as I create worlds and characters who defy the imagination. I live in magical Northern California with my own handsome alpha dude, sometimes known as Mr. Mika Lane, and two devilish cats named Chuck and Murray. These three males also defy my imagination from time to time.

A lover of shiny things, I've been known to try new recipes on unsuspecting friends, find hiding places so I can read undisturbed, and spend my last dollar on a plane ticket somewhere.

I'll always promise you a hot, sexy romp and some version of a modern-day happily ever after.

I LOVE to hear from readers when I'm not dreaming up naughty tales to share. Join my Insider Group so we can get to know each other better https://mikalane.com/subscribe, or contact me here: https://mikalane.com/contact.

Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Release Blitz: My Neighbor, The Assassin by Michelle Heard

MY NEIGHBOR, THE ASSASSIN BY MICHELLE HEARD 
Release date: November 3rd
Genre / Tropes: God Tier ANGST!!! / MMC hates being touched / Grumpy Hero / MMC stalks MFC / He only smiles for her / Asocial MMC vs Broken MFC / MMC falls first & saves MFC / MMC keeps Dark Secret from MFC / Groveling / Action / OTT Possessive & Protective Hero

MY NEIGHBOR, THE ASSASSIN by Michelle Heard is NOW LIVE!
Make sure to grab this all-new COMPLETE STANDALONE, action packed mafia romance TODAY! NOW AVAILABLE! 
COMPLETE STANDALONE! https://geni.us/p2dlB2K
From USA Today bestselling author Michelle Heard comes a scorching yet deadly romance about a waitress who falls for a mysterious coworker—only to discover his lethal past.

I thought Rowan was just the quiet bartender who watched me too closely and made me feel things I shouldn’t.
Then his past catches up to him, and I’m in for a rude awakening.
One minute I’m living my normal life, and the next, I’m on a trip across the country with a man trained to kill without hesitation.
A retired assassin. Possessive, violent, and deadly enough to leave a trail of bodies behind us.
Every mile between us and the men hunting him drags me deeper into Rowan’s terrifying world, where violence means survival and bloodshed comes way too easy.
I keep looking for redeeming qualities in him but quickly realize there are none, and there’s no escaping a man like Rowan Teller.
Not even if I wanted to.
Michelle Heard is a Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves creating stories her readers can get lost in. She resides in South Africa with her son where she's always planning her next book to write, and trip to take.

Friday, October 30, 2026

Release Blitz: The Heart's Retreat by Shannon Blair

Title: The Heart's Retreat
Series: Hearts’ Domain, Book One
Author: Shannon Blair
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 10/06/2026
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 395
Genre: Fantasy, voyeurism, fantasy, elves, gods, werewolves, wolves, menage, polyamory, reconciliation, trans, pansexual, demisexual, neurodivergent, romantasy, magic

Centuries ago, Aspen, the woodlands’ divine Heart Tree, disappeared, twisting His lands into a corrupted shadow of their former glory and sending rage-filled werewolves to hunt His elven children. Now His punishment has passed beyond the woodlands’ borders. If its spread cannot be stopped, all the world will suffer.

Gar has served his native swamplands as a soldier for almost half his life. Chosen to lead one last attempt to locate Aspen, he fears the dangers lurking in the woodlands’ corrupted depths will claim his life—and those of the soldiers under his command. But abandoning the mission means watching an entire forest burn. Bolstered by his faith in the swamplands’ divine Heart, Cypress, his conscience demands he carry on.

Sage, a magically gifted healer charged with holding Aspen’s corruption at bay from his village, is no stranger to the horrors of his Heart. Neither is his estranged husband, Thorn. A seasoned hunter with the uncanny ability to sense werewolves before they attack, Thorn puts his skills to the test and his life on the line to support the search for Aspen. Sage, choosing love over loyalty to his village, lends his strength as a latecomer to the expedition, lighting the way when hope seems lost. Reunited after a separation stemming from the loss of their stillborn daughter, their shared journey to save their homeland just might lead to reconciliation—if death doesn’t part them first.

