Lucy Lennox – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Lucy Lennox – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.1 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Lucy Lennox – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 Tracking Wolfe (Made Marian Legacy #4) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/tracking-wolfe-made-marian-legacy-4-read-online-lucy-lennox Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:30 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/tracking-wolfe-made-marian-legacy-4-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, Forbidden, M-M Romance, Suspense Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Made Marian Legacy Series by Lucy Lennox
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Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)

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I’ve been in love with Trace Bishop half my life… 
And I’ve been hiding it just as long.

He’s my father’s best friend. 
The man who tracked me down and kept me safe my entire childhood…

The man who looked me in the eyes six years ago and said we were impossible.

So I poured my longing into love songs.
Songs no one knows are about Trace. 
I shared them with the world under a secret identity and won a Grammy.
Just another thing to hide. 

Then one stupid kiss changes everything.

Trace can’t want me back. 
It would cost him his friends, his family, and the life he’s built. 
And I’m tired of wanting the impossible.  
So I run… 

Straight into the crosshairs of someone who knows all my secrets and doesn’t care who gets hurt.

Trace does what he always does–he finds me. 
But this time, he’s not tracking his best friend’s son.
He’s tracking the man whose kiss he can’t forget. 
The man he’ll burn his life down to keep. 

Because if Trace and I want a chance at forever, hiding is no longer an option

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

WOLFE, AGE 13

I’d known Trace my whole life.

That was the thought I kept coming back to as I sat by the pool that afternoon, pretending to read. Trace had helped Dad teach me to swim in this pool. He’d been at every birthday, every barbecue, every Christmas morning sprawled on our couch with terrible bedhead and Papa’s good coffee. He was part of the landscape—like the oak tree or the vines or the way the summer heat made the air shimmer.

So I didn’t understand why my hands suddenly felt clumsy holding my book.

“If you burn that portobello, Derek, I’m writing a lament and making you sing it,” Papa called from the outdoor bar area, where he was spraying the counter down with cleaning solution before setting up the ingredients for frozen drinks.

“I’ve never lost any of your ridiculous vegetables yet,” Dad said.

The sliding door opened. I glanced up out of habit to see who it was.

Trace stepped out shirtless in his swim trunks, his chest already golden brown from wherever he’d been working for the past month. He grinned at Papa. “What’s the ruling on cannonballs, Marian?”

I’d seen Trace without a shirt a hundred times. A thousand times. This shouldn’t have felt like anything.

“You mess up what I just cleaned, you’re the one redoing it,” Papa said. “Welcome back to the real world.”

“Real world, my ass,” Trace said with a laugh, dropping his towel on the chaise near mine. “Hey, kid.”

“Hey,” I said. My voice came out strange. I cleared my throat. “Hey.”

He gave me that half grin he always gave me—the one that meant he thought I was funny without meaning to be—and walked to the pool. The dive was clean. Barely a splash. He always dove like that.

I looked back at my book, but my eyes wouldn’t focus on the words.

I could hear Trace swimming. Steady strokes, the sound of water moving. The same sounds I’d heard every summer since I was small enough that he had to hold me up in the shallow end.

I turned a page I hadn’t read.

When he surfaced and pushed his wet hair back, I told myself to keep reading. That’s what I’d been doing.

Reading. I was reading.

Trace swam to the far wall. Turned. Pushed off.

My chest felt tight.

I shifted on the lounge chair, and the towel scratched my legs wrong. My skin felt too tight for my body.

I shifted again, knocking my chair into the umbrella stand beside it. The umbrella wobbled, and I reached up to steady it, smearing sunscreen on the canvas.

“Trace,” Dad called. “Give Wolfe a hand with the umbrella before it decapitates him.”

“On it.”

Trace climbed out of the pool. Water streamed off his shoulders and down his back. The beads caught the sunlight like sparkling gems winking unexpectedly. He crossed the stone and reached up to grab the umbrella pole above my head.

I should have looked away. I looked away all the time—when Papa and Dad kissed in the kitchen, when actors kissed on TV, when anything felt like I was seeing something private. It was automatic.

This time, I didn’t.

Trace stretched to hold the pole steady. His arm extended over me, ribs visible above the slight bumps of his stomach muscles, water still dripping from his skin onto the stone beside my chair. The umbrella created a small shadow between us. I could smell chlorine and his deodorant—the same brand he’d always used, the same smell that had been in our house forever because he left a bag here and showered after using the pool.

Nothing was different.

Everything was different.

“Loose wing nut,” Trace said, squinting at the mechanism. “Derek, you got a⁠—”

“Top shelf of the pantry. Left bin,” Papa supplied. Dad saluted before walking inside.

My heart pounded, but I didn’t know why. Trace was just fixing an umbrella. Trace fixed things all the time. He’d fixed our fence last month and the gate before that and helped Dad with the truck and⁠—

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Advertisement Honovi’s Briefs Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/honovis-briefs-read-online-lucy-lennox Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:11:38 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/honovis-briefs-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Advertisement

Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >21

A surgeon with a god complex. An attorney with zero patience. One reckless moment that changes everything…

I don’t do impulsive.

I do order and structure. I do airtight arguments and depositions that make egotistical surgeons sweat. Protecting the families of Hobie, Texas, is my job—and I’m damn good at it.

Which is why dragging Dr. Xavier Rhodes into a dark, empty hospital room is… wildly off-brand for me.

Xavier is everything I avoid. Arrogant. Smugly gorgeous. Infuriating at every turn. And unfortunately? A brilliant surgeon with hands capable of things I absolutely should not be thinking about.

Our “one-time” lapse becomes a habit—hot, stolen moments between two men who don’t have time for anything real. It’s messy. It’s addictive. And it’s the most alive I’ve felt in years.

But when a life-or-death emergency throws us together, the truth hits
I can keep the careful life I built…
or risk everything for the complicated man I can’t walk away from.

*This book was previously part of a promotional giveaway in January 2026. No new content has been added

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

HONOVI

“Are you aware the patient’s consent was obtained under sedation?” I asked for the third time in as many hours.

The surgeon’s nostrils flared. “Once again, I’m aware the patient had been stabbed and was at risk of death. I didn’t think stopping to let him sober up was worth his life. Still don’t, in fact. No matter how many times you want to ask me the question.”

Dr. Xavier Rhodes was a beautiful man. There was no doubt about that. Everyone in Hobie, Texas, was aware of it. In fact, I’d overheard Doc Wilde say something about how the man was “too perfect.”

