Showing results by author "A.J. Truman" in All Categories

Totally fake marriage. Very real feelings. When my hockey teammate, the recently widowed Tanner Chance, loses his job, he and his four kids are left with no medical coverage. So I suggest a wild idea: get married and put his family on my company’s insurance plan.

I should be a glitter bomb of excitement about my college friends getting married. But all I can think about is running into my uber-successful ex and his new boyfriend at the wedding . . . while I'm flying painfully solo. I need a plus one, stat. Enter Raleigh Marshall. As luck (or misfortune) would have it, a picture of me and South Rock High's too-blessed-to-be-stressed football coach accidentally finds its way on social media, making people believe we're an item. Raleigh is hot, charming, and one of South Rock's most popular teachers. The problem is that he knows it.

A long time ago, in a suburban high school not so far away, a closeted nerd (me) and a closeted soccer star (Hutch) fell in love and planned to make their public debut at prom. Until Hutch bailed at the last minute, leaving me with a broken heart and unworn tuxedo. Tale as old as time, right? I spent the past ten years working to forget Hutch, returning to our old high school to teach and make new memories that could erase ones of him. I thought Hutch was ancient history, off living his professional athlete life.

In high school, Derek ruled the school with his fellow hockey players, while I fantasized from afar. He only knew me as his little brother’s shy friend who, thanks to one vicious rumor from a former flame, had garnered a reputation as the school freak. Twenty years later, I’m a successful real estate agent who’s put my embarrassing past behind me and smartly stayed away from love. I have things under control…until Derek suddenly returns to Sourwood sans wedding ring, and in dire need of a house for him and his daughter.

In one month, I turn thirty-five with my virginity still intact. Is there anything more embarrassing than knowing most of my French students have gotten more action than me? Je suis triste. When I accidentally reveal this secret to my close friend and co-worker Seamus, South Rock's baseball coach, he offers to help me round the bases. It has to be a joke, because Seamus is one million percent straight. There's no way he'd want to fool around with a chubby language nerd like me, even though I've harbored a secret crush on him since the day he first walked into the teachers' lounge.

For 25 years, I’ve been in an exclusive, all-consuming relationship with Stone’s Throw Tavern, my family’s local bar. I don’t need a boyfriend. What I need is a new bartender. And what I get is Charlie, my daughter’s old college boyfriend, a guy who still acts like he’s chillin’ at the frat house.

Initially, the only thing Marshall and Marshall had in common was a name. Marshall (aka Data) lived his life around spreadsheets, while Marshall (aka Marsh) was an F5 tornado of chaos. Yet for eight years, they were madly in love. Until Marsh abruptly ended things with a half-baked excuse. Six months later, Data gets a text from Marsh out of the blue: They need to clean out their cabin in Maine and sell it ASAP. He can make it through one more weekend with the man who broke his heart.

It’s hard enough balancing two jobs with raising my son solo. Forget dating. I barely have time for laundry. But when my son’s scouting troop The Falcons needed a co-scout leader, I couldn’t say no. There’s just one ginormous problem: the other scout leader Russ. To all other parents, he’s #DadGoals, Mr. Sexy Widower who lords over the drop off line. To me? He’s the bane of my picket-fenced existence - stuck up, anal (not in the fun way), and definitely the person who got me booted from the Parent Teacher Association.

For Bryce Derrickson, rejection is nothing new. He’s used to Broadway casting directors seeing his size and assuming he can’t be a graceful dancer. But getting dumped with no notice is a special kind of burn. At least his sweet dog Bobo still loves him. As if being left without warning isn’t bad enough, Bryce’s ex sublets their apartment without telling him, leaving him without a place to live. When his new ‘roommate’ turns out to be a stuffy, elbow-patches-on-blazer, permanent-frown-on-face professor, Bryce is furious. No way will he give up his bohemian pad without a fight.

As a high school hockey star, I was on track for greatness. Until an opponent attacked me on the ice, leaving me half blind. For the past twenty-seven years, I’ve avoided hockey and its painful memories. But when my old teammates get back together to play in a local recreational league, I realize it could be a chance to rewrite history. The only person standing in my way is Jack Gross.

No looking back. That's the motto of college senior Cameron Buckley, whether he's kicking his latest hookup out of bed or plotting out his future as a hit screenwriter. With only a few weeks until graduation, he's ready to put Browerton University in his rearview mirror and start the life he's been dreaming of ever since he was a kid. But a chance meeting with a sexy stranger in a bar throws a wrench into his Hollywood plans.

Mac had to be out of his mind. Completely out of his ever-loving mind to even consider rooming with Gideon. The same guy he kissed during his freshman year who said he was straight. He's held Mac's mind hostage for the last two years after running out that one special night. Mac was a fan of social experiments, and this one was going to be a doozy.

College sophomore Ethan Follett never says what's on his mind and never wants to rock the boat. Out in the open, things couldn't be better, but secretly Ethan yearns for some real excitement in his life. He finds it in cocky frat boy Greg Sanderson, who challenges every rigid, preconceived notion Ethan lives by. Soon, their sparring relationship turns sexual, and these enemies-with-benefits "get their freak on" all over campus. Yet the more Ethan comes out of his shell, the more Greg retreats into his, working overtime to keep his ladies' man public persona intact.

I’m stuck sharing a coffin with the world’s perkiest vampire. This vacation is going to suck. After centuries of eternal existence, and still mourning the loss of my lover to vicious slayers, I needed a few days of peaceful solitude at the Hotel Draugr. But thanks to a double-booking mishap, I’m forced to share my coffin with Kilroy, a freshly bitten vampire who loves his new afterlife as much as he loves hanging ten. My unexpected roommate is determined to show me how “totally awesome” being a vampire can be.

I love watching chemicals bond, but I avoid the practice myself. When I'm not teaching, I'm hanging out with my cat and putting together puzzles. I shy away from romantic entanglements because I know firsthand the collateral damage they cause. Until I bump into Anton and Sebastian: best friends, business partners, and former wrestling superstars at South Rock High who could barely pass my class. Catching up turns into drinking, which turns into dancing, which turns into them practicing wrestling moves on me, sans clothing.

You better watch out. You better not cry. Hot Mall Santa is coming to town! Instead of round and jolly, this year’s mall Santa is chiseled and smoldering. The second he strolls into the mall wearing sunglasses, stubble, and his Santa hat cocked to the side, Santa gets all the tongues wagging—especially Tom’s. A lowly retail associate, Tom spends his time chasing a promotion and boss that are both out of reach. His fantasies about being a ho-ho-ho for Santa soon cross into reality after an unexpected night together.

To win this election, I should be trying to kiss babies, not my best friend! My chances of reelection have gone from slam dunk to nose dive. What happened? A former hookup sold me out to the press, complete with screenshots. In my defense, between being mayor and parenting twins (double the puberty!), I have zero room for relationships that go beyond one night. My campaign manager says I need to change the narrative, aka get a boyfriend ASAP to make me seem more (ugh) likable. The only person I trust with this ruse is my charming best friend Dusty.

Meet Coop: Formal date. Wingman. Friend. Mystery man. He calls himself the G-rated Gigolo of Browerton. He could be anyone you wanted him to be...for a price. One night, his services are called upon for a unique assignment: distract a computer science nerd whose strong grades are killing the class curve. All Coop has to do is get the guy away from his books, save the curve, and collect the biggest payday of his G-rated Gigolo career.