Chicago Players

My dad's teammate needs a nanny and I need a job. Sounds perfect, right? Except for my massive crush on him . . . the one he knows all about. I just found out I’m a dad. My one-night stand dropped a baby bombshell in my local bar where I was celebrating my team’s win. Then she fled, leaving me holding my new daughter. Thank God for Adeline. The daughter of my teammate and closest friend on the Chicago Rebels, she practically raised her little sister and knows exactly how to deal with this situation. I need a nanny; she needs a job. Problem sorted, right? Not so fast . . .

I can’t marry him. I have no good reason to jilt my hockey player fiancé, except that the closer we get to the big day, the more I feel myself shrinking to a hollow shell. Two minutes after I slip into the church bathroom to calm my pre-wedding jitters, I jump out the window to make my escape . . . and land on Hatch Kershaw, my fiancé’s teammate on the Chicago Rebels. This guy has always hated me for reasons I can’t fathom. Half the time he looks right through me, like I’m no better than the ice shavings on his skate blades. 

When confronted with the cold, hard facts of her diminishing chances to be a mom, what’s a woman of science to do? Make a spreadsheet of eligible donors, of course. Finding a man for life is not in the cards, but one for this singular purpose? I can do that. As the daughter of a Chicago Rebels legend and an expert in the field of gastropods—more commonly known as snails and slugs—I have plenty of choices in the worlds of both hockey and academia.