Come on a journey.
The town of Jack's Bay, in northern Ontario, Canada, straddles cottage country and city living, and does it well.
But more importantly, it's a strong community. Home to a group of men that have served together in the army reserve. Brothers, with an unbreakable bond, as well as determined women.
Friends and army reserve brothers to these men of Jack's Bay are the men of Golden, British Columbia. A fictional town, with quirky characters set in the Rocky Mountain trench, life is different in the mountains. Yet family, brotherhood and love...are the same.
Come meet the cowboy, the ex-hockey player, the dark-net computer genius, and the band of Canadian military reservists who served together, and the strong women they fall in love with.
Real Miracle
Real Men Book 5
by Susan Saxx
Genre: Small Town Military Dark Romantic Suspense
Publication Date: February 7, 2018
Too many secrets. Too many dangers. And he's got a mission to accomplish.
Eli Austin is going off the grid. Too long in the underground employ of men he'd sooner spit on than obey, his master plan for breaking free is intact. But before he goes, he has to appease his heart and soul one last time. He's got to see the house he and his high school sweetheart, Tish, almost bought. Relive the Christmas they never had, before he walked out on her, into the dark night without a word, so many years ago.
Tish Taylor's been through it all. After that horrendous Christmas, she moved on, married. But the rebound is over, and she's newly divorced. She's going back to where she had it all - once - to spend a solitary evening in the abandoned house where three years ago, they were going to start their new life. The sweet old house that called to them, the life that was theirs. She's got to reclaim the woman she was then - full of dreams, and promises. So she can move on, once and for all.
So they both set out to that old house, now in the worst part of town.
But neither of them counted on what they'd find...
He’d been crazy to do this, to come here. To this street, tonight.
Frigid December air settled around Eli Austin as he sat in the driver’s seat of his parked car outside the old house and cursed his ill-advised decision.
He knew better. The somber weatherman he'd caught on the tube at the motel had warned that this Christmas Eve was going to be one for the record books. Better stay indoors, folks. Celebrate at home.
Ha! Celebrate. He hadn’t celebrated Christmas Eve or Day for three long, horrible years, and never would again. The night of the worst decision of his life?
No, thanks.
To make it worse, the car had vinyl seats, a killer in the dead of a sub-zero December night. The way the plastic bit into his ass, it was a wonder he had any feeling left.
But oh, he did. His gaze skimmed the old house left on the sorry-looking block, mostly ready for demolition. Oh, yeah.
Lots of feeling left there.
A fog of icy breath materialized in front of him, then dispersed quickly.
He should have stayed in the warmth at the cheesy motel. Rested up. Prepared mentally for the gruelling job in the early hours of the morning that had to go off without a hitch, if he was to live.
Instead, he’d driven, eyes glued to the road, the weird gas gauge on the funky car dipping lower every three minutes.
He'd had to come here, to see the old place, one last time.
And he’d sat here, weirdly mesmerized, since.
If only, by sitting here a bit longer, time would shift and he’d find himself back in the scene he’d left, three years ago…able and willing to make a different decision.
It Started With a Candy Cane
Real Men Book 6
Genre: Sweet Romance
Publication Date: December 15, 2017
She's city. The more designer and fluffier, the better.
He's a closed-off butcher in a small northern Canadian town.
Emily Gates is hip. If a bag's got more than three zeros in its price tag - she's in. Cream is her favorite color. And her new role as junior city planner in the city of Toronto has her excited beyond all reason. For the gal with the troubled past - something she carefully keeps a secret - it's all about building community now. Even though she loves working and living in the upscale, trendy area just east of Bloor and Yonge.
Rufus Richardson isn't fancy and his job is dirty. And he's always trying to slay the damn dragons, even when no one wants him to. He should settle for a local gal, one who's used to country and mosquitos and wild animals poking around the family homestead. Instead, the moment he sees the vivacious city beauty, his heart tumbles, and his warrior's sword appears. But she doesn't need him to slay any dragons, and lets him know in no uncertain terms.
But when the life she's carefully curated falls apart suddenly and she goes off into the dark northern night alone searching for the meaning that's always eluded her, they find themselves thrown together, the night before Christmas Eve. On Ruf's annual infamous northern Candy Cane Run, and...
Everything changes.
And this Christmas, it all started with a candy cane.
She’d entered his shop.
“Get a number, lady,” a bored customer prodded.
She ripped the number off the cracked red dispenser, sucked in her bottom lip, and as she did, every male part in him groaned.
She turned, scanned the meat counter with a surprisingly expert eye. But she didn’t even glance at him.