He also came off like a textbook ego-driven surgeon who thought he was a god, which was going to be a problem on the stand if this civil suit went to trial.

Hell, it was already a problem for me.

He was handsome, yes—maybe even ridiculously, unfairly handsome—but I could hardly stand to look at the man since every time I tried to question him, he turned into an automaton hell-bent on ruining this case or crushing my spirit, whichever came first.

I took a breath and held it for four beats, five. Seven. “Be that as it may, the patient is contesting the procedure, and you and the hospital are on the hook for it.”

He leaned forward and jabbed the table with one long, elegant finger to make his point. “This is a complete waste of time. Ask any surgeon in any hospital in the country and they’ll tell you they would have done the same thing. The man needed his appendix out, so I gave him an appendectomy.”

“You were treating him for a stab wound,” I pointed out calmly. In order to keep from adding another stab wound to this case.

He took a breath and repeated his earlier explanation as if he was pressing Rewind and Play on a boring and disgusting med school lecture. “During the procedure to repair the penetrating abdominal trauma, I identified necrotic tissue and purulent fluid consistent with early necrotizing peritonitis. At that point, I extended the incision and proceeded with an open appendectomy and lavage to avoid sepsis. Standard procedure. Had I not made the call, sepsis would have led to septic shock, where blood pressure collapses, organs fail, and mortality exceeds 50 to 60 percent, even with aggressive ICU intervention. Yes, he came in for a stab wound, but that stab wound actually saved his life.”

“Says you,” I murmured as I made a few more notes.

His square jaw somehow managed to get square-er. “Mr. Baptiste, with all due respect, there’s no doubt in my mind that this will be resolved in the courtroom once we get medical experts on the stand.”

I tried not to stare at his hands as he tapped his fingers impatiently on the table.

In the few months Xavier Rhodes had been back in Hobie, those capable hands of his had earned a hell of a reputation among his patients. Superhuman, they said.

Which was completely irrelevant right now.

Focus, Hon.

“I believe your defense attorney’s goal is not to get anyone on the stand,” I explained, glad I wasn’t his actual attorney, only assisting the guy with information-gathering and trial prep as a favor. “It’s to gather enough evidence to make them go away. And so far, your combativeness and refusal to cooperate hasn’t helped us get anywhere near that goal.”

Dr. Rhodes pushed back from the conference table with those same damnable fingers and stood, shooting the cuffs of his expensive dress shirt and smoothing his baby blue tie down to his shiny silver-buckled belt. “I have kept my cool for over three hours of repetitive, inconsequential questions about a simple medical decision, Mr. Baptiste. And I’ve reached my limit. A patient and his ambulance-chasing attorney are looking for an easy payday. I hope this hospital’s legal team is good enough not to give him one. If you have more questions for me, you’ll have to schedule them for another day. Good afternoon.”

With that, I watched his tight, rounded ass, pristinely draped in expensive suit pants, walk out of the conference room and into the hospital corridor.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

My paralegal tilted her head and pursed her lips. “To be fair, he stayed way longer than anyone expected.”

I gave Gracie a weak laugh. “Not nearly long enough. You and I both know we didn’t need any of that information. We needed to know how he’d handle being under pressure with repeated questions. And the answer is, ‘Not particularly well.’”

One of the hospital administrators I’d forgotten was in the room sighed as she stood up. “The poor man. Dr. Rhodes has been slammed ever since Dr. Khidhri retired. I don’t know when he sleeps. One of the nurses says he’s practically living in the doctors’ lounge.”

My eyes snapped to hers. “Could his overwork and possible sleep deprivation be used against the hospital in this case?”

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Advertisement Magpie (Made Marian Legacy #4) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/magpie-made-marian-legacy-4-read-online-lucy-lennox Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:11:19 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/magpie-made-marian-legacy-4-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance, Taboo Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Made Marian Legacy Series by Lucy Lennox
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Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >44

He’s my father’s best friend. My protector. My forbidden obsession.

For as long as I can remember, Kittredge Evers has been my anchor—the powerful CEO who never let me down, the man who called me Magpie and filled my childhood with treasures. My father's best friend. But when one drunken confession shattered our careful boundaries, I learned how dangerous it was to want him.

Ten years later, I’m grown. I’m no longer the sweet kid he swore to protect—I’m a man with desires of my own. And Kit? He’s still the most compelling man I’ve ever known. Stern, gorgeous, untouchable… and the one person I can’t seem to let go.

Every stolen glance and slip of the tongue drags us closer to the line we swore we’d never cross. But once we do? There’s no turning back.

Magpie is a scorching, age-gap, father’s-best-friend MM romance filled with slow-burn tension, forbidden desire, and the kind of devotion that sets the world on fire

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

ROBBIE

“He doesn’t mind, I promise,” I repeated as I punched in the key code next to the front door.

My friend Jason narrowed his eyes at me. “And who’s the guy who owns this place again? Your uncle?”

“Jesus, no! God. No. Kit is… I mean, he’s kind of like an uncle. He’s been my dad’s friend for as long as I can remember.” I shoved the heavy door open and felt the sweet relief of the air-conditioning. Rabbit Island, South Carolina, was more humid than Berkeley, California, by a factor of a hundred million. At least. “But he’s cool. I mean… he’s not as old as my dad, so he’s less embarrassing.”

“He must be an actor too,” Jason said with a trace of awe in his voice. “Look at this place.”

I reached down for our bags and pulled them inside before closing the door behind us. “He’s the CEO of Evers Media.”

Jason’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Evers Media, like the people who make the Nova Syndicate movies?”

I nodded and flicked on the nearest light switch. The wide expanse of windows across the back of the house reflected warm light from all the lamps around the wide-open living room and kitchen space. “And a bunch of other stuff. They also produce the TAC-9 series and Oxbow Valley.”

“Holee shit, Robbie. Fuck. This place is insane.” He kicked off his shoes by the door as if afraid to leave even a single smudge on the wide-plank hardwoods and designer rugs. “I don’t even want to touch anything. Can you imagine how much all this shit costs?”

I hated moments like this, when I was reminded that the world I grew up in was foreign and untouchable to most of my friends. Jason had grown up in a tiny town in Kentucky and had only ended up at UC Berkeley after busting his ass working and establishing residency in California first. He was the poorest of our group of friends, and it was easy to forget.

“It’s just stuff,” I said defensively. “And you can stop treating everything like it’s precious. I promise Kit doesn’t care. He’s only here like four times a year, anyway. That’s why he said I can use it whenever I want.”

