Howdy y'all!

We are less than three weeks from the start of school term and in truth, I can't wait. While my son insists I was a great teacher for all those pre-summer weeks, he's excited to hang out with his new teacher, but even more so, his friends and I can't wait for some semblance of normality around here. If only I could kick the husband back to his office and have some actual space! Are your schools re-opening? Are you sending your kids? No judgement here, y'all, it's a safe space. Our schools are all opening, our R number seems to be at an 'acceptable' level and we haven't have a C-19 related death in weeks. Our economy is going through a slow-roll re-open and we're now under a mandatory mask order if we're out in shops and what not.

We are also six weeks from launch day and I'm already getting caught up in anxiety and my feelings. I've set myself a goal to hit 40 pre-orders before launch and I'm currently sitting at 36. If you plan on buying this book, lemme tell ya, now's the time to do it, if not to help me hit my goal of 40 pre-orders and stop my compulsive refreshing of the pre-order page, then do it to save yourself some coin.

It'll only be $2.99 until it's launched and then it goes to full price. To pre-order, go here.

What's in it for you? Well, Jeremy, for one. If you've read my Lisa Millar series, or my AJ William's series, you'll be familiar with Jeremy and that's who this book is about.

For those of you new to my list who haven't caught up with my series, here's the important deets:

Sexy, smart mouthed college boy, Jeremy Lewis is back in his own series! 

Hockey player

Bromance shenanigans with the adorable AJ Williams 

Sassy, classy and bad-assy women who tie our boy up in knots

Just cause I love y'all, I'm gonna give you a sneaky peek of chapter 1, RIGHT NOW!

Chapter 1

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

A weary voice disrupted his thoughts. Jeremy slowly pulled his gaze from his phone and gave a quick glance around before settling on the owner of the voice. The game hadn’t started yet, and while Huntsville Alabama wasn’t exactly the hockey capital of the universe, Jeremy was surprised at just how many people had crammed themselves into Buffalo Wild Wings for a Thursday night this early in the sporting season.

There must be another game on tonight, there’s no way everyone is here for hockey – even if it is the season opener!

“Sure,” he answered, gesturing a dismissive hand toward the empty seat facing him. “Go ahead.”

Turning his attention back to Tinder, Jeremy’s stomach grumbled loudly and he wondered just how long he was going to have to wait for his food to appear.

“Thanks, man.” The stranger sounded grateful as he pulled the stool back and sat down, placing his table number next to Jeremy’s. He let out an exhausted sigh. “It’s the only empty seat in the house; must be a baseball game on or something.”

“Season finished last week,” Jeremy replied, not lifting his eyes from his screen. “Basketball, probably.”

“Lil early, no? It’s only the 5^th.”

“Pre-season.”

“Ah, my bad. Still a big crowd though, maybe I missed a Freshers’ memo,” he mused as he scanned the busy restaurant.

Jeremy shrugged and hoped that was the end of the polite chit-chat. He was here to eat chicken, wash it down with a few beers while watching the game, and that was it. He’d caught a glimpse of a few beautiful women congregating at the bar, though, and the stirring in his pants reminded him it had been way too long since he got laid.

Like two weeks too long.

The unsolicited guest fell silent and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Excellent.

Jeremy’s food arrived just as the anthems finished. The teams were settling in for the opening face-off and he realized that his table buddy was there for the hockey game as well. There were TV screens of varying sizes dotted around and there was a different sport showing on each. The guy sitting across from him had angled his chair so he could better see the large screen Jeremy was settled in to watch too. Jeremy smiled to himself as he wondered whether the stranger, who was also wearing his ball-cap on back to front, was cheering for Jeremy’s beloved Toronto Maple Leafs, or the Buffalo Sabres. As the server placed the baskets of steaming food on the table in front of him, he noted the visitor’s eyebrows rise in surprise, probably at the sheer volume of food Jeremy had ordered.

“That’s a lot of chicken,” he commented with a smile and a disbelieving shake of his head before returning his attention to the game which had finally started.

“I have no shame, man. I’m famished, feel free to help yourself until your food arrives, though,” he offered with a tilt of his chin toward the table. He found he had to almost shout to be heard over the busy bustle of the sports bar.

What the fuck? Why would you even offer that? You hate sharing your food at the best of times, never mind with a complete stranger!

Stunned at his own offer, Jeremy watched as the stranger cocked his head with a knowing smirk and he wondered if his face was betraying his horror at having made such a crazy offer.

“It’s ok, thanks. I’ll wait.”

