26/03/2025

Specimen by C. Quince 

RECENT RELEASE

Book Title:  Specimen 

Author: C. Quince 

Publisher: Ninestar Press 

Cover Artist: HolBat 

Release Date: March 11, 2024

Tense/POV: third person/past tense/alternating POV

Genre:  MM paranormal/alien/sci-fi romance

Themes: Enemies to lovers, mystery, thriller, action adventure, spies, frenemies, forced proximity, colleagues

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length:  105 000 words/ 300 pages 

It is the first book of a series. 

The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger as the mysteries are ongoing, 

but the couple are solidly together.

Goodreads

Buy Links

NineStar Press  |  Universal Link

A former US Marine and a British M16 Intelligence agent find more in common than attraction. 

Blurb

David Cortez, a decorated US Marine, is now on the run from his own government after escaping a top-secret CIA lab when an experimental medical procedure turned sour.

While lying low in Mexico, an assassin sent from British Intelligence tracks him down. However, Sonny from MI6, a British-Iranian with a cockney accent, offers David a choice: join his team, or be killed.

David chooses to work with Sonny, not only because he wants his life back, but because he feels a kinship with the man.

They’re also both in the unique position of being the only living test subjects with alien DNA in their blood. Could that explain the strong attraction between them?

Excerpt

Sonny opened the brief. Inside, the first page was stamped TOP SECRET in big letters, which always made him want to laugh, along with the usual disclaimers typed out manually from a typewriter. Sonny breezed past all that and looked at the mission itself. What he saw was a collected file on one man: former US Marine, last known employment in private security. The collected photos were from past ID’s like Marine Corps and the DMV, and included some candids and hospital patient logs.

Handsome guy, Sonny thought idly. Tan skin, short brown hair, a strong jawline. Sonny was unsure of the guy’s ethnicity until he clocked the name.

“The file is Sergeant David Luis Cortez,” Shepherd said. “US Marines scout sniper.” She sat down at the opposite end of the table to Guv. “Peak physical health while on duty,” she went on. “Loyal. Follows orders. Impressive stats. Fifty-two confirmed kills, one of which being a one-and-a-half-mile sniper shot from a thirty-storey window.”

Sonny felt equally annoyed and impressed to hear that. He was the trick shot in this division, and he didn’t need another hotshot coming for his wig.

“Served in Afghanistan, Sudan, and South America, as well as several black ops missions. Honourable discharge, moved onto private security and diplomatic detail,” Shepherd went on. “Assigned to US diplomat Philip Sherman, thwarted an assassination attempt, but fell victim to poisoning from thallium sulphate.”

Sonny leafed through the hospital files. These medical records were official, along with a copy of the death certificate.

Sonny guessed what had happened before Shepherd confirmed it: they had another resurrected government experiment on their hands. Sonny should know; he was one himself.

“His condition in civilian hospital deteriorated,” Shepherd explained. “Through an Army connection, Cortez was recommended for special medical trials, codenamed Trial X. His first round of tests proved successful, when not many subjects pass that stage…” She glanced up pointedly. “As we well know.”

Sonny kept quiet and lifted his cup to take a sip. The slurp was noisy in the quiet room.

Guv gave Sonny a warning look. Sonny stopped slurping and smirked. He’d made his point. He was a special case who’d survived testing and was worth his weight in gold. He got away with murder on a daily basis.

“So,” Shepherd continued, “the CIA faked Cortez’s death, and moved him to one of their black sites for further testing. Cortez was renamed Specimen X.”

Sonny turned the page and saw copies of top secret CIA medical files, including a colour photo of the poor bastard inside a tank filled with bubbly blue liquid. He was naked except for an oxygen mask over his face and various cables attached to his limbs. The photo cut off below the waist. Sonny, being a thirsty bitch, immediately zeroed in on the man’s toned abs and pecs, and biceps to die for.

Was it uncouth to lust over him in that condition? Probably. Did Sonny care? Not really.