Jason let out a breath and moved over to the overstuffed sofa before dropping himself onto it. “Okay, then. I’ll stop being a freak about it. But please thank him for me. Being able to take off after finals like that… and ride in your dad’s plane. I feel like I’m in a reality TV show or something.”

“Two college grads pairing low-calorie beer with a family-sized bag of Oreos while falling asleep on the beach is hardly going to pull in big ratings,” I pointed out.

He grinned. “Wait till everyone else gets here. People would pay money to see a group of hot drunk guys playing beach volleyball. The money would roll in.”

My phone buzzed with a text.

Kit

You made it. Sibley said the kitchen is stocked. She left all the delivery menus in the kitchen and her cell if you need anything. She’ll come by every other day to restock and clean up. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it. Proud of you, Magpie.

I stared at the words. Proud of you.

Those words only ever came from Kittredge Evers. Not from my mom, who’d passed away years ago. Never, ever from my dad.

Heat flushed through me, along with pride, gratitude, and deep affection. This combination of reactions was unique to Kit. The gratitude, pride, and affection had been there for as long as I could remember, but the heat… that had exploded onto the scene at my sixteenth birthday party when Kit had taken me out on a sailboat for the first time.

I’d seen him shirtless and tanned, muscles corded and taut while he pulled ropes and braced himself against the movement of the deck. Thighs had never been a kink of mine until that day, but even now, seven years later, I fantasized about the sliver of pale inner thigh I’d peeked up the inside of his swim shorts as my eyes had traveled the dips and curves of his quads.

“Robbie? Hellooo? You still with us?” Jason asked. “Should we find some beer and change into our suits? I know it’s late, but I’m dying to go down to the beach right now.”

I blew out a breath, blocked out all those inconvenient fantasies, and grinned. “Let’s do it.”

Four days later, we were joined by six other friends from college. By then, Jason, Sam, and I were tanned and relaxed, much more at home in the house and in full-on beach vacation mode. Our blood was half beer and half vodka, and we were in a semi-permanent state of drunkenness. Sibley had hooked us up with vats of her fresh salsa and giant, party-size bags of tortilla chips, as well as taquitos, tamales, and soft tacos.

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Advertisement Owning Jett (Made Marian Legacy #3) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/owning-jett-made-marian-legacy-3-read-online-lucy-lennox Sat, 28 Feb 2026 17:32:15 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/owning-jett-made-marian-legacy-3-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Billionaire, Contemporary, M-M Romance, Suspense Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Made Marian Legacy Series by Lucy Lennox
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Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >108

Two weeks. One villa. A dangerous game of seduction and lies.

My job is get close, get the intel, get out.

Then Locke Maris walks into my op.

He’s cold. Controlled. Heir to a billion-dollar shipping fortune. And so aggressively straight he doesn’t even look at me twice...

Until he does.

Locke makes me an play his assistant by day, be his secret lover by night, at a house party where the world’s elite will gather to sip champagne, enjoy the Italian sun…and play a dangerous game called Paxis.

In this ancient variation of chess, humans are pawns and each coded move could start or stop wars. I should report this to my agency immediately. Walk away clean.

But I can’t walk away.

Because in the privacy of his suite, the moves Locke makes are just as dangerous, the words he murmurs in my ear as devastating, and the growing devotion I feel as destructive as any global war.

At the end of this, I’ll have to disappear like I always do.
I don’t get to want things that could ruin my cover—or my career.

But Locke Maris is ruthless about protecting what’s his, and as far as he’s concerned he owns me.

When everything falls apart, I’ll find out exactly how far he’ll go to keep me

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

JETT - FOUR YEARS AGO

It wasn’t a stretch to play a go-go boy. I loved sex, and I was proud of my body. Win-win. Not that my bosses at ESP knew either of those things.

Fortunately for them, I was also only twenty-three, so I could pass easily as a dancer in a gentleman’s club.

Unfortunately for me, I was new enough at the agency to not have a choice in my assignments. Might as well enjoy it as much as I could.

I rolled my hips at my mark—Ronald Gillen, cargo-smuggling union boss and all-around shitheel—and felt his eyes follow the curve of my ass and thighs in my booty shorts. Loud club music flooded my system and loosened my already warm muscles.

I bit back a laugh at the thought of telling a younger Jett Marian that one day he’d be paid good money to shake his assets for men in a gentleman’s club. Talk about a dream job. After two particularly shit breakups in college, I’d determined that playing the field was a thousand times better than being in a relationship. And the past several years had only proven me right.

Some old guy reached over and pinched my ass before shoving a twenty in the waistband of my jock and making a lewd comment about how I’d look even better on my knees for him.

Okay, so maybe not all of it was dreamlike. In fact, after spending the past four nights dancing in expectation of Ronald appearing in this club, I was ready to get the information I needed from him so my professional dancing days could be over.

I made a big production of licking a finger and trailing it down my bare chest, regretting it a moment later when I realized my fingertip still had leftover glitter eye shadow on it. Blech.

“Such a pretty boy,” Ronald murmured, eying me over his fat cigar. “Are you new here, sweetheart?”

“I came especially for you, Daddy,” I teased with a flirty grin before turning and leaning over, moving my hips from side to side so he could get a peek of bare cheek at the edge of my shorts. I reached back with one hand and ran my fingers along my skin just under the edge of the fabric while holding on to the pole with the other hand. “You like what you see?”

My goal was to get him into a private room for a lap dance where I could distract him while getting close enough to scan his phone with the device embedded in my leather bracelet.

He was with several other men, half of whom were obviously more interested in the women dancing around the room, while the other half either lasered their attention on me or were too busy courting Ronald’s favor to pay attention to the dancers at all.

I turned around to face him and leaned the top of my back against the pole, moving my hands down my front and into the top of my shorts. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, pushing the shorts down enough to show the jock underneath them and a hint of pubic hair.

When the Ecumene Stability Project had recruited me out of college a little over a year ago, I’d gone through the kind of intense training program used by the CIA, MI6, and Mossad—which made sense, since the massive global intelligence agency had a budget larger than all of them put together. Among other things, that training had honed my body into a tool—efficient, strong, ready for anything.

Including luring alcoholic old men into private rooms.

I just needed to seal the deal.

I bit my lower lip and slowly dragged my gaze up from Ronald’s black leather wing tips to his crotch and lifted my eyebrows in pleasant surprise as if I saw something impressive there.

I did not.

My tongue came out to wet my lips, and I exhaled, keeping my eyes on his crotch for another moment before sighing and whimpering a little. Then I continued my perusal up over his beer belly to his chest and thick neck. I forced myself to imagine letting this man do dirty things to me, and the image was horrifying enough to heat my cheeks.

