Brooklyn Bruisers

Hockey player Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart, and succeed in the NHL. But on the first day he's called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team's coach - who has a long simmering grudge - and then by the Bruisers' sexy, icy publicist - his former girlfriend, Georgia Worthington. Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do - and saying hello again isn't much easier.

As team captain and enforcer, Patrick O'Doul puts the bruise in the Brooklyn Bruisers. But after years of hard hits, O'Doul is feeling the burn, both physically and mentally. He conceals his pain from his coach and trainers, but when his chronic hip injury becomes too obvious to ignore, they send him for sessions with the team's massage therapist.

Mike Beacon is a champion at defending the net, but off the ice he's not so lucky. A widower and a single father, he's never forgotten Lauren Williams, the ex who gave him the best year of his life. When Lauren reappears in the Bruisers office during the playoffs, Beacon sees his chance to make things right.

You'd think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You'd be wrong. For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don't know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.

Heidi and I have been trading hungry looks all year, and everything she does makes me smile. But I don't do girlfriends, and I certainly can't get involved with the league commissioner's daughter. I need shots on goal, not a hookup and a widely misunderstood paparazzi photo. Can I resist her, though? The way she teases me should be a game penalty for interference with my libido.

Sometimes lady luck shakes your hand, and sometimes she smacks your face. Sometimes she does both on the same day. Three years ago, I met the most amazing girl in the world. We were both down on our luck. Then I got that call - the one that tells you to get your buns on a plane to go meet your destiny. But the girl was left behind. I didn’t have her phone number, and she didn’t know my real name. While I became a professional hockey player, she became a superstar, with platinum records and legions of fans. And a slick music producer boyfriend who treated her badly.