Of course she wouldn’t look at him. He was just the butcher.
Yeah. Just a dude making an honest living in a trade that definitely wasn’t flashy. His eyes tracked over her, then came back unerringly to her face. The most important part, he’d always found, when he was scoping out a woman.
Who was she?
Appearance-wise, she was perfectly made up, though light on the makeup. But the vitality coursing through her was obvious. The I-got places-to go, mountains to conquer vibrancy.
Damn. It was no use. He knew when something was out of range.
And she was.
He shrugged. He liked his life. He had community, and yes, it mattered. And some very important bits of that, he’d built with his own two hands.
He glanced up quickly at the count indicator above the dispenser. She was number 99. Eight whole people to serve before she was up. And maybe she was totally, not even a remote possibility.
But somehow, he still wanted to be the one to nab 99.
* * *
She rolled her eyes, ignored the black 99 on the little white slip of paper. Shrugged.
“Ninety-three!”
She glanced up, saw three people leave the shop, parcels in hand. Only six more to go.
The teenager, Jake apparently, had started serving again, and was surprisingly quick. The old lady Rufus had treated with such deference had moved out of the queue, and was over in the corner talking animatedly with another woman.
All was well in that old-timer’s world, at least for the moment. She smiled.
Her cellphone vibrated. She pulled it out, saw a text from Abby.
How’s the special meat? Or is that meet, ha ha.
She fired back.
The meat is yet to come.
A few more minutes of a spirited exchange, and they were done.
Emily tucked the cell-phone back into her bag.
98.
She’d stolen a few glances at the butcher dude, super-secretly. She didn’t want him to know she was checking him out, no matter how innocently. So she watched for the times he was bent, his head hovering at the sliding doors of the back of the display case. Or when his back was turned as he wrapped.
And she noticed something very odd.
Real Temptation/ Special Delivery
Real Men Book 7
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publication Date: May 11, 2018
She's high society. He's blue collar.
And he's only got one night to prove to her... blue collar is better.
WARNING: Graphic language, swearing, and frank sexual descriptions.
Oh. And chocolate truffles, velcro'd bondage straps, Manolos, and a bit of grime.
She wears a delivery uniform, but it won't be for long. Alex Jordan is determined. She'll work hard - do anything - to get her family back to its former wealth and standing in Toronto society. Once a solid member of the tennis club set, everything fell apart when her father was convicted of white collar crime. Life is harsh now, but Intimate Deliveries, her small company and brainchild of a delivery service is the vehicle to restore their lives. She'll build her brand, work her fingers to the bone, and she knows she'll achieve her goal. Eventually. She has to.
But she's also got her eye on rich and handsome Montreal playboy Luc Etalier. If she scores the heartthrob as a husband, her dreams will be realized all the faster. She'll get them all back to their former glory and ease of life - including her father, once he's released - one way or another.
He's blue collar, has sworn off alcohol, and she's lit his dreams of something more. Rand Peters has watched - and salivated - every time the brash young woman has come in to their machine shop to work the account. She's fueled his sexual fantasies for over a year, but she's also inspired him to go back to university part-time and work on that business degree. If she can go for what she wants, a former rich girl now in the trenches with the rest of them, so can he. And he's also seen something in her - working so hard in a life that's foreign to her - that touches his heart.
But a relationship? She'd never go for him - though something eggs him on to try. First real chance he gets, he will. He has to.
Now it's New Year's Eve, and he's there alone. Alex comes in with a delivery, ready to do her job and then run to her glamorous NYE party with old friends. But miracle of miracles - it's the wrong part. They'll have to wait for the new one. Together...
A New Year's Eve Erotic Romance
Her eyes raced around the room, bypassing him easily, he thought, with a grimace.
“Uh, I think that’s it.” She tossed her jacket on a chair and flopped her back against the work table, impatient. Her mind looking to be on everything but him.
Hello, honey. Other person in the room.
Did she even see him?
But of course she had. She hadn't been successful at hiding the appraising glances as they’d walked back to the shop together.
It had been a long walk. And yeah. The looks she'd given him—he'd seen those before, and he knew what they meant.
She was into him. Even though she’d taken a brief call on the way back, one that had unwittingly told him scads about her personal life, though she’d lowered her voice, he’d seen it.
Not that she was planning on doing a damn thing about it.
Right now, he could just see the wheels whirring in her brain, the great big to-do list of her life. The big fat checkmarks in each of the square boxes beside the action items, as she mentally checked each one off. He saw what was going on in that super-organized, efficient brain of hers.
