Face Off

Piper Mitchell needs one thing to go her way. Divorced, feeling stuck in her professional life, and terrified of reentering the world of dating, she's decided she's going to work on something she can control: learning how to be good in the bedroom. Enter Liam Sullivan. The star NHL goalie might not be a people person, but he's the perfect teacher. He knows what he's doing behind closed doors, and with a little convincing, he agrees to be Piper's guide.

There's nothing wrong with playing the game--except when you know you're about to lose. As a little girl, I dreamed of becoming many things. A twenty-five-year-old photographer struggling to make ends meet with a mountain of legal fees wasn't one of them. Making questionable decisions wasn't either. After hanging up my camera, I start a job I loathe that has me questioning my morals on a daily basis. Until I run into Chicago's newest bad-boy goalie whose reputation is a trainwreck--Emory Olson.

He should be excited about their win streak, but he's distracted by his best friend, Lacey Daniels, sitting in the stands at his game with a date. When Lacey's date refuses to kiss her on the kiss cam, she's mortified…until Shawn saves the day, jumping in to kiss her in front of seventy thousand screaming fans.

Jon Paul Dumont is everything I was warned about in this league—talented, entitled, and fully aware of both. The NHL's favorite bad boy has left a trail of broken hearts from Montreal to San Diego, and a year ago, I was stupid enough to become one of them. Now he's signed with my father's team, the Seattle Hawkeyes, attempting a comeback after a career-threatening injury and a DUI charge that got him dropped from the Blue Devils.

Want to know a secret? It's about that girl over there. Don’t look, but she’s the one in the power suit with the long, black hair and the serious expression. The one I’m about to go on a date with. Yeah, according to her, she “accidentally” donated an obscene amount of money to my charity - The Lineup - to win said date, but I found out the truth.

Jaxon - I’m months away from the NFL draft, from everything I’ve ever wanted. Except none of it matters without her. Madison Blake has always been it for me—my best friend, my biggest what-if, the girl I’ve never stopped loving. One drunken voicemail. That’s all it took for me to drop everything and transfer to PCU. She doesn’t remember calling. But now that she knows the real reason I’m here? She’s running faster than ever.

Hudson Hayes, star defenseman for the DC Stars, needs help. He's been looking for a private chef for months but keeps coming up short. With the NHL season starting and no prospects in sight, he's close to giving up. Madeline Galloway needs a job. Recently let go from her executive chef position in Las Vegas, she's desperate as can be when she reaches out to an old acquaintance about a possible job opportunity… in Washington, D.C. After hitting it off with her prospective employer, the blond hockey star who seems to have a heart of gold, she and her daughter, Lucy, make the move east.

Blaire Monroe is the only woman I've ever loved, and the only one I've let break my heart. It's been ten years since she ran from this town, chasing a life that didn't include the cowboy next door who blurred the line between best friend and something more. Now she's back. Fresh off a busted engagement and hiding out on her grandmother's crumbling strawberry farm like the past never happened. Like she doesn't still linger in every part of me I've spent years trying to erase. But Blaire isn't the kind of girl you forget.

Lennox Kennedy is beautiful, loud, and the love of my life. She's also my ex-girlfriend. The first time I saw her after ten years apart, I slammed into the plexiglass minutes before our game was set to begin. The second time I threw up. The third time's a charm apparently because as my fiancée and I walked into an appointment to meet the woman hired to plan our nuptials—there she was again. Obviously, I did what any smart man would do—I called off the wedding. I don't have a plan per se, other than winning back the only girl I've ever loved.

Beckett Davis has been many things: reliable, likeable, on track to be the most accurate kicker in professional football history, and multiple-time winner of made-up awards, like "pro-athlete with the most beautiful smile." He's also spent a lifetime shouldering responsibilities that don't belong to him, but he doesn't like to think about that. Until a missed kick makes him one of the most hated people in the city and lands him doing damage control as a volunteer in his least favourite place: a hospital. But it's where he meets her.

It’s not easy being a woman working in a male dominated field. Add in the fact that my uncle owns the baseball team I work for, and proving I belong here is a constant battle. Dating a player was never an option. Not if I wanted to keep a shred of dignity and respect. Then Ronan Sinclair sits down next to me in first class with his alluring blue eyes and hard-to-resist dimples. To say nothing of his kindness and charm, or his determination to convince me that a steamy vacation fling is what we both need.

After my ex crushed my dreams in the music industry, I’m done with getting my heart broken. Working as an assistant for an NHL player was supposed to be a breeze, but nothing about Jamie Streicher is easy. He’s an intimidatingly hot, grouchy jerk who can't stand me. The guy has a massive ego. Keeping things professional will be no problem, even when he demands I move in with him.

The first book in the Emerald Lake series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Elsie Silver.

Tristan Stiles is the bane of my existence. He never wears a shirt. We can’t seem to stop fighting. He’s an arrogant playboy with a filthy reputation. Sure, I had a crush on him when I was fourteen but that was a long time ago. I know better than to trust him. I just need to survive long enough to find a new job and get a new place. And not accidentally let Tristan show me exactly how well-deserved his reputation is.

My dad and I have been estranged for years, but as his only living relative, it's no surprise I inherit his massive cattle ranch when he dies. But the stipulation in his will that requires me to live on the ranch and actively manage it for a year before I can access my inheritance money. I haven't stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.