As they traverse the corrupted forest’s treacherous terrain, Sage and Thorn forge a bond with Gar that transcends simple friendship. Seeking solace from their troubled pasts and uncertain futures, their boundaries break down and the dividing lines between them blur. But with bloodthirsty werewolves watching every move, their budding romance threatens to become a fatal distraction.
The Heart’s Retreat
Shannon Blair © 2026
All Rights Reserved

Commander Gar stood on the barge’s deck, leaning against the railing as they sailed into the river port of Taproot, capital city of Cypress’s Domain. If he had to guess, he’d put the hour well past midnight, but the docks and their neighboring fish market bustled with activity. Weathered lantern posts standing along the dock’s edge illuminated the port and its workers. Dockhands—mostly his fellow swamp elves, with thick, water-repellent hair in shades of bright teal to dark green and skin tones ranging from light bronze to burnt umber—rushed back and forth, overseeing the departures and arrivals of fishing boats, trading vessels, and now one very delayed passenger barge.

The barge had gotten stuck on a sandbar somewhere upstream and only fallen further behind schedule with each passing stop. The early morning embarkation Gar and his unit had planned had been pushed back to late afternoon—frustrating for everyone involved, but at least they hadn’t been stuck aboard as long as some of the other passengers. Under normal circumstances, the delay would’ve been a minor inconvenience, but a soldier under Gar’s command had gotten their leg crushed in the jaws of a magically mutated alligator and needed specialized healing soon, or they risked losing the limb.

Gar leaned farther over the railing as the barge pulled into its berth, dockhands and crew working in tandem to make the landing as gentle as possible. Despite the late hour, a small crowd had begun to gather on the dock—friends and family waiting to greet their loved ones. He scanned the faces and clothes of those gathered, searching for someone with medical or military training among the civilians. Normally, no one waited for Gar, but he’d sent a messenger bird ahead at the first sign of delay—technically an unauthorized use of military funds, but he’d foot the bill himself if his superiors objected—so someone should be there to meet him.


Beside him, his second-in-command, Bluegill, sighed. “We better not have beaten the fucking bird here.” Nearly a head shorter than Gar, she stood at her full height to survey the crowd, turquoise eyes narrowed in an appraising squint. “Mallow’s waited long enough. If we’re expected to carry them all the way through the city—”

“Give it time, Blue. Gangway’s not even down yet.” Gar straightened and stretched, fighting back a yawn. Just because it wasn’t obvious at a glance didn’t mean no one was there for them. And worst-case scenario, he and his unit could carry Mallow. It would simply be awkward and uncomfortable.

Bluegill let out a discontented hum, impatiently running her umber fingers through her chin-length teal hair. But she didn’t argue. Under the complaints and sharp remarks, she cared for the rest of Gar’s unit as deeply as he did. Even non-lethal casualties hit her hard. He could let her have this one.

As the gangway dropped into place, a masculine elf wearing the crisp, white linens of a temple acolyte—not a priest, his eyes and hands were elven—pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Before the barge’s passengers could begin to disembark, he crossed onto the deck, offering a polite but disinterested nod to those he passed. His distracted gaze sharpened when it landed on Gar and Bluegill. Gar wondered why they’d caught his attention. They stood out among the other passengers in their long-sleeved field uniforms and boiled leather armor, but that couldn’t be the only reason.

“Commander Gar?” The acolyte called out, eyes flickering between Gar and Bluegill.

Gar raised a hand. “Over here.” He understood the acolyte’s confusion. Cypress’s Domain was a matriarchy; outside the military, it was rare to see a man in a position of authority. In any other career, Gar would be Bluegill’s subordinate.

The acolyte responded with a grateful nod and continued weaving through the crowd toward Gar.

While he waited, Gar exchanged a confused glance with Bluegill, trying to figure out why a temple acolyte, of all people, had come here looking for him. The messenger bird must have arrived ahead of the barge, or no one would’ve known to expect him, but he didn’t understand how military correspondence could’ve ended up at a temple. Maybe someone had misread his message and thought he needed funeral services instead of a healer?

