Title: Dream Spinner Author: Kristen Ashley Series: Dream Team #3 Genre: Contemporary Romance
After years with no one but herself to rely on, Hattie Yates has finally met the man of her dreams. But she was taught from a young age that it was hopeless to dream. There was only success, failure was not an option and it had terrible consequences. Now, the thought of another disappointment petrifies her. But when a suspicious phone call leads to more trouble than she can handle, there’s only one man Hattie trusts to help . . .
Axl Pantera knows Hattie is the only woman for him—and so does Hattie. Yet despite the attraction burning between them, Hattie refuses to let Axl in. The former soldier is determined to woo Hattie into letting down her walls, yet when danger comes calling, he finds himself battling for more than her heart. Axl will do anything to prove to Hattie that they’re meant to be, but first, he’ll need to keep her safe.
In answer, Hawk tipped his head to the chair opposite his desk and tossed his phone on the top of it.
Since Hawk rarely sat, the men who visited him didn’t either.
But for this, Axl closed the door behind him after he entered, moved to a chair, and put his ass in it.
Hawk watched this, and he hesitated, but then he joined him, sitting behind his desk.
“Is everything cool?” Hawk asked.
“I got a sitch. Personal. And I was hoping you might talk it through with me. Maybe have some insight.”
“Hit me,” Hawk invited.
And there was one of the bennies of working for Cabe “Hawk” Delgado.
He was a good boss, generous with his knowledge, gave credit where it was due, didn’t get in your face if you fucked up and held up your hand that you did…
And he had time for you even when he didn’t.
“I met Hattie’s dad last night.”
Hawk’s lips thinned.
Right.
His boss might not be in on their chats, but not much happened with his crew that Hawk didn’t know about.
So he knew about Don Yates.
“I got blindsided,” Axl told him.
“How?” Hawk asked.
“He loves her, Hawk.”
Hawk held his gaze a beat before he sat back in his chair.
Yeah.
This was going to be a conversation.
Hawk’s voice was lower when he inquired, “He loves her, and he hits her?”
Axl shook his head. “I got no excuse for that. Or the verbal abuse he keeps doling out. What I know is, recently, he called her a whore.”
“Jesus,” Hawk clipped.
“She didn’t tell me that. She told Ryn, Ryn told Boone. And I got it from Boone. But before…” He paused, then got to it, “I can’t step in with her dad. She knows their relationship is dysfunctional. She feels beholden. I could only have her back. Until I heard that. Then I shared I was going to have to have words with her father.”
“Good,” Hawk murmured.
“Then I got there, and the man was practically beaming, he was so fuckin’ happy Hattie brought her boyfriend over to meet him.”
“Fuck,” Hawk grunted.
“So we sat down. He gave me the ‘What do you do for a living’ and ‘How’d you meet my daughter’ gig. I answered. All was good. Then I told him I couldn’t have him upsetting Hattie like he did by calling her a whore. He tried to explain it by saying he was in a bad mood. I told him, in future, if he was in a bad mood, he needed not to take that out on Hattie.”
“On your first meeting,” Hawk noted.
“On our first meeting,” Axl confirmed.
“Which happened…what? How long have you been seeing her? A few days?”
“Yep.”
“You laid down the law with your woman’s father the first time you met him after you’ve been with her a few days,” Hawk laid it out.
“Yep.”
“Christ, Axe, you don’t fuck around,” Hawk muttered.
Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.
Chloe Daniels is a starry-eyed romantic who believes in true love, soul mates and happily ever afters. So when a psychic predicts the identity of her soul mate Chloe will do anything to find him.
But there’s a tiny problem.
Chloe’s soul mate is 1 of 7 men, spread across the U.S. and she has only one week to reach him.
Out of desperation she hires Nick O’Shea, a cynical private investigator who thinks soul mates, love and happily ever afters are a load of crap.
Chloe and Nick have nothing in common. She wants her soul mate. He wants to get paid.
But on their crazy, true love chasing road trip across the U.S. Nick starts to wonder if maybe he was wrong about love, and Chloe starts to wonder if she was wrong about the identity of her Romeo. Soon, Chloe will have to choose between her soul mate and the man she hired to find him.
“I’m just asking,” I say, “are you sure you want to bet your future on a myth?” Because, to be honest, something inside me wishes she’d get up and say, screw you, fate, I’m taking my future in my own hands.
“Would I bet my future?” she asks.
I nod and lean forward to hear her answer.
Slowly, she says, “I’d bet everything.”
Her words ring in my ears. She’s serious. She’ll do anything to get with this random guy she hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years. It’s like a cosmic joke, except I’m not laughing. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
“It’s a myth,” I say. “It’s not real.”
“It is,” she says. She points her finger at me and jabs me in the chest. “And I’m going to prove it to you.” Her hand rests over my heart. We both look down at her touching me. She yanks it back and wipes her hand on her napkin.
No man likes to see a woman wipe herself off after touching him. I scowl and then take her unspoken challenge. “More likely, by the end of this week, I’ll prove that soul mates don’t exist.”
“Good luck, you have hundreds of Aunt Erma’s successes against you.”
No worries, I stand by my belief that the whole town of Romeo is suffering from romantic delusions. Hey, the tourism dollars depend on it.
Also, I’d like to push a little bit of reality into this situation and throw out the idea that this guy might not be decent.
“He could be a rapist,” I say. That gets her attention. Her head snaps up and she glares at me.
“Or a Lothario,” she says. Take that, her eyes say. She bares her teeth at me in a semblance of a grin and I smile back. Game on.