Which was exactly what I was going for.

I blinked at him innocently and turned away in faux-embarrassment for having been caught looking. More ass-shaking and pole-humping, then I’d face him again and play with my nipples. It was important to have a plan.

“He’s a pretty one, isn’t he?” I heard Ronald say to someone in his smoke-roughened voice. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised he sounded like a New Jersey dockworker when that was literally what he was. Or had been before moving up to union steward.

He was the guy who managed the list and the line, knew every ghost container on every ship, and accepted envelopes of cash to get favorable movement for all three.

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Advertisement Burning for Alexander (Made Marian Legacy #2) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/burning-for-alexander-made-marian-legacy-2-read-online-lucy-lennox Sun, 07 Dec 2025 21:05:46 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/burning-for-alexander-made-marian-legacy-2-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Made Marian Legacy Series by Lucy Lennox
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Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >103

But now all I see is Alex Marian.
The bane of my existence. Firebug. Reckless bar owner. Walking disaster.

It doesn’t matter that he’s the sexiest man alive. Or charming. Or kind.

He’s entitled, spoiled, rich, naive—everything I hate.

He’s also young and untouched—not that it’s any of my business.

The townspeople say he’s the sunshine to my grump.
What they don’t know is that worrying about him keeps me up at night.

He's the match, and I'm the gasoline—and the way he looks at me says he knows exactly what kind of fire we'd make together.

But Alex Marian might just be worth the burn

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

ALEX

DrunkenPoet: Anyone in this forum available to answer a few questions about ICS-100 certification?

IndexEcho: Yeah. I have ICS-400, ARFF, and NIMS IS-700. What do you need?

_____________________

If the accidental conflagration had occurred at any other time, it wouldn’t have been a problem. We’d have put it out with a wet bar mop before anyone was the wiser and gone on with our lives.

Unfortunately for me, tonight was not my night.

So when the fire started, it happened to be at the exact same moment our town’s new fire chief walked into my restaurant with the sheriff.

“What the actual fuck?” the angry man in a navy blue Legacy FD fleece asked again, glaring at me.

He stood too close, wedged behind the bar, wielding my two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar Amerex fire extinguisher… which he’d just discharged all over my beautiful, hand-carved bar as if he had no idea the effect potassium citrate and acetate had on burled walnut.

I ignored him and called through the opening behind the bar to the kitchen. “Karim, please grab some clean, damp cloths and dry cloths. Quickly!”

Chemical solution came close to dripping from the edge of the bar as I lunged to stop the flow with the towel tucked into my back pocket. “Fuck. Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “Can you please move? I have to clean this before it gets all over everything.”

The man reached for the small bottle lying next to the charred remains of my napkin and straw holder and held it up.

It was the sanitizing spray Tavo had been using, too close to the Bacardi 151 float I’d been flicking a lighter on. The combination of the two had caused the flaming kerfuffle in the first place.

The grumpy fire chief nudged me back with a fingertip to the shoulder. “You will not touch anything.”

I ignored the odd twinge I got from feeling his finger on me. The older man was sexy as fuck, no doubt about it. Thick, wavy hair that was more salt than pepper, dark eyes that seemed happiest pinning people like bugs on a board, and broad shoulders. Most of all, a commanding presence.

But so far, it seemed like he had the personality of a meat grinder.

He continued with another soft poke. “This is now a crime scene, and disturbing it is a violation of⁠—”

“Crime scene?” I barked out a laugh. “Guy, it’s a small mishap at best.”

“Your ‘mishap’ appears to be deliberate arson, and as such, I will be doing a full investigation.”

I opened my mouth to tell him just how ridiculous he was being when I remembered the first time he’d come in here a few weeks ago. “Wait, is this about the day we met? About me not knowing who you were? Is this some kind of retaliation for my bad memory?” Hopefully, my voice didn’t sound as high-pitched and unhinged as I felt. Annoyance and incredulity bubbled up, and I wanted to deck the man. “I told you, we’ve never met before!”

And I could say that with certainty because the man was sex on a stick. I would’ve wanted to climb him and beg him to do dirty things to me. But now that it turned out he was an asshole, maybe it was a good thing we’d never met.

His jaw clenched. “We’ve met. More than met, in fact. And if you want to pretend otherwise, that’s your decision. But, no, this has nothing to do with our previous… encounter. It has to do with fire safety. Public safety.”

“When exactly did we meet?” I asked, letting Karim take over the cleanup from the other side of the bar while I kept the chief’s focus turned slightly away. The less “evidence” of this minor incident, the better. “Because I’d remember you with all this…” I waved my hand to indicate the whole of him. “Bluster and general assholery.”

His eyes widened and then narrowed. “Three years ago in Amsterdam. Ring a bell?”

I thought back to the only time I’d ever been to Amsterdam. It was during a layover from France on the way to meet the rest of my family in Iceland. But that had been more like eight years ago because I’d been at Château de Pommard finishing my level three WSET qualification.

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Advertisement Hashtag Holidate Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/hashtag-holidate-read-online-lucy-lennox Wed, 29 Oct 2025 22:14:23 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/hashtag-holidate-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Advertisement

Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >101

I came to Legacy, Montana, to sell a fantasy—twelve Insta-ready #Holidates of Christmas. One career-making brand deal. Zero drama.

Then my videographer bailed, and in walked Maddox Sullivan.

Grumpy. Gorgeous. Growly. A mountain man with zero chill and even less tolerance for influencers like me. He agrees to film my content—off-camera only—but when my first date cancels, guess who ends up in front of the lens?

Cue the fireworks.

Our chemistry is instant. My followers are obsessed. #TeamMaddrian starts trending. Suddenly, all my dates are mysteriously dropping out, and Maddox is reluctantly starring in every single holidate—sleigh rides, snowball fights, cocoa by the fire, kisses under the mistletoe.

And I… I’m starting to forget this was ever supposed to be pretend.

Because every time Maddox looks at me, I feel something real. Something lasting. Something terrifying.

I came here for curated content. Now I’m dreaming of a life I never thought I wanted—with a man I never saw coming.

But am I falling for the picture-perfect holiday fantasy? Or could this be the start of my real-life happily ever after?

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

#LUXURYMEETSLEGACY

ADRIAN

I stared out the rental car window at the weathered timber sign.

Legacy, Montana. Population 8,743.

In other words, too small for a good wine bar. They probably had domestic beer on draft and antlers on the walls of their one roadhouse.

