**It’s far from smooth sailing into love for this pair of polar opposites.** Carson Dries is the ultimate team captain. Seasoned, amiable, humble, understanding, outgoing, and good-looking. He’s also really darn lonely, but his searches for Mr. Right have all turned into producing Mr. Wrongs. Having just turned thirty, Carson isn’t sure if dating is even worth the hassle anymore. Maybe he should just devote his time to his team, his grandfather, and his Peke-a-Poo, Penelope. Feeling a little blue, he heads to a Gladiators’ fundraiser to while away another night alone when one of the cutest guys he has ever seen runs into him—literally. Pity the adorable ginger is carrying a bowl of piping hot soup. While the mortified server is trying to dry off Carson’s ruined tux, Carson is getting rather lost in a magical combination of freckles, bright eyes, and kissable pink lips. Criswell Dobbs is *so* getting fired. Or beaten up. Or maybe both. One does not dump French onion soup down the front of a behemoth of a man—a hockey player at that—and not get punched in the nose. Losing his job would be terrible. He loves being a member of the waitstaff on the Seneca Starlight paddleboat. The tips are amazing, his coworkers are fabulous, and the free dinners are keeping him fed. Knowing he and his little brother relied on this job, he’s got to do whatever it takes to stay employed, so apologizing profusely while offering to pay for dry cleaning seems the right course. When the hulking hunk of a man in the soaking wet tux unexpectedly asks him out, Criswell is flabbergasted, to say the least. Shocked yes, but not too stunned to write the Gladiator captain’s seemingly sincere request off completely. There *is* something about a tall, dark, handsome man in a tux. Even if that tuxedo smelled of onions… *Defending the House is a low angst, opposites attract, gay hockey twink/jock romance starring a sexy team captain, a bubbly but clumsy waiter, lots of nautical nonsense, on-ice action, off-boat shenanigans, yo-ho-ho a few bottles of rum, and one fair weather happy ending.*