My name is Tess Owens, and my life is officially on fire. I never thought dancing at my best friend's wedding would be the match to light the flames. But with one lingering touch, one longing look . . . and one sneaky caterer holding a camera phone, my almost ex-husband is ready to torch my entire life.
Unwilling to face the heat, I do what I do best: I run. Straight into the arms of Rachel and her team of NHL hockey players. One player stands apart from the rest. Jacksonville Rays star forward Ryan Langley is out with an injury. I get the surprise of my life when he shows up at my door, declaring himself my roommate.
Now I have six weeks to launch a new business. Six weeks to fight for my freedom . . . all while fighting my growing attraction to this All-American sweetheart. Did I mention he's ten years younger than me?
I want to believe him when he says age is just a number. I want to believe that our pasts don't define us forever. But first I have to stop running. With one innocent dance, Ryan Langley helped me start this fire. What if we're meant to fan these flames? What if, together, we're meant to burn?
Why You Should Read This Book
Tropes
Trigger Warnings
Pucking Wild
“Sweet puppy, you listen to me now. If you think you have what it takes to ride this rollercoaster, you are sorely mistaken. In your current state, you wouldn’t make it up the first hill.”
“She’s fucking everything, alright? I’m fucking—I’m obsessed with her.”
“All I thought about the whole ride home was how beautiful you are in that dress and how much I want to fuck you in it.”
“Well, you look like you just got fucked six ways to Sunday.”
“Woman, let me work. I will take you to the couch and finish you there. And if you’re very good, we may just end in the bed. But I’m tasting you right here, right now, before I quite literally die of thirst. Now, spread your legs and hold onto something.”
“I’m who I’m meant to be now. With them, I’m me. Jake, Caleb, and Ilmari, they’re my reason. So, I’m not walking down that aisle tonight. I’m running. I’m running to them, Tess. I’m going home.”
“Well, you’re fucking gorgeous, and you know it. I’d be the biggest liar in the world if I said I didn’t want you wrapped around me like naked bark on a tree.”
“You’re in sister-fucking territory right now, asshole. Which is against, like, every code in the hockey bro handbook. No moms, no sisters. You’re lucky we don’t have you in a headlock on the floor.”
“Jake, I love you. I’ve loved you for ten fucking years. I loved you in secret. I loved you like a coward. I didn’t deserve to be loved by you in return—not until I got out of my own damn way. But I needed a little help. I needed a push.”
“The rules are simple: We’re friends who fuck to feel good. You can’t offer more. I’m not taking more. I’m asking you, as your friend, if you’d like to orgasm on my face. Say yes, and I’ll even let you pick which episode of SOA we watch after.”
“I know you’re just trying to be her friend right now and protect her. I know you’re scared for her. I’m fucking scared too. What she’s going through is scary. But I’m not going anywhere, okay? Fuck being friends. I am crazy about that woman, so just back the fuck off. All of you.”
“My home is me. It’s been me all along. I am everything I need. I am enough just as I am. I am smart and driven. I’m kind. I’m passionate and funny and sexy as hell.”
“You’re my dream girl. So long as you’re on this earth and breathing, I know what I want. I know what I’m working towards.”
“Listen to me, Tess. I don’t know who you were before. All I know is who you are now. And from the first moment we met, not five hundred yards down this exact stretch of beach, you have been the only thing I see.”
“But first I’m eating your pussy until you come on my face.”
“Do you really think I would ever look sideways at another woman when I have this goddess at my feet?”
“Things are replaceable. Job skills are transferable. Your life and your well-being are the only things that matter. Let everything else go.”
“For the record, I think she’s wrong. I googled words that mean the opposite. You may have ruined me for all other women, but you’re not a calamity, Tess. You’re a godsend. A blessing. A windfall…I had to google that one too.”
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