The minstrel who had wandered close again hightails it to the other side of the restaurant.
“He could be a drug dealer,” I say.
“Or a pharmacist,” she says.
“He could be an alcoholic.”
“A vintner.”
“He’s unemployed,” I say.
“Independently wealthy.”
“He looks like a frog.”
“He’s a prince,” she says.
“He’s boring.”
“Strong and silent.”
I glare at her and she glares back, a smile curving on her lips.
“Bad in bed,” I say.
“A sex god.” She bites at her lower lip and I have the urge to take it in my mouth and show her a decade of pent-up wanting. I yank my thoughts from her lips and drop my ace in the hole.
“He could be an ax murderer,” I say. Take that and chew on it.
She laughs, throaty and low, and her eyes light up. The candlelight sparks off her glowing skin.
“Or,” she says, “he’s a lumberjack. Mmmm. Sexy ax. I’ll hold the handle. Rawr.” She claws her hand and scratches at the air. I shake my head. “You got it.” I hold up my goblet of mead for a toast. “To Matt Smith. Chloe’s lumberjack soul mate.”
Author Sarah Ready writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her books have been described as “euphoric”, “heartwarming” and “laugh out loud”. Her debut novel The Fall in Love Checklist was hailed as “the unicorn read of 2020”. She loves to write fast-paced, emotionally compelling romances about quirky, smart women and the men who love them.
Before writing romance full-time Sarah had lots of fun teaching at an Ivy League. Then she realized she could have even more fun writing romance. Her favorite things after writing are adventuring and travel. You’ll frequently find her using her degree at a dino dig site, crawling into a cave, snorkeling, or on horseback riding through the jungle – all fodder for her next book. She’s lived in Scotland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and NYC. She currently lives in the Caribbean with her water-obsessed pup and her awesome family.
I’m not too proud to admit that finding Mr. Right involves swiping right. Right? Welcome to dating in avocado toastland.
Here I am, on my first blind date, ever, courtesy of a smartphone app and my two annoying best friends.
So what is Chris “Fletch” Fletcher doing, walking across the room, looking at his phone like he’s pattern matching a picture to find a real person he’s never met before?
Oh.
Oh, no.
The guy I drop-kicked in seventh grade cannot be my blind date. The guy who earned me this infernal nickname
He’s her best friend. A reformed bad boy turned hot teacher. And after one spur-of-the-moment Vegas wedding… her husband.
Jordan Benoit and Fletcher Landry have been best friends since they were six. He’s always been The Guy. When she needed picked up, cheered up, or lifted up–like literally, to see the stage at a concert–Fletcher was the guy.
So when her boyfriend dumps her–on national TV–Fletcher immediately gets on a plane and comes to her rescue.
And when she ends up in a Vegas wedding chapel and needs someone to say, “I do”…yep, Fletcher’s the guy. Of course.
But being The Guy 24/7 is a lot. He just wants everyone to give him a freaking minute to get this marriage thing right. Including his sexy, sweet new wife who he’s wanted for three years. Who is exasperatingly, temptingly all-in from minute one.
Jordan knows what she wants. A life in her hometown. A job with alpacas. And Fletcher. Not necessarily in that order.
They’ve said the vows. They’d told the world. They’ve told their grandmas. Forget taking things slow. Forget just heavy petting. Forget any chance of backing out when things get tough. They’re going to have to go all the way, in every way.
After all, friends becoming lovers should be the easiest thing in the world. Right?
“I was trying to give you some freaking space before I said anything.” He seemed very annoyed suddenly.
She leaned in, bracing her hand on the seat between them. “The last person I need space from is you, Fletcher. I mean, we’ve basically been dating for twenty years. If dating is about getting to know someone and figuring out how well you fit with them and figuring out if you want to spend the rest of your life with them…we’ve done that.”
He shook his head. “You have got to be one of the most exasperating people in my life.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Considering your twin brothers are Zeke and Zander, being one of the most exasperating people in your life is pretty huge.”
He shook his head. “Absolutely exasperating. To think I could’ve kissed you when we were standing next to a king-sized bed and you were only in your bra and panties and you would have been all in.”
Jordan felt her cheeks flush, but she grinned widely. “I really am a pain.”
“You really are.” His gaze dropped to her mouth.
Jordan felt a zing of excitement go through her. She really wanted him to kiss her.
“I think you dating me is a great idea,” he said after a moment.
Thank God.
“You’re sure you’re done dating other people? Having fun with all those girls? All the casual relationships?” she asked.
“If it means I get to be with you? Absolutely.”
Her stomach swooped, harder and faster than before. “This isn’t crazy?”
“It makes a hell of a lot more sense than anything else. Like you dating other men. Or either of us being with anyone else.”
“We’ve never talked about this before.”
“You’ve been taken,” he said simply.
Right. That was true. And Fletcher was too good of a guy to go after another man’s girl.
She still felt compelled to say, “It’s been three years since anything happened.”
“Again, because you’ve been taken.” His voice dropped. “Only because you’ve been taken, Jordan.”
Her heart skittered at that and she wet her lips. She thought about her next words carefully. Several seconds ticked by. Then she said simply, “Prove it.”
Fletcher reached out, wrapped his big hand around her wrist, and tugged her close. He cupped the back of her head and brought her in until they were nose to nose. “This changes everything,” he said. Almost as if it was a warning.
“I know.”
“I’m the last frog you’re ever going to kiss. So be sure you want it now.” That was exactly what she’d wanted to hear without even realizing it.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.
Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).