In the photo the man’s eyes were closed. His hair had grown longer than the short army cut, and he also had a beard now. He’d be hot shit, if not for the fact he was stuck inside a human-sized test tube.

“Was it Wallace’s team?” Guv asked Shepherd, referencing a top CIA operative.

“We don’t know for sure,” Shepherd replied. “My mole was tight lipped about the department. But we do know they were working with their own version of Sample A-X, which is why I’ve brought this to the front of our queue. It’s amazing we got as much intel as is, considering their operation was all shut down and relocated after his escape.”

Escape? Sonny perked up at that. Excellent! He loved drama. 

He flicked through more of the file, speed-reading reports detailing the subject’s general disorientation after the procedure, then his violent outbursts toward medical staff… But Sonny never trusted a doctor’s word on patients. Who wouldn’t get pissed off after being poked and prodded then shoved in a tank? Sonny could sympathise.

There were some printouts of shots taken from a black-and-white security feed showing the naked (and ripped) subject overpowering several doctors and guards in the lab in order to break down the door and escape.

Sonny felt vicariously proud of the guy. 

He probably shouldn’t have smirked over it, because Guv and Shepherd noticed. “I’m glad you think this is amusing, Sonny,” Shepherd said haughtily, “because you’re the one who’s going to track him down.”

About the Author 

Quince is a MENA-British author who lives in England, enjoys sci-fi and fantasy, history, and Halloween.

Social Media Links

Website   |  Facebook  |  BlueSky   |   Instagram

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Arcadia U Books 1 and 2 by Roxas Winters

SERIES TOUR and NEW RELEASE

Arcadia U Books 1 and 2 by Roxas Winters

Books 1 and 2 should be read in order. Neither of them ends in a cliffhangar.

Overall Heat Rating for the series: 4 flames

Publisher: Evernight Publishing 

BOOK DETAILS

BOOK 2 - NEW RELEASE

Book Title: Beautiful Liar

Author: Roxas Winters

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Length:  80 000 words

Release Date: March 21, 2025

Genres: MM Contemporary Romance, mafia, college age

Tropes: Second chances. forbidden love, obsessive love, secrets,  alpha male

Themes: Hurt/Comfort, healing from abuse (abuse happens off page)

This story is best enjoyed after reading book one. 

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Amazon US   |  Amazon UK 

I gave in to temptation, but happily ever after was never part of the deal.

Blurb 

Kieran

I gave in to temptation, but happily ever after was never part of the deal. 

I am heir to a mafia kingdom and taking my place means leaving Arcadia behind. Arcadia U was built to house bastards of the criminal elite and wayward children of soldiers loyal to the four founding families. I am neither. When a death at the school puts everyone at risk, I return to keep my friends safe. But things have changed since the three months I've been gone. Loyalty must be earned, and my secrets revealed. But is it too late to save what I want most?

Tomás 

I chose the enemy. I chose to be a secret. Kieran asked me to wait until he was ready, and I fell easily into the lies. But I have a lie of my own. After a death puts the school on lockdown, I'm forced to face a past I buried. A past that threatens everyone I love, including Kieran. To protect him, I must lie to him. 

But lies fester. And the rot always finds a way out.

Excerpt from book 2

Tomás

“What did I tell you would happen if you ran from me?” The voice I knew so well whispered in my ear. All the tension lifted and for a slight second, I let myself be vulnerable. Kieran had come for me. The reaction to him that got me in this mess in the first place—trusting Kieran. Giving him space in my heart. But he hadn’t come back when he promised. He hadn’t been there when I needed him. Ignoring my body’s response to him, I wasn’t my dick, I moved. I just wanted to feel physical pain, so damn tired of the pain I couldn’t reach inside, the itch I couldn’t scratch burrowed under my skin. 

I twisted my body, grabbed his arm meaning to throw him over my shoulder to the floor, but the fucker was fast. A surprised inhale brushed my cheeks. Oddly satisfying in my current pissed off state. I didn’t get to slam him against the floor. Fucker had cat reflexes. His feet landed on the counter, and he used the leverage to push off, sending me back against the refrigerator hard. Shit tumbled around us. He used me to keep his footing, pushing off and putting space between us. 