My phone buzzed with another notification. I didn’t bother looking, not only because I was driving, but also because I already knew what it would say. Three thousand followers lost this week. The comment under a recent post had summed it up: Getting boring, Adrian. Same old luxury hotels. Yawn.

Which was exactly why I was here, of course, freezing my ass off in twenty-eight-degree weather instead of lounging poolside in LA. My latest sponsor, Nordique luxury après-ski wear, wanted “true holiday magic”—the kind of wholesome Christmas content I’d never done. But if I pulled this off, it could mean a full-time brand ambassador deal. The kind of eye-popping money that would keep me from crawling back to Connecticut to work for my father’s insurance company.

I’d spent five years building a brand, and Adrian Hayes—the luxury lifestyle personality and digital nomad—wasn’t known for small towns. I thrived in cosmopolitan cities and exclusive resorts, places where the lighting was perfect and the backdrops were designed to be photographed. Not… I looked around at the rustic town of Legacy and sighed. Hunter McShotgun’s Wilderness Outpost.

But maybe rustic could work. Maybe the small-town vibe would give me exactly the kind of authenticity and relatability I’d been missing in recent posts. At least I really freaking hoped it did because the project with Nordique had the potential for much more.

When I’d first pulled up the company’s social media tags on my laptop, I’d winced. “Looks like their target demographic is forty- to fifty-year-olds,” I’d protested to my manager, moving to my phone to scroll through my own posts—rooftop cocktails in Miami, a celebrity chef’s restaurant opening in New York, a carefully curated beach day in Malibu. I squinted at the monitor to see if there were any visible signs of aging. “What the hell do they want with me? Do I look fifteen years older than I am?”

“Of course not, babe. But Nordique wants a spokesmodel who’s aspirational, not actually old as shit,” Vic had countered with the brutal honesty that made him both an excellent manager and a terrifying human being. “Every gay man with a jawline and a ring light would suck Old Man Winter’s you-know-what for this client. Stop whining and say yes. You’ll make it elegant and unique. You always do.”

Elegant and unique. That phrase had echoed in my head for days after I’d agreed to take the job.

In the influencer world, you had to give people the same but different. They wanted a consistent personality but not the same old repeated content. I’d built my following by being aspirational but approachable, luxurious but attainable. For the women, I was the gay best friend they wished they had, with a life they wished they could afford. For the gays, I was the man they dreamed of and sent their lurid fantasies (and pics) to. For the straight men, I was the account they loved to hate and the person who set their wife’s bar hella fucking high.

I was also known for being a little bit different. A little bit unpredictable. Take the time I did a skincare tutorial using glacier runoff in Iceland. Or the time I turned my broken umbrella into a prop on a Scottish Highlands tour and got reposted by Vogue.

Which was why I was low-key panicking now. Unpredictable wasn’t easy to plan on short notice.

After scrambling for a concept that would combine “dressing to impress” with celebrating the holidays, I’d finally landed on “The Twelve Dates of Christmas.” Twelve videos of me experiencing holiday traditions while modeling Nordique’s winter collection.

When I’d hinted at the upcoming series and asked for location recommendations, my followers had suggested too many places to count. But one had stood out as the perfect choice. Nordique’s tagline was “Where luxury meets legacy,” which meant Legacy, Montana, with its single ski slope and its small but growing reputation as a hidden gem for LGBTQ+ travelers was a clear winner.

Hopefully, a town this small, maybe with the help of its tourist population, would be able to provide a dozen potential “romances” with small-town guys for my followers to get invested in, too.

All I needed was a videographer since my usual cameraman’s emergency appendectomy had left me hanging.

But first, I needed a small vat of coffee to combat the effects of my early morning flight.

When I parked and stepped out of the car, the cold air immediately bit at my face, and my breath formed little clouds in front of me. I zipped my jacket higher and said a silent apology to my beautiful Prada winter boots—which had never seen actual snow until today—as I crunched down the icy street.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >101

Advertisement Rescuing Dr Marian (Made Marian Legacy #1) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/rescuing-dr-marian-made-marian-legacy-1-read-online-lucy-lennox Sat, 30 Aug 2025 08:41:38 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/rescuing-dr-marian-made-marian-legacy-1-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Made Marian Legacy Series by Lucy Lennox
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Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >98

One kiss changed everything.
As sheriff, I’m the guy people call for help.
But when my solo Hawaii trip gets hijacked by my clingy ex, suddenly I’m the one who needs saving.

My unlikely rescuer?
A gorgeous stranger who plants one breathtaking, reckless kiss on me in the middle of a crowded bar—sending my ex packing… and stealing my carefully guarded heart.

Tommy Marian kissed me like he knew me.
Like he wanted me.
Like I was his.
Like he was mine.

But he’s not.

He’s a straight, ambitious city doctor—here in paradise for his own damn wedding.
And I’m going home alone, as usual.

Six months later, I land a dream search and rescue gig in Legacy, Montana.
One summer. A break from my coupled-up friends. Zero distractions.

Except guess who’s freshly single… and bunking in my tiny cabin? The biggest distraction of my life.

Tommy Marian is still beautiful, still infuriating, and still everything I can’t want.
He says what happens in Legacy stays in Legacy.
I say I’m not even tempted.
At least one of us is lying.

Because when Tommy disappears on the mountain, I realize I’d burn the world to get him back…
And maybe this time, I won’t let him go

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

FOSTER

The emergency call came in just as I was locking up the sheriff’s office for a long-awaited vacation.

Three hours later, I was rappelling down a cliff face to extract a photographer who’d gotten a little too creative with his angle shots. Three hours after that, we’d gotten him to safety, but I’d missed my flight to Hawaii and spent five hours driving through a blizzard to catch the next one. And eight hours after that, I’d made my final connection by the skin of my teeth, but my luggage had not.

So by the time my seatmate sloshed her vodka cranberry all over my chest, it was safe to say I’d lost whatever patience I might have had at the start of my hellish, never-ending day.

Fate was seriously fucking with me.

“And the wors’ part is, I never saw it coming,” the woman slurred, still waving her cup as she spoke, seemingly unaware it was now empty. “But then, I guess no one ever does. I thought he was The One. I thought he and I were the real thing. Like… like daisies in sunshine. Like kit… kin… kinsmin.”

“Kismet,” a low, aggrieved voice muttered from the row behind us. “You mean kismet.”

I covered my snort with a cough. The guy in 9A had started correcting Miss Daisies and Sunshine’s drunken mispronunciations under his breath, but the longer her drama went on, the less he seemed to hold back his commentary.