The acolyte came to an abrupt stop a few paces away from Gar, the corners of his mouth slowly turning downward as he looked Gar over. “Hardly presentable, but it’ll have to do,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, but what will I ‘have to do’ for?” Gar and his unit were fresh from a monster-hunting expedition, and he hadn’t bathed in days. He wasn’t going to impress anyone in this condition, but he didn’t know why he’d need to.

“High Priest Azalea has need of you. You are to meet her in her sanctum beneath Mother Cypress.”

Gar blinked at him, certain he’d heard wrong. “The high priest…needs me?”

“Yes.” The acolyte’s expression softened. “I realize how strange this must seem, but there are…extenuating circumstances.”

“When’s the meeting?”

“Hours ago, ideally. But now will have to suffice. She’s been waiting for you.”

Gar tried not to gape. High priests didn’t wait for anyone, especially a field commander like him. If she’d planned to meet with Gar without even knowing when to expect him, something earth-shaking must have happened, but no one on the docks seemed any the wiser. He guessed he’d find out more when he got there.

“Then I’ll go now,” Gar replied. “But I have an injured soldier belowdecks. Their leg’s hurt bad, and they need—”

Bluegill cut him off with a bump of her elbow. “I’ll take it from here, Commander. Just get to the Heart.”

The acolyte nodded and turned his attention to Bluegill. “Whatever you require, I’m happy to assist.”

Gar left them to it, heart racing as he jostled through the crowd of passengers making their way off the barge.
Shannon Blair (they/he) is a fantasy author with a fondness for elves, goblins, and general otherworldly goodness. Their love of fiction and storytelling inspired them to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing, which they are now putting to very productive use, writing romance novels. When they aren’t writing books about queer elves or engaged in workday shenanigans at their day job, Shannon can be found baking, crocheting, and persisting, despite the horrors. They live on the outskirts of the Denver metroplex with their partner and two spoiled-rotten cats.

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Release Blitz: Unveiled – A Paranormal Shifter Romance – Monarchs of Magic Book 1 by Susan Mac Nicol

BOOK BLAST - RECENT RELEASE

Book Title: Unveiled – Paranormal Shifter Romance – Monarchs of Magic Book 1

Author: Susan Mac Nicol

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

Cover Artist: Boroughs Publishing Group Creative Designer

Release Date: September 22, 2026

Tense/POV: third person, past tense

Genres: MM Paranormal Shifter Romance, Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Tropes: Forced proximity

Themes: Found family, Fated mates

Heat Rating: 2 flames   

Length: 88 000 words/334 pages

This is the first book in the series. It does not end on a cliffhanger. HFN

Goodreads

Universal Link

Scotland keeps its own secrets – and some walk on four paws

In the mist-shrouded Scottish Highlands, a centuries-old legend stirs to life when a mysterious town appears during a fierce storm.

Through the Mists of Time

Like a place in fables and fairytales, the town of Glengaill is filled with secrets and enchantments.

This remote area of the Highlands is home to two enigmatic wolf shifters. Connor, who rules his clan with primal strength and fierce loyalty, and Julien, whose compassion and humor shines through to keep the clans balanced.

Kings of their packs, Connor and Julien are bound by a destiny entwined with Glengaill's fate. This mysterious, magical village that appears during a fierce storm, is more than it seems, and danger lurks at its edges.

As the fog of time slowly lifts, the town's hidden beauty is revealed, and a powerful bond between the shifters and the town's lore is rekindled.

But Glengaill is bound and captive to a council who is determined to keep the townspeople and their magic for themselves.

Caught between their duty to their packs and the call of destiny, Connor and Julien must protect Glengaill from forces that threaten to exploit its magic while grappling with their unexpected and conflicted feelings.

As the battle begins, both kings fight for Glengaill, and for each other, so all will not be lost in the mists of time.


PNR, shifter, MM...I need more. I think this story is compelling and I like the writing style. It's the first book I've read by this author, and I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted. There are a few parts as far as backstory and world building that are a bit confusing and I'm hoping all that will be cleared up in the next book. I'm really looking forward to reading what comes next for these men, their pack, and I really need to see where this story goes. 4 stars. 