The low light was enough to still get a good look at his face. Three months and four days hadn’t changed his appearance. He looked … good. As if he hadn’t suffered like I had. As if he hadn’t cared. I wanted to talk shit, but my ruined voice would only come out meek, cracked, broken. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of hearing me pathetic, so I said nothing. 

Kieran took my silence as submission. He narrowed the gap between us. “What is your problem?” he started. 

Once he was close enough, I swung. The fist to his face felt better than I thought it should. He stumbled back. And I moved before he could recover. I spun him against the counter and shoved him face down onto the surface. His ass against my groin. I may have been bigger than him, but he had more fighting skills than me. I knew he could’ve gotten free from my hold if he wanted to, but he didn’t.

He didn’t even struggle.

“Fuck you,” I managed to whisper into his ear, pushing my body against him. “I’m no longer yours.”

“You sure about that?” he said, pushing out his ass right into the rod tenting my joggers. Because of course my cock would respond to him with an erection. Which only pissed me off more.

“Unlike you, I’m not my dick. And unlike you, I can put my dick into whoever the fuck I want.”

I felt the vibration first. Like a canvas rippling against my skin. The jolt of it forced me back, but only a fraction before he had me on the floor pinned under him. The impact pushed the breath out of my lungs, made me disoriented. He pinned my wrists above my head, his body sprawled on top of me, his face close enough to see the lighter green bursts in his eyes. “You think I would ever let you stick your dick in anyone else,” he hissed. “Try it, Tomás. Test me. I will end that motherfucker.”

BOOK 1

Book Title: Beautiful Dark Temptation (Arcadia U Book 1)

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Length:  76 200 words

Release Date: September 27, 2024

Tense/pov:  first person; alternating pov

Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, college, mafia

Tropes: Forbidden love, enemies to lovers

Themes: Bisexual awakening

It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Books to Read Universal Link

I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation

Blurb 

Tomás

I’ve lost everything. 

Forced into a prison masking as a school, I find myself in the crosshairs of more than one killer. My savior? The arrogant prick who wants to control me. Kieran is a nightmare wrapped in a seductive package and when he sets his sights on me I don’t know whether to fight him or kiss him. 

Kieran

I am the eldest bastard of one of the four founders of Arcadia University, and I will do anything to see my family fall. 

The secrets I’ve kept hidden behind my heart now threaten to bury me alive with the arrival of Tomás. He consumes my space, my thoughts, my nightmares. I hate him for how he makes me feel. This toxic attraction between us forces me to question what matters most—vengeance, power, love. But Tomas doesn’t fit into my world of lies and violence and I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation.

About the Author 

Roxas writes dark, forbidden MM Romance with morally gray characters you will love to hate. Beautiful Dark Temptation is her first novel in a planned series. 

Author Links

Blog/Website  |   Facebook  |  Twitter

Instagram  |   Newsletter Sign-up

BlueSky 

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22/03/2025

Stolen Dream by Oliver Takely

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Stolen Dream

Author: Oliver Takely

Publisher: MM Romance Press

Cover Artist: Emily’s World of Design

Release Date:  March 5, 2025

Tense/POV: Third person, dual POV

Genres: Contemporary MM Romance

Tropes: Forbidden love, first times, demisexual rep, found family

Themes: Second chance romance

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 60 000 words        

It is book three of the Soho Knights Series. Books four and five are scheduled in 2025.

The book ends on a cliffhanger for the series, but not for the couple.

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

AMAZON US  |  AMAZON UK

Blurb 

At just eighteen, Paolo and Max meet at a conversion therapy camp. Abandoned by their families. left to endure literal hell on earth, their love is forbidden. Their secret romance grows and as they make plans to escape, they are brutally torn apart.

They both spend the next twelve years building lives in different worlds. Paolo in the vibrant heart of Soho, London, surrounded by his found family, and Max thriving as a successful criminal lawyer in the bustling streets of New York. Both of them believing they’ve lost the love of their life forever.

