Leaning Into Series: The Complete Box Set Read online

  Leaning Into Series

  The Complete Box Set

  Lane Hayes

  Leaning Into Series- The Complete Box Set

  Copyright © 2020 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Places, names, characters and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  Cover Design for all books by Reese Dante

  Editing for all books by Flat Earth Editing

  * * *

  Leaning Into Love

  First Edition Copyright © 2017 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into Always

  First Edition Copyright © 2017 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into The Fall

  First Edition Copyright © 2017 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into Touch

  First Edition Copyright © 2017 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into A New Start

  First Edition Copyright © 2020 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into A Wish

  First Edition Copyright © 2017 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into The Look

  First Edition Copyright © 2018 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into Forever

  First Edition Copyright © 2018 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Leaning Into The Holidays

  First Edition Copyright © 2020 by Lane Hayes

  All rights reserved.

  Blurb

  Lean in to love, to the fall, to a forever kind of wish…

  A peek into the lives of a group of college buddies is the beginning of a special journey showcasing the unique bonds of friends who become true family. Friends to lovers, age gaps, second chances, hurt/comfort, coming out, and a couple of holiday shorts too! Take a trip to San Francisco and wine country to meet this compelling crew in this complete box set. You won’t be sorry!

  Four complete novels, three novellas, and two brand new short stories…

  Leaning Into Love

  Leaning Into Always

  Leaning Into the Fall

  Leaning Into Touch

  Leaning Into A New Start- *Bonus Short Story

  Leaning Into a Wish- Holiday Novella

  Leaning Into the Look

  Leaning Into Forever

  Leaning Into the Holidays- *Bonus Short Story

  This box set includes all the original titles in the Leaning Into Series as well as two previously unpublished short stories. An additional, brand new chapter has been added to Leaning Into the Holidays. Be sure to find out how leaning into love becomes a forever HEA.

  Author’s Note

  Welcome to the wonderful world of my San Francisco and Wine Country boys! In the way small projects take on a life of their own, the Leaning Into Series began with a novella about longtime friends turned lovers and evolved into so much more. It was a joy to write these characters and it’s truly an honor to share the complete collection, including a couple of surprise short stories. There really is something incredibly special about friends who become true family.

  For my family-

  Each book in this series was inspired by husband and our kids who’ve supported and encouraged my writing journey from the start. They’ve inspired these stories of friendship and love, with a dash of humor, a touch of nerdiness and an unwavering reverence for family in whatever form it may take. Thank you.

  Love for the Leaning Into Series

  What can I say. I love this series. All the couples are unique, all the love stories special and all the characters are locked deeply in my heart.— Love Bytes Reviews

  I have loved every single book in this series, and I’ve probably said they are all my favorites, but I have to say this book really struck a chord with me. —Amazon review

  My heart is so full after reading this incredible story! —Amazon review

  This book is why Lane Hayes is one of my favorite authors. Her characters are so real and their stories have such substance. —Amazon reviewer

  Contents

  Leaning Into Love

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Bonus Chapter- Wedding Prep

  Zane

  Leaning Into Always

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into The Fall

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into Touch

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into a New Start

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Leaning Into a Wish

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into The Look

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into Forever

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Leaning Into The Holidays

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Epilogue

  Starting From Series

  Out in College Series

  Coming Soon - Out in Winter- January 2021<
br />
  Excerpt from Out in Winter - January 2021

  Coming Soon- Starting From The Top - Winter 2021

  Starting From The Top- Winter 2021

  About the Author

  Also by Lane Hayes

  Leaning Into Love

  Eric Schuster is a successful guy. He’s part owner of a highly successful tech firm, he has a supportive family and a great group of close friends. But something is missing. Or maybe he’s reacting to his business partner and ex’s wedding news. He knows his former lover is making a big mistake but he also knows it’s time to move on. And hopefully avoid falling for another friend.

  Zane Richards is an avid sailor and surfer with a laid-back approach to life. He firmly believes there’s a time and place for everything if you’re willing to take a chance. Like letting his best friend know he’s interested in being much more than friends. Eric has always been half in love with Zane but going from friends to lovers isn’t an easy sell for someone protecting his heart. Eric will have to decide if he’s willing to risk it all by leaning into love.

  Chapter 1

  “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.”– Kahlil Gibran, The Collected Works

  Sunlight glittered like diamonds strewn across the Bay. The cool late afternoon temperature left the nearby beach mostly deserted. Anyone with a brain was at home or in front of a raging fire with a glass of wine, not trying to talk above the din of seagulls skimming the shoreline for a late snack. I sidestepped a particularly persistent one as I made my way to the sailboat tied to the end of the dock. I juggled my cell phone to my other ear and stopped when the connection got fuzzy.

  “…I told you…bad idea. He…the one who…”

  “Josh, you’re breaking up. I need to get going anyway.” And I don’t like where this conversation is going, I added in my head as I adjusted my dark sunglasses and the zipper on my pullover.

  “We can talk later. Say hi to Zane for me. What are you two doing? Should I be jealous I didn’t get invited?” he asked conversationally.

