Contemporary Romance books

A Wild Cards Novel

Temptation, peril, and dirty poker.

Love is a high-stakes game.

When Collin Callahan, British secret agent, goes up against math genius turned surfer bum Oliver Elliot, the battle is epic—and so is the attraction. They’re pitted against each other in an exclusive, ultra-secret—and ultra-illegal—poker match in Gibraltar, but when players start dying and they could be next, they find a common goal: catch the killer before it’s too late.

Evenly matched at poker and romance, they each wrestle personal demons that threaten to consume them as the stakes climb. It’s an all-or-nothing gamble with both life and love on the line as they fight to be the last seven-card studs standing.

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A Pennymaker Tale

Is beauty only skin deep?

Chemist Dr. Robert “Belle” Belleterre loves flowers, green trees, his best friend Judy, and “his baby:” the new face cream he developed to help put his father’s small cosmetics company on the map. Sadly he gets no help from his alcoholic, gambling-addicted father, who loses Belle in a poker game to Magnus Strong, the CEO of Beauty, Inc., the largest American cosmetics company—a man infamous for his scarred ugliness.

Belle finds himself uprooted from his home, living in a wildly crazy apartment in New York owned by Mr. Pennymaker, and completely unprepared for his mad attraction to the charismatic Strong. Feeling like a traitor, Belle fights his passion, only to see more and more of the goodness and humility hidden by Strong’s ugly face. But when Belle’s family starts manipulating his life again, the odds turn against happiness for beautiful Belle and his beloved beast.

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Trevan  Bean exerce un travail qui flirte avec l’illégalité, a un petit ami qui n’a peut-être pas toute sa tête ainsi qu’un ange gardien qui pourrait effectivement être le mal incarné. Ajoutez à cela la réapparition de la famille de son petit ami, des menaces de mort, un enlèvement et la lutte pour mettre suffisamment d’argent de côté afin de réaliser un rêve… Autant dire que Trevan ne chôme pas. Mais il est du genre à relever les défis : il a promis à Landry une fin comme dans les contes de fées et Landry va l’obtenir, même si cela doit le tuer !

Et c’est bien ce qui pourrait se passer.

Il y a deux ans, Landry Carter était une poupée cassée lorsqu’ils se sont rencontrés. Mais il a grandi pour devenir un partenaire qui peut se tenir fièrement aux côtés de Trevan… enfin, la plupart du temps. Maintenant que la vie de Trevan prend un tournant inquiétant – et que Landry se retrouve kidnappé – il espère que l’amour de Landry restera suffisamment fort pour relever ce nouveau défi, parce que sa fin heureuse n’arrivera jamais si Trevan doit faire cavalier seul.

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Kieferchirurg  Kaden Thorn führt ein ruhiges Leben, jedoch ohne jede Hoffnung auf eine Liebe, wie er sie sich ersehnt. Seitdem er von Schwulenhassern brutal zusammengeschlagen wurde, kann er seine Beine nicht mehr gebrauchen und sitzt im Rollstuhl. Er hat die Hoffnung aufgegeben, je einen Dom oder auch nur einen „normalen“ Partner zu finden, der ihn liebt. Als er praktisch unter Zwang eine Einladung zum Abendessen bei seiner besten Freundin annimmt, ist das letzte, womit er dort rechnet, ein starker Dom, der über seinen Rollstuhl hinwegsehen kann. 

Architekt Deacon James ist als Dom sehr anspruchsvoll, hat aber die letzten paar Jahre ohne Sub oder Partner zugebracht. Als einer seiner Angestellten ihn zu einer Dinnerparty einlädt, um ihm seine Lebensgefährtin vorzustellen, riecht Deacon ein abgekartetes Spiel, stimmt aber trotzdem zu. Er ist stolz auf seine ausgezeichnete Menschenkenntnis, und als er den jüngeren Zahnarzt kennenlernt, sieht er nicht den Rollstuhl, sondern einen liebenswerten, devoten Mann, der mehr als nur sein Interesse weckt. 

Kades Ängste und die Dämonen der Vergangenheit, die ihn heimsuchen, sind eine Herausforderung für Deacon; er braucht sein ganzes Können und seine ganze Erfahrung als Dom, um Kades Vertrauen und Hingabe zu gewinnen. Doch Deacon ist fest entschlossen, diese Schlacht erfolgreich zu schlagen, um Kade an seiner Seite und zu seinen Füßen zu haben.

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An Underground Club Tale

Even within the context of the Underground BDSM Club, Joshua’s desires are dark and extreme. Hopelessly addicted to pain and the high it gives him, he has no limits. Joshua would quite literally rather die than use a safeword, and he accepts that might be his fate. As much as he depends on others, he has yet to find a man who can gain his trust, and he has little hope that he ever will.

