NEW RELEASE
Book Title: Crushed
Ice
Author: Ashlyn Kane &
Morgan James
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Press
Cover Artist: L.C.
Chase
Release Date: February 6,
2023
Genre: Contemporary MM Sports Romance
Tropes: Friends to lovers,
teammates to lovers, rookie/veteran, age gap, workaholic/slacker
Themes: Coming of age,
learning to accept and ask for help, self-acceptance, independence, pressure on professional
athletes, injury, romantic comedy
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 99 844 words/ 302
pages
This is a part of the
Hockey Ever After series, but all the books in the series can be read as standalones.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Defensemen can score
too.
Blurb
When Liam Belanger gets a professional tryout with the
Miami Caimans, he’s hoping to land a roster spot that’ll keep him from bussing tables. If he
can make the team and score a tryout in bed with Russ Lyons, the veteran defenseman
who’s appointed himself Liam’s mentor, that would be the icing on the sweet hockey
cake.
Living life by a strict set of rules has worked out well for
Russ. He has a great career, great friends, and a great family, even if they do keep setting him
up with hometown honey traps. But he can’t stop time, and now, despite all his planning,
he’s looking at his last year with the Caimans before the uncertainty of free agency. Maybe
that’s why he finds sunny, free-spirited Liam so attractive.
He’s still not going to sleep with his rookie.
Probably.
Liam starts the season in the minors, but it’s not long
before he gets a shot at the Big Show. His year is shaping up to be a dream come true—even
before Russ picks up on Liam’s passes and proves defensemen can score too.
Excerpt
The last time they ran through the set play, Yeti dumped
Liam on his ass. Baller and Jonesy hooted with laughter as Liam’s gloves and stick went yard-
saling over the ice.
Typical way to welcome a new defenseman. Russ snowed to
a stop next to his temporary partner. “How you doing down there?”
Liam muttered a handful of French-Canadian expletives. He
reached up with a bare hand and Russ hauled him to a sitting position. “I feel like I got hit by
a truck.”
“Yeti’ll do that to you. You good?”
Liam shook his head. “I’m good.” He got to his feet. “Jesus.
How much does he weigh?”
“Significantly more when he’s moving that fast.” Russ
clapped Liam’s shoulder as they skated off to let the next groups practice. They were done
for now, so he had time to give Liam a little more feedback. “That’s something you’ll have to
get used to.”
“What?” Liam pulled himself up on the half boards.
“Checking.” When Liam looked at him, Russ elaborated,
“You flinch.”
Liam’s mouth dropped open. “I do not!”
“Twenty bucks says the video review shows otherwise.”
Russ had seen it before with guys who came up through the college system, which focused
on speed over hits, since they wanted their players to keep their brains unscrambled long
enough to graduate. “It’s fine. You’re not the first. You’re going to have to work on it,
though.”
“Not a lot of guys in college are Yeti-sized.” Liam’s mouth
twisted into a wry smile, but he seemed genuinely upset, like the root of the problem
bothered him.
Russ snorted. “Not a lot of guys in the NHL are either. Or
outside of it.” Yeti was six foot nine and built like a linebacker. “Are you trying to bulk up for
the season?”
“Was that a hint?” Liam grabbed his water bottle from the
bench and waggled it. The joker was still there, but Russ was pretty sure he meant the
question. “Think I should fill one of these with Ensure or something?”
God.
“That’s one way to make sure no one ever steals your drink.”
“Seriously, though.” Liam put the bottle down. There was a
smudge of blue at the corner of his mouth. “Do you think I’m too skinny?”
Russ must’ve given him a look that broadcast his thoughts,
because Liam rolled his eyes and amended, still more than half serious, “For
hockey. I’m not asking you to compliment my figure. I know I’m hot.”
“I think you’re a kid.” At that age Russ could’ve eaten his
body weight in M&M’s and barely gained a pound. “Putting on weight at your age when
you burn calories like we do isn’t easy. But you could work with the trainers on some
exercises that’ll help you stay upright when someone his size hits you. Or when you hit
them.”
Liam made a sad noise. “I always used to think those videos
were funny. You know, tiny forward tries to check an absolute monster like Mikhail
Kipriyanov, then ends up on his ass.”
“You’re going to be one of those videos,” Russ assured him.
Maybe he shouldn’t inflate the kid’s hopes, but if he did his time in the AHL, he’d make it. It
wouldn’t take long.
Liam straightened his shoulders like that was a great
compliment. “I’m going to be one of those videos.” He shook his head and more of his usual
humor returned. “I’m not even tiny. Just tiny compared to him.” He looked sideways at Russ
and his voice dropped and took on a suggestive tone. “And you. You’re big. What do you
eat?”
Russ glanced over and found Liam watching him with
trouble written all over his face.
Surely he couldn’t be serious. He didn’t even know Russ
was gay.
Which meant he was being a little shit. Russ shouldn’t
encourage him, but he couldn’t let him get away with thinking he had the last word either.
“Anything within range.”
This kid’s sass was going to cost him so much money if he
officially joined the team. He hopped off the boards again and leaned close enough to put
himself directly into Russ’s space. “Sounds like you have a pretty healthy appetite.”
Good grief. Russ had to laugh, because there was no
way Liam was trying to pick him up with a game that bad. “Do these lines really work for
you?”
Undaunted, Liam grinned and cocked his hip so his ass
stuck out. “Don’t usually need ’em.”
Between Liam’s body, the slight dimple in his cheek, and
the unruly curls, Russ could see why, but he wasn’t going to pump his tires. “Well, kid,
welcome to the Big Show. Get used to putting in another level of effort.”
Then he skated off to the next drill before Liam could
decide he should start putting in that effort now.
About the Authors
Ashlyn Kane likes to think she
can do it all, but her follow-through often proves her undoing. Her house is as full of half-
finished projects as her writing folder. With the help of her ADHD meds, she gets by.
An early reader and talker, Ashlyn has always had a
flair for language and storytelling. As an eight-year-old, she attended her first writers’
workshop. As a teenager, she won an amateur poetry competition. As an adult, she received
a starred review in Publishers
Weekly for her novel Fake Dating the Prince. There were quite a few years in the middle there, but who’s counting?
Her hobbies include DIY home decor, container
gardening (no pulling weeds), music, and spending time with her enormous chocolate
lapdog. She is the fortunate wife of a wonderful man, the daughter of two sets of great
parents, and the proud older sister/sister-in-law of the world’s biggest nerds.
Morgan James is a clueless
(older) millennial who’s still trying to figure out what they’ll be when they grow up and
enjoying the journey to get there. Now, with a couple of degrees, a few stints in Europe, and
more than one false start to a career, they eagerly wait to see what’s next. James started
writing fiction before they could spell and wrote their first (unpublished) novel in middle
school. They haven’t stopped writing since. Geek, artist, archer, and fanatic, Morgan tends to
pass their free hours with in imaginary worlds and people on pages and screens—it’s an
addiction. As is their love of coffee and tea. They live in Canada with their massive collection
of unread books, where they are the personal servant of too many four-legged
creatures.
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