Boston Bucks

All I wanted was to save the coastal resort that has been in our family for generations.Little did I expect the buyer would be the NHL player who my clique picked on in high school.I have no idea why the boy from the wrong side of the tracks would drag me - his enemy - back from the brink of ruin.But when he insists he has a position for me - nanny for his little girl - I begin to understand his motives.Revenge.I have no idea how he plans to exact it, but I'm willing to find out if it means saving White Beach Resort.As I wait for the ball to drop, the summer begins to slip by, and I begin to fall for the man who hates me.Stupid, I know.While I still haven't discovered what he has up his sleeve, I slowly, deliciously discover what he has under his shirt, and below his belt.The only problem is, I can't figure out if his touches and kisses are still about payback, or if they're about something more.But I think I have a way to find out...and I pray it doesn't backfire.

I wasn't looking for love. Heck I wasn't looking for anything.But it found me in a six-foot tall, two-hundred-pound hockey goalie.I try to fight it. I really do.This guy is a player, in more ways than one.At least I think he is.But I'm a Master of Psychology Student and there is one thing I know-not everything is as it appears.Looking deeper, I catch glimpses of the real Brady, the man this goalie keeps hidden-from everyone.I like that guy. A lot.And I'm pretty sure he likes me too.But then I discover something else about the man beneath the jersey, something dark and hurtful, something that tells me who I really am to him, which means there's only one thing left for me to do…Show the player who he's really playing with.

I need a favor, and there's only one guy I'd dare ask.Conner Birch.Boston Buck's right winger.Not only is he my best friend, he's my brother-in-law…and the man I've always loved.The problem is, he never loved me back. What I want might make things more awkward, and I can't risk our friendship, but…after losing my husband-Conner's brother-this is my only chance at the life I've dreamed of.Everything about our arrangement is risky, and when things heat up, it becomes harder and harder to hide what I feel.Soon enough, playing house becomes all too real, and I begin to think we might have a chance at a future.Until I find out the man I'm in love with might not be the friend I thought he was…

Have you ever met an alpha-hole?Well, let me introduce you to the ultimate Ash-hole: Ash Wheeler, star defenseman for the Boston Bucks.He's got it all-hockey skills, women, fame, looks, and swagger. A real Ash-hole.I don't want to be attracted to him. Seriously, I don't. But every time I'm around him, my body ignites.I've been burned by a guy like him before, and I swear I'll never go down that road again.Until I do.As a single mother who seems to draw men like Ash, I console myself with the knowledge that I know what I'm getting into.I mean, if I understand the risks, what could go wrong?A lot, apparently.I try to keep things casual and vow not to fall for him.Until I do.And then I discover his secret and now there's only one thing left for me to do...

Sharing a houseand a Jack and Jill bathroomwith my brother's best friend is a special kind of torture. Especially when that man is the one I've secretly wanted for years.But pretending to be his girlfriend at a family gathering? That's a whole new level of agony. The stolen glances, the whispered questions, the charadeit's all to get his parents off his back. It's all fun and games until I have to share his bed. Close enough to feel his heat, yet miles from what I truly want. It's an exquisite kind of punishment.And then Vegas happens. A wedding, a reckless moment, and a single choice that sets off a chain reaction capable of destroying everything: my brother's trust, his family's belief in me, and most painfully, my own fragile heart.Just when I think things couldn't get worse they do.And the only way out might save everyone else, but it'll shatter me.

The night before my wedding, I walked into my Vegas hotel suite and found my fiancé in bed with my best friend.Yeah. I know. World's biggest cliché.But maybe I should've seen it coming. He's a runway god-the son of a fashion mogul. And me? I'm just the people-pleasing, insecure girl from the wrong side of town, hiding behind a designer dress and a dream.I ran. Out of the suite. Out of my own life. And straight into the arms of Roman Marinelli-NHL superstar, my high school friend, and the Buck's biggest player... on and off the ice.Roman dried my tears and reminded me what it feels like to be seen. While I lost everything I thought I wanted-my fiancé, my dream fashion internship, my picture-perfect future-with Roman, I found something I never expected.Because with him, I don't have to pretend. Not even a little.But just when I start to believe in second chances, Roman does something that breaks me all over again.And this time, I never saw it coming.

