Nala

I fled Boston and my cheating jerk of an ex with $300 and a lip gloss in my pocket. Waking up the next day in Burlington, Vermont, with a crick in my back and a frozen ass wasn't exactly in the plan. If there was one. Which there wasn't. Story of my life. Three hours later and I've been hired as temporary help in the local veterinary and grooming clinic, which is kind of impressive since I know zip about animals and even less about grooming. But one thing I do know - I'm crushing hard on the sexy, absentminded vet for whom I work.

Noah: Rook Oliveira stumbled into my life when I was eleven years old. Being the scrawny new kid at school with a mouth full of braces, I never expected to become unlikely best friends with the most popular boy in seventh grade. At eighteen, I gathered the courage to tell him I was gay and admitted I'd never kissed a guy. He offered to be my first. Straight or not, that kiss had burned with nearly tangible fire and tattooed the moment on my heart. I've spent the last four years trying to forget it.

My brother's best friend is the biggest player on campus—both on the basketball court and between the sheets. Not that I can blame the swarm of girls that worship Knight Jackson's size fourteen sneaker-covered feet. I've been in love with him for as long as I can remember. He's been breaking my heart for just as long. While I'd been busy memorizing every detail about him, he'd never seen me as anything other than Pace's younger brother. It wasn't smart to crush on a straight guy in the first place, so now that I'm in college, I'm ready to move on.

Before he shares it with the world, he's determined to build the confidence he wants to live life as a gay man and the experience hell need to snag Mr. Right. For that, he requires a mentor--someone experienced. Someone with manners. Someone discreet enough to be able to mix business with pleasure under the watchful eye of his fathers empire--a gentleman. Pete Carver is without a doubt that man.

I’m the first one to tell you I have issues. Trust issues. Family issues. Probably a few others I haven’t discovered yet. Which is why I prefer to keep my life as simple and uncomplicated as possible. Until him. Blake McAdams barrels into my life and refuses to leave. He’s relentlessly optimistic, sexy as hell, annoyingly persistent, and…wants to be friends? Because…he thinks I’m interesting? Yeah, I’ll pass. Thanks. Only, somehow, we end up doing just that.

You know what’s the worst feeling in the world? Being in love with someone since you were twelve years old, knowing they only see you as a little brother type. Not even becoming an NHL star has made him realize I’m all grown up now. All of that changes when I ask my brother’s best friend to ref a charity match and we spend an entire week in each other’s pocket. Being close to him is torture, but for the first time since my adolescent crush started, I begin to feel hope.

The idea of moving away from Seattle was a joke at first. I have too many failed relationships here. Too much baggage. So when I find myself signing with Nashville and leaving everything behind, I’m hopeful a new start will cure me of my attachment problems. I fall fast and hard, and I’m quickly realizing it’s not so easy to escape my emotional damage. That follows no matter where I go.

When I show up to surprise my boyfriend in a barely-there festive outfit, I’m expecting him to be alone. Not hosting family. His fiancé’s family. Down one boyfriend and up a lot of embarrassment, I flee with my tail between my legs. The broken heart will fade. My humiliation, not so much, but my saving grace is the fact that I never have to see either of them ever, ever again. Until I walk into work and come face to face with my new boss.

Moving to Seattle is supposed to be all about getting a fresh start and leaving the bitter man I was becoming behind. I have new roommates–quirky, sometimes strange, roommates–a nosy next-door neighbor, and a grumpy kitty for company, but even surrounded by people, I still don’t feel like I belong. Plus, it turns out the men in Seattle are exactly the same as the ones I left behind, and my string of romantic disconnections continues.

Jamie and Wes are having a blast living and working in Toronto. Until a scout for another team swoops in to make one of them an offer that might complicate the life they've built together.