Her gaze dropped to my mouth for a second, then lifted again as a flush crept up her neck.
“Are you always this mouthy when you’re nervous?”
Her gaze flicked to mine. “Only when I don’t trust myself.”
Well, that made two of us.
I stepped closer, stopping short of touching her, but the air between us changed anyway. She swallowed and shifted her weight, but didn’t move away.
“Should I be flattered or worried?” I asked.
Her mouth curved. “Depends. Do you usually make women this jumpy?”
“Only those thinking about breaking the rules.”
“I’m not breaking any rules.”
“No?” I lowered my voice. “Do you know the only rule here, my little temptation?”
She swallowed before answering, “Ask before you touch.”
“And may I touch you?”
Her lips parted.
I waited, giving her the chance to come to her senses, to say no, to remember who I was supposed to be in her life. I needed her to take that opening because I was already too close to not taking it myself.
But she didn’t say no. She nodded, and that was all I needed.
I brushed the backs of my fingers along her arm, starting at her shoulder and trailing down to her wrist.
She shivered.
“You can tell me to stop.”
“I know.”
“You can walk away.”
“I won’t.”
“Blair,” I groaned.
“What?”
“If we go upstairs, I’m not Uncle Dane.”
Her breath caught, but she didn’t move away as her eyes dipped to my mouth before returning to mine.
“Good,” she whispered. “Because I didn’t come here looking for him.”
Everyone knows falling for your best friend’s brother is a disaster waiting to happen…
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If you love banter, slow burn tension, summer camp vibes, emotional romance with humor, and a hero who falls first and hard, you won’t want to miss RIVER & RUE.
Julian Langley has everything a man could ever want—a sprawling Manhattan townhouse, a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, and ownership of the New York Vipers, one of the most coveted franchises in professional hockey. What he doesn’t have, and will never allow himself, is anyone who matters too much. Carrying a devastating loss that completely reshaped him, Julian has since built his life around the certainty that nothing will ever cost him that dearly again.
⚾️Review⚾️ Guy is a professional baseball player who was enchanted by Nichole before he even met her however he believes he should keep his distance because of the age gap. When he overhears her being disrespected he isn’t about to stand by. Even though his past relationships have been casual he soon realizes that Nichole is different and now he just needs to convince her.
When Nicole meets Guy she can’t deny her feelings for him but doesn’t expect anything to come of it. Not only is he a teammate of her father’s but she is nothing like the women he has previously dated and isn’t sure why someone like him would be interested in someone like her.
A secret relationship, great chemistry and a man who is willing to show Nicole that she is the only woman he will ever need and isn’t about to let anything come between them and that includes her need to be cautious.
L.B. Dunbar loves sexy silver foxes, second chances, and small towns. If you enjoy older characters in your romance reads, including a hero with a little silver in his scruff and a heroine rediscovering her worth, then welcome to romance for those over 40. L.B. Dunbar’s signature works include women and men in their prime taking another turn at love and happily ever after. She’s a USA TODAY Bestseller as well as #1 Bestseller on Amazon in Later in Life Romance with her Lakeside Cottage and Road Trips & Romance series. L.B. lives in Chicago with her own sexy silver fox.
To get all the scoop about the self-proclaimed queen of silver fox romance, join her on Facebook at Loving L.B. or receive her monthly newsletter, Love Notes.
Neve Snowe doesn’t need to settle down. She is already settled in her small harbor town, with a cozy beach cottage and part ownership in the family-run auto repair shop. She doesn’t want a man, but she likes them. And she has one golden rule: only sleep with flatlanders. You know, the guys who never intend to stay in Lovewell Landing, only use the coastal area for a brief holiday.
And the last thing she desired was the unexpected . . . to be expecting.
Tate Love spent his summers in Lovewell Landing as a teenager, but somehow he’d missed the beautiful girl who turned into a spunky woman, daring him to jump into the icy ocean one New Year’s Eve, then slept with him near the town’s sacred well, holding spell-binding waters.
He never thought he’d see her again, until nine months later, a business prospect brings him back to the area.
Now, the man who longs to be tied down finds that one night planted the seed to everything he ever wanted, while he holds the pen that could sign away all she’s ever loved.
Welcome to Lovewell Landing, where autumn is in the air, pumpkins decorate every doorstep, and a little fiasco might cause opposites to fall in love.