Max finds himself in London after defending a mobster, which leads to an offer he literally can’t refuse. Needing thinking time before his fate is sealed, he unexpectedly crosses paths with Paolo again. The spark between them reignites, yet their reunion is fraught with challenges, and even the magical backdrop of the holidays may not be enough for them to get their second chance at love. With Paolo's sister at risk of suffering the same fate they endured, the stakes are even higher.

Stolen Dream is a tale of resilience, forbidden love, and the fight for a future that embraces who they truly are. Will they save Paolo's sister in time, and can they find a way to be together, against all odds? Join them on this emotional journey of hope and redemption, where stolen dreams may just lead to a love worth fighting for.

Excerpt 

KC greeted Paolo with a big hug when he arrived. She was such a wonderful woman, who had been through more than all his brothers put together. The bravery it took for her to transition in the nineties had Paolo in awe of her.

            “What are you doing here on a Saturday?”

            “I’m meeting an . . . an old friend.”

            “Old boyfriend?” She smiled.

            Paolo felt his face heating. She leant forward and whispered to him.

            “Well, if it’s the guy who just walked in who looks like he wants to eat you, then I think I’ve got my answer.”

            Paolo spun around and there was Max. He hadn’t gotten a proper look last night with the shock. Max had always had a broad build, but now he was built like a rugby player, with wide shoulders and a tapered waist. His hazel eyes were as captivating as they had been twelve years ago. Max smiled at him, showing those perfect dimples in his pinchable cheeks. He was clean-shaven, unlike Paolo who’d had a short beard for the last five years. His face was too babyish when he was clean-shaven.

            “Can I give you a hug?” asked Max.

            Paolo was too choked up, so he just nodded, and Max wrapped his big, muscular arms around him. They were the same height, but even though Paolo had packed on the muscle over the last few years, Max almost smothered him – albeit in a good way. He was wearing a citrusy aftershave, and he could happily stay like this in Max’s arms forever.

            When the hug was bordering on being far too long for a public setting, they pulled apart and both smiled. Paolo gestured to a nearby table he’d claimed when he arrived. He made eye contact with KC, who gave him a warm smile and touched her heart. Paolo rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

            “Thank you for seeing me,” said Max.

            Was he nervous? This wasn’t how he remembered him. Max had been the strong one when they’d been in the camp. It wasn’t just Paolo who looked up to him; it was everyone. Paolo wasn’t sure what to say. He felt tongue tied, so he grabbed a menu, passing one to Max. He knew the menu by heart, but Max didn’t need to know that.

            “Did you want to get something to eat?” asked Paolo. That was a safe conversation starter.

            “I am always hungry.”

            He smiled, and then a dark shadow appeared in his eyes. It was clear a memory had hit him. One they shared. Paolo needed to get things back on track. Today was not a day to go down memory lane.

            “Everything’s amazing here. KC is the best cook in the world.”

            “That’s a bold claim. I’ll have to let Mason know.”

            “Mason?”

            “He’s a Michelin starred chef in New York.”

            “How do you know him?”

            Max took hold of Paolo’s hand. It felt strange, yet familiar.

            “Mason’s just a friend. I’m not with anyone.”

            “That’s not . . . I didn’t mean . . .” Ugh, why couldn’t he get his words out?

            Perhaps sensing his struggle, Max suggested they order. He let go of Paolo’s hand and Paolo missed the touch instantly. How could this be happening? He’d not had butterflies or any of these feelings for twelve years.

About the Author  

Oliver Takely is a passionate MM romance author who revels in dark, edgy stories featuring complex, flawed characters. With years of writing experience and a creative day job, Oliver Takely is also an avid reader of MM romance, consuming 300 books in both 2023 and 2024. His favourite trope is enemies to lovers, but is also a sucker for a feel-good Christmas romance.

Originally from the north, Oliver now resides in the south of England with his husband and their beloved fur baby, who is treated like a princess, living their own happily-ever-after straight out of a romance novel. When not writing or reading, he enjoys holidays and indulging in lots of good food, because who doesn’t love a delicious combination?