At this point, his comments were the only thing keeping me sane.

“Did you say something?” she asked, squinting at me.

I thumbed over my shoulder. “I think he said ‘Kleenex.’ Speaking of which, do you have any tissues in your bag?” I gestured from the bulging carryall at her feet to the remains of her vodka cranberry trickling down my chest. “I could use one.”

“Don’t think so.” She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, gosh, you spilled your drink!”

I sucked in a breath. “I didn’t—” A travel pack of tissues suddenly appeared between us with a little waggle, and I glanced through the darkened gap between the seats to see a deep hazel eye smiling back at me.

Mr. 9A to the rescue.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it.”

While I dabbed at my ruined shirt, Miss Daisies and Sunshine kept talking, ensuring everyone around us knew way more than we’d ever wanted or needed to know about the “cheating ass” who “din’ deserve my love.”

“And the wors’ part is,” she wailed, “I never saw it com⁠—”

I jumped in to prevent her from starting again at the beginning. “Look, I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but you’ll move on from this. I dated a cheating ass once, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Matthew-don’t-call-me-Matt.” I rolled my eyes. “High-maintenance, persistent, terrible at karaoke, regrettably bad at monogamy. It sucked at the time, but I learned a lot of lessons about what I want in a partner. And the man had good taste in resorts,” I added. “Hence my trip to Kauai.”

She scrunched up her face. “Yer ex is gunna be here, too?”

“Oh, god no. The opposite. I ditched my ex, but I still love Hawaii, and the only time it’s safe for me to visit is over New Year’s. Matthew hasn’t missed a ball drop in decades.”

“Is that like…” Daisy Sunshine lowered her voice, but not by much. “…a gay thing?”

Mr. 9A snickered.

I pressed my lips together to keep from barking out a laugh. “Uh. No. It’s…” I pondered this. “Well, come to think of it, there are a few gay men involved in that particular event.”

This time, 9A snort-choked so loudly the woman beside him asked if he was okay.

Mercifully, the plane touched down at that exact moment.

“Know whut? I’m gunna take yer advice,” Daisy announced as the people at the front of the plane began grabbing their things. “I’m gunna get a new man. I’m gunna find real love. Like poetry. Like Shakesgere.” She frowned. “Shakes… Gere?”

“Shakespeare,” came from behind us. “For god’s sake.”

“Brother to Richard. Obvs,” I added, turning to grin between the seats at the man who’d saved my mood if not my shirt.

He was clean-cut, with neatly trimmed light-brown hair, bright hazel eyes, and a knowing grin that made my stomach do something interesting.

I also noticed the equally attractive woman next to him, scrolling through her phone, and realized they were probably together.

Figured.

All the best ones were taken these days. All of my friends back in Wyoming had recently paired up, too, leaving me the sole, glaringly single target of my mother’s matchmaking ways.

Hence, my hookup vacation in Hawaii. No mother. No snow. No work. Only me, the sun, umbrella drinks, and a plentiful Grindr app for the next ten days. Ringing in the New Year right.

Daisy turned around and beamed at 9A. “You know him? The poet?”

He bit his lip and nodded, eyes dancing as he glanced at me, inviting me to share the joke. “I know him well. Spent way too much time with him in high school, actually. Wordy fucker.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >98

Advertisement Finding Lord Landry – The Billionaire Brotherhood Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/finding-lord-landry-the-billionaire-brotherhood-read-online-lucy-lennox Thu, 17 Apr 2025 13:10:57 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/finding-lord-landry-the-billionaire-brotherhood-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Billionaire, Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Advertisement

Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >114

When a secret enemies-with-benefits situation turns into the world’s most public fake marriage…
The world knows me as Landry Davis, supermodel. A beautiful face and killer abs that have spawned a hundred fantasies.
To my friends, I’m simply Landry, the snarkiest (read: most fun) member of our billionaire brotherhood.
But to Kenji Toma, the gorgeous and oh-so-capable personal assistant I’ve been in love with for years, I’m “effing Landry,” the charming slacker who disappears for weeks only to resurface in trouble. His favorite enemy-with benefits. A man he refuses to fall in love with (though I’ve tried) and also can’t resist managing (a fact I’m not too proud to take advantage of).
What none of them know is that I have another title–in fact, a whole other life. One I was born into. One that comes with sprawling estates, a coronet, and a metric ton of familial and political expectations. A life I’ve kept secret for way too long… and hope to keep secret for just a little while longer.
At least until I learn Kenji is in danger.
When all my money and fame can’t save the man I love, I don’t hesitate to use long-hidden political power to whisk him to safety, even though it means outing myself as Viscount Hawling, the elusive heir to the Davencourt earldom…
And pretending the man who loves to hate me is actually my doting husband

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

KENJI

“Do you have any soup?” Landry demanded. “I’m starving, but I shouldn’t have solids until after tomorrow’s shoot.”

“No. But there’s a ramen place on the corner. You should go there,” I said, emphasizing the word go so there was no confusion.

Landry ignored me, stretching his long, lean body on my bed. “What about lemon? Why don’t you ever have fresh lemons when you know I need lemon in my water to chug down as much as I have to drink.”

I tried my hardest not to look at the miles of bare skin on offer. He was preening. The man didn’t know how to be any other way than arrogant about his body, but then again, if I’d had a body like that—one people paid millions to display their clothing on—I might preen, too. Unfortunately, on Landry, the preening was not only insufferable but also irresistible.

Not that I’d ever admit that out loud. To anyone. Even on pain of death.

“I’m not your valet…” My words trailed off because while I wasn’t his valet, technically, I was his executive assistant. And an argument could be made—for other people, not Landry—that an executive assistant should, in fact, consider supplying the things a man needed for his job.

He turned onto his side and propped his head on his hand. His long, blond hair was enticingly tangled, as if the man had just had the hungry fingers of a lover in it.

I cleared my throat. “You need to leave.”

He kicked off the sheet and ran his fingers down his thigh and back up the inside of his thigh while giving me a familiar look.

I pressed the button on my mindfulness app and asked, “What does Chaska Inira say about staying calm when provoked?”

“When emotions rise like stormy seas, seek the still waters beneath. A provocation is but a test—a mirror reflecting the mastery of your own peace. Do not wrestle with the storm; instead, anchor yourself in understanding and let the tempest pass.”

Chaska’s melodious voice soothed me as I finished folding my pajama pants and placed them into the suitcase. Even though I’d had the Louis Vuitton bag for over two years now, I still treated it like a spoiled princess. Who paid this much for a Rollaboard? No one rational, that was who. People with more money than sense.

