Jay Holden. Eishockeystar. Alleinerziehender Vater. Gequälte Seele.Der alleinerziehende Jay Holden, Captain des Eishockeyteams der Chicago Wild Tigers, glaubt nach dem Tod seiner Frau schon lange nicht mehr an eine neue Liebe. Doch dann blickt er in Holly Matthews Augen und seine Welt gerät aus den Fugen, denn Holly gleicht seiner verstorbenen Frau bis aufs Haar. Auf der Suche nach Antworten kommen Holly und der attraktive Sportler sich gefährlich nahe und müssen sich schließlich fragen: Ist ihre Begegnung Schicksal oder bloß ein übler Scherz des Universums?-
Es sollte nur eine Nacht sein ...Nach einem Skandal flieht Eishockeystar Ian Petrov in eine einsame Hütte, um der Presse zu entkommen. Er will alleine sein und seine Wunden lecken. Umso entsetzter ist er, als er feststellen muss, dass er nicht der einzige Bewohner ist. Ausgerechnet hier trifft er auf Shelby Blanton. Shelby, die ihn in der Öffentlichkeit bloßgestellt hat, Shelby, die sich von seiner grummeligen Art nicht einschüchtern lässt - Shelby, die sein Herz schneller schlagen lässt. Für eine Nacht geben sie der Anziehungskraft nach und sind nicht darauf gefasst, was sie am nächsten Tag erwartet ...-
What happens to childhood promises when you grow up?
Growing up, Devaney Diamond and Chase Mackenzie promised to go to college together. But it’s been three years since the summer that changed everything between them, and their friendship hasn’t recovered.
Now, Dani is faced with all the challenges of her freshman year of college—navigating rush week, making new friends, and living on her own—which is both exhilarating and intimidating. In high school, Dani was homecoming queen and head cheerleader. She should be able to handle the pressure, but college has been more overwhelming than she expected.
Chase, on the other hand, is living the dream. It’s his senior year of high school, his football team is hoping to go undefeated, and he’s being heavily recruited.
When Dani returns home for a weekend, she realizes why college feels so overwhelming—she doesn’t have Chase to share it with. In hopes of salvaging their friendship, she repeats an old tradition—sneaking over to his room with pizza after his game. But instead of fixing their friendship, they end up sleeping together.
Chase is thrilled that Dani is back in his life, but being friends with benefits when feelings are involved is more complicated than Chase imagined.
Will Chase and Dani work through their feelings for one another, or will their childhood promise be shattered when Chase announces what college he will commit to?
If only life came with a script.
Anna Jeffries has spent the last thirty-two years blending in, content in her worn-out reading chair—her happy corner of the world—spinning romantic scenarios she’s certain reality can’t deliver. After three years of teaching Shakespeare at UC Berkeley, Anna is working toward full tenure. Her life in the classroom means everything and she can’t imagine wanting more… until she does.
Dane Sivac is in his second year as the wide receiver coach, and with new talent on the team this year, he’s beginning to think his future may hold a permanent position with Cal—as permanent as any coach can hope for. When his star receiver begins struggling on and off the field, the sports psychologist asks Dane for help. For Dane, emotions are best ignored, but his player’s seemingly uptight Shakespeare professor is driving Dane nuts… until she’s not.
Invested in the future of a student athlete they’ve both come to care about, Dane and Anna are forced to work together. The attraction is undeniable, but opposing teams rarely get along. Right as Dane makes the type of romantic gesture Anna has only known in fiction, her career is threatened and she is reminded, playbook or not, she was never good at games.
Below are courtesy content warnings to the best recollection. They cover the major topics/themes, but may not be as nuanced as other trigger/content warning sites.
- employer bullying, death of a parent
Hunter Blake is baseball’s bad boy. He’s wild, with a reputation a mile long. He’s fodder for both the sports and gossip pages, but Hunter has a secret even the tabloids don’t know: he’s madly in love with country singer Marlowe Story and has been for months. He’ll do anything for her, including staying married after they drunkenly say “I do” at a Vegas wedding chapel during a weekend hookup. Under the guise of helping both of their careers, he’s happy to stay in the fake marriage, especially because his feelings for her are anything but fake. And now is his chance to show Marlowe what they could have.
Marlowe might sing about love and fairy tales, but she doesn’t believe in happily ever after, especially when it comes to bad boy Hunter. Even if he is the sexiest man she’s ever met, and even if their chemistry is off the charts. When she can’t seem to stay out of his bed, she convinces herself that she can give him her body without giving him her heart. But their fake marriage starts to feel awfully real as she glimpses a sensitive, artistic, vulnerable side of Hunter he keeps hidden from everyone but her.
Because deep down, this bad boy is broken, and only Marlowe’s love can heal him.
