Captain Awkward

My boyfriend's one true love, Winnie Lynch, lost a wager on the open seas and she was going to be fed to the tiger sharks in the shark tank soon. As the ship's pirate captain watched, my boyfriend, Hank Smith, yanked me up as I was scrubbing the deck and said, "Winnie is sickly and she can't handle the shock. You're a cleaner who works hard labor every day and has great stamina. You should go in there and hold your breath for five minutes for her." Everyone around us burst out laughing. I wiped the soap bubbles from my hands and sighed helplessly. "Both of you thought this through? You really want me to go?" None of them knew that the two leaders of the pirates who were sitting on the main seats, men who were feared across the open seas, were kids I had trained myself a long time ago!

After a terminal diagnosis, quiet psychology student Quinn Sinclair decides to live her final days with no regrets. Step one: finally date her longtime crush, hockey captain Kade Salvatore. But when a class project forces her to spend every waking moment with Ace Blackwood—Kade’s rival, her enemy, and the most arrogant, chaotic badboy on campus—her carefully planned endgame unravels. Ace is lazy, rebellious, and infuriating… until he isn’t. Until their arguments turn electric. Until his cold smirk becomes a hungry stare. Until he starts showing up everywhere she goes—not to annoy her, but to claim her. He wasn’t supposed to notice her. He wasn’t supposed to care. But now that he knows her time is running out? He’s not letting her go without making her feel every second of it.

A fiercely independent and highly disciplined art student, known for her intense focus and guarded nature, is meticulously planning her final thesis exhibition – a project she sees as her only path to healing from a past betrayal that left her emotionally scarred. Her carefully constructed world is upended when a plumbing disaster in the dorms forces her into a temporary, shared apartment with the university's star rugby captain. He's a charismatic, powerful 'golden retriever' type, known for his easy charm and protective instincts, but also carries the weight of his own family's expectations. Initially, she views him as a loud, distracting presence, leading to clashes over shared space and differing lifestyles. However, the rugby captain is 'immediately obsessed' with her quiet intensity and the raw emotion in her art. He actively seeks to understand her, offering unwavering support and protection, especially when her past trauma threatens to derail her artistic process.

Alexis Jenn Buenavista, a 24-year-old spoiled brat from a wealthy, influential, and famous family, has a life revolving around drinking with friends as if there's no tomorrow. Work isn't in her vocabulary. That's how she's always been... until one day, her parents told her to marry 38-year-old billionaire Zac Rogen Walker. As a stubborn and spoiled brat, she tried to run away but was caught by Zac's bodyguards. She can't accept the idea of an older husband! Zac needs an heir for his company, and his parents are pressuring him to marry since he's not getting any younger. He chose Alexis because of her youth and vitality, which would surely provide him with an heir. The two make a contract that gives Alexis the freedom she once had, but with one condition: she can't have sex with her boyfriend or any other man except Zac. And so, their awkward married life begins. Who will give in to temptation first? Who will give up? And who will fall in love?

This is the first book in an 8 book series of hockey romances. All 8 books have an underlying theme of ‘life after loss’. My first book is about Natasha, a librarian in her 40s who lost a sibling as a teenager and never healed, preventing her from ever finding/committing to love…and the hockey coach who is twice divorced and has given up his dreams of ever finding his match and having a family-until he meets Natasha…. Will Coach Alex's love (along with his superior skills in the sack) be enough to break down the walls Natasha has held firm for over two decades? The 8 books go through the different players of the team, all having their own versions of loss to overcome, with the captain (Adam) being married to a woman (who happens to be a teacher at Natasha's school) who has a terminal illness and will eventually commit suicide in book 6 and the series ends with Adam's own second chance love story….

