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Rachel Reid Writes Romance

My Dinner with Hayden: A Heated Rivalry Short Story

Dinner with Hayden Image.JPG

It took me several tries to land on an epilogue for Heated Rivalry that I was happy with. I tried a few different scenes, including one that, despite ultimately rejecting it, I kind of liked. It was a scene where Ilya and Shane are hosting Hayden and his wife, Jackie, for an awkward dinner party shortly after Hayden learns that his best friend is secretly dating Ilya Rozanov.

I’ve decided to take what I had written of that scene and expand it into a short story. This story takes place slightly before the actual epilogue in Heated Rivalry. So it’s an…epilogue prologue? It takes place almost sixteen months after the last chapter of Heated Rivalry, and about three weeks before the epilogue.

Thanks again for all the love Ilya and Shane have gotten! I really love writing these characters. I am about to start writing books four and five in the Game Changers series, and while neither of those will be a direct sequel to Heated Rivalry, Ilya and Shane’s story will continue one way or another.

I want to give a huge thanks to my amazing editor, Mackenzie Walton, for giving this a quick read and making suggesting some very helpful edits.

The audiobook for Game Changer will be released on October 8, and Heated Rivalry will be available in audio format on October 22.

Okay, here is what happens when Ilya and Shane try to host a dinner party. Enjoy!

November 2018—Montreal

Ilya opened the door of Shane’s house to greet Hayden and his wife (Jessica?). He could have waited for Shane to finish washing his hands in the kitchen so he could join him at the door, but this was more fun.

“Oh god,” Hayden said, as soon as he was faced with Ilya, “I don’t think I can do this.”

Ilya smiled, and stepped aside. “Please come in.”

Hayden moved past him, his wife following closely behind. She, at least, offered Ilya a friendly, and possibly apologetic, smile as she handed him the bottle of wine they had brought.

“Shane!” Hayden called out. “Don’t want to alarm you, but Ilya Rozanov is in your house.”

Shane emerged from the kitchen, drying his hands with a dishtowel. He was wearing dark pants and a blue button-up shirt that was open at the collar. Ilya was struck, not for the first time that night, by how good he looked, and by how right this all felt. Shane and Ilya, at home, having dinner with friends.