Do you see that woman holding a foreclosure notice in her hand and a screaming toddler at her feet? She doesn't look happy, does she?Spoiler alert: she's not. And it has nothing to do with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she found in her couch cushions this morning, or that fact that her kid's favorite words is c&#$. I'll let you put the letters with the rest of that word, but, to fully to understand my frustration, you have to go back two weeks. That's when my husband of six years died of a heart attack. And I'm not sad about it. Before you go thinking I'm an emotionless shit, understand that I was sad. Was being the key word.You see, dear friends, in those fifteen days since my husband died, I've met his girlfriend, who's befriended me and to top it all off, it turns out, infidelity wasn't the only thing he's guilty of. He hadn't paid our bills in four months.Now I'm forced to rent out the room above our garage. But there's a hitch. The guy that rents it?My one-night stand from the night I found out my deceased husband had been cheating on me.The problem? He's a college baseball player. And let me tell you, sister. Cason Reins, his name should come with a surgeon general warning. He's everything I don't need in my life. Not only does he walk around shirtless, have a dirty mind, that's not the worst part. What is it, you ask? Other than him befriending my toddler? He knows how to throw a curve ball. He wants to… gulp. Date. Me.Now what the hell am I supposed to do?
Seven years. That's how long it takes to get over your sister's boyfriend. It doesn't matter that she doesn't want him anymore or that she's moved onto the next. What matters is that now I can't go anywhere near Christopher Onasis. It's a good thing I have distractions to keep my thoughts off the sexy dark-blond baseball player. Distractions like my mother's upcoming wedding. That is, until I find out more about the wedding party. We've had a change in the roster... and guess who just showed up as the new best man?
Fake.
Being the heir to Jacobs Enterprises, I’ve been around fake people my entire life. I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t change for anyone. Which is the only reason I’m a professional hockey player who lives on the beach and does as he pleases without answering to anyone—except my father.
And now, my daughter.
Being a single dad wasn’t in the plan but after a one-night stand who took off after the baby was born, this is my reality.
My dad’s been harping on me to quit hockey and join the company for years and now that I’m a father, he’s only intensified his efforts. Until he makes me a deal I can’t refuse.
Insert Lena Boyd, the Jacobs’ family PR rep. She’s beautiful and intelligent and not at all the woman for me—ask anyone.
My dad needs us to act happily engaged and sell the idea that we’re in love. If we’re successful I won’t have to join the family legacy—ever. Of course, I agree.
That’s when things get complicated. I thought I had her all figured out until I found out there was more underneath her judgmental sneers and eye rolls. It feels like everything is coming together for the future I really want—with Lena—until my past ruins everything.
Evans Pemberton has always had a problem saying no-to her overbearing Mississippi Delta family, to her business mentor's push to expand her thriving pie shop, and to her lifelong crush, Jake Champagne. But Jake chose her beauty-queen cousin three years ago and ghosted on their close friendship. When he comes to her small town in Alabama with a new pro-hockey franchise, Evie fears she'll lose her heart all over again. Of course, she'll forgive him like the good Southern woman she is, but anything more than that is off the table. So why can't she stop baking for him? Jake is looking forward to a new team, a new town, and a clean slate in Laurel Springs. After a disastrous year, the hockey hotshot is leaving his past behind-even betting his best friend that he can stay away from women. But he's happy to reconnect with a piece of home when he visits Evie. Between slices of Mississippi mud pie and chicken potpie, he's starting to remember all the good times they had and the man he always intended to be... not to mention what a fool he was to let Evie get away. How will they find a future together when she can't say no and he can't say yes? The path to true love isn't quite easy as pie, but it sure is sweet in the end.
She needs a fresh start. He wants a second chance …
My new job as a chef in a small town was supposed to be my ticket to peace and quiet. I didn’t expect to run into the former hockey star who gave me the hottest nights of my life. And, oops, he’s sort of my new boss. So much for keeping my past where it belongs.
Ty still thinks I’m the fun party girl. He has no idea how much things have changed. One thing that hasn’t changed: the spark between us. It’s hotter than the blowtorch I use on my crème brûlée.
I’m already keeping secrets, so what’s one more? Our tryst is forbidden, it’s fun, and it gets complicated as fast as you can say “check, please.” I didn’t expect to have a future with Ty. And I definitely didn’t expect to have a baby with him. Some falls are harder than others. But it depends on who’s there to catch you.
'Ich bin eine Legende. Ich bin derjenige, über den die Leute reden - auch wenn die Hälfte der Gerüchte über mich nicht wahr ist. Ich bin derjenige, auf den die Frauen stehen, die keine Hemmungen haben. Und ich hasse es.'
Lance 'Romance' Romero ist der berüchtigste Spieler der NHL. Er schläft mit zu vielen Frauen, feiert zu viele Partys und provoziert seine Gegner viel zu oft - auf dem Eis und auch privat. Als er wieder einmal in eine Schlägerei verwickelt ist und im Krankenhaus landet, schickt ihn sein Coach zur Physiotherapie, damit er schnellstmöglich wieder einsatzbereit ist. Doch was niemand weiß: Lance hat Schreckliches in seiner Vergangenheit erlebt, unaussprechliche Dinge, die ihn zu dem Mann gemacht haben, der er heute ist. Und er kann es nicht ertragen, berührt zu werden. Aber er hat nicht mit Poppy O' Connor gerechnet. Die junge Therapeutin und der gebrochene Eishockey-Star kennen sich von früher. Lance sollte sich von Poppy fernhalten, das weiß er. Sie ist zu gut für ihn, zu unschuldig. Und doch lässt sein Herz ihm keine andere Wahl ...
Teil 6 der Hot as Ice-Reihe von Helena Hunting
