"Sometimes I feel like a square puck trying to roll down ice."
—Calum Lefleur, VEGAS CRUSH
Living in Montreal and playing the best hockey of my career after leading my team to a Cup-winning season last year?
Check.
Traded overnight to the Vegas Crush and blindsided with no warning whatsoever?
Also, check.
So now I’m in Vegas. Feeling all the uncomfortableness of a new environment where nothing is familiar. Where every person I see is someone I don’t know. Where "fitting in" will be nearly impossible without an established routine.
To help settle me in, Vegas Crush Media Relations arranged for a volunteer gig teaching guitar lessons to disadvantaged kids at a local youth center. They feel that connecting with the community will help boost my image with the Vegas fans.
I don’t mind volunteering at all. I prefer to keep busy, and I think it could be a fun way to pass my downtime.
But there is a hitch. Of course, there is.
That stunning drummer from Love Scrum I saw play my first night out in Vegas?
The one with the ends of her dark, silky hair dyed electric purple?
The one with the mile-long legs who danced with me (and kissed me) when I stupidly crashed that after-party?
The one-in-the-same gorgeous drummer I blew off at the end of the night because I’m awkward AF in new situations with new people...as previously noted?
That one???
Well, today I found out her name is Billie Hirsch. And she is everything I said she was…plus a whole lot more.
More...like she’s the program director for those guitar lessons I’ll be teaching over at the Crush Foundation Music Workshop.
More...like Ms. Hirsch and I will be forced to work closely together throughout the entire season.
More...like Billie Hirsch kinda hates me and this is going to be a huge pucking problem.
**The KEEPER can be read as a complete standalone sports romance. Each book in the Vegas Crush series is about a different couple.
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Raine Miller is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author since 2012.
Before that, she spent two decades teaching kiddos to read–something she’s most proud of. These days, writing steamy romance stories pretty much fills up the hours. . . for which she keeps pinching herself to make sure she’s not dreaming.
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She has a handsome husband, two amazing sons, and two very bouncy Italian greyhounds to keep her busy the rest of the time. Her boys know she writes romance books but gratefully have zero interest in reading even a single one. Thank God!
When she’s not writing she’s likely deep into a hockey game cheering on her beloved Vegas Golden Knights and dreaming up a new book. The greyhounds are likely to be in her lap while she writes the books or watches hockey—both dogs at the same time.
She loves to hear from readers and chat about the characters she’s created.
You can connect with Raine on Facebook in her group, Raine Miller Romance Readers. Stop by any time. “My readers are the heart and soul of what keeps me writing the words.”
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Brit DeMille is the alter ego of NYT bestselling author, Raine Miller, having an absolute blast writing books quite different from what she writes as Raine.
Stories about sexy billionaires [millionaires make the cut too] who fall in instalove with young women who may or may not be virgins, and then go on to make adorable babies together are her favorite themes. In addition to the billionaires, hot hockey players are at the top of her list of favorite heroes, along with royals and ex-military bodyguards.
Most important when she writes a story is a happily ever after. But during the actual <i>writing</i> of the story, the most important thing is a cup of hot tea with a splash of milk (and don’t forget the stash of cherry Jolly Ranchers).
A dog or two will likely be in between her and the chair at any given moment, which is very handy, because they are the ones who approve everything she writes.
www.rainemiller.com