  “No. In fact, please get your ass down here and take my place. This is what I get for challenging his knowledge about surf heroes from the 1960s,” I groused. “A fucking sailing lesson.”

  “You got off lightly, Eric. It could have been a surf lesson,” Josh said with a laugh.

  “True. But I’ll be trapped on a tin can with him pontificating the joys of the sea like a character from an Ernest Hemingway novel. I think that’s sufficient torture.”

  “No offense, but I feel worse for Zane.”

  “Hey!”

  “Hey, yourself. Just do us all a favor and stop spinning on Nick. You broke up two years ago. It’s over. He’s a heartless dick but for better or worse, he’s your business partner and your friend. Lisa may be the one with the ring on her finger, but let’s be real…Nick is no catch. Tell Z-man I said hi. Call me later if you feel like coming over to watch the game.”

  Josh hung up before I could reply. It was just as well. He was right. I had no reason to be upset about my business partner-slash-ex’s engagement announcement. Nick and I had not been an ideal couple. We were friends from college who slept together after a drunken night out on the town and somehow fell into a relationship based on a mutual love of sex. Anytime and all the time.

  Actually, that wasn’t fair. Sex had only been part of the attraction. Nick Jorgensen was a genius and I had a thing for smart guys. When we met at Stanford in our junior year, he was about to file his first patent for a program he’d written when he was eighteen. I had no idea what it did but I’d loved watching him talk about it. He was so fucking enthusiastic and so in love with his work that I couldn’t help rooting for him. I’d had a crush on him throughout the rest of college, but I’d never acted on it. I’d thought he was straight and while I knew I wasn’t, I didn’t want to potentially alienate him with the burden of an unrequited crush. Being in Nick’s orbit had been sufficient.

  “Get off your phone or I’m throwing it in the fucking Bay.”

  And there went my daydream.

  I lowered my sunglasses diva-style and narrowed my gaze at Zane. “I wasn’t on my phone, asshole.”

  “Good. Keep it that way. Are you getting on or did you expect me to roll out the red carpet first?” he snarked.

  “Golly Cap’n, that would be swell!” I widened my eyes comically then batted my lashes to piss him off.

  He chuckled instead and held his hand out to help me aboard. I stuffed my cell in my back pocket but hesitated a moment before grasping the offered hand to clandestinely check him out. Zane Richards was a six-foot-one surfer dude with brilliant blue eyes and sharp-chiseled features. His wavy dark-blond hair was always in need of a trim. Today it skimmed the collar of his navy windbreaker. However, if anyone could pull off a cross between serious sailor and surf maestro, it was Zane.

  We were from the same beach town in Southern California. Technically, we’d known each other since we were fourteen, but we hung with a different crowd in those days. I was a serious student and member of the debate team and Zane was…well, he was trouble. He was a good-looking guy with the kind of charisma some lucky bastards were just born with. Zane was a smartass who rarely applied himself and loved to stir up shit. I made sure to steer clear of him.

  Of course, high school was when you assumed you knew things about people you’d never spoken to. Sometime in our junior year, the water polo coach took an interest and suggested Zane try out for the team. He did, and as he liked to say…the rest was history. The poor kid raised by a single mom in an affluent town went from being on the verge of becoming a sad statistic to earning a full scholarship to one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Which happened to be where I was going.

  We ran into each other at orientation and ended up spending more time that afternoon talking than we had the entire four years we’d been in high school together. Perhaps our unlikely friendship was rooted in nerves and the fact that we didn’t know anyone else in Northern California. But twelve years later, Zane was one of my closest friends. We had a funny way of communicating that confounded most of the guys in our tight-knit group. He would tease me for being a persnickety geek while I purposefully baited him by pretending to be ignorant of what he called “basic survival knowledge,” like remembering the difference between port side and starboard. Our buddies would observe us with mild amusement, the way they might watch a tennis match that inexplicably became interesting after a couple sets. Josh was famous for tossing irreverent suggestions that Zane and I should just fuck and get it over with. He and Nick would laugh hysterically when one or both of us flipped him off.

  But back in college, I was the only out and proud gay in the group. Just hinting Zane should check out a hot guy’s ass would make him blush furiously before he smacked me upside the head for getting under his skin in the first place. He surprised the hell out of me when he came out as bi in his mid-twenties. I might have been more actively curious about what Zane was going through if I hadn’t been so engrossed with Nick at the time.

  Nick and I started seeing each other a couple years after graduation. We were too lazy or horny to hide that we were engaged in a relationship. Or more accurately, a nonstop fuckfest. We never used the word boyfriend. We’d decided the label was bad for the business we’d started the previous year. If we wanted investors to take EN Tech seriously, we had to give the impression we were college friends who were passionate about network security with high-speed solutions and services. Not lovers who couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves for more than ten minutes at a stretch.

  But that was years ago. Now Nick was engaged to a woman and I was left assuring our friends I was long over him.

  “Earth to Eric. Get your ass on the boat already. You’re burning daylight, princess.”

  I huffed indignantly, but took Zane’s offer for assistance and tripped my way onto his pristine sailboat. I took a seat on one of the plush cushions adjacent to the wheel and
waited for the captain to join me.

  “Are you serving cocktails on this harbor cruise?”