Prickly Business (40 page)

He thought about doing just that, but Avery was right. That life may not be what Dylan would want for him—it was dangerous and shady and Dylan would worry constantly—but Avery was good at it, and Dylan could see that it made him happy. At least if he had more training, it might be a little easier for Dylan to deal with when his mate was out hunting criminals and cheating spouses and missing children.

God, Dylan was going to regret this.

“Yeah.” He nodded with a weak smile. “I can see that. We’ll look into it.”

Avery smirked. “You’re a horrible liar, Mr. Green.”

“Well, it’s not every day your mate wants to rush into danger. At least with a little guidance, maybe I’ll be able to sleep at night.”

Not likely.

Avery scoffed like he could read his mind. He probably could. Then he batted his eyes at Dylan. “I can think of a few ways to help you sleep.”

Dylan leaned over and brushed a kiss across Avery’s smirking lips. “Yeah? Care to show me?”

He grinned against Dylan’s lips at Jaden’s groan.

“Later. We have company.” He winked as he leaned away. “Thank you, Dylan.”

“Anything for you, brat.”

Dylan knew Avery would follow his heart. It was one of the things Dylan loved about him.

That word caught in his throat again as he stared into Avery’s eyes. Then Avery turned his attention to Jaden, and they worked out a plan to begin looking into Oregon law and private investigation. Love wasn’t something they’d spoken about—not yet—but Dylan felt it in every touch, every smile, every glint in Avery’s eyes.

Dylan reached out and cupped the back of Avery’s neck, running his thumb over his mating bite. Gooseflesh popped along the expanse of Avery’s neck. He beamed up at Dylan—happiness, safety, and yes, love, shining back at him.

Dylan’s prickly mate had become his entire world, and he would follow Avery to the ends of it, no matter what Avery chose to do.

Prickly By Nature

By Piper Vaughn & Kenzie Cade

In the four months since hedgehog shifter Avery Babineaux started investigating the disappearance of a young female werewolf from the Portland Pack, he’s discovered his life’s passion. Now he’s apprenticing under established PI Corbin Reid. Avery hopes his training with Reid will help him finally bring Lacey home, but detective work isn’t without its perils, and the potential dangers strain his relationship with his new mate, Dylan.

Dylan Green would be perfectly content with his mating and his motorcycle shop if it wasn’t for his constant worry about Avery’s safety and the fact that Avery’s never home. Proud as he might be of Avery’s determination to prove his worth and fulfill his promise to Lacey’s father, Dylan can’t stand the thought of Avery being hurt. Yet what right does he have to demand Avery give up his job when it’s clear Avery’s found his true purpose? Still, Dylan wishes he could, and the appearance of a new police detective who sets his sights on Avery only adds to the tension.

Something has to give, but stubbornness runs in both their veins, and it might take a catastrophe for them to find a compromise they can live with.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

P
IPER
V
AUGHN
wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two-thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life… even if it’s only in a book.

Website: http://pipervaughn.com

Facebook: Piper Vaughn

Twitter: @pipervaughn

K
ENZIE
C
ADE
was born and raised in the South where she spends her days in the field of private medicine observing interesting people and committing them to memory for later use. When she isn’t reading, experimenting with recipes, or being distracted by social media, Kenzie spends time with her family, friends, and fur-babies, who like to keep her company while she writes. Writing to keep the fictional voices at bay, Kenzie enjoys the journeys her characters travel to find their happy endings, and she loves the challenge of writing a great love story.

E-mail: [email protected]

Blog: http://kenziecade.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kenziecade.author

Twitter: @thekenziecade

In the 1700s on the island of Sagrario, men who love other men find safe haven. For Francis Holland, an escaped indentured servant, Sagrario offers nothing but loneliness. His life begins to change when he finds Wick, a merman, washed ashore.

When Wick awakens under Francis’s care, Francis returns him to the sea at his request. Soon after, they begin to meet in secret, and gradually, Francis blossoms under this new companionship. However, a merman is a difficult creature to entrust one’s heart to. With one trapped on land and the other at sea, the differences in their species threaten to keep them apart forever. It may not be long before Wick is gone, taking Francis’s reason to smile with him.

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Aaron Costa’s summer was all planned. Despite having to remodel the family lake house, it would be a vacation of sorts, and he had every intention of enjoying it—until the friend who was supposed to help him got injured and left him in a lurch. He decides to take the opportunity to bond with his son and hires Julian and his roommate, Malachi, to assist.

As a broke college student, Malachi could use the money, and spending the summer with Aaron for eye candy sounds like a dream. “Look but don’t touch” becomes his motto. But when Julian starts flaking on his responsibilities and Malachi and Aaron are forced to spend long hours alone together, their mutual attraction is impossible to resist.

Aaron can’t fight the temptation sexy Malachi presents. But more than their age difference stands in their way, not the least of which is Aaron’s semi-closeted status and the fact that he’s never openly discussed his sexuality with his son. He has no idea how Julian will react when he learns his father is not only gay, he’s also dating his best friend.

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When they were teens, Castor McCormick was the bane of Blake Kowalski’s existence. Their mutual animosity led to summers filled with rivalry. Now, nearly two decades later, Cas is moving back into the neighborhood to live in his grandmother’s old house. Blake tells himself he isn’t interested in seeing how snarky little Cas grew up, but when his mother dupes him into visiting his former nemesis, he finds out “pretty” can evolve into “sexy as hell” on the right man.

Cas didn’t think he wanted to see Blake again. No one has ever pushed his buttons like the arrogant boy he remembers from their youth. Turns out, the adult version of Blake still gets him hot under the collar—and everywhere else. With Blake on leave from work to nurse an injured leg and Cas taking time to move and unpack, they form a tentative friendship that turns into a sexual affair neither man can deny. But when Cas’s job sends him out of state to deal with a difficult client, their new relationship will be tested, and if they fail, Blake’s broken leg might not be the only thing to end up scarred. 

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Eleven years ago, Shane Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life when he caved in to pressure from his record label to kick his best friend, Jesse Seider, out of their band, Luck. To this day, Shane has never wanted anyone more, and all the sex and alcohol in the world can’t fill the void Jesse left behind. Not even the prospect of teaming up with Britain’s hottest band, Moonlight, for a massive world tour can get him out of his funk. Then he meets lead singer Kayden Berlin and falls into instant lust.

Kayden may act like he’s not interested, but Shane knows he feels the spark between them. Yet the harder Shane pushes, the more Kayden pulls away, until one explosive night leaves Shane with a broken heart. That seems to be his lot—lucky at everything but love. Shane still has one lesson left to learn, though: when it comes to love, you can’t always leave things to chance.

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Rock star Nick Ventura has finally hit rock bottom. Jealous of his brother’s new love, he overindulges in his usual vices and winds up crashing his car into a department store in a drunken haze. Publicly humiliated and on the verge of jail time, he enters into a court-ordered rehabilitation program.

Nutritionist Luka Novak is flamboyant, effeminate, and the type of gay man bisexual Nick would normally sneer at. But his sunny nature hides a deep hurt caused by an unfaithful ex-boyfriend. As much as Luka knows he should be wary of Nick’s reputation, he’s drawn to Nick despite himself. Their tentative friendship turns into romance, but Luka soon comes to realize Nick’s fear of losing his bad boy reputation means he’ll probably never go public with their relationship.