For Nash, acquiring Joshua from another Dom at the club is only the first step in what will be a long and arduous road to lure the young man back from the brink of self-destruction. He must do the impossible and win Joshua’s trust, and he must be the one to set limits in their exploration—something he’s unaccustomed to as a Dom. But Nash knows dominance doesn’t always mean pushing a submissive’s boundaries. It’s about establishing a bond and fulfilling another man’s needs. In Joshua’s case, he’ll have to strike a balance between meeting the young man’s expectations and drawing firm lines that will save Joshua from himself.

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Grant Beaudoin should be thrilled to escape Minneapolis at Christmastime and grateful to lounge on a Hawaiian beach. Instead he is mired in self-pity and drowning in too much tequila. His twin is marrying the perfect man, while Grant is stuck in middle management with no love life in sight. A walk into the rain forest leads to a meeting with a doomed man who has a story about a holiday that predates Christmas. Grant comes to realize that difficult endings can lead to new beginnings—and perhaps a brighter future.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Keith Walker, a mall bookstore employee, is struggling to get through another miserable holiday season while trying to preserve a crumbling long-term relationship. One of his few comforts is his morning coffee made by a good-looking, younger barista. Austin Novak felt an attraction when Keith started frequenting the coffee shop, but he doesn’t think the older man has any interest in him or his graphic novel collection.

A Christmas week snowstorm buries the city and locks Keith’s car into its parking spot. Keith decides to show Austin his gratitude for helping free the car from the ice with a dinner invitation. The meal becomes complicated when Austin meets Keith’s boyfriend, Shawn, and things go downhill from there when Shawn announces he’s heading to Cancún with his coworkers. Keith is caught between keeping his boyfriend happy and keeping his job. But Keith might not need a plane ticket to find the happiness that’s been missing from his life.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Being rich has its advantages, but it is also rife with suffocating pressures and family telling Chandler Buckingham how to live his life. When his assistant offers to help him escape the mounting obligations of the holiday season by running away to Hawaii, Chandler jumps at the chance. Only to find nothing is quite as he’d expected.

Micah Keolu has lived in Hawaii all his life. He has to work two jobs and has little time for a social life, but his loving family and the island beauty around him have given him a heart as big as the ocean. And then one day he rescues a man trapped in an elevator in the building where Micah lives and works maintenance.

The unexpected happens as they find themselves drawn together, only to learn there is more to each other than meets the eye. Can two men from very different worlds find a way to enrich each other’s lives? Maybe the magic of the holidays just might bring them lasting joy!

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Carlos Mendez spends all year working hard at his Houston-based landscaping business, and he sends every spare penny he earns back to his family in Mexico. By the time the holidays roll around, he doesn’t have much patience for the unadulterated greed and consumerism paraded past him. But a chance meeting with his neighbor, Ned Williams, and Ned’s cancer-stricken daughter, might help to remind him of the real meaning of the season—something beyond the gaudy lights and extravagant displays—something he wants to be a part of.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Federal park ranger Carter Williams dislikes kids almost as much as he dislikes Christmas. He chose his career to escape human contact, not embrace it. And no matter how much his husband Owen tries to sway his opinion, Carter is a grump who would rather ignore the holiday. Owen’s efforts are put on hold, however, when they get a call about six missing foster kids lost in the park.

Christmas Eve takes a turn for the worse when Owen injures himself rescuing the children. Stranded in a snowstorm until dawn, Carter has to keep Owen awake and healthy while simultaneously watching six runaways. What he thinks is a nightmare come to life is actually a beautiful gift in disguise—the kids transform the ranger station into a Christmas wonderland. And before it’s all said and done, they might transform Carter’s heart as well—if he can keep his bah humbug attitude in check.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Dumped by his ex on Christmas Eve two years ago, Oxford Street department store manager Richard Barratt now hates the holidays. Things go from bad to worse when the store's usual Santa is too ill to reprise his role and the firm sends cocky but handsome Blaine Ryder to take his place. The attraction between the two is clear, but Blaine is an incorrigible player who reminds Richard of his ex. His idea of a relationship is a quick roll in the hay, and his advances have Richard running for the hills. It might take some special intervention for both of them to realize they can change enough to have a chance at a holiday romance.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Hill hates Christmas.

The shoppers. The cheer. The drama. All of it.

Each holiday season is a painful reminder that seven years before, his lover, Drew, walked out of his life and moved across the country, leaving Hill like a cup of rotten eggnog. Now Drew is back and wants Hill to put a little jingle in his bells. Well, not this Scrooge.

Drew admits he moved to get away from Hill—but not for the reasons Drew gave him all those years ago. Some of his best memories are of Christmases he celebrated with Hill, and he wants nothing more than to spend a little holly jolly with the only man he’s ever loved. However, getting Hill to agree to a reunion is going to take a Christmas miracle.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Master Captain Theodore Gourdin has always loved the ocean. But his devotion to maritime life left little possibility for a long-term relationship. After two failed marriages, Theo gave up on finding the person who completed him and decided the sea was his soul mate. When offered the opportunity to captain the newly launched megayacht Eternity, Theo jumped at the chance. With Eternity’s maiden voyage looming, Theo focused all his energies on hiring his crew and readying his ship. The last thing he expected was to finally lose his heart in the process.

