A Kiss like This

"Trust me - If there's one thing I'm not attracted to, it's the shrieking, overly-dramatic shrew that's taken over my sister's apartment. And what is up with her hair? I know what I want; an easy, uncomplicated lay - and Cecelia Carter sure as shit isn't one. But I never could resist a challenge, and vow to wipe that condescending grin off her pretty face. Aw, shit. Did I just call her pretty?" -Matthew Wakefield   

Studious and sensible, the only thing Molly Wakefield wants to do is get through senior year and graduate. That, and hit the beach in her spare time. Maybe even read a book or two. And things are going great - until the day she catches Weston McGrath, handsome star athlete and scholar, spying on her in study hall. A tad creepy? Maybe. Thrilling? Absolutely. Why? Because Weston McGrath is one guy no one can get close to.

Kip Carmichael is no pretty boy. He's rough. Dirty. Giant. Hair so unruly, and a beard so thick, his friends on the team call him Sasquatch. The first time Sasquatch lays eyes on Theodora "Teddy" Johnson across the keg at a party one night on Jock Row, she'd been relegated to the sidelines by her jock-hungry "friends". Week after week, he watches beautiful but bashful Teddy getting overshadowed and overlooked. Sasquatch finally broad-shoulders his way through the crowd, offering to to be her hairy godmother. But the minute their eyes meet? He's a goner.  

There are no douchebags in this story. Well, there are, but they're not who this story is about. This story is about me - the coach's daughter. When I moved to Iowa to live with my dad, the university's take-no-prisoners wrestling coach, I thought transferring would be easy as pie - living with my father would be temporary, and he'd make sure his douchebag wrestlers left me alone. Wrong on both counts.

EAT. SLEEP. FOOTBALL. Those are Jackson Jennings Jr.’s three mantras. His entire life, he’s been a trained athlete with only one end-game: the Pros. No girls. No parties. No alcohol. EAT. SLEEP. FOOTBALL. Repeat. Every Friday night, Triple J cruises the strip on campus, bored, lonely, and conditioned not to party. But the night he meets Charlotte Edmonds on the side of the road, he wonders if his three mantras will ever be enough.  

Abraham Davis - Honest Abe to his friends - is in over his head.... He’s a fixer and a do good-er. The all-knowing resident "grandfather" on the wrestling team who everyone relies on to fix their problems. His teammates go to him for everything: advice, homework, or when they need a sober driver at three in the morning - whether he likes it or not. Abe’s current mission is easy: mend his roommate's broken heart by helping him find a girlfriend on the LoveU app - without getting caught in the lie....

No doubt about it, Sebastian "Oz" Osborne is the university's most celebrated student athlete - and possibly the biggest douchebag. A walking, talking cliché, he has a filthy mouth, a fantastic body, and doesn't give a sh-t about what you or anyone else thinks. Jameson Clarke may be the university's most diligent student - but she is no prude. Spending most of her time in the hallowed halls of the library, James is wary of pervs, jocks, and douchebags - and Oz Osborne is all three. She's smart, sarcastic - and not what he expected....

Ryker Voss. Football star. Walks on water and God's gift to women. Just ask him. He promises Penelope Graham, lover of sparkly vampires and calculus, he’ll win her the heart of the guy she’s been crushing on. His plan - good old-fashioned jealousy. Once her crush sees her kissing Ryker, he'll realize what he's missing. Penelope knows she shouldn’t trust a cocky jock, but what’s a girl to do when she needs help getting a date? And Ryker’s keeping a secret, another bet, one that will destroy Penelope’s heart forever.

Full disclosure: Before we move forward with this email, I would like it to be known that I have consumed an adequate amount of alcoholic beverages to intoxicate myself tonight. Three margaritas, two shots, and one beer - because it was free. I think it's important to be open and honest with your coworkers, don't you? So here I am, being open and honest. Drunk but honest. Or just drunk with lust? You decide. I have a hopeless, foolish, schoolgirl crush on you when you are the last person on earth I should be falling for. Did you know people around the office call you a sadist?

Luna Rexroth is everyone’s favorite wallflower. Underneath the meek, tomboy exterior everyone loves (yet pities) is a girl who knows exactly what, and who, she wants - namely, the boy from the tree house who taught her how to curse in sign language. Who taught her how to laugh. To live. To love. Knight Cole is everyone’s favorite football hero. This daredevil hell-raiser could knock you up with his gaze alone, but he only has eyes for the girl across the street: Luna. But Luna is not who she used to be. She doesn’t need his protection anymore.

I've spent eight years wishing I'd fall out of love with Derek Knightley. Blowing out birthday candles, chasing after shooting stars, making it rain spare change into mall fountains - every time it's the same wish: Forget about Derek. But the day he walks back into my life, I realize there are two things time has yet to soften: my feelings for him and his chiseled jawline. It's infuriating that my heart still races when he walks into a room. I refuse to fall prey to old unrequited love, so I decide the less I'm around him, the better. Avoidance is key.

Sometimes you meet people who are out of this world, so you make them a part of yours. A one-night stand born from vengeance in a foreign land. An explosive chemistry neither of us could deny. We signed a contract on the back of a Boar’s Head Pub napkin that said if we ever met again, we would drop everything and be together. Eight years and thousands of miles later, he’s here. In New York. And he’s America’s music obsession. 

They don't call me Belinda Boring for nothing. It's my name, after all. And for a 23-year-old with plain brown hair who still lives at home and gets tongue tied over nothing, it's a fitting one. I'm not even one of those quiet girls with a hidden talent, unless making a mean order of nachos at the NHL arena I work at counts. My life consists of working, reading, and harboring a secret crush on a hockey player who doesn't know I exist. At least, until we accidentally meet and become unlikely friends.  

Badass Athlete: I dare you to... Delaney Shaw: Who is this? The late-night text is random, but "Badass Athlete" sure seems to know who she is...Delaney Shaw. Good girl. Lover of fluffy kitties and Star Wars. Curious. His dare? Spend one night in his bed - a night he promises will be unforgettable - and she can solve the mystery of who he is.   

He's a professional hockey player that lives on the edge. I prefer to play life by the rules. I'm the personal assistant at a sports agency that no one notices. I don't like sports, and I like professional athletes even less. I'm indifferent to the mostly male clientele, except for one. Mica "the savage" Petrov. When it comes to wild antics, Mica is the biggest offender of them all. He's reckless, wild, and carelessly charming. I'm mortified that I find him attractive. But it doesn't matter because the guy hasn't taken a second look at me. Not once. In two years.