“Told you you’d like it,” Landry said knowingly, nodding toward the suitcase.

“And I told you I didn’t want Louis Vuitton. I wanted a Samsonite just like the one you ruined,” I muttered. I wasn’t lying, per se. It was true that I had wanted a simple replacement for my old, trusty carry-on. But when he’d given me this one anyway… well, I hadn’t cried about it.

Landry sat up and peered into the suitcase. “Did you iron those? Who the fuck irons pajama pants? Wait. Is that a cummerbund? And what kind of retreat is this? I thought you were staying in a yurt with yaks and ringing metal bowls or something.”

I ignored Landry’s voice and tried to focus on the one in my head that was actively counseling me against murder.

I was still waters, and Landry was the damned tempest.

“I don’t see why you have to go halfway around the world to listen to more of that ‘live, laugh, love’ nonsense. You should stay here,” Landry continued. He reached into the suitcase for my bow tie, but I slapped his hand before flicking it away.

“Sex is over. Our time together has come to a not-regrettable end,” I informed him.

He settled back onto the pillows and put his hands behind his head. This had the—probably intended—effect of popping out his defined biceps. I bit back a sigh. While I didn’t necessarily like the man himself most days, Landry was fucking incredible in bed. His body was a very fine specimen, and he was particularly talented with his tongue.

I’d also discovered a few years ago, when we’d made the unfortunate decision to hook up “just this once,” that Landry Davis happened to be the world’s most generous lover.

I wasn’t sure what Chaska would say about fate taking a glorious talent like Landry’s and wrapping it in an immature, self-absorbed package, but I doubted the answer would help me find lasting peace. Dwelling on Landry never did.

As if he could hear my thoughts, the man in question ran his hand down his chest to his cock, which was still flaccid against his thigh after he’d orgasmed while balls-deep inside of me.

I cleared my throat. “I’m flying to San Cordova in six hours. I will be gone for four weeks. And to answer your question, it’s a mindfulness retreat at a luxury island resort… as I’ve already told you.”

Not that he’d listened. Not that he’d actually heard me or cared.

His face widened into a knowing grin. “Ha! You can’t give up your Apple Watch and charging station. Or your daily lattes. Admit it. You had to pick a retreat with amenities.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >114

Advertisement Peacocks (Licking Thicket #5) Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/peacocks-licking-thicket-5-read-online-lucy-lennox Sun, 02 Mar 2025 13:35:10 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/peacocks-licking-thicket-5-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Contemporary, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Series: Licking Thicket Series by Lucy Lennox
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >45

Lane’s Tips for Licking Thicket Newcomers

If at all possible, find yourself a hot and helpful landlord like Jaybird Proud who mows the lawn shirtless… and hope your grass grows quickly.

Expect the unexpected at work. If you’re a veterinarian, this might mean letter-cows, pet pigs that aren’t pets, and Butterscotch the Pomeranian, who has Strong Feelings about his glands.

Offer your help around town when needed… especially when that gorgeous landlord knocks on your door because his (pea)cock won’t stop displaying.

Learn about local customs, including: matchmaking, leaving Italian Gentlemen on the doormat, ordering tater tots, and entwining dead vines into wreaths as a sign of true love.

Get your car washed on the regular… especially when your landlord is the one doing the scrubbing.

Above all, keep things casual, even when Jay ends up at your place every night. And every morning. And the occasional afternoon.

But when you find yourself falling for someone like Jaybird Proud (and life in his weird and wonderful town), let go of everything you thought you wanted… and Entwine that Thicketeer forever.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Lane’s Tips for Licking Thicket Newcomers

If at all possible, find yourself a hot and helpful landlord like Jaybird Proud who mows the lawn shirtless… and hope your grass grows quickly.

Expect the unexpected at work. If you’re a veterinarian, this might mean letter-cows, pet pigs that aren’t pets, and Butterscotch the Pomeranian, who has Strong Feelings about his glands.

Offer your help around town when needed… especially when that gorgeous landlord knocks on your door because his (pea)cock won’t stop displaying.

Learn about local customs, including: matchmaking, leaving Italian Gentlemen on the doormat, ordering tater tots, and entwining dead vines into wreaths as a sign of true love.

Get your car washed on the regular… especially when your landlord is the one doing the scrubbing.

Above all, keep things casual, even when Jay ends up at your place every night. And every morning. And the occasional afternoon.

But when you find yourself falling for someone like Jaybird Proud (and life in his weird and wonderful town), let go of everything you thought you wanted… and Entwine that Thicketeer forever.

Chapter One

Lane

After my last disaster of a relationship, in which I’d been accused of being “a master of emotional evasion” who was “fundamentally indifferent toward romantic partnerships”—don’t date a law professor, people, just don’t—I never expected to find myself interested in another man.

And even if I had? Even if, somewhere in a sealed-shut compartment in the back of my brain, there existed a part of me that wasn’t entirely “indifferent toward romantic partnerships” on the whole?

I’d sure as hell never expected the object of my fascination could be someone like Jaybird Proud.

Jaybird had offered to rent me the apartment over his garage when I moved to Licking Thicket six months ago… then refused to cash my rent checks because I was his cousin Charlie’s boyfriend’s friend, which “practically makes us family, Lane!”—an assessment I disagreed with on many, many levels.

Jaybird greeted me most evenings, come rain or come shine, with a bright, handsome smile, a cheery “Howdy, neighbor!” and occasionally the offer of a dinner casserole. Or a beer. Or, on one memorable occasion, a “dirt cake”… whatever the hell that was.

Jaybird wore snap-back hats with misspelled John Dear logos (“on account of Kitten Montgomery’s confusion at Valentine’s Day while working the embroidery machine,” Jaybird had explained. “But I don’t wanna make her feel bad by not wearing it, do I?”).

Jaybird’s career ambition began and ended with working at the Suds Barn as a full-time Automobile Cleansing Artisan (not joking) because “there’s nothin’ more satisfying than settin’ things to rights.”

Jaybird had never met a T-shirt with sleeves that hadn’t seen the sharp edge of a pair of scissors (which, okay… shoutout to Jesus for that one) even when the weather turned cold.

He was like a splinter under my skin. Too silly to take seriously, too friendly to be genuine, and too sexy not to fantasize about… sometimes multiple times a night.

“The man’s gonna drive me to drink,” I admitted to my friend Hunter before taking a bite of my ham and swiss. I only had a half-hour lunch break today between a morning full of spay and neuter surgeries and an afternoon packed with wellness appointments, so I was glad Hunter had agreed to get to the Thicket Tavern early and order for us.

