Cold As Ice
by Piper Rayne
Genre: Sports Romance / Romantic Comedy
Release Date: January 29th, 2018
Blurb:
It may be Winter Games, but the bedroom games are about to begin…
Competing in South Korea on the world stage is hard enough.
Having to spend the entire press tour beforehand with a woman who hates me?
Karma really is a bitch.
While she’s spent the last four years loathing me, I’ve spent them ignoring the guilt that gnaws at my stomach.
All Mia Salter cares about is that I’m her brother’s ex-best friend and it’s her duty to hate me. The funny thing is, I barely noticed her back when she was trying to keep up with us on the slopes. Now, as both of us prepare to go for gold, I’m seeing her in a whole different light—and it involves a whole lotta different positions.
All Mia Salter cares about is that I’m her brother’s ex-best friend and it’s her duty to hate me. The funny thing is, I barely noticed her back when she was trying to keep up with us on the slopes. Now, as both of us prepare to go for gold, I’m seeing her in a whole different light—and it involves a whole lotta different positions.
No one said the path to the Olympics would be easy.
Buy now:
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2DExvk5
Amazon Universal: http://mybook.to/ColdAsIcepr
iBooks: http://apple.co/2nmOZ0z
Nook: http://bit.ly/2BsiZui
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2jCkqyR
All copies sold the during release week include the prequel short story, Iced Out!
Excerpt:
Amazon Universal: http://mybook.to/ColdAsIcepr
iBooks: http://apple.co/2nmOZ0z
Nook: http://bit.ly/2BsiZui
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2jCkqyR
All copies sold the during release week include the prequel short story, Iced Out!
Excerpt:
I turn my attention back to Candice. “So, are we celebrating something?” I ask.
“Great idea.” Candice raises her hand to flag down the waitress.
The red-haired waitress, Natalie, stops at the edge of our table, an array of empty hot chocolate mugs on her tray. “Hey Rogue,” she says and then looks across the booth from me. “Mia.” Her eyes widen and she does a double take at the both of us.
Yeah, you got it right. Grady Kale and Mia Salter are sitting at the same table together.
“What can I get you?” she grants Candice her undivided attention.
“I need a bottle of champagne.”
“I don't drink champagne,” I mumble.
“Me either,” Mia murmurs.
Candice's attention moves from me to Mia and then back to Natalie. “Well, I do. Just a glass then.”
“I'll grab that for you now.” Her hand lands on the edge of the table, pausing for a second. “Rogue, do you want anything else?”
Mia scoffs, but when my gaze shoots in her direction, she pretends to concentrate on her Bloody Mary.
“Um…yeah, Nat, can you grab me an Amstel?”
Nat's knuckles knock the wood table. “Sure thing.”
She's a good distance away before Mia's gaze stops following her. She has to know Nat, she's the owner’s daughter and one of Mia's biggest fans.
“Surprise, surprise, another female who caters to Grady.”
Candice ignores Mia’s snide comment. “What's up with the Rogue thing?” she asks, sipping her mix drink.
Mia snickers, twirling her celery around in her drink. “That’s what they call him because he only cares about himself.” She looks across the table, daring me to argue with her.
“How’s that?” Candice asks, a little warily.
I bet she knows for sure now that having both of us as clients is a bad idea.
“My friends started calling me that when I was younger because of the tricks I’d do. I’d try stuff no one else would dare to.” My eyes bore over at Mia, but apparently her drink is still more interesting than me because she can’t meet my gaze. “I set myself apart.”
“More like you isolated yourself. I think your nickname should be changed to Ogre.” She laughs to herself, pulling the piece of celery from her drink, smiling to herself.
“Okay, you two. I know there's history, but we have to remain professional,” Candice says.
“Ogre, huh? I don't think you were staring at me yesterday like I was Shrek.”
Nat comes back, placing a glass of champagne in front of Candice and a beer down in front of me. I lift the bottle to my lips as Nat slides a plate of pickles, celery, olives and a pepperoni stick in front of Mia.
“Thanks, Nat.” She grabs the pepperoni stick and chomps down on it aggressively. “I love biting down on a good piece of meat.”
Nat glances to me and then hurries off to help some other customers. I wish I could go with her.
“There wouldn't be a problem if you kept us in our assigned corners,” I say to Candice.
“Unfortunately, that's not a possibility. Why do you think I'm celebrating?” She lifts her champagne.
Mia's foot falls to the floor and she lets the celery plop back down into her glass then leans forward, fixing her eyes on Candice.
I swivel in my seat, giving Candice all my attention.
“What exactly are you celebrating?” I ask.
Candice's smokey grey eyes move between the two of us and then she plasters on the fakest smile I've ever witnessed, and I've seen many. “You were both chosen to represent the snowboarding team on a press tour. Yay!”
Mia leans back in the booth, downing the rest of her Bloody Mary. “Not going to happen.”
Once again, Mia Salter and I see eye-to-eye about something.
“Great idea.” Candice raises her hand to flag down the waitress.
The red-haired waitress, Natalie, stops at the edge of our table, an array of empty hot chocolate mugs on her tray. “Hey Rogue,” she says and then looks across the booth from me. “Mia.” Her eyes widen and she does a double take at the both of us.
Yeah, you got it right. Grady Kale and Mia Salter are sitting at the same table together.
“What can I get you?” she grants Candice her undivided attention.
“I need a bottle of champagne.”
“I don't drink champagne,” I mumble.
“Me either,” Mia murmurs.
