Iced by Colleen Charles

I’ve heard it all before. I need to grow up. Take things more seriously. Stop making headlines for anything other than my game.

Even though it wasn’t my fault that I recently got into a fight at a bar over a woman…yeah yeah, no one wants anymore excuses. My agent just wants me to overhaul my public image before I lose my contract.
How to do that is a mystery until my temporary housecleaner, Gemma, makes me an offer that I know I should refuse.
She asks me to pretend to be her boyfriend to keep her ex away. That’s easy enough. I’m a big guy—intimidating to most (though not to her)—and I have money and power as one of the top defensemen in the NHL.
But what do I get out of it?
The rehabbed image I need to keep playing the game I love.
Being in a relationship with a single mother tells people that I’m mature and serious. Two things they say I’m not. This could work… so okay… I take her up on it.
Even though it’s all pretend, I like that she has something else in her life besides me. Her sassy independence inspires me to be a better man. The kind of man that she could really fall for.
It’ll take a lot to convince her that I’m serious about changing, but I’ll stop at nothing to claim both Gemma and her daughter as mine.