“Nah, for real, go ahead. There’s obviously plenty for both of us,” he insisted, feeling a flush creep up his spine. “I mean it.” He was trying to sound genuine but from the look of uncertainty on the visitor’s face, Jeremy was pretty sure he was quickly regretting having sat next to the weirdo with too much chicken. He momentarily wondered if he was giving off ‘murderous don’t-touch-my-chicken vibes.’

“AJ,” the stranger smiled and reached his hand across the baskets of food scattered across the table between them.

Jeremy eyed the outstretched hand with curiosity.

“Well, I kinda figure if I’m gonna eat another man’s chicken wings, I should probably introduce myself first, y’know?” AJ gave Jeremy a lopsided grin.

“Oh! Right, yeah. Don’t take another man’s meat if you aren’t on first name terms – that’s a good rule of thumb, or … eh, wing I guess,” he nodded towards the food with an exaggerated wink as he closed his hand around AJ’s and shook. “Jeremy,” he paused. “Jeremy Lewis.”

“Ah the adventurer has returned!” AJ announced, as he let go of Jeremy’s hand and proceeded to help himself to a chicken wing.

“Uhm … what?” Jeremy paused; chicken wing in hand.

“The hockey team met with the coach a couple days ago, he said our golden boy, ‘hotshot’ hadn’t yet returned from a year abroad and would be a little late to the party.”

As he spoke, Jeremy could have sworn he picked up a slight Canadian lilt to the man’s accent, but considering how bad he was at placing accents, he could as easily have been from Minnesota. He dismissed the thought as a desperate pang of homesickness making him hear things he wanted to hear rather than was actually said.

Hot shot, eh? What the hell else did Coach tell you guys in my absence?

“Ah, yeah. I got back late last night. I figured nothing really happens during the first week of term anyway.”

“You rebel, you!” AJ barely looked up as he picked up his third wing and started to pull the meat from the bone with his teeth. “Year out, eh? Where’d you go?”

“Europe,” he answered, curtly.

And please just let that conversation die right now ʼcause I don’t want to talk about why I took a year out right now, thank you very much.

When AJ seemed to take the hint and didn’t reply, Jeremy took a bite. “Fuck,” he closed his eyes for a minute and savored the experience. “And damn did I miss chicken wings.”

“Not just wings, man.” Jeremy opened his eyes in time to see that AJ was very clearly amused at how close Jeremy’s experience with the wings seemed to come to being spiritual. “Bdubs,” he waved a wing in a small flourish as if for effect.

“Damn fuckin’ straight.”

He polished off a few more wings as the men watched the game together in contented silence – or rather as silent as anyone could manage while surrounded by newbie college students getting very quickly drunk. The server brought AJ his food and another round of beer for the both of them. The huge and noisy crowd that had overwhelmed the place began to dissipate before either spoke again.

Guess they weren’t here for a game after all, then.

“So, you’re on the team too, eh?” he gestured at AJ with a half-eaten wing.

“Yeah,” AJ nodded, as he plowed through the mountain of food on the table between them. “I’m ‘The Muscle’,” he used his barbecue sauce covered fingers to air quote his title and flexed his bicep before throwing an eye roll and turning his attention back to the food.

“Ah, you don’t seem nearly assholey enough to be, well, an asshole.”

“Thanks, I think. Though I don’t need to be an asshole, until I need to be an asshole, y’know?”

Jeremy nodded and glanced at the TV in time to see the Sabres get their second goal of the game so far. He cursed, loudly. The second period had just started and they’d scored in less than a minute.

AJ chuckled and shook his head. “We have no hope.”

“Keep the faith, man,” Jeremy insisted.

AJ looked at him as though he’d lost his mind and shrugged as he ate another wing. Without taking his eyes off the screen, AJ asked, “So, which part of Canada are you from, Jer?”

“What makes you think I’m not from right here in the beautiful south?” Jeremy added a deliberately thick southern twang to his question while side-eying his new teammate.

“Dude, c’mon. I spent most of my childhood up north; I know a Canuck when I see one. Bet you’ve even got a flask of maple syrup strapped to your ankle and everything,” AJ joked, pausing from the diminishing pile of chicken wings to take a pull of his beer and sliding back against his chair.

Ah ha! I was right!  

“West Lorne, Ontario. You?”

“Born right here in Huntsvegas, but we moved up to Toronto when I was a baby.”

Jeremy nodded. “What brought you back to the deep south for college?”

AJ shrugged and tugged at the label on his beer. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. You?”

“Same.”

It’s pretty much as far away from home as I could get.