Fall Love is a steamy, romantic comedy companion novel to The Holiday Post and continues the romances of the Snowe sisters in the beautiful and quirky small town of Lovewell Landing.
Even though Neve had an unforgettable experience with Tate that was all expected or wanted so when she finds out she is pregnant she has no way of contacting him. Fate has other ideas when Tate shows up at the auto repair shop she ran with her father until he passed looking to purchase it on behalf of the company he works for and now she is trying to adjust to him being in her life and losing her father’s legacy.
Tate is a real estate developer who spent summers in Neve’s hometown however their paths had never crossed. When he sees her again he know that one night is not enough and that was before he found out they were about to be parents. Now he finds himself trying to show her that selling the shop is her option while convincing her that they are meant to be together.
From the moment that Tate sees Neve again he is all in and shows her with every thoughtful thing he does how much he loves her however her need to be cautious allows their relationship to move forward at a slower pace as they have some obstacles to overcome as they fight for the future they are meant to have. The audio performance of Erin Mallon and Ryan West allows you to experience all the emotion that this story brings.
🏒Hockey Romance 💜Childhood Best Friends-to-Lovers 💋It’s Always Been You 💕He’s A Single Guardian 🛏️Forced Proximity 😍Secret Pining ❤️Fake Dating 🥅Hockey Net Makeout Session 🫶Practice Dates 💻Workplace Romance 🌶️Spicy Rooftop Shenanigans 💛Cinnamon Roll Hero 🫰Naughty “Fingerpainting” 🔥Slutty Little Chain
A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s sexy, feel-good and witty. Her books have been featured in US Weekly and People. Lauren likes dogs, cake and show tunes and she is the vegetarian at your dinner party.
Nate Wells has only ever been my best friend’s older brother…until he volunteers to be my fake boyfriend. Getting dumped a week before my sister’s wedding wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was showing up single and giving my family one more reason to question every life choice I’ve ever made. So when Nate Wells offers to be my fake boyfriend for the weekend, it seems like the perfect solution. Except he’s really good at pretending. Every time he stands between me and my judgmental family, I find myself drawn a little closer. Every look, every laugh, every time he reaches for my hand makes me wonder how I never saw the man right in front of me. And because the universe has a twisted sense of humor…there’s only one bed in our hotel room. The wedding is supposed to be the end of our pretending. Instead, we’re forced to keep up the ruse, and the longer we do, the harder it becomes to remember what’s real. But I have to, because falling for Nate isn’t an option.
If this all unravels, I won’t just lose him. I’ll lose everything that matters to me too.
🔥NFL Quarterback × Coach’s Daughter 🔥One Night Stand 🔥Forced Proximity 🔥Forbidden Romance 🔥Found Family 🔥Mental Health Rep 🔥Interracial RomanceThe Charlotte Valor series is a collection of interconnected standalone football romances. Each book follows a different couple and can be read on its own, but the emotional payoffs are even better when read in order.
NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting lives outside of Toronto with her amazing family and her adorable, emotional cat, who thinks the best place to sleep is her keyboard. Helena writes everything from emotional contemporary romance to romantic comedies that will have you laughing until you cry.
🏒Review🏒 Fee has deep feelings for Mac and although she appreciates their friendship she can’t deny she wants more. Every time that they are out he is approached by other women and although he never accepts their invitations he doesn’t reject them. Tired of the interruptions she blurts out that they are a couple and now they decide to pretend they are dating to keep other woman at a distance.
Mac plays hockey for the university team and he is a good guy that everyone wants to be around. He could have any woman he wants however the only one he wants is Fee even if she doesn’t know it. Pretending to be a couple allows him to be close to her and show her what a good boyfriend he could be and what is supposed to be pretend couldn’t be more real.
Mac and Fee are so adorable together and they both know they are each other’s everything. There is a little angst when it comes to her past and their future however there was never any doubt that the only place they belonged with each other. The audio performance of Kat Auden allows you to feel everything that Fee is feeling while the deep timber of Alex Kydd is both swoony and sweet.
Avery Flynn is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling romance author. She has three slightly-wild children, loves a hockey-addicted husband and is desperately hoping someone invents the coffee IV drip.
