Cover Reveal: Clueless Puckboy: Eden Finley and Saxon James
CLUELESS PUCKBOY
Puckboys - Book Five
Eden Finley & Saxon James
Pre-order Amazon
Genre: M/M Sports Romance
Trope: Workplace romance, player/trainer, close proximity, hockey
Trope: Workplace romance, player/trainer, close proximity, hockey
QUINN
Straining my groin is bad enough. It puts my hockey career, my future, but even worse, my dignity on the line.
Having to get massages in that area from Vance Landon, one of the team trainers, is mortifying.
It’s impossible to hide my feelings toward him. If my constant blushing and bumbling doesn’t give it away, my body does.
Trying to avoid him only makes him seek me out more. He’s determined to rehab my injury, but all I want is for him to leave me alone.
Or fall for me.
One or the other.
VANCE
Ayri Quinn isn’t your typical jock … except for the fact he refuses to admit when he’s injured.
I’ve seen more than enough professional sportsmen lose the career they love due to injury, and I’m not having it happen again.
Especially not when the guy in question happens to be the sweetest, most awkward, innocent jock I’ve ever met.
When a night out leads to Quinn reinjuring himself, I create a care plan that keeps me hands on, literally. Unfortunately, working with him in close proximity brings all those feelings I’ve been trying to ignore to the surface.
I just need to get him better so he can be back on the ice and out of my bed.
Ah, my massage bed.
Because if this goes on any longer, I might mean my actual bed.
Ayri Quinn is impossible to resist.
Quinn pulls to a fast stop, but his reaction time is slow. The stop, awkward, like he’s favoring his right side. It’s barely recognizable unless you’re looking for it, but it’s enough to tell me that bricks-for-brains is pushing through an injury.
Goddamn jocks never learn.
I’ve seen more than a handful of professional careers cut short, and it wasn’t due to injury. It all came down to sheer stupidity. Quinn’s adductor can be healed and strengthened, but if he won’t admit there’s an issue, I can’t help him. And I get it. This toxic mindset that to play hockey, you need to be invincible. If you take a skate to the face or rupture a ball sac, you slap on a Band-Aid and skate harder in the next period.
It’s possibly the only part of hockey I hate. Glorifying them putting their bodies on the line.
I drum my hands on my crossed arms while watching his every move, and no matter how many times Quinn puts on the brakes—whether it’s gradual or sudden—I’m convinced he’s being a moron.
We scrape through with the W, thanks to Dalton chipping the puck into the top corner while Boston’s goalie is looking the other way, and the crowd is absolutely loving the win. The team piles on each other, and it’s ridiculous how adorable I find the bear hug, but I’ll be keeping that thought to myself. Can’t go around emasculating the giant men with knife shoes and no teeth.
Normally I’d take off as soon as the game is over or, if it’s been a busy night, jump in and help Boone out, but tonight, I’ve got my sights set on Quinn. That little fucker is going to admit to me that he’s in pain because I can’t see another player lose everything because I didn’t want to step in. It’s not even my personal interest in him driving me; I’d do the same for any player. He’s one of the last off the ice, Dalton by his side as usual, and I fall into step beside them.
“Good game.”
Dalton grunts, and Quinn doesn’t say anything.
It makes my lips struggle with a smile. “How was your injury?”
“Ferfect.” Quinn’s eyes fly wide, and that ridiculous color splotches across his cheeks. “I mean, pine. I mean …” A frustrated sound is strangled by this throat. “Everything. Is. Okay.”
Do not laugh, do not laugh.
Stay professional. He’s adorable. But this is business time.
Dalton doesn’t have my issues. He sniggers, and Quinn shoves him, so Dalton pushes back harder. I barely catch Quinn before he can body-slam me into the wall. With his skates on, he’s got an inch or so height on me, and the padding makes him seem enormous, but it looks like he’s trying to shrink into it.
I’m used to touching his body, but not unexpectedly like this, and I let go quickly.
Quinn sends a bucketload of tension Dalton’s way while Dalton strolls along, ignoring it. My hands are in my pockets as I keep pace, wondering how to make this guy spill.
“No issues with acceleration?”
He shakes his sweaty head.