Author Links

Website  |   Facebook  |  Instagram  

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20/03/2025

To Tempt A Troubled Earl by Fearne Hill

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Book Title: To Tempt A Troubled Earl

Author: Fearne Hill

Publisher: NineStar Press

Cover Artist: Melody Pond

Release Date: March 4, 2025

Tense/POV: Third person/past tense/alternating POV

Genres:  MM Regency Romance 

Tropes:  Adventure, Enemies to lovers, hurt-comfort, slow burn, opposites attract

Themes: Humorous, aristocracy, scheming shenanigans on the side

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 75 0000 words

It is book 1 in a new series. It does not end on a cliffhanger. 

The next book is out later this year

Goodreads

Buy Links 

Nine Star Press   |   Amazon US   |   Amazon UK 

A devil’s bargain, an uneasy alliance.


Blurb 

A chancer and a rogue, Kit Angel is down on his luck. Presenting himself at Rossingley Hall in the dead of night, he begs an audience with the eleventh earl, the most enigmatic nobleman in Regency England.

The visit has purpose. Kit, hungry to ruin the lord who ruined his sister, believes Rossingley is the only man who can help him.

Lando Duchamps-Avery, eleventh earl of Rossingley, doesn’t trust the sinfully handsome stranger one bit. He does not care for the tales he spins, his hot temper, or his thick, ebony curls. And, most definitely, he is not in thrall to the delicious golden hoop dangling from Kit Angel’s left ear. Lando has his own motivations to ruin the same lord, and the two men form an uneasy alliance.

As the dangerous plot they hatch unfurls, the suspicious earl and the shady scoundrel are increasingly thrown together. Whilst the wily earl gradually surrenders to his growing attraction, Kit can’t make up his mind if he wants to swive him, declare undying love for him, or throttle him.

Bit by bit, as mutual desire swells between them, Kit wins over the earl’s body, his passion, and his trust.

But in order to win the earl’s elusive heart? The scoundrel must risk losing everything

Excerpt 

CHAPTER 1

ROSSINGLEY ESTATE, SUMMER, 1821

“You have visitors, my lord.”

Inglis floated across the eleventh Earl of Rossingley’s sleepy eyeline, looking peevish. Lando swore the man had silken castors in place of feet. With white-gloved hands clasped together in front of his vexed frame, his head butler awaited his response.

“And you have chosen to disturb me about this because…” Lando tilted his balloon of brandy this way and that, playing the flickering candlelight against the delicately engraved crystal. That the evening was late was an irrelevance. He and his butler were of the same accord; visitors at any time of day were unusual, unwarranted, and unwelcome.

“A Mr Christopher Angel, my lord. And his sister, Miss Anne. The young man says it’s important.”

One of a pair, the balloon glass had been a gift from dear Charles. “I know of no one named Angel. Begging the question ‘important for whom’?”

“He didn’t make that distinction, my lord,” admitted Inglis. “But he gave the impression the matter is somewhat urgent.”

Lando took a warming sip of brandy. The drink of the damned. He didn’t especially care for it, but he fancied it lent him a louche, philosophic air. “What is urgent is seldom important, Inglis,” he deemed, pleased with his wisdom. Rousseau himself might make a similar pronouncement. “If it’s alms he’s after, toss him a half-crown, some cold meats, and send him on his way.”

The gloved hands wrung together. “I did try that, my lord. But he’s…ah…more insistent than our usual callers, and neither is he a pauper. And…” Inglis paused. Never let it be said the butler couldn’t milk a drama. “He…he mentioned one of his close relations. His uncle. One…ah…a former cavalry officer sadly no longer with us, God rest his soul.”

As Inglis made the sign of the cross, Lando took another, more contemplative sip. So many good men had fallen during the wars in France, and a chap struggled to keep up. “Oh, yes?”

Inglis cleared his throat. “Yes. A…ah…Captain Charles Prosser, my lord.”