The next morning, on his way to meet Xiathen, Connor remained in no mood for any more riddles or secrets. He’d already planned a solo shift for tonight to get rid of the pent-up frustrations he was carrying. He’d barely made it down the main street—if you could call a single ribbon of cobbles stitched between slate-roofed cottages and low stone walls a street— before people began to notice them. Not in a gawping, touristy way. More like the way an animal notices a change in wind direction. 

Adrian stood in front of the Inn, waving at the children playing in the street, doffing an imaginary hat at people standing outside the market and the village shops. Connor felt as if every step was a negotiation with the ground, to be taken at one step at a time. “Don’t encourage them,” Connor muttered as he drew near. “We’ve enough on our plate, and don’t need anyone else sharing bloody mysterious prophecies or delivering dire ditties of destiny.” 

“Such alliteration,” Adrian commented with a grin. “Quite impressive.” His mouth twitched. “And I’m not encouraging anyone.” 

“You are.”

 “I’m looking at the buildings and being sociable.” 

Connor shot him a look. “You’re dying to visit every damned shop in the village and make new friends.” Adrian didn’t deny it. As peoples’ faces appeared in windows and doorways, he greeted them. Connor had to admit it felt right. No phones. No whispering. Just a quiet, collective assessment. It should’ve felt hostile. Instead, it felt like being recognised. 

They passed a shop with a sign painted in gold leaf: Morrigan & Thread. The window display was a riot of felt and velvet, feathers and braided cords, hats perched on stands like small, proud creatures. A top hat with a band of dark green. A flat cap stitched with silver thread. A wide-brimmed thing that looked like it had been made from midnight. Adrian slowed. Connor didn’t. 

He took two more steps before realising Adrian wasn’t beside him and turned back, irritated. “What?” 

Adrian nodded at the window. “It’s a hat shop.” He looked like a child at Christmas. Connor huffed. “It’s a bloody hat shop, so what?” 

The door opened before either of them touched it. A man stood in the doorway, tall and narrow as a lamppost, his hair a storm of grey curls held back with—Connor blinked—what looked like a hatpin shaped like a tiny sword. He wore a waistcoat the colour of old wine and a measuring tape draped around his neck like a priest’s stole. His eyes were sharp and amused. 

“Connor,” he said, as if they’d had tea last week. Then his gaze slid to Adrian. “And Adrian. Come in. You’re letting the draught in.” Connor froze. “How do you—” “Names?” The man waved a hand as if batting away a fly. “Everyone knows names. It’s the shape of you that’s interesting.”

Susan Mac Nicol is a British novelist dedicated to the power of LGBTQ+ romance, fantasy, and paranormal fiction. With over forty published titles spanning contemporary emotion and dark fantasy, her stories centre on complex characters who discover strength in connection. She's also an award winning scriptwriter with ten awards for the script Sight Unseen, written with actor Nicholas Downs.

From the gritty streets of the Men of London series to the sensual underground of Fetish Alley and the enchanted realms of Monarchs of Magic, Susan weaves high-stakes drama with emotional intimacy.

When she’s not lost in fictional worlds, Susan actively connects with fellow romance enthusiasts, mentoring upcoming writers and celebrating diverse queer voices across global literature.

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Release Blitz: Swimmer's Ear by Alex Winters

Title: Swimmer’s Ear

Series: Good Sports, Book Five

Author: Alex Winters

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 10/27/2026

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 29800

Genre: Contemporary, college students, contemporary, karaoke, lesbian, new adult, romance, singer, sports, swimmer

Add to Goodreads


Description

Aspen Calliope is a star swimmer for the Salem State Sharks, a celebrated athlete and community do-gooder who’s destined for great things. Professionally, that is. Personally? Her life as a closeted lesbian has only brought her loneliness and anxiety, but all that changes when an ill-fated blind date for her birthday brings her to the Winking Clam dive bar, home to none other than the Talent Tuesday Karaoke Hoedown.

Margo Summers is everything Aspen isn’t: shy, bookish, insulated, and insecure about her weight. About the only place she isn’t insecure is when she’s climbing onto the stage at the Winking Clam. But there, on the stage, in the spotlight, eyes closed and crooning “The Stars in Her Eyes,” her favorite country ballad, Margo can finally be her true, authentic self: beautiful, radiant, talented…loved. All the things she currently isn’t.