“What about turns?”
“Nope.”
Lying through his teeth. Wonderful. “And stops? They were smooth? Not at all painful?”
His hazel-gold eyes cut to mine. “Fine.”
We reach the locker room, and I put out an arm to silently hold Quinn back while Dalton enters.
I wait until the whole team has passed, then turn to him. “Here’s the thing; I don’t believe you.”
His stubborn mask slips, and he goes from big, bad hockey man to … nope, not adorable. Just Quinn. “What?”
“I was watching you out there. You weren’t skating like you normally do.”
“You, uh …” His lips twitch. “Watch? Me?”
“It’s my job.”
“Oh, yeah, totally, that’s obviously what I mean.”
How the hell does this guy get through press conferences? “Do you know where I worked before here?”
“No …”
“College football. The star running back on our team was having issues with his ACL. He’d had two minor tears, and there was talk of pulling him for the season until he’d been through rehab. He refused. I knew he wasn’t healed, but he swore black and blue that he was fine. He tore that fucker right up halfway through the season, and like that—” I snap my fingers. “—career over. Goodbye, NFL. He never even got the chance to play in the big leagues. He didn’t know what was truly on the line. You do.”
Quinn swallows thickly, looking like a kicked puppy.
“He wasn’t the first we lost to injury, but he was the first where I had a hunch he was bullshitting me.” I narrow my eyes at Quinn and his guilty expression. This poor guy is a terrible liar. “Just like I have a hunch you are.”
He clears his throat and shrugs, trying for an effortless smile. “I’m all good. Nothing to worry about here.”
I grit my teeth. “Keep lying, dickhead. I’ll get it out of you.”
“Are you allowed to talk to me like that?”
“You gonna tattle on me?” I tilt my head. “Because if you did, I’d have to tell them why I accused you of lying.”
Yeah, he doesn’t like that. Just like I knew he wouldn’t. But too many young, stubborn guys make the wrong choice, and I’m so fucking done watching it happen. It’s their career that they’re gambling with, and I get that’s their issue and not mine, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and do nothing.
“If I have any issues, I’ll let you know,” he says.
“No, you won’t.” I lean in. “But I’ll be watching closely, Quinn. And I’m sharing my concerns with Boone.”
“Wha—but. Do you have to? Like …”
Fuck me. His flustering is cute, but the goal here is to make sure he has a career to be pulled from, not stress him the fuck out.
“I’m putting together a training plan for you. Got it?”
He hurries to nod.
“And I want you back on my bed at least once a week so I can check up on tightness. Agreed?”
“Yep. Bed. Tight. Fine.”
I repeat my mantra not to laugh and cuff him on the shoulder pads instead. “I can work with that.”
“All right.”
“Good.”
“Fine.”
I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t resist. “Ferfect.”
EGOTISTICAL PUCKBOY
Puckboys - Book One
Add to Goodreads
Amazon
Kim's review
EZRA
Partying, dudes, and hockey. What more could a gay NHL player want?
If it weren't for Anton Hayes, my life would be perfect.
Not that he affects my life in any way. At all. That would imply I care what the winger from Philly thinks of me.
Which I don't.
Not even a one-night stand with him can thaw his misplaced animosity toward me.
He says I'm the one with the ego, but he can talk. He rivals me for most egotistical puck boy in the league.
I hate him as much as he hates me. Even if I crave a repeat.
ANTON
When it comes to hockey, I'm all about the game.
I've worked for years to be one of the best in the league, and l've done it without splashing my orientation all over the tabloids.
My hockey image is one I've carefully cultivated, and after one night with Ezra Palaszczuk, I risk it all.
He's cocky, obnoxious, and has an ego bigger than Massachusetts. And okay, maybe he's the sexiest man I've ever known.
We'll never get along. Not when we sleep together. Not even when my possessive streak awakens.
That doesn't stop us from falling into bed together over and over again.
IRRESPONSIBLE PUCKBOY
Puckboys - Book Two
Add to Goodreads
Kim's review
TRIPP
The worst part of being in love with my straight best friend is the fact he’s too oblivious to see it.
Years of pining have left me exhausted, and I need a break from Dex. I need space to get over my feelings. But when his relationship falls apart and he turns to me for comfort, I cave immediately.