Hunter had heard my complaints often enough now that he didn’t bother asking for clarification.

“What’s Jaybird done now?” He crunched a cucumber slice, looking way too amused at my plight.

“Cleaned the ice off my windshield this morning,” I muttered. “Mirrors too. Said he didn’t want my fingers to freeze off before I did surgery this morning. Who does that?”

Hunter let out a low whistle. “Diabolical.”

“It is,” I insisted.

I knew I probably sounded ridiculous, but I simply didn’t understand why Jaybird did the things he did. In my experience, people didn’t do nice things—not so many nice things, at least, and not all in a row—for no reason.

But try as I might, I couldn’t puzzle out what Jaybird’s agenda was.

If he was a dog, or a cat, or even a turkey, like Hunter and Charlie’s pet, Tammy Wynette, I’d have known exactly what he wanted and how to handle him.

Men had always been much, much harder for me to read… and unfortunately for me, Jaybird was undeniably a man.

All six feet and several sexy inches of him.

“You know… you could move out,” Hunter suggested. “Morris and Danica Borris are retiring down to Georgia and selling their spread.”

I glanced up at him. “Morris Borris?”

He ignored me. “You’d like their place. Ten acres at the edge of town. Super quiet. River access for fly fishing. It’s exactly what you talked about when you considered moving up here.”

My stomach twisted at the idea.

Yes, fishing had been one of the draws of moving to Licking Thicket from Athens last summer. There had been many. First and foremost was the opportunity to escape the quasi-scandal that had resulted from my breakup with Professor Chadwick Montgomery. The University of Georgia was a big school but a tiny town, and if I’d had to respond to one more well-meaning, whisper-voiced, “How you doing with, uh… with Chad’s wedding and all?” I was going to lose it.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >45

Advertisement Protecting Mr Fine – The Billionaire Brotherhood Read Online Lucy Lennox http://www.books2020.com/protecting-mr-fine-the-billionaire-brotherhood-read-online-lucy-lennox Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:50:12 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/protecting-mr-fine-the-billionaire-brotherhood-read-online-lucy-lennox Genre: Billionaire, Contemporary, Forbidden, M-M Romance Authors: Lucy Lennox Advertisement

Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >120

I’m a lucky man and I know it. 

Kids from backwoods Georgia don’t land scholarships to Yale, but I did, and striking it rich–like, billions of dollars rich–with my best friends after graduation should have used up my luck for a lifetime. 

But luck struck again when I followed my passion into music. My career exploded, and now I get to travel the world, performing for thousands of raving fans every night. 

When you get this lucky, you don’t get to want more, and you definitely don’t get to complain about the little things. My family, my crew, and my label are counting on me and I refuse to let them down. I pretend I’m fine, totally fine, Mr. freaking Fine… even when someone starts targeting me with a strange series of threats. 

The only one who sees beneath the pretense is my gorgeous, strictly-professional bodyguard. Ryan keeps me safe and calm. He holds me when I’m terrified. 

But even Ryan doesn’t see everything. He doesn’t know I want him. That I crave him. The man who keeps me together has no idea how much I want him to take me apart. 

And I’ll never tell. Because there’s no way someone as strong and confident as Ryan could have feelings for someone as chaotic as me. 

Nobody’s that lucky… not even Mr. Fine.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

RYAN

Don’t let a bear’s aloofness fool you—they feel emotions deeply. They may act tough, wandering solo through the wilderness, but inside? They’ve got hearts as big as their appetite for honey.

—Bear Facts for Insomniacs, Episode 13

The moment I truly learned what hubris meant was the moment I first met Zane Hendley.

Correction, it was the day I first met Zee Barlo, Grammy Award–winning rock star, headliner of sold-out arenas around the globe, and one of the Sexiest Men Alive… according to People magazine. I didn’t catch a glimpse of the real man behind the public persona until later.

“He’s the new Taylor Swift, if Taylor Swift was a beautiful man instead of a beautiful woman,” Violet explained as we made our way into the record label’s Los Angeles recording studio for our first client meeting. I was still getting used to seeing my new boss in person instead of on a Zoom screen, and I noticed a sparkle in her eyes when she referred to her newest client. “And this is a super-cush assignment. You’re welcome.”

“You mean there are no actual threats to his safety?”

Her heels made a clip-clip sound on the marble floor of the large corporate lobby as we crossed to the elevator bank. “No, no. There definitely are. But they’re from rabid fans wanting a piece of him more than sociopolitical agents hell-bent on his destruction.”

I must have winced because Violet immediately apologized. “Shit, Ryan. I’m sorry.”

After a deep, calming inhale through my nostrils, I attempted a reassuring smile. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not. Here I am discussing assassinations when your previous employer is still lying in state. Are you sure you don’t want to go back to Ventdestine for the funeral?”

My memories of Asger Salling and the rest of the Ventdestinian royal family were a mixed bag. While I’d deeply respected the king for the entire twelve years I’d worked on his security detail as a member of the royal guard, and we’d shared plenty of friendly moments, I hadn’t truly been his friend. I’d been more like very friendly wallpaper.

I’d also been skeptical of the king’s prediction that he’d be a target for assassination because he’d sensed “the winds of fate whispering ill tidings around the palace”—the kind of claim that only someone in the tiny, superstitious nation of Ventdestine could make with a straight face—but as it turned out, I’d been wrong.

My decision to leave the royal guard and return to the US had happened well in advance of his assassination, and the security failure hadn’t had anything to do with me. In fact, I’d already been comfortably ensconced at my sister’s place in Montana when I’d gotten the news along with everyone else that the king of Ventdestine had been shot and killed during a PR visit to the royal naval yard.

I still felt partially responsible for it, though. Maybe if I’d taken Asger’s concerns more seriously, if I hadn’t let my feelings about his superstitions affect my assessments, I could have better prepared my replacement.

In my new assignment, I’d make sure there were no feelings involved whatsoever.

“I’m sure,” I said, clearing my throat as I followed her into the elevator.

Violet grinned as she jabbed the button. “Good. Because I can’t lie, I feel like if you went back for a visit, you might end up staying. The new king is so eager to have you back his head of security reached out to ask if I’d subcontract you to them. And the salary the guy offered was… substantial.”

“I know,” I said gruffly. “Kasper contacted me directly, too. But as I told him, I’m not interested in going back to Ventdestine. I’m ready for a new assignment, and like you said, this one sounds great.”

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