Checking It Twice (Crashing Book 2) (7 page)

Alexei blinked furiously against the
stinging in his eyes. This man, who had barely been more than a boy when they’d
first met, who had terrified him with his unique mixture of fierce independence
and a soul-deep need for submission, had become everything.

“
You
are my home, Michael,” Alexei
said, his voice gruff. “But I will show you all those places. I want you to see
them, too.”

Mike blinked, a smile blooming on his face.
“So this is okay?”

“Of course it’s okay,” Alexei said, giving
in and kissing Mike softly. “This is the best Christmas present ever.”

Mike laughed, but it was kind of damp.
Alexei pulled him in close, holding him tightly enough that it was difficult
for either of them to breathe.

What the hell had he ever done to deserve
this man?

Alexei had no idea. But he did know, he
never, ever, wanted to lose him. And there was no way in hell he was waiting
for the New Year to make sure Mike knew it.

“Michael, I still have one more gift to
give you, too.”

“You do?” Mike asked, clearly surprised but
pleased.

Mike’s smile fell, replaced by wide-eyed shock,
when Alexei dropped to one knee before him. Alexei passed the paperwork he
still clutched over to Oliver, then tucked his hand into his pocket, taking one
of Mike’s hands in his other.

“Michael, until I met you, I thought I knew
what love was, but I was wrong. You are my heart, my best friend, my partner in
business and in life. There is no one I would rather spend my life with, play
hockey with, argue with, or grow old with.”

He pulled his hand from his pocket and
presented the two rings threaded over his index finger. Mike reached out with a
shaking hand to brush his finger over them both, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Will you do me the honor of being my
husband?” Alexei asked, his voice little more than a scratch.

“Oh my god,
yes
.”

Everyone whooped, but Alexei could look only
at Mike as he slowly rose to his feet. Mike grabbed his elbows and steadied him
when his hips and knees protested, a grin on his face. As soon as Alexei was
stable, Mike took the rings and slid one onto Alexei’s finger, then the other
onto his own.

Alexei kissed him, once, fiercely, then
gathered him into a hug. Mike buried his face against Alexei’s neck and clung, and
Alexei could feel how he shook, felt the tears on his neck.

A moment before their family piled on top
of them, he pressed his lips to Mike’s ear and whispered, “And you thought I
gave you
Erik’s dick
for Christmas.”

Mike’s snort was muffled by Alexei’s
shoulder and then they were both laughing, perhaps a little hysterically, as
they accepted hugs and kisses and congratulations from the people they loved
most.

Samantha Wayland has three great loves in
life; her family, writing books, and hockey. She is often found apologizing to
the first for how much time and attention is taken up by the latter two, but
they forgive her because they are awesome and she clearly doesn’t deserve them.

Sam lives with her family—of both the two
and four-legged variety—outside of Boston. She is a wicked passionate New
Englander (born and raised) who has been known to wax rhapsodic about the Maine
Coast, the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, and the sensible way in
which her local brethren don’t see a need for directional signals (blinkahs!).
When she’s not locked away in her home office, she can generally be found
tucked in the corner of the local Thai place with other socially-starved
authors and an adult beverage.

Her favorite things include mango martinis,
tiny Chihuahuas with big attitude problems, and the Oxford comma.

Sam loves to hear from readers. Email her
at
[email protected]
or find her on
Facebook or Twitter (@samwayland).

A man yearning to explore his sexual tastes
but afraid to turn up the heat, the woman who loves him but is hungry for more spice…and
the chef who craves them both.

When Grace, Philip and Mark find a
mobster's flash drive full of incriminating information, they are quickly
embroiled in a dangerous situation. They stay together for safety, but
proximity ignites the sparks they've long been fighting to ignore.

When three friends dare to succumb to their
appetites, they find the perfect recipe for love.

Patrick didn't think it would be a big deal
to kiss Brandon, his best friend and fellow police officer. Hell, they'd done
crazier things to escape a bar fight. But then he had no way of knowing just
how hot it would be.

Destiny Matthews is not a woman who is
afraid to ask for what she wants, and when she sees her two best friends
kissing, she knows just what she's going to ask for. Before she can convince
Patrick that he's not as straight as he likes to protest, Brandon is attacked
by an unknown enemy.

While they fight to protect each other's
lives, they prove time and again that they're even better at protecting their
own hearts.

Hat
Trick Book One

Savannah Morrison is the new athletic
trainer for the Moncton Ice Cats, a professional hockey team in the wilds of
New Brunswick. It’s a good thing she’s got plenty of knowledge and grit,
because as the only woman trainer in the league, she has to work twice as hard
to win the players’ respect. The last thing on earth she would do is date one
of them.

