Brian Tour and Giveaway!
Sweet heat.
Sharp skates.
One perfect shot
at forever.
Brian
A Los Angeles Quakes Hockey Series Book 4
by Alisa Jean
Genre: Hockey Sports Romance
Sweet heat. Sharp
skates. One perfect shot at forever.
Brian Anderson has always been the good guy—center for the Los Angeles Quakes,
team peacemaker, and top scorer. He’s watched his teammates fall in love one by
one, but he’s stayed far from the line of fire—until a fierce left winger
blindsides him in a no-holds-barred charity game. Alexis Barlowe doesn’t care
about NHL fame. She’s too busy raising her daughter and guarding her heart
after one betrayal too many.
Brian is determined in his pursuit, and Alexis eventually lets him in. He’s
everything Peter, her ex, wasn’t—kind, dependable, crazy about her and her
daughter. But when a woman from Brian’s past shows up five months pregnant and
claiming he’s the father, Alexis’s walls come crashing back down.
The test says the baby is his. But Brian swears it’s not true. As secrets
unravel and old wounds reopen, both must decide if love is worth the risk—or if
their happily ever after is just another story cut short.
Brian:
Hockey Romance
He Falls First, Insta Love
Single Mom
Secret Daughter
She Plays Hockey
Insta Family
Confirmed Bachelor
She Doesn’t Believe In Love
Perennial Good Guy
where I am, so the challenge is at least on a level playing field, so to speak. The first round, I
focus on the girls who are the whole reason we’re here, tagging a few and making an
exaggerated motion of just missing a few more. By round three, there are a lot of minnows in
the middle with us sharks and the remaining runners, including Alexis, are getting winded as
much from shrieks of laughter as from dashing back.
Round four is when I decide to make my move. Alexis has to work extra hard, dodging around
the minnows in the neutral zone as well as other sharks, but I don’t strike when she’s
distracted. I wait until our eyes meet, and then the game is on. She’s quick, I knew that from
watching her skate, but I’m no slouch. She zigs and zags, trying to juke around me, but in the
end, my grab for her is successful. I only meant to snag her by the arm, but my hand finds her
waist instead, and her momentum reels her to my side. Both of us are breathless as our gazes
meet, and I’m not one hundred percent sure it’s from running.
“I win, I win, I win,” shrieks a tiny girl with pigtails as she jumps up and down, as excited as if
she’d scored her first goal. Sadly, her triumph pulls Alexis out of our moment. She steps back,
stumbles a bit, then smiles briefly at me as she rejoins the other minnows, giving high-fives to
the excited girls.
* * *
After stopping for juice boxes and snacks, we take the girls onto the ice, some of them for the
first time, for skating lessons. The kids who need them get the help of big plastic things that
look like the fun version of a grown-up walker, known as Skate Helpers. These also happen to
have the Quakes’ logo emblazoned on the front.
I’m already on the ice playing around with passing and blocking with Linc and the Tsunami boys
when Alexis joins us a few minutes later. She sees the Skate Helpers and smiles.
“Holy s**t, I wish they’d had these around when I was learning to skate,” she says, admiring the
simple design.
“The cool thing is if you stack two of them on top of each other, like the way you stack chairs,
adults can use them too.” My demonstration goes into the forbidden “date” zone through no
fault of my own. I stacked two up, she went to give it a try, and our hands brushed against each
other. The weirdest thing is she left her hand there. Only for a split second, but still, that was
better than her jerking away. Team Brian scores again!
We only have them out on the ice for a little less than twenty minutes. Tired legs are the
number one cause of a stupid injury that might result in the girls vowing to never skate again,
nonetheless play hockey. Therefore, we definitely want to avoid that. Afterward, we all go back
outside, most of them grateful for the warmth of the sun after being in the chilly indoor arena.
There are more juice boxes, and the day ends with everyone making shiny gold cardboard
crowns and personalizing them with glitter, feathers, or fake jewels. Of everyone, I think the
kids from the Tsunami get the most glitter on them, but they’re grinning from ear to ear.
I stare at Alexis, her crown set at a jaunty angle, with Grrrl Power written in sparkles, as well as
a few feathers and beads attached. She’s chatting away with the Tsunami boys, and it’s all I can
do to quell a rumble of jealousy that threatens to boil over.
As if she’s noticing me for the first time, she appraises my crown as she approaches. “I figured
you for the 'Hockey God' type of guy instead of 'Coach of future stars.’ You continue to surprise
me.”
“In a good way, I hope?”
She shrugs. “Yet to be determined.” Then she nods to Juliette, who is now a development
scout. “I thought the only women the Quakes allowed on their ice were the slutty ice crew?”
I prickle at the comment. “Hey, first off, we now have the only woman NHL coach. And second,
one of our on-air announcers got her start on the ice crew. And it’s not all about the outfits.”
“You mean the sports bra and tight-fitting pants while they’re skating around trying to clean up
the ice? That outfit?”
“First, it’s a co-ed group. Second, they do a lot more than that. They represent the Quakes at
non-profit events, and make sure the fans have a good time at the game as well as—” I stop
when I notice she’s grinning at me rather than arguing. “I get it, you were just needling me to
get a rise.
She gives me that million-watt smile that she spends like the rare currency it is. “Sibling 101. I’m
an expert at it.”
Thank goodness I’m wearing my sweater that’s long enough to show just how good she is at
getting a rise out of a very specific part of me.
“So, I know of a great—”
“No.”
“But you don’t even know what I was going to say?” Why do I keep striking out with this girl?
“It doesn’t matter. Great restaurant, great movie, great view, whatever it was you were going
to suggest, the answer is no. Honestly, it’s not you. I’m just not interested in dating anyone
right now.”
“Really? Because you were eyeing the Tsunami players pretty wistfully,” I snarl, then
immediately regret it. Because I’m not a jealous a--hole, but she doesn’t even know me well
enough to keep rejecting me, so what the hell?
“No, it’s not—God, they’re barely out of college, what kind of person do you think I am? Ugh,
never mind.” Then her expression softens, and the tiniest glimmer of hope bursts in my heart as
she puts a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks for the day, I really did enjoy it, but I gotta go.”
Curious, drawn, and a whole lot of confused, my heart doubles down as I watch her walk out of
my life. For the first time, I’m not okay with just moving on to someone new.
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
**Don’t miss the other books in the series!**
Lincoln
A Los Angeles Quakes Hockey
Series Book 1
Amazon * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Luka
A Los Angeles Quakes
Hockey Series Book 2
Amazon * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Matthew
A Los Angeles Quakes Hockey Series Book 3
Amazon * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Alisa Jean is the
pseudonym for award-winning authors Marla A. White and C J Bahr. They first
teamed up over thirty years ago over a bottle of Zima (don’t ask) while
polishing their gear for a horse show. They’ve since moved on to better
beverages and writing novels. Separately, Marla prefers to murder characters in
the usual way, while C J uses paranormal means. The long-time best friends
joined together as a writing team through their mutual love of hockey. Wonder
twin powers activated! Their hockey romances examine flawed characters with
heart, humor, and sexy sizzle.
I really love hockey romance. This one sounds really good.
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