Summary
Gage McPherson was the Seattle Shark’s best Grinder, until he shattered his shoulder last season. Time heals all wounds…but the heartbroken single dad has more than his share of trust issues. The playboy only lets one girl close to his iced-over heart—his pint-sized daughter who’s the center of his world. She’s the only thing more important to him than hockey, and he trusts no one with her…except me.
We’ve been friends since we were kids, and I love his daughter like she’s my own, so what’s the easiest solution to help Gage out? Move in and be his live-in nanny for the season. As far as she goes, the arrangement is perfect. But her drop-dead-sexy father? Frustrating on every possible level.
There is a thick, professional line drawn between us by his own hand, and despite understanding the terms, my body is practically begging him to cross it. Our chemistry is off the charts, but one misstep, and we could hurt the one person we love most. This game is all-or-nothing. Can I risk my heart on a guy who is known for the shut-out, on and off the ice?
Excerpt
Getting a three-year-old to sleep should be an Olympic event.
“Is that better?” I asked Lettie, smoothing back her thick brown hair from those summer blue eyes as she drained the small glass of water. She nodded, her smile full of tiny, gapped teeth as she settled back against her pillow.
If hockey was my world, where I made my living breathing the game, the ice, the needs of my team, then Lettie was my sun—the only thing in this universe that thawed my heart.
She was also the only thing I’d ever be caught waxing poetic about, but I couldn’t help it, I was owned by a tiny three-year-old.
“Thank you, Daddy,” she said, but the way she plucked at her covers and wiggled her tiny feet told me there was something else on my daughter’s mind.
“What’s up, sunshine?” I asked.
She looked up with excited eyes. “I like that Bailey is here.”
“Me too,” I said, unable to stop the smile that spread across my face at her happiness.
“I like Bailey.”
A small chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Well, me too,” I said, ruffling her hair.
“And now she’s here all the time? Mornings and everything?”
“Yep,” I answered, reaching for her bedside table. Bringing Bailey to live with us as Lettie’s full-time nanny was a no-brainer. As often as I’d need her to travel with me for away games, and with the unpredictability of my schedule, it was really the only way for her to have a life…for either of us to. She’d been doing the job for six months already, but with the season starting up, it was the right time.
“So when I get up she’ll be here?”
I paused before turning out the light and took a deep breath. “Yes, but Lettie, let’s wait until the clock has a seven on it, okay? Not everyone likes to party at five a.m.”
Review
I wondered for some time if I would like the story. Gage had some great interactions with his daughter, but he was a douche to Bailey–and a disputably bad example for Lettie anyway. Bringing puck bunnies home when the little girl and her nanny are there? Not exactly the most sensible thing to do. Especially when you want the nanny…
I felt like the book really started when Gage and Bailey decide to give it a go–even when they still have reservations. It becomes sexy, of course, but also, they make a great couple. I loved the domestic scenes. And the disruption of Lettie’s mother’s arrival just made me root for them more.
What I enjoyed the most? The hockey part of the romance? I felt a bit like I was on the ice with them, that I followed a real team during a season. There could have been a bit more, but I liked it nonetheless.
Lack of communication is a regular plot device in romances, and there was plenty here. It didn’t really bother me though. There are still subjects that SHOULD be discussed in a couple, and they don’t manage that part well. But there wouldn’t be a story if they did.
Quickie
- Series: Seattle Sharks #1 (can be read as a standalone)
- Hashtags: #hockey romance #single dad #friends to lovers #nanny
- Triggers: some on-ice violence
- Main couple: Bailey & Gage McPherson
- Hotness: 3/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + the domesticity is so cute!
- – at first, Gage isn’t exactly a compelling character…
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