After twelve years at sea, First Officer Heath Rawlins was restless and in need of a change. A gay seaman’s life could be a lonely one, but to Heath the positives far outweighed the negatives. With excellent recommendations and an impressive résumé, he was quickly offered a position on the private megayacht Eternity. Heath’s heart skipped several beats when he finally met the ship’s captain. He was handsome and charming. And… familiar? Had they met somewhere before? Highly unlikely. But as smitten as Heath was with the gorgeous captain, everything inside him screamed, Abandon ship! Rough seas ahead!

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Il suo futuro era deciso finché un ladro non gli ha rubato il cuore.

Tutta Clyde’s Corner, nel Montana, sa che l’elegantissimo Chris Ramsey sposerà Trix Stubben, giovane vedova ed erede del ranch più ricco della zona. Una donna, però, non è troppo entusiasta all’idea. Mabe Crassen vuole mettere le mani sul ranch, così assegna al figlio maggiore il compito di corteggiare Trix e al minore, Jeremy, quello di distrarre Chris e di portarlo su un’altra strada.

Jeremy Crassen pensa che il piano di sua madre sia folle, ma vuole andare al college a tutti i costi, e Mabe gli darà il permesso soltanto se sedurrà Chris. Come farà il timido e virginale gay non dichiarato Jeremy ad attrarre Chris, che sembra determinato a fare la cosa giusta e a sposare Trix? Jeremy non potrà mai competere con una ricca *donna* vedova. O forse sì?

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a Winter Ball novel

Mason Hayes’s love life has a long history of losers who don’t see that Mason’s heart is as deep and tender as his mouth is awkward. He wants kindness, he wants love—and he wants someone who thinks sex is as fantastic as he does. When Terry Jefferson first asks him out, Mason thinks it’s a fluke: Mason is too old, too boring, and too blurty to interest someone as young and hot as his friend’s soccer teammate.

The truth is much more painful: Mason and Terry are perfectly compatible, and they totally get each other. But Terry is still living with his toxic, suffocating parent and Mason doesn’t want to be a sugar daddy. Watching Terry struggle to find himself is a long lesson in patience, but Mason needs to trust that the end result will be worth it, because finally, he’s found a man worth sharing his heart with.

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Rose and Thorne: Book Three

Secrets is a dirty word when it comes to relationships. What you don’t say can not only hurt you, it can bite you in the butt.

After almost five years together, Vinnie and Ethan have a policy of don’t ask, don’t tell. But unspoken questions between them are a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. An innocent remark by a friend starts an insecure Vinnie wondering about things he never considered before… such as why he hasn’t met Ethan’s family. Is he the love of Ethan’s life or just his dirty little secret? And what hasn’t he told Ethan about his own past?

An emergency phone call from Ethan’s twin sister sends them rushing to Georgia. In order to be with Ethan, Vinnie conforms to what Ethan’s family expects by being something he is not. Not everything is what it seems as Vinnie and Ethan work to redefine what family means to each of them.

Sometimes the ties that bind are the ones that might just break you.

The author is donating 10% of the royalties from this book to No Kid Hungry. Visit nokidhungry.org for more information about this organization.

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Professional football player Hunter Davis is learning that saying he’s gay is very different from actively being in a relationship with another man—especially in the eyes of his teammates and fans. So when Hunter needs a personal assistant to keep him organized, he asks for a woman in order to prevent tongues from wagging.

Montgomery Willis badly needs to find work before he loses everything. There’s just one position at the agency where he applies, but the problem is, he’s not a woman. And he knows nothing about football. Still, Hunter gives him a chance, but only because Monty’s desperate. 

Monty soon proves his worth by saving Hunter’s bacon on an important promotional shoot, and Hunter realizes he might have someone special working for him—in more ways than one. Monty’s feelings come to the surface during an outing in the park when Hunter decides to teach Monty a bit about the game, and pictures surface of them in some questionable positions. Hunter is reminded that knowing he’s gay and seeing evidence in the papers are two very different things for the other players, and he might have to choose between two loves: football and Monty.

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Dare: Book Two

Christophori Romanoff is an expert at being the perfect son for his homophobic father. But maintaining the facade comes with a heavy price, and when he swears off anonymous sex and getting drunk every night, he needs his friends more than ever. Only he’s convinced they’re busy with their own lives and better off without his interference. On the surface Chris is fine, but underneath the expensive suit and the law degree he got only to please his father, he’s breaking apart from the pressure, and he falls back on his oldest—and most dangerous—coping mechanism.

Samuel Mealamu hoped to hear from Chris soon after their last good-bye in Montana, but as the months go by without a word, he realizes what they started was one-sided. Still, he worries about the destructive path Chris was on and hopes the silence means he’s doing better. But nearly a year later, Chris finally calls, and it’s obvious he’s in trouble. Samuel thinks he’s seen Chris at his worst, but this new, far more broken man might be too much for even Samuel to help.

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