She was a reader before she was a writer and hopes to always be both. She loves to write about smartass alpha heroes who are as good with a quip as they are with their *ahem* other God-given talents. Her heroines are feisty, fierce and fantastic. Brainy and brave, these ladies know how to stand on their own two feet and knock the bad guys off theirs.
An impulsive witch and a buttoned-up werewolf discover love is its own beast in this spicy rom-com from USA Today bestselling author Avery Flynn.
As the eldest daughter of the magical Sherwood family, I’m supposed to have everything together. Well, joke’s on them—I, Effie Sherwood, am chaos incarnate, and you’ll never be able to guess my next move.
Like jumping on the back of Darius Aetos’ motorcycle. Not only is Darius grumpy, gruff, and hot, he’s also the head of the Aetos werewolf pack.
My spur of the moment decision has quickly become a much bigger commitment, because a pack elder is convinced this hunk of a man (or wolf, depending on the hour) is my fated mate.
Even though I’m a witch and he’s a werewolf, we’re stuck together until we can find our way out of the tricky pack politics. But under the light of the blue moon, it’s almost starting to feel like Darius doesn’t want to stay away from me. And I’m not sure if it’s my magic going haywire or the starlit skies, but I can’t imagine leaving his arms either.
Effie may be the oldest Sherwood sister but wasn’t chosen to lead the family as that went to another sister and she found herself questioning way. As a result, she chooses to take chances to prove herself and that is why she steals Darius’s motorcycle which leads to a binding spell she can’t seem to undo and a temporary marriage that will have them working together to save his pack.
Darius is the alpha for the Aetos pack and the one thing he has learnt from his father and grandmother is to not follow in their footsteps. Instead, he tries to control his wolf however from the moment that he meets Effie he can’t deny that she is his fated mate whether he wants to feel that way or not. In order for her to regain her powers and for him to save his pack they agree to a temporary marriage however she is unlike anyone he has met before.
Darius and Effie were so much fun together despite the situation they found themselves in. His wolf wants to protect her while he knows she is more than capable as they prove they are the perfect team in all areas of their lives. The narration of this story was entertaining as Kelly Tager does a wonderful job brings out the impulsive side of Effie while Scott Rose brings out the struggle that Darius is having between the man and the wolf.
Hadley Wright never expected one unforgettable night with a stranger to become the beginning of something she couldn’t forget. After slipping away before sunrise, she’s convinced she’ll never see the quiet, guarded man who made her feel safe on one of the hardest nights of her life again.
Until he walks right back into Coral Bell Cove.
Nolan Pierce has spent his entire life believing it’s easier not to need anyone. Buying the town’s struggling marina is supposed to be his fresh start—not falling for the woman who comes from the loud, loving family he’s never had.
But while Hadley believes love means showing up, Nolan is convinced it means protecting the people he cares about… even if that means shutting them out.
Now they’re both about to discover that falling in love is the easy part.
Trusting someone enough to stay might change everything.
At First Catch is a heartfelt, steamy small-town romance featuring a one-night stand, found family, slow-burn chemistry, meddling siblings, marina life, and a hero who falls first, falls hard, and learns that sometimes the strongest thing you can do is let someone stand beside you.
S.J. Sylvis has revealed the cover for Now We’re Even!
Releasing: October 15, 2026
Cover Designer: Ashes & Vellichor
Cover Illustration:Feluart
The only thing worse than living with a hockey player? Pretending to date one.
Callahan Grant is the top hockey player at Wilder U and has the entire student body eating out of the palm of his hand. He’s impossible to ignore–and it has nothing to do with his infuriating smirk and everything to do with the fact that he’s my new roommate.
Neither of us is thrilled about it.
Especially me, considering I currently despise hockey players.
But when Callahan and I strike a deal, I start to wonder if maybe I’ve judged him too quickly. He’ll pretend to be my boyfriend long enough to get my ex to back off, and if it works, he gets the room to himself at the end of the semester.
Desperate to move on from the scandal that landed me at Wilder U in the first place, I agree.
The rules are simple.
Fake date. Fool my ex. Survive living together.
And by the end of the semester, Callahan and I will be even.
Except Callahan makes fake dating feel a little too real every time his arm slips around my waist and his mouth brushes my ear. And somewhere between pretending not to want him and desperately trying not to, I forget why I hated him in the first place.
Because the problem with making a deal with Callahan Grant isn’t that he might break it.
It’s that when the semester ends, I’m not sure I want him to keep it.