Who Invented The Shut Line In Baseball?

“Top or bottom?” Ethan's timid voice echoed in the motel room, and Kane scoffed. “Suck me off first and I'll tell you,” Kane replied and seductively licked his lips. “What makes you think I’d suck you? How about you kneel for me?” Ethan spat with a grimace, trying to sound unbothered even though he knew he had a lot at stake. A low, husky chuckle slipped from Kane's lips, and the room fell into a strange silence, their breathing and the soft wind the only sounds between them. Suddenly, Kane wrapped his arms around Ethan's back, pulling him close as his hand slid down to grip him firmly. "Let’s do this." ****** Canada's top hockey star, Ethan Harrison, has it all, except control over his own heart. When his secret obsession with the United States’s star player, Kane Hau Alexander, is discovered, Kane doesn’t expose him; instead, he takes control and vows to claim him. Rivals on ice, lovers in secret, their forbidden connection must overcome, boundaries, trust, and desire. But with jealous families, manipulative fiancées, and public scrutiny closing in, can their secret survive the ultimate game?

I shoot to my feet and practically scream, “She?!? They’re sending a woman?” I suddenly hear the sound of heels clicking on the floor, and turn to see a pair of eyes I never thought I’d be seeing again. “Yes, Tate, they sent a woman. I’ve been hired to save your sorry ass,” she calmly states with a look of disgust in her ocean blue eyes. **** What will happen when Ashton Tate, the scandal-ridden MVP second baseman, comes face-to-face with his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Mason, whom the team has hired to salvage his reputation and career? Sparks are sure to fly when the two of them are forced to spend every waking moment together, in an effort to revamp his bad-boy image. Unresolved grudges, past heartache, and malicious former flames and rivals block the path to redemption at every turn. Can Elizabeth help Ashton find his way back to the man he once was, or is this his last strikeout?

During the holiday, my six-year-old son received his cleft-lip surgery. He wore a mask and sat quietly in our family bookstore, engrossed in a picture book. A young man came in, pinching his nose dramatically as he swaggered up to the manager. "Why did you let someone with an infectious disease in here?" he demanded loudly. "Get them out!" The manager winced. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to remove other customers." Undeterred, the man marched up to me. "Be wise and get out of here. My girlfriend is Imogen Slater, CEO of the Slater Group. You don't want to mess with me." I froze in stunned silence. Imogen despised all men except me, and this guy claimed she was his girlfriend.

My father-in-law, Arthur, was the rightful heir to the Mosby family fortune. When he insisted on marrying, Judith, my mother-in-law, who ran a small neighborhood restaurant, everyone said he had lost his mind. One morning over breakfast, Arthur suggested that we stop by Judith's restaurant. "Judith came home yesterday with a burn on her hand." Concern flashed in his eyes. "She refused to tell me what happened." The tenderness between them warmed my heart, so I immediately agreed to take him there. But while we were waiting in line, a broad-shouldered man suddenly shoved Arthur hard. "Move it, old man! You're blocking the way!" I caught Arthur before he fell and shook with anger. "What gives you the right to insult him or cut the line?" The man sneered and tossed a foul-smelling used napkin at our feet. "Because my wife owns this place! I can do whatever I want. Keep talking and I'll have her throw both of you out!" The air went still. All the color drained from Arthur's face, and the luxury bag he had just bought for Judith slipped from his hand. I froze. Could the woman Arthur had adored all his life really be having an affair?

“She’s the coach’s daughter. He’s the captain. Together, they’re breaking every rule.” Ava Reynolds has one rule—never let her life be defined by basketball. As the coach’s daughter, she’s spent years dodging whispers and expectations, determined to make her mark through journalism. But when her editor forces her to cover the university’s star team, Ava finds herself colliding with Ethan Cole—cocky, brilliant on the court, and infuriatingly impossible to ignore. Ethan lives for basketball. It’s his ticket out, his shot at protecting the only family he has left—his younger brother. The last thing he needs is a sharp-tongued reporter questioning his every move, especially when she sees more than he wants anyone to. What starts as a battle of words spirals into undeniable chemistry, leaving Ava torn between loyalty to her father and the pull of a boy who breaks every rule she set for herself. But when a secret threatens to ruin them both…will crossing the line cost them everything?

I disappeared in the year Sebastian Ferraro loved me most. For thirteen years, he never got an explanation. And for thirteen years, I punished myself by never watching his games, never saying his name, and never thinking about the promise we made in that old hockey rink. Until I returned to this city and saw a faded poster outside the abandoned arena. Sebastian was only seventeen in the photo. He stood at the center of the ice, bright-eyed and fearless, with one sentence printed beneath him: Wait for me past the blue line. That was his promise to me. And I had missed it for thirteen years. Later, I collapsed inside his arena. When I woke up, the boy I had once failed was standing beside my hospital bed. Only he was no longer a boy. He was a professional hockey star. The heir to the Ferraro crime family. And a man whose fiancée was about to marry him. I wanted to tell him why I had left all those years ago. But he looked at me and said coldly, “The past is over. Don’t cause any misunderstandings.” That was when I finally understood. I no longer had the right to disturb his life. So I smiled, swallowed every truth I had kept buried, and booked a flight to New Zealand. I thought leaving was the last thing I could do for him. Until that plane disappeared from radar. The news spread through the whole city. Everyone said Sebastian Ferraro lost control at the airport. He went through the passenger list again and again, screaming my name like a man who had already lost everything.