Twelve year hockey veteran Garrick LeBlanc
isn’t ready to hang up his skates, particularly since he hasn’t figured out
what the hell he’s planning to do next. He needs the new trainer to keep him
fit to play, and she’s got the skills to do it. Too bad he lost his mind and
hit on her the day they met. Now she hates his guts and he’s made an art of
ignoring her.

When the team is put up for sale, Garrick
and Savannah have to work together to save their jobs and their team. Somewhere
along the way, they discover Garrick isn’t just a hockey player, Savannah isn’t
only passionate about her work, and just maybe they’ve got more in common than
they thought.

Hat
Trick Book Two

Rhian is working his way up the ranks of
professional hockey, with the dream of making it to the NHL getting closer
every day. He’s doing it alone—no family, no friends—and that’s the way he
likes it. Then he arrives in New Brunswick, and meets the Moncton Ice Cats.
Suddenly, he’s got friends—and even something that might be an honest-to-god
crush.

Garrick is lonely and counting the days
until his last season with the Ice Cats is over and he can move to Boston. When
his girlfriend suggests he take a lover—as long that lover is a man and Garrick
tells her all about it—he laughs it off. But damned if his buddy Rhian doesn’t
take on the starring role in his fantasies. Good thing Rhian is way too
young—and straight—for what Garrick has in mind.

Rhian takes a chance when Garrick’s increasingly
confusing signals start making sense, and soon discovers he’s bitten off more
than he can chew. Sex with strangers is simple. Sex with his best friend?
Complicated.

Hat
Trick Book Three

Garrick
LeBlanc never intended to fall in love with two people, but he has, and now he
has to figure out what to do about it. He wants to make them happy, but is
afraid he’s doing just the opposite. To make matters worse, he’s trapped in New
Brunswick until the end of the hockey season, while his lovers are both in
Boston.

Savannah
Morrison has no one but herself to blame for practically shoving her lover into
the arms of another man. After all, it was her idea that Garrick take a lover
while they are separated for the season. She loves Garrick with all her heart,
but how the hell is she going to share him with Rhian?

Rhian
Savage used to have such a simple life. Now he’s in love, his dreams of skating
on an NHL team are coming true, and he keeps spotting a strangely familiar face
in the crowds. To top it all off, he has to see Savannah every day. He knows
she’s Garrick’s real future, but he doesn’t have the balls to do the right
thing for all of them and end it—until his life goes sideways. As usual.

Now Rhian is alone, Garrick is heartbroken,
and Savannah—the one person Rhian figured would celebrate his departure—is
beating down his door. What the hell is up with that?

Mike comes to Moncton wanting nothing more
than to play for the Ice Cats and finally live on his own terms. He’s broke,
bruised, and covered from head to toe in cheap lube, but he isn’t going to let
that stop him. All he needs is a place to live and some time to figure out how
to reconcile who he really is with who everyonewants him to be.

Dumping three gallons of lube on the new
kid is just another day at the office for Alexei. He knows exactly who he is: a
goalie on the ice, a prankster in the locker room, and a man who knows better
than to share his private life with anyone. He’s let people in before and it’s
taught him that if he can’t have what he really wants, it’s better to be alone.

Despite their apparent differences, an
unlikely friendship grows. Neither of them could ever have guessed how much
they
really
have in common.

You can build a
team, but you have to find your home.

Rupert Smythe is
fond of many things. Callum Morrison isn’t one of them.

Rupert is a quiet,
thoughtful business man and, sadly, a total wimp. Maybe not the ideal candidate
to run a professional hockey team, but he signed on to do it anyway. As his
life has reminded him on an almost daily basis since, this isn’t the most
brilliant idea he’s ever had. And that was before Callum showed up.

Being in the
spotlight is just part of being a professional athlete, but Callum needs a
break. He arrives in Moncton unannounced, determined to help grow the team he
just bought, and under the assumption he’d be welcome. Possibly he should have
tried to make a better first impression.

Callum figures he
can push through the rest of the summer, never expecting two kids, a host of
friends, and his growing feelings for Rupert to derail everything he has ever believed
about what he wanted, and what he could have.

Lachlan Morrison’s
family likes to tell people that he’s shy, but that’s like saying the sky is
sort of blue, or good hockey is just a little bit rough. Lachlan knows
perfectly well he’s a social disaster and works hard to humiliate himself as
infrequently as possible.

Then Michaela
Price, the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on, moves to town, and she
needs a friend.

Michaela knows
she’s no prize. As a nationally-known disgrace, she’s pretty used to being
stared at and having to chase photographers off the neighbors' roofs. She
wouldn’t wish her life on anyone, and certainly has no intention of inflicting
herself on poor Lachlan Morrison, who literally cannot speak in her presence.

But then, going
back to school isn’t what she expected. It turns out her new life is just as
lonely as the old version, and she only knows one person in town.