When star swimmer and all-around Big Woman on Campus Aspen suddenly appears in the audience one night, Margo’s life changes on the spot. As the two polar opposites learn they have more in common than they first thought, will it be enough to keep them together when life—and society—threatens to tear them apart?

Excerpt

Swimmer’s Ear
Alex Winters © 2026
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One
ASPEN

“Brock?”

I’d seen him from across the street, fidgety and spry in his forest-green turtleneck and caramel-colored corduroy slacks. He held a single rose in one small hand, as he’d promised to do in our text thread earlier that day, and kept hooking the index finger of the other hand in his sweater collar to stretch it out. It was either a nervous habit or else he just really didn’t like tight things around his throat.

He was smallish, bookish, thick glasses on his handsome face and a cute little cowlick above his rumpled forehead. I’d lingered in a crowd outside the Gently Perused bookstore just long enough to screw up my courage before crossing Spruce Street and approaching him.

“Aspen?” His voice cracked adorably. His face flushed. He looked up at me. He had to be a good three inches shorter than I was. “Happy birthday!”

I smiled and took the rose he practically shoved in my chest, feeling overdressed in my little black cocktail dress as he shifted from foot to foot in his tiny loafers. “Thank you,” I gushed, admiring the rose as if I’d never seen one before. “That’s so sweet of you.”

“You’re the sweet one,” Brock insisted, gazing up at me shyly. “I mean, a blind date? On your birthday? I’m sure you’d rather be anywhere else than here. With me.”

He looked a little glum. I chuffed him on the shoulder and leaned in slightly to mutter, “I mean, does lying around in my jammies all night eating cheesy poofs and binge-watching Real Househusbands of Denmark count?”

My blind date brightened for the first time. “I love that show!” he agreed, fangirling as our eyes met. His were bright behind his thick lenses. “See, we’re off to a great start already.”

I leaned back and frowned. “But how do you feel about cheesy poofs?”

We were still laughing when he turned and nodded at the steadily blinking sign for the Winking Clam. I’d heard about the locally famous dive bar before but never had the pleasure of actually going inside. “I figured, since it’s your twenty-first birthday, it’d only be right to have it here.”

“How romantic,” I murmured, taking his arm. It was slight and yielding. He blushed again.

“Well, I mean…” he began, stammering as we approached the door. “Not that romantic.”

“No?”

“I’m only twenty but the bartender’s my roommate so I figured…” He hunched his shoulders and smushed his face to turn himself into a human question mark. “Two birds with one stone?”

I chuckled as he held the door open for me. Rock music pounded from inside, ruining our cozy little meet cute out front. “So, you’re saying this is the only place you can drink quasi-legally?”

“Only for another six months,” he shouted over some hair band anthem from four decades ago. I chuckled as we stumbled in. The walls were heavy with dark wood paneling and covered with dusty framed rock posters from bands and concerts gone by.

There was a small stage at one end of the room, and at the other a U-shaped bar, bathed in winking Christmas lights as if to mask the otherwise dingy vibe. We stood awkwardly between a dozen or so empty tables and the bar.

“You’re not mad, are you?” Brock asked, reaching for his wallet and, presumably, his fake ID.

“Hell no,” I answered over a blistering guitar lick blaring from hidden speakers high above. “Who wants to drink alone on their twenty-first birthday, right?”

He brightened, nodding at the tables behind me. “Wanna grab a seat and I’ll get the drinks?”

“Just a beer for me, thanks.” I found the table furthest away from the speakers and settled in atop a wobbly wooden chair. I sighed, nodding to myself to keep a stiff upper lip. After all, my pleasant demeanor and forced smile aside, I would literally rather be anywhere else at that moment.

The fact that my teammate and so-called “best” friend Dara had set me up on this blind date for my birthday, rather than being available for our annual double-feature of cheesy B-horror movies at the Salem Cinemas like every other year, was bad enough.

