For better or for worse.

When I said those words in front of the pastor, I meant them. But that was before everything changed. Before it became clear that my wife would be better off without me. I had no choice but to sabotage us, and that was exactly what I did. Even though I pushed Paige to leave, it still hurt like hell, watching her do it. I’d never love another woman for as long as I lived. She was it for me.

I guess those are the sacrifices we make for the people we love. And if I couldn’t make her dreams come true, I had no right to keep her. Not completely anyway.

Fast-forward to a year and a half later, and not a day has gone by where I don’t miss my wife. But I made my bed, and now, it’s time for me to lie in it. And while the rest of my life might be in ruins, my career on the ice has never been better.

At least, until a direct hit to the chest almost kills me. And just like that, my wife, who is my emergency contact, is back. But she isn’t happy with me—because those divorce papers she sent months ago? Yeah … they somehow landed in the trash.

Realizing I will lose her again before I truly have her back, I offer her a deal. Ten days to prove we should have never separated. Ten days to redeem myself. And ten days to come clean about everything I’ve been hiding.

Should be easy enough, right?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

Shoot Your Shot features mature themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. TW include: infertility, substance abuse, mental health, sexual content, and some violence.

As a single father, I often feel like the weight of the world sits on my shoulders. When my daughter's nanny gives me her two weeks' notice, I'm sweating bullets. Fear that my NHL season with the New England Bay Sharks could be derailed consumes me.

Finding a replacement seems impossible when, suddenly, Maci McKenzie—a struggling author who's running from some deep, dark secret in her past—steps into the picture. She needs a change of scenery to help her write, and I just need someone who isn't a complete weirdo to watch my kid when I'm not around.

As we grow closer, I learn she's struggling to write the so-called “spicy” scenes. And, well, me being the nice fella I am, I offer my assistance and show her how a real man should treat a woman in between the sheets. It's the perfect deal really. I get off, and she gets the inspiration she needs to write a book.

And not just any book … a hockey romance book.

But like all deals, it's not black-and-white. Soon, I find myself falling in love with the woman. But the closer I get to her … the further she pulls away. Then, I finally find out what's haunting her from her past.

Whoever says the truth will set you free has never heard a secret like this one.

I never looked back the day I left Sunset Drive. If I did, I knew that I would never leave the hellhole I had grown to despise, a place I began plotting my escape from as a child. The only difference was that I always thought she'd be by my side on the day I was finally free.

The day I left it all behind was the day my hatred for the entire Wilson family was born. Poppy included. After all, she had lied to the police just to protect her monstrous father after he got my parents killed. From that day forward, I decided she needed to be dead to me. They all did. The only thing that mattered from then on was the one thing that had never let me down. Hockey.

She may haunt me in my dreams during those three years we were apart, but that was nothing compared to now when I'm forced to see her at Brooks University. Slowly, my grip on everything else in my life begins to slip away as she becomes the only thing that matters. And when I find her in an alleyway, battered and bruised from two attackers who vow to return for her…I decide right then that I am going to protect her at all costs.

But protecting her means making a deal with the devil, also known as my rich uncle. A deal that will mean I will never get the chance to spend forever with the only girl I've ever loved. Poppy Wilson.

It's a high price to pay, but when it comes to her safety, I have no limits.

Hudson

The first time I saw Briar James, I knew she was trouble. Maybe not as far as everyone else was concerned. But for me, she was a red-hot flag that I needed to avoid at all costs. But that wasn't an option. After all, I was hired to be her security guard. And when she looked like an angel with a voice as sweet as syrup and the body of a temptress… the job went from hard to mission impossible.

I've always made myself indifferent to other people's problems. I've done my job and turned a blind eye when need be. But when it came to her, for the first time in my life, I couldn't look away. But it becomes pretty clear that she's not nearly as helpless as she's led on.

I'm about to learn that Briar James backs down to no one. Including me. And that I can either fight alongside her or lose her altogether. And the latter? Yeah. Not an option.

Bonnie and Clyde fought together, and they both wound up dead. The question is…will that be me and my sweet Dove's fate too?

Briar

Hudson never looked at me when he walked into a room. Instead, he'd act like I wasn't there at all. But I knew he saw me. I just never realized how much until the night he saved my life and kissed me in the dark. And even though my uncle was forcing me to marry another man, my heart didn't beat the same after that night.

He called me Dove because he saw me as a helpless, pathetic girl who did as she was told. He thought I was weak. Blind to my surroundings. Obedient.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

I've always heard that true love has no limits. I just never realized how true that was.