Ronan Hale is the school’s golden boy… captain of the ice hockey team, talented, confident… and infuriatingly arrogant. After two years away, he’s back, but the glory on the ice can’t hide the fact that he’s failing every class. If he doesn’t pass, he could lose everything. The only person who can save him? Ivy Cross… the quiet, intelligent girl no one notices. She’s smart, strong, and completely unimpressed by his fame… which only makes him more frustrated, and somehow, more drawn to her. Tutoring him should be simple. It’s not. Every session sparks arguments, stolen glances, and tension neither can ignore. Beneath his arrogance, Ivy sees cracks in his walls.. pain, guilt, and secrets he’s desperate to hide. Hate turns to desire. Rivalry becomes something more. And for Ronan and Ivy, falling for each other might only be the beginning…

“Uh, sir, maybe it's better for you to get dressed first?" Amy said. “No need, Ms. Brooke. I'm more comfortable this way.” Samuel smiled, pulling Amy's hand so her position was closer to him. “Besides, I won't need the towel for much longer.” Amy frowned to hear that. “What do you mean?” “Please, Ms. Brooke, ah, maybe I should call you Amy instead. After this, we will be more intimate. It will be awkward to call each other by our last name. Agree?” *** Amy Brooke (twenty years old), the eldest daughter of Brooke's family, has everything all women want: youth, beauty, wealth, and a great family. However, she will lose all in an event and changes her life immensely. Samuel Hoffner (thirty five years old), a billionaire, has everything all men want: great looks, wealth, popularity, and power. However, he is an anti-commitment guy. When they will meet each other and tie in a marriage contract, what will happen later? Can Amy make Samuel fall in love with her? Will their marriage survive or will it be only a short-term arrangement?

Lukas Reiner built his life based off a promise 9 years ago with Viktor Volkov... the only person who actually saw him and knew him for what he actually was. They dreamed of the same future, the same ice, the same victory together. Until Viktor disappeared without a word, leaving Lukas behind with nothing but silence, rain… and feelings he never got to confess. Now, Lukas is at the top of college... Captain, prodigy and untouchable on ice until Viktor comes back. Colder and older, acting like the past never existed. Their reunion explodes into violence, but being forced to work together drags them into something far more dangerous than hate. The tension turns into stolen moments and those moments turn into a habit but before either of them can stop it, the line between resentment and desire begins to blur. Lukas never let go of the past. Viktor never planned to face it. But on the ice, there’s nowhere left to run.

Kaida thought forever was the deal with her boyfriend, Liam, the captain of the Runners Hockey Team, until he broke up with her and reunited with his childhood lover, who had returned after several years of being away. Heartbroken and angry, Kaida decided to make her ex-boyfriend jealous by kissing her best friend's older brother, Maverick. Unfortunately, she reignited the flame he'd been trying to quench for years. Now, there was no turning back and no quenching the obsessive flame burning inside Maverick for her. After some time, Liam realized he truly loved Kaida and wanted her back, but Maverick wasn't letting her go. Kaida was his now, and he would go to the end of the earth for her sake. What began as revenge against her ex turned into something twisted and dark: something beyond words and certainly beyond obsession.

The moment we witness the last surviving child in the safehouse getting pinned to the wall by a zombie before having his guts torn out, all the men in the team break down mentally. "Captain, didn't you claim that Selene kept rambling nonsense because she had gone crazy out of fright toward the zombies? Isn't that why you reassured us to keep watch while you and Madeline watched the sunrise on the summit? "Why is it that my newborn has already gotten devoured by a zombie as soon as I return to the safehouse?" Quinton Morwood goes deathly pale at the accusation. My heart feels as though it's gotten torn into pieces as I stare at the tragedy. In my previous life, when the zombies attacked the safehouse, Quinton, who was the captain of the defence team, had taken the entire team with him just so he could watch the sunrise with Madeline Moore at the mountain summit. I did everything I could to summon everyone back to the base. That was how everyone's lives were spared from the zombie attack. But Madeline was pissed that she did't get to watch the sunrise, so she left the safezone angrily on her own. That was how she got grabbed by a zombie and eaten by a horde. By the time Quinton and his squad killed the entire horde, he just hugged Madeline's femur to his chest without saying a single word. On the day I gave birth to my baby, Quinton hacked my limbs off before throwing me into the roaming hordes of zombies. I could only watch as the zombies tore my flesh off my bones before Quinton saved me again by healing me. The cycle kept going on and on until I witnessed the last piece of flesh being torn off my body. "You're the one who killed Madeline, you wretched woman! Since you like competing with her that much, I'll make sure you'll die a worse death than hers!" When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day the zombies are attacking the safezone.