Home.

A pang of homesickness struck in his chest, and pushing it down quickly, he turned his attention back to the game. Realizing AJ’s gaze was still on him Jeremy glanced back across the table.

“What?” he asked, shortly.

“Nothin’,” AJ held his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. “Family trouble.” It was a statement rather than a question, but it still managed to ignite something within Jeremy.

“What?” Jeremy demanded again, feeling his anger bubbling not too far beneath the surface.

Jesus, Jer. Calm the fuck down, the guy’s just making polite conversation.

“Well,” AJ paused, flexing his jaw, clearly reconsidering his decision to bring up the conversation. “Things with my dad were getting tense up north. He was getting on my case about what I was going to do with my life and what he thought I should be doing with my life. I just couldn’t take the pressure anymore; I needed space.”

“So you said, ‘Fuck you, Dad. I’m moving to the heart of the south and as far away from you as I can get without buying a sombrero and learning another language.’ I getcha.” Jeremy nodded thoughtfully, recalling similar conversations with his own father.

“Pretty much,” AJ smirked. “He was big mad at first, especially when I told him I was going to do a sports management degree and play hockey. He came pretty close to cutting me off. Mom talked him down, though. In the end he kinda threw his hands up and said ‘learn your own damn mistakes’, which is pretty much all I wanted in the first place.”

“Except now you’re in Alabama.”

“Yeah, except that.”

Jeremy picked up his bottle and raised it. “To the heart of the south,” he grinned, “and epic fucking chicken wings.”

AJ clinked his bottle and glanced back to the TV, grimacing. “And to loving a team that’s never gonna win shit, but we love them anyway.”

“Woah, woah, woah, there. Dude.” Jeremy took a gulp of beer and put the bottle on the table with more force than he intended. “The season has barely started; you gotta have faith, playa!”

Jeremy winced as the Sabres scored their third goal of the game and AJ grinned. “Seems like what we ‘gotta have’, Jer, is a mother fuckin’ miracle.”

“Touché!” 

To pre-order your copy of FLF click here, and don't forget to click the banner below to join my reader group on Facebook - I have a couple EPIC giveaways coming up for my upcoming launch!

Until next time,

I have a few great books to share this week, you'll have to let me know if you pick any of them up!! I have a particular fondness for dark mafia romance, so let me know what you think of the Italian Marriage!!

If it were up to me, the choice would be easy

Die

But I have to live. I won't let my son be raised by the devil that killed his father.

Enzio Lanza owns my dead husband's life. He even has his face.

My husband's twin killed his own brother and inherited his kingdom, his wife and child included.

I will marry the monster that ripped my family and heart apart

I will teach my boy how to finish what his father started before he was shot by his own twin brother

We will have our revenge, one kill at a time

I'll leave Enzio Lanza to the end, and I won't make it quick.

The Italian Marriage is a forbidden dark Italian Mafia arranged marriage standalone.

Staying with someone who is supposed to love you, but instead hurts you, takes its toll. I faced betrayal, but I fought my way out, and now I just want to forget. Is he the one to help me believe in love again, or is the broken, jagged road from my past making it too hard to move on, let alone find love?

A Protector's Touch is a steamy, suspenseful new adult college romance story of survival, second chances, and of finding love and one's self again. Trigger warning: Story contains references to past intimate partner violence, but this is in no way graphic.

Runaway Tess

A new job and a new city every few months is what Tess lives for. The adventure of constant change drives her passion for travel nursing. At least that's what she's been telling herself for years. Going back home for a family wedding, her sister sets her up on a blind date and Tess quickly falls for Evan, the perfect gentleman, even if it was for one night only.

When her next move takes her home for the summer, a chance encounter brings her right back into Evan's arms. However, falling in love quickly brings up old memories and flashbacks from a time Tess had long ago tried to forget. The deeper in love she falls, the more she realizes how the events of the past have shaped who she is. Tess must dig deep within herself, reliving the past, and question her real reasons for living her life the way she does if she wants to truly fall in love.

Who's got a thing for sports romance? Well, if you're on my list and love my boys Jeremy and AJ, chances are it's your bag. Here's a link to 11 sports romances for y'all to check out!

Almost 200 freebie romance reads are up next - including my own epilogue novella All of My Days from the Lisa Millar Series if you haven't yet bagged yourself a copy of that, now's the time!

In this months Ladies Love Literature promo we have over 160 teasers, samples, and excerpts for y'all to take a look at. Including my own epilogue novella No Matter What from the AJ Williams series.