And oh, yeah. He wanted to mess up her perfect little life up good.
"So?" She slapped a pointed look at him, her eyebrows high, her forehead creased, tapping her finger against her phone as it lay on the work surface. “Does that work? I know it’s the wrong part but I’ll do whatever it takes to get it right. Intimate Deliveries does not leave customers stranded. No how, no way. Does that work for you?"
The perverse sonofabitch in him rose.
No, honey. Don't look to me to fit into your nice, organized, little life.
Her eyes went wide. “Are you listening?" She accompanied this with a dramatic gesture, flinging her open palms out to the side. She held the gesture, motionless, her eyes going wider. And as he held still, he saw the brief flash of insecurity in her expression as she waited.
Ah. The crack in the dam.
Now that he understood. It sucked. When you had to get your feeling of security from outside yourself, from your work, from the approval of your buddies, hell, just from the outside world, as his counselor had said to him back when he was getting off the booze—it sucked.
But he still wasn’t going to give her what she wanted.
He shook his head. ”I am. And I appreciate what you’re doing to sort this out, but really, we can make this work. We’ve got a day’s leeway because of the holiday, if I push it. It is important, no doubt about it. But I can make adjustments in my personal schedule, and instead of being off tomorrow, I’ll come in to finish the job, if the part is here.” He shrugged. “If not, Billings can be made to understand. He’s a decent sort.”
He took in the general look of incredulity on her face, sat forward on the barstool, suddenly wanting to ease all that travail ripping through her brain. “You need to stop worrying, sweetheart. I know you didn’t get it here on time, but really, it’s not the end of the world. Not by a long shot.”
She flared at that, bright like the incendiary flash a canister of gas flared when it was lit. "I need to stop worrying? What would you know of the reasons I have to worry, Sweetheart?”
So much for trying to make her feel better. And yeah. She was being a snob.
“Let me get this straight.” He slid his ass from the bar stool, slapped his hands on his waist. “A machine operator who works in coveralls and gets grease on them can't possibly know what goes on in business?”
“Well, obviously,” she said, tossing him a look he knew was meant to put him in his place but only made him want to rip the perfect, buttoned-all-the-way-up white blouse off her. “We travel in different strata.” She said it with an air of finality that stabbed at him.
He strode to her. Close. Too close. The tiniest bit into her personal space, and caught the surprise in her eyes.
But she’d pissed him off.
Skipping Christmas
Real Men Book 9
Genre: Hot Contemporary Sports Romance
Publication Date: December 20, 2019
He’s adored by women–and men–all over the world. The raw, gritty NHL player, Dante Knight.
But life changed abruptly, a year ago. Now Dante’s no longer interested in the limelight, or in the panties strewn on the ice. With the same focus he applied to his stunning NHL career, he’s interested in only one woman….
Kelley Dunham. The girl who loved him, way back when.
It’ll be easy, though. She’s crazy for him, right?
***
Puppy love for the moody Dante consumed Kelly Dunham’s formative years. But she unravelled when the NHL hopeful abruptly left their tiny Canadian mountain town, after their first—and only—night together. She moved on, soul flaming from the shock. Worse, everyone knew.
Time for a change.
Now she’s ready for the playgirl life. Stupid Dante had the right idea, and she’s going to adopt his credo. Sex for nothin’ and her guys for free.
But when Dante reappears in a blizzard and they’re snowed in, and he’s finally ready to be the man she always knew he could be…
She stands firm. Nothing’s changing her new-found mission.
Let the games begin.
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Books2Read
A Real Man
Real Men Book 1
Real Deep
Real Men Book 2
It Started on a Back Road
Real Men Book 3
Real Hero
Real Men Book 4
The Escape
Real Men Book 8
Hi there! I'm SO glad we've connected!
I write books set in the small towns and big cities of Canada. Right now I'm writing the Real Men series - first installment set in Jack's Bay, northern Ontario - a place I <3 so much!
My heroes and heroines haven't had an easy time of it. But they take what life dishes out, and somehow, with grit, determination and heart - especially heart - they transform it into gold. Their gold.
Their stories - like life! - range from sweet to sexy, contemporary to suspenseful.
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And welcome...to Jack's Bay, northern Ontario, to the upcoming sister series in B.C., and to the rancher (#1), the tormented dark-net genius (#5), the 'hit rock-bottom' ex-Seal (#4), and the ex-star hockey player (Coming Dec. 2018) - all military reservists, and the passionate, heroic women they fall for.
REAL MEN is the series - get to know them all at www.susansaxx.com.
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