Love on the Line

Suki Brennan is broke. After she co-signed several hefty loans for her ex's business, he fled the country and left her working two jobs to pay his bills. So when her new boss, a sulky pro hockey player who recently became the guardian of his three nieces, proposes a deal to help him secure permanent custody of the girls, she agrees. If Suki fake-marries Carter Stanton for one year, and pretends to be his doting wife, she'll get half a million dollars and a clean divorce at the end. Not only will the money pay off all her debts, but she'll be able to help the girls she already adores settle fully into their new lives. It's a foolproof plan. At least, it seems like it. As Suki grows closer to Carter and his nieces, though, her feelings for them become very real. But does her brooding boss feel the same?

Sebastian Stone has a wedding to stop. His best friend's sister is planning to make an epic mistake in six months, but no one else seems to get it. So when Lainey Morris needs a place to stay in Cleveland for a four-month-long research project, Bash offers her his house. As a pro hockey player, he's on the road a lot, but when he's home, he makes his case against her marrying Shane-or anyone else. She's stubborn and often has her head in a book, but Lainey is also beautiful, funny, and sweet. Plenty of men would like to lock her down, but she needs to focus on herself. Take her time. Wait until she's at least thirty. Bash plans to use logic and reason to persuade Lainey to stay single, but everything falls apart when he finally figures out the truth: he's in love with her. But is it too late to hope she might feel the same?

Mara Torres and I have exactly one thing in common: we can't stand each other. She's judgmental, prickly, and makes it crystal clear that even though our best friends are married, it's all she can do to tolerate me. The feeling is mutual. So naturally, when I need to invent a fake girlfriend to get my teammate off my back, her name is the one that falls out of my mouth. I expect her to laugh in my face when I ask for her help. Or maybe throw something at me. What I don't expect is for her to say yes. Turns out, there's something she wants enough to agree to the arrangement. Our friends are used to us looking like we're one argument away from murder. It's going to be damn near impossible to convince everyone we're in love. But then something shifts. The bickering gets sharper-and hotter. The fake touches start lasting longer than necessary. And when I finally kiss her, the heat between us isn't fake at all. Now I can't tell if I want to strangle her or strip her bare. Maybe both. The worst part? I think she feels the same way. Tropes: pro hockey romance; enemies to lovers; fake dating; found family; mental health rep; opposites attract. Getting the Grinder is the third book in the Love on the Line series: all books are interconnected standalones about a team of professional hockey players and the women they fall hard for. The books don't need to be read in order, but future characters appear in each book.