After I won a TV singing competition and my ex publicly humiliated me to get ahead, I needed to escape reality.Sure, breaking into an old friend's beachside cottage wasn't my best idea, but what's a girl to do?When the NHL's biggest player-on and off the ice-finds me in his bed, I expect him to kick me out. When he doesn't, a fragile truce is born.Soon enough, we're living in our own fairy tale bubble, talking and sharing everything-just not the truth.As the lazy days of summer stretch on, I begin to believe we might be the only real thing in a world full of lies.Until his past catches up to him.That's when I realize two things. You can't build love on a bed of lies, and in this world, everyone wants something... no matter who they have to burn to get it.

After a Thanksgiving PR disaster went viral, I'm back in Snowberry Falls, Vermont, running the town's Christmas festival-and praying it saves my career.Then my ex shows up-parading his influencer fiancée-and I need a win. Fast.Enter Penn Radford: Boston Bucks enforcer, tabloid magnet, and currently stranded without a room at the fully booked inn. I know his type. Loud, flashy, allergic to shirts…and the guy who punched mall Santa.My solution? Team up. Fake a holiday romance. Nail the festival. Fix his image. Easy.But the mistletoe buzzer won't quit, and those pretend kisses? They feel way too real. And when my past comes back swinging, I have to figure out if Penn is the real deal…or just another mistake wrapped in peppermint sheets.

When your best friend pretends to love you to help you win someone else…but he's the only one you've ever truly wanted.I asked my childhood friend Jaxon Sheffield-a hockey star who's sworn off relationships-to fake it for a little while. Just long enough to make the guy I thought I wanted to notice me.But I'm a reporter. I build stories. And Jaxon's been burned by reporters enough to swear he'd never trust one-especially not with his secrets. When the plan worked, it should've ended there but I asked for more.Because the truth I've kept hidden?I've loved him forever.Now we're tangled in late-night touches and whispered promises that weren't part of the deal. He thinks this is just a game.But if they only knew… I'm risking the only relationship I can't live without.And if I lose him?It won't just break my heart-it'll mean I ruined the one thing that was never supposed to be fake.

We've been best friends forever. The kind of forever where I know his coffee order, his worst breakup story, and the scar on his jaw from peewee hockey.Back in high school, I told him I liked him. He didn't feel the same. We got past it. We always do.Now he's an NHL star, and I'm tagging along to a Halloween party full of WAGs and teammates. I've never gotten over him, and just when I think it's time to move on-maybe with one of his teammates-the fortune teller says something that sticks with me.So, I do something reckless. I ask him to pretend to be my boyfriend-for one night. To make someone else jealous. He agrees because that's what best friends do.But I'm not trying to win any other guy. I want him to see what's been right in front of him all along. To feel the spark I've never stopped feeling. And it's working. Until he kisses me like he means it…And whispers something that ruins everything.

Stick Move: All I wanted was to save the coastal resort that has been in our family for generations.Little did I expect the buyer would be the NHL player who my clique picked on in high school.I have no idea why the boy from the wrong side of the tracks would drag me - his enemy - back from the brink of ruin.But when he insists he has a position for me - nanny for his little girl - I begin to understand his motives.Revenge.Sticking Around: I wasn't looking for love. Heck I wasn't looking for anything.But it found me in a six-foot tall, two-hundred-pound hockey goalie.I try to fight it. I really do.This guy is a player, in more ways than one.At least I think he is.But I'm a Master of Psychology Student and there is one thing I know-not everything is as it appears.Sticking Out: I need a favor, and there's only one guy I'd dare ask.Conner Birch.Boston Buck's right winger.Not only is he my best friend, he's my brother-in-law…and the man I've always loved.The problem is, he never loved me back.