The Puck Contract by M.M. Phoenix

The contract said “pretend.” My heart didn’t get the memo.

Groover
The fan fictions were the last straw. As the only openly gay player on the team, I’m used to attention, but when fans start shipping me with my straight teammates, management has a “brilliant” solution: get a fake boyfriend to stabilize my image and secure a major sponsorship deal.
Enter Mateo—a broke anthropology student who doesn’t know a hockey stick from a broomstick. He’s supposed to be the perfect fake boyfriend: straight, temporary, and contractually obligated to keep things professional.
But when practice kisses start feeling too real and my heart races every time he wears my jersey, I realize I’m breaking the most important rule in the playbook: don’t fall for the guy who’s only here for the paycheck.

Mateo
The arrangement was supposed to be easy: Pretend to date a hockey player for three months, collect enough money to cover tuition, and move on with my life.
Easy went out the window the moment Groover’s lips touched mine “for practice.”
Suddenly I’m wearing his jersey backward for luck, getting jealous of his ex, and Googling “am I bi?” at 2 AM in incognito mode. What started as research into sports culture for my anthropology thesis is becoming a study in something I never expected.
With playoffs approaching and our contract ending, I have to make a choice: Walk away with my tuition paid and heart intact, or admit that somewhere between the fake kisses and real feelings, I’ve completely pucked up by falling for a man who thinks I’m just acting a part.

The Puck Contract is a low-angst, high-heat bi-awakening Hockey Romance. It’s book 1 of the Melting Ice series, and can be read as a stand-alone.