Like rancid vinegar, the fine liquor soured on the earl’s tongue. He fought to swallow it down. Perhaps he should have stuck to port after dinner. Maybe it would have better softened the dull ache now swelling behind his rib cage. Captain Prosser. His dearest Charles, his lover. His heart.

Lando didn’t make his older lover’s acquaintance until after the wars, from which Charles returned hale and hearty. But where French bayonets and the battlefields of Trafalgar had failed, the insidious wasting disease prevailed. An annoying tickle became a cough, a cough tinged with blood. Slowly, inexorably, his lover faded away, their time together, in all of its perfection, too brief. A life only half lived; a conversation forever unfinished. Lando, not daring to be at Charles’s bedside at the end, heard the news of his passing from a mutual friend some two weeks after his lover had been buried beneath Kentish loamy earth.

Three long years ago. Yet even now, at unprepared moments such as this—and was there ever such a thing as a prepared one?—that name still had a powerful hold upon the eleventh earl. If Inglis hadn’t broken the crushing silence, it might have persisted well into the night.

“I have taken the liberty of passing the young man’s sister over to Mrs Sugden, my lord. The girl is in a state of great distress. And I have shown her brother to the small parlour. He’s…ah…not fit for the library.”

Inglis’s waspish voice sounded as if coming from an awfully long way away. “My lord might wish to be more suitably attired before receiving him?”

Tipping back his fair head, Lando forced another swallow of fiery amber liquid. For a second or two, it threatened to reappear, then he pulled himself together. Ridiculous. Three years gone and one mention of Charles turned him into a limp dishrag. Well, it was high time it didn’t. Time to make a clean breast of things. Time to stop bloody moping. Charles would have hated him squandering his salad days drinking alone and brooding in front of a dying fire.

He cast his gaze down his spare frame. Fussy Inglis might wish him more suitably attired, but Lando gave not a fig. As purportedly one of the richest men in England, Lando could host a ball clad in only his underclothes, and the ton would declare it the latest fashion in Paris. He pinned Inglis to the spot with his pale eyes.

“I’m decent. Uninvited callers find me as I am, or not at all. As you damned well know.”

About the Author  

Fearne Hill resides far from the madding crowds in the county of Dorset, deep in the British countryside. She likes it that way.

Her queer romance, Two Tribes, was a finalist in the 2023 Lambda Literary Awards.

Author Links

Facebook  |  Instagram   |  Goodreads  |   Bookbub

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18/03/2025

Breakaway for Love by Koko Klein

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Book Title: Breakaway for Love

Author and Cover Artist: Koko Klein

Publisher: Sicherheit & Consulting Krautgasser GmbH

Release Date: March 3, 2025

Tense/POV: first person, present tense, alternating POV

Genres: Contemporary MM Sports (Hockey) Romance

Tropes: Enemies-to-Lovers, Gay Awakening, Forced Proximity

Themes: Coming out, Homophobic Parents, Olympic Games

Heat Rating: 4-5 flames

Length: 64 000 words/ 230 pages

It's book one of the Hockey & Love series. 

Every book in the series is a stand-alone story with a guaranteed happy end. 

The next book in the series will be published in May. 

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US   |  Amazon UK 

Blurb 

Between hatred and desire.

Nico was brought up to hate Daniel. The feud between their families is centuries old. But now they are both part of the Terengian national ice hockey team.

Working together is proving difficult. A medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing seems increasingly out of reach. Frustration threatens to tear the team apart. Still Nico and Daniel grow closer every day.

But Nico is keeping a secret. A secret that threatens his very existence. But with every second they spend together, Daniel comes closer to uncover it.

Excerpt 

Daniel:

Stay away from the Hovenbergs, my grandfather's voice booms in my head.

I hesitate for a moment but then kick the cone high into the air. The next moment I hear cursing and my grin becomes so wide there’s a serious risk my face will explode.

The slender figure of my arch-enemy steps through the trees and stops at the edge of the pond. In his right hand, he’s carrying my new favorite toy as if it were something incredibly disgusting. In the dim light, I see that his face is contorted with rage. His ear-length hair is a bit disheveled.