Candice's attention moves from me to Mia and then back to Natalie. “Well, I do. Just a glass then.”
“I'll grab that for you now.” Her hand lands on the edge of the table, pausing for a second. “Rogue, do you want anything else?”
Mia scoffs, but when my gaze shoots in her direction, she pretends to concentrate on her Bloody Mary.
“Um…yeah, Nat, can you grab me an Amstel?”
Nat's knuckles knock the wood table. “Sure thing.”
She's a good distance away before Mia's gaze stops following her. She has to know Nat, she's the owner’s daughter and one of Mia's biggest fans.
“Surprise, surprise, another female who caters to Grady.”
Candice ignores Mia’s snide comment. “What's up with the Rogue thing?” she asks, sipping her mix drink.
Mia snickers, twirling her celery around in her drink. “That’s what they call him because he only cares about himself.” She looks across the table, daring me to argue with her.
“How’s that?” Candice asks, a little warily.
I bet she knows for sure now that having both of us as clients is a bad idea.
“My friends started calling me that when I was younger because of the tricks I’d do. I’d try stuff no one else would dare to.” My eyes bore over at Mia, but apparently her drink is still more interesting than me because she can’t meet my gaze. “I set myself apart.”
“More like you isolated yourself. I think your nickname should be changed to Ogre.” She laughs to herself, pulling the piece of celery from her drink, smiling to herself.
“Okay, you two. I know there's history, but we have to remain professional,” Candice says.
“Ogre, huh? I don't think you were staring at me yesterday like I was Shrek.”
Nat comes back, placing a glass of champagne in front of Candice and a beer down in front of me. I lift the bottle to my lips as Nat slides a plate of pickles, celery, olives and a pepperoni stick in front of Mia.
“Thanks, Nat.” She grabs the pepperoni stick and chomps down on it aggressively. “I love biting down on a good piece of meat.”
Nat glances to me and then hurries off to help some other customers. I wish I could go with her.
“There wouldn't be a problem if you kept us in our assigned corners,” I say to Candice.
“Unfortunately, that's not a possibility. Why do you think I'm celebrating?” She lifts her champagne.
Mia's foot falls to the floor and she lets the celery plop back down into her glass then leans forward, fixing her eyes on Candice.
I swivel in my seat, giving Candice all my attention.
“What exactly are you celebrating?” I ask.
Candice's smokey grey eyes move between the two of us and then she plasters on the fakest smile I've ever witnessed, and I've seen many. “You were both chosen to represent the snowboarding team on a press tour. Yay!”
Mia leans back in the booth, downing the rest of her Bloody Mary. “Not going to happen.”
Once again, Mia Salter and I see eye-to-eye about something.
About the authors:
Piper Rayne, or Piper and Rayne, whichever you prefer because we’re not one author, we’re two. Yep, you get two USA Today Bestselling authors for the price of one. You might be wondering if you know us? Maybe you’ll read our books and figure it out. Maybe you won’t. Does it really matter?
We aren’t trying to stamp ourselves with a top-secret label. We wanted to write without apology. We wanted to not be pigeon-holed into a specific type of story. Everyone has their favorite authors, right? And when you pick up their books, you expect something from them. Whether it’s an alpha male, heavy angst, a happily ever after, there’s something you are absolutely certain the book will contain. Heck, we’re readers, too, we get it!
All that, AND we thought it'd be a helluva lot more fun if we did this writing thing together!
What can we tell you about ourselves? We both have kindle’s full of one-clickable books. We're both married to husbands who drive us to drink. We're both chauffeurs to our kids. Most of all, we love hot heroes, quirky heroines that make us laugh, and lots of sexy times. Here's hoping you do, too!
My review:
Yay! A new series by Piper Rayne! I love sports romances but I’ve never read about snowboarder before. There’s always a first, right?!
Grady Kale stole my heart. He was such a cutie, passionate about his sport, caring about others, funny and down to earth despite his success. But heavy guilt was pressing down on him because he blamed himself for what happened to his best friend.
'It'll be a cold day in hell before Mia forgives me for what I've done.'
The Story:
Four years of carrying around feelings of guilt about what happened to his best friend, Grady now has to face the music when his past catches up with him. He rather focuses on training for the winter classics because he wants to show everyone that he's the best, but what he didn't anticipate was going on a press tour with Mia Salter. All these years he kept his distance as far as it was possible with them being in the same sports environment. Now he has to face his demons head on in form of this feisty and stunningly beautiful woman.
Mia once had a crush on him but nowadays her hate for him overrules any other feelings she had.
'Nothing good can come from Mia and I having to be in each other's presence alone for any length of time.'
Thoughts:
I loved all the characters. This author duo always manages to build great personalities and loveable characters. Mia was a strong, confident and independent woman and I loved her razzing Grady. Those two as well as the other boys, Dax, Beckett and Brandon, had me laughing a lot during this read. The easy banter between Mia and Grady was the heart of the story and I enjoyed their comfortableness around each other.
I had so much fun reading this story. There were many laugh-out-loud moments and despite the history of what happened to Brandon and how Grady dealt with it, the story was not too heavy but very funny, sweet and lighthearted. Although the dark cloud above Grady’s head was very present as well as the baggage he carried around on top of the pressure to succeed.
'...training always comes first. How else do I make sure I'm not second best?'
Brandon lost everything and Grady had it all. How unfair is life?! But your fate is in your hands, you just have to make the best of it.
-- I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book given by Social Butterfly PR. --
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