A hockey player who falls first, hardest, and forever. His secret new wife? That’s his coach's daughter. My coach hates me, and that’s fine, because the feeling is mutual, but I can’t get traded when I’m playing like crap. So I skip the New Year’s Eve partying with my teammates when we’re in Vegas for a road game, and I take myself to a hotel bar for a single drink, feeling sorry for myself for superstitious reasons... moreA hockey player who falls first, hardest, and forever. His secret new wife? That’s his coach's daughter. My coach hates me, and that’s fine, because the feeling is mutual, but I can’t get traded when I’m playing like crap. So I skip the New Year’s Eve partying with my teammates when we’re in Vegas for a road game, and I take myself to a hotel bar for a single drink, feeling sorry for myself for superstitious reasons. It’s my birthday, you see, and December 31st being my birthday is why I’ve never made the playoffs. No, I cannot elaborate without sounding unhinged. Enter Francesca. No last name, no details. A bright burst of sunshine who immediately makes me feel better. We agree not to talk about work—because mine is frustrating—or families—because hers is infuriating—and we throw ourselves into a spontaneous birthday party that starts and ends with bubbly beverages, and in the middle…. Well, we get married. The next morning, she runs scared. That’s when I take my first sober look at our wedding license and figure out who the pretty blonde medical student really is: Frankie Wilson, the estranged daughter of the meanest coach in the NHL. The man who just benched me. The wedding ring on my left hand represents vows I have no intention of breaking, but convincing my wife of that fact is going to be f*cking hard since we live on opposites sides of the country and I have forty hockey games to play between now and the end of the season. The only chance I have of keeping her fragile trust is keeping our marriage a secret and convinging my bride to give me a second chance during our too-brief west coast swing two days later. And then with letters and video calls and good old-fashioned sexting, because we barely scratched the surface of her untapped praise kink, and my smart little wife? She’s a very good girl. Even—or especially—when she finds out that our brief time together had an unintended consequence…. One magical night in Vegas changes of everything with a marriage that is Pucking Inconvenient but also absolutely pucking perfect. less
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