Did I hit him in the head? Oops! I should probably apologize, but I’ve always loved winding him up, even back at school — he’s cute when he’s angry.

Whoa! Where did that thought come from?

I feel a little heat rising to my face, and I hope the poor light and my cheeks being red from the cold will hide my blush. Instead, I try to keep the defiant grin on my face.

“Have a go if you think you’re tough enough," I tease. 

Why am I provoking him? I’ve no idea what I'm doing. I should just apologize and let him go back to the hotel, but as captain, don't I have a responsibility for him? Shouldn’t I at least try to get him on my side — nemesis or not?

Then Hovenberg swings his arm and throws the pinecone at me. I take it deftly with my chest like a soccer player and even manage to bounce it back and forth twice on each knee before it lands on the ice again. Now, that was impressive, even if I say so myself.

Hovenberg hasn’t moved from the edge of the pond. His arms are folded in front of his chest and he’s glaring at me. I'm sure if the light were better, I’d see storm clouds collecting in his eyes. He's so easily provoked. That's why it's so much fun, and why, even in our school days, it was so hard to follow my grandparents' advice.

I kick my recovered cone so that it lands right at Hovenberg's feet, but he doesn't move an inch.

"Is the big bad hockey player suddenly afraid of the nasty ice?" My voice drips with sarcasm.

Nico’s stern expression becomes even darker. If he were an animal, he’d be growling at me by now. In fact, I do hear a rumbling sound, although I'm not entirely sure because of the breeze rustling the leaves of the trees.

My nemesis sets a foot on the dark ice surface. He looks totally unsure of himself, and I wonder if he’s never been on natural ice before. I spent half my childhood on frozen ponds like this one. The ice is thick enough for safety which anyone who grew up here should know. 

That consideration sparks another recollection of the rumors that were going around at school about him. Supposedly, Hovenberg's father had his own little ice rink built for his son on their property, and if that's true, it must have cost a fortune! My family is one of the richest in the country, but when I once suggested to my grandparents that instead of the tennis courts which nobody used, we could build an ice rink, my grandpa’s reply was to flip me the bird.

Hovenberg puts his second foot on the ice eventually and stands there in his white moon boots, his legs spread wide. His posture looks off. I can't read it for sure, but I wonder whether he’s getting ready to pounce on me, or if he’s just damn scared and trying not to show it.

Then the pinecone shoots across the ice toward me. I stop it with my right foot and shoot it back to Hovenberg. This goes back and forth a few times, but Hovenberg doesn’t move from the edge of the pond. 

Is he really that scared?

Until now, I’d made sure the cone always landed at the feet of my impromptu playmate. Now, I decide to make this more of a challenge. I kick the pinecone past him towards an imaginary goal behind him, but Hovenberg skillfully intercepts the cone and flips it back to me just as I did to him. It’s like being back at school as we try to outdo each other.

My mood lifts as we play. It was fun playing on the ice by myself, but it's definitely more fun with two, and the longer we play, the more I forget who I’m having fun with. Forget that I actually hate him. Forget everything that stands between us.

My winter boots are being tested to their limits and my breath is coming out in gasps when all of a sudden, the pinecone flies toward me at an unexpected angle. Without a second thought, I dart to the right and jump to prevent the cone from sailing into my goal, but the ice gives way to snow, and I stumble over the edge of the pond and land in a soft pile. The breath is momentarily knocked out of me by the shocking cold that spreads over my face and trickles down my collar, then laughter takes over.

When was the last time I had this much fun?

I turn onto my back slowly but when I do, the laughter dies in my throat.

I’m alone!

The makeshift ice rink is deserted.

About the Author  

The Austrian bestselling author Koko Klein lives with her husband, son, and two crazy cats in the heart of Vienna’s historic city center. She loves to walk on roads kings were already travelling centuries ago. When she’s not busy coming up with new stories (once again failing to sleep because of them), she plays the piano (until her son has had enough of classical music), devours books (until the cats need to be petted right now), or plays board games (until her husband prefers to switch on the PlayStation).

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