If there’s one thing I hate more than being hurt, it’s seeing Dex struggle. I can’t leave him in a time of need, even if my friends say it’s my biggest downfall.
They say Dexter Mitchale is my weakness, but if that’s true, I don’t want to be strong.
DEX
I’ve always been the dumb one. It’s what I’m known for, and usually I don’t let it get to me.
I have hockey, and I have my best friend, Tripp. What more do I need?
To settle down? No thank you. Marriage? Hard pass.
According to ex-girlfriends, that makes me “irresponsible.”
But the solution I come up with to get over my fear of commitment might be my dumbest idea yet. Not only does it have team management breathing down my neck, but it puts a strain on my friendship with Tripp.
This PR nightmare could lose me the only person I’ve ever loved.
Losing girlfriends is nothing. Losing Tripp? It’s not an option.
I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him.
SHAMELESS PUCKBOY
Puckboys - Book Three
Kim's review
OSKAR
After a little mishap in an alleyway with CCTV, my public image needs fixing. Oops?
It might have been a stunt to get the attention of Lane Pierce, San Jose’s new PR manager, but I didn’t realize what the consequences would be when I did it. I’ve got Lane’s sole focus now in all the wrong ways.
He has designated himself as my babysitter, and while it’s fun messing with him, being bound by curfews and rules has never worked for me.
The more I push back, the more I realize what’s really on the line. My career, my future, and maybe even my heart.
LANE
Being appointed head of San Jose’s PR department was a dream come true … until I met Oskar Voyjik.
He may be San Jose royalty, but with the stunts Oskar’s been pulling, the team owner is down to his last thread of patience. Which puts me in the firing line. If I can’t turn Oskar’s entitled party boy image around, we’ll both be shown the door.
I have free rein to do whatever it takes, and it turns out whatever it takes is Oskar.
Only, the more entangled our lives become, the more I see the Oskar he’s buried deep down. The one who hurts, the one who’s sensitive and kind, the one … the one I think I’m falling for.
I can’t have him and my career, and if rumors of the professional lines I’ve crossed get out, it’s not only my dream job I can kiss goodbye; I’ll be disgraced from professional sports completely.
FOOLISH PUCKBOY
Puckboys - Book Four
Add to Goodreads
Kim's review
ALEKS
After my divorce, I’m ready to have fun, date around, and not get into anything serious. Then I meet Gabe Crosby, superhero firefighter and a disgrace to the Crosby name. He doesn’t even like hockey!
Yet, there’s a draw to him I can’t deny—something I haven’t felt since my teens. But that’s the problem. I have no idea what dating is like, let alone how to do it with another man. He makes me flakey and nervous, and I’ve never been that guy.
Gabe turns me inside out and upside down in the best possible ways. I only recently became single, but if I continue to chase after him, I might not stay that way for long.
GABE
When I meet Aleksander Emerson during an emergency call-out, there are three things that catch my attention: his sexy tattoos, his kind eyes, and his drunken offer to have my babies.
He’s new to Seattle and recently divorced, so I take him under my wing–and under my sheets. I’m showing him what the world of hookups is like, only those hookups turn into sleepovers and dates and public displays of jealousy.
Aleks is in his casual era, and I’m working my way toward settling down and starting a family. What the two of us have is fun, but not a good idea permanently.
Too bad Aleks has already set my life on fire.
Eden Finley
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | FB Reader Group | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
She doesn't take anything too seriously and lives to create an escape from real life for her readers. The ideas always begin with a wackadoodle premise, and she does her best to turn them into romances with heart.
With a short attention span that rivals her son's, she writes multiple different pairings: MM, MMF, and MF.
She's also an Australian girl and apologises for her Australianisms that sometimes don't make sense to anyone else.
Saxon James
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | FB Reader Group | Twitter | Instagram
Saxon James unapologetically writes happy endings for LGBT+ characters.
While not writing, SM is a readaholic and Netflix addict who regularly lives on a sustainable diet of chocolate and coffee.
Member of SCBWI.
One of Five eARC's for Clueless Puckboy
a Rafflecopter Giveaway
0 comments