Showing results by author "Crea Reitan" in All Categories

Egon Wolf is on a hockey scholarship but failing at everything else. Knowing he's going to lose his ride if he doesn't get his academic act together, he seeks out a tutor. Rakesh Aahnu is a dual major and dangerous when bored. What he enjoys more than anything is the challenge of making straight men fall for him before walking away. Just because he can. Both Egon and Rakesh are about to discover that life has a way of throwing you in the sin bin when you least expect it.

It's a new start—brand new school in a completely different state. For the first time, I now have the freedom to be unapologetically me. But as my luck would have it, I have shit taste in men. The first man to pay me a compliment has so many red flags, that I think I'm in a storm. Life can't get any worse… until he turns into a stalker. Then my stalker ends up brutally murdered, I walk blindly into a serial killer's nest, and I catch the attention of a sociopath.

I've made my life a complete facade. It works for me. I'm successful and have a career I wouldn't trade for anything. One night threatens all of my carefully constructed walls. A single night with one of my players unlocks and unleashes a secret need in me to submit, and now I'm willing to put everything on the line to be his perfect submissive. Even at the cost of my career.

Even a gay athlete has an appearance to uphold. There are a handful out in every sport and while every trashy magazine wants to get the scoop on what the gays are up to, looking for a scandal and a way to ruin us, every one of us is constantly on our best behavior. Acting a certain way, dressing a certain way, speaking a certain way. If the world knew the real me, it'd shudder. Lace. Pearls. Dresses. Collars. All I want is to be someone's pretty little doll that they dress up and tell me how pretty I am. I want to be loved for the real me, not the image I'm forced to show to the world.

My relationship with twins Damon and Declan has always been close. Too close, according to what society has deemed appropriate between guy friends. But that's never stopped our hugging and cuddling—in public or private. My best friends knew I didn't receive affection from home, so they never let me go without it.

Love can sneak up on you at the most inconvenient time. I've sacrificed everything to build Rainbow Dorset University into the beacon of safety and excellence that it's become. While my university thrives, all I have to show for my personal life are three grown kids who barely speak to me and an ex-wife who screams at me every chance she can get.

I clean up the streets of Anaheim from the hate one man left behind. On the surface, I work with the local authorities, but in secret, I kill those who hurt others. During a planned interception, we arrive on the scene too late, and a man's scream fills the streets. The moment I look upon his face, my entire life shifts to make him the center. Instead of going to a hospital, I bring him home. Now, I need to figure out how to nurse him back to health, and hope he can accept my quirks so I can keep him.

I've been secretly married for eight years. Why is it a secret? Because having an open marriage splashed all over headlines isn't a good look. We'd constantly be under the spotlight, our lives and relationships judged. That's not the kind of hockey player I want to be known for, especially because we play for different teams. Although most of my relationships outside of my marriage are passing, I've been pining over my best friend and teammate for years. Years! Just as I decide that maybe it's time to see where this leads, management throws an unexpected play in our faces.

Life has taught me not to get attached to anyone because they'll only let you down, but I can't stop myself from falling in love with my roommate and frat brother the moment we meet. Nothing can possibly go wrong when I agree to be his fake boyfriend for the holidays, right? One kiss under the mistletoe changes everything, and the childhood make-believe suddenly morphs into so much more. There's only one problem—this arrangement is only for Christmas, and then we're back to being only friends when we return to school.

This wasn't supposed to happen to me. I'm supposed to be at the top of my career. Untouchable. Worshiped. Finally proving to all the jerks in my life that I made it. I'm at the top. Then a video that shouldn't exist leaks and everything comes crashing down. I'm about to lose it all and I can't seem to get out of my own way. My agent banishes me to a place that technology can't touch while he tries to salvage my career.

I've lived a very quiet life, keeping my deepest secrets close to my chest. I let no one in, not even my closest friends. When I'm invited to participate in the All-Star Games, I'm suddenly forced to share a hotel room—and a single bed—with a stranger. My carefully guarded world starts to come undone when he kisses me, and I can't get enough.

After a series of relationships where I've been made to feel inadequate because of my asexuality, I've made the sole focus of my life my coaching career. I love hockey—the chill of the ice, the fast-paced, high-stress game. I love the fans and the atmosphere. The energy. Now that I'm coaching in the NHL, I feel a sense of serenity and comfort with life. All that's left is to get my team to the Stanley Cup. The frustration that my boys feel echoes through me, and after one of the most horrible plays I've ever witnessed, I turn my back on the ice—only to catch his eyes.

High school sweethearts, dream wedding, exotic honeymoon, white picket fence, two and a half kids… that's the dream. My prescribed future. Except, I don't want any of that. When my on/off girlfriend of fifteen years and I finally called it quits for good, I decided that I'm ready for a new beginning. I didn't expect that new beginning to be a dude.

I've wanted one thing for as long as I can remember—someone to love, a family, and a happily ever after. I finally found it with the least likely person across the street. Our life together has been dipped in espresso and given a massive jolt forward, but we couldn't be happier. That is, until someone threatens that happiness and I'm forced to respond in order to protect my family that's barely begun. I didn't mean for this relationship to begin bathed in blood, but I will do anything to protect the love I've waited decades for.

Mama said monsters will kill you. My Mama taught me everything she knew right up until the day that monsters killed her and my family, while leaving me and my young cousins alive. The beasts will kill you on sight. Monsters will do far worse. Yet, when a beast gets the best of me and I'm succumbing to its poison, it's a group of monsters that save my life. They show me that maybe Mama didn't know everything, and there might be a different narrative to the hostile world around me.

One mistake can ruin your life. I learned that at fifteen when my hormones got the best of me and I was landed with an unwanted pregnancy. My parents decided to punish me and forced me out of the sport I love to raise my child and provide for my newly forced-upon-us-both marriage. One mistake can cost a life. My life. If not for my best friend who rescued me and my daughter, I'd have ended it all.

I'll paint this moment immortal. Months of texting silly innuendos led to the hottest moment of my young life. Instead of dealing with the moment like an adult, I ghost him for nine days. Just when I think I'm ready to face him, he's on his way out to hook up. I lose my shit. Coming clean about past heartbreak isn't easy.

Sometimes when you meet your person, you immediately click, and all the pieces of your life fall into place. Instant best friends. Platonic soulmates. Hockey buddies and vacation partners. And sometimes, you don't even know you've fallen in love. When a joke about marrying my best friend is taken seriously, we embark on making it happen. I mean, Etna makes a strong argument for marriage, even though it was my teasing idea, so who am I to argue? For seven months, we hurtle toward a wedding and a life together that allows us to be best friends forever.

I've spent a short lifetime learning that what people say they want is rarely what they actually want. What I hope for is a relationship where both of us feel comfortable together. I think I've finally found what I'm looking for in a mail-order bride. Then he shows up. While I'm surprised, it doesn't take long for me to understand that he's everything I need and all I've ever wanted. But then he's gone, and I'm not sure what to do.

I've crushed on the wrong person for years, all because he showed me kindness in a time when I greatly needed it. But my coach isn't interested in me, and that's a hard pill to swallow. The man who is interested turns out to be someone I talk to almost every day. He bids on a date with me at a charity auction, and I take him on an adventurous kayaking picnic date on a large, remote lake in a valley surrounded by mountains. As it turns out, I doomed our date from the beginning by not taking note of the weather report.