Owen Montgomery is arrogant and unfeeling–with cold, haughty manners and a British accent sharper than any knife. I’ve been secretly in love with him for years, knowing there’s no way he could ever notice me, the scholarship girl. The poor girl. Until that night in Ibiza…until that night we taste each other’s kiss for the first time, and I learn what hot hungers the ice king keeps hidden from public view.
It’s also the night when I discover that after three years of sharing classes and even friends, Owen still has no idea who I am. None at all.
Pride stung, I vow to focus only on myself and my future in publishing. But little do I know that I’ve awakened an obsession in Owen that will soon outgrow the halls of Pembroke Prep and spill over into the real world.
Owen wants me, and he’ll stop at nothing to have me. And soon I find myself with an impossible choice. Do I pick the future I always wanted for myself?
Or do I choose the blueblood whose kisses are as brutal as his love?
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.