But that she’d set me up with a guy? Twice the betrayal.

Naturally, my phone was bleating from inside my little clutch purse as I set it down on the tiny tabletop. Dara’s rapid succession of tweets filled up the screen like little grey boxes in a video game:

So?

How’s it going?

He’s cute, right?

A little short, not his fault you’re an amazon!

You there?

????

Why aren’t you writing me back????

What? You’re. STILL. Mad?!?!

I thought for a moment about sliding the phone back in my purse and punishing her with the silent treatment for the next three hours straight, but it would only mean three more screens full of progressively angrier text bubbles in reply. Instead, I pointed the phone at Brock’s back as he stood at the bar, talking to some grungy goth dude who was presumably his roommate, and snapped a quick pic.

I studied the picture before I sent it: Brock, standing casually at the bar, grinning up at the goth dude with the strangest little smile. And the goth dude? Smiling right back and sliding a lock of his long black hair behind one ear with one long finger. The finger had silver rings all over it, most of them skulls. The ear? Blushing a bright, vibrant—one might even say nervous—red. I pinched and pulled to blow the pic up a bit and Bartender Dude wasn’t the only one. My cute little blind date was blushing too, and not just in the ear department. I wondered, idly, what that might mean.

I ignored the first impressions and sent it to Dara with a quick message:

The eagle has landed. He’s cute. Then again, so is his roommate. To be continued…

Like most of my friends, back home and here on campus, Dara had steadfastly refused to acknowledge my hints and murmurs about “not really being into guys” over the years and had subsequently taken it as a personal challenge to “change my mind” instead. The result? Some poor schmo smiling at me from across the room as he made the way back to our table, a beer in each hand and his heart about to be broken.

Or, at the very least, his cock about to be blocked.

“Thank you!” I exclaimed as he set the beers down on the table and sank into the rickety wooden chair across from me.

“To your birthday,” he said over another raucous rock song. “And to you, Aspen.”

I clinked his bottle. Sipped my beer. Pretended to study the bar and the stage and the rock god posters and the winking lights until my gaze fell back on Brock. “Is that your real name?” I asked, figuring I might as well have some fun if I had to be polite and endure a random blind date with a straight guy.

He nearly snorted out his beer. “Of course it is, why?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, I just… You don’t really strike me as a Brock.”

He nodded as if I wasn’t the first person to tell him that. Not by a long shot. “No, I know. My parents had high expectations when I was born, I guess?”

I winked and leaned a little closer in. “Lemme guess: your mom read a lot of romances while she was pregnant. You know? The kind with a wanton woman on the front cover and some bare-chested highlander about to rip off her bodice?”

Brock chuckled and sipped his beer. “Dara said you were a smartass. I guess she wasn’t kidding.”

“Guilty as charged,” I sighed, waving my beer back in his general direction. “How do you two know each other, anyway?”

“I was her Calculus tutor last semester,” he confessed shyly.

“That tracks.”

The door opened across the room, letting in a flash of late-afternoon sunlight and a swirl of fresh spring air before shutting again. An older couple, decked out in biker gear, went straight for the bar.

“Why do you say that?”

I shrugged. He’d inched slightly closer around the table, perhaps to be heard. His face was in stark shadows from the bar’s aggressively dim lighting. “I dunno, just doesn’t seem like you two would run in the same social circles, that’s all.”

He snorted again. His beer was already half-gone. “I meet a lot of new people at the Learning Lab. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have much of a social life.”

“Same with me and swimming,” I admitted, limbs pleasantly sore from that afternoon’s blistering practice.

“See?” Brock said almost hopefully. “That’s one more thing we have in common.”

“Two,” I countered, waving my still mostly full beer at the rapidly filling saloon. “That is, if you count dive bars?”

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NineStar Press

Meet the Author

Alex Winters is an Amazon bestselling romance author with a passion for holiday music, junk food, cheesy 80s horror movies and Epcot. His stories in the Good Sports series for NineStar Press tend to be sizzling and sweet, with a whole lot of laughs—and spice—along the way! Visit him at www.amazon.com/author/awintersromance to see what he’s cooking up next!

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