Branded (Breakers Hockey)

Ballsy

I deal in code.

Well, code, social anxiety, and online gaming.

What I don’t deal in is hockey players.

And I certainly don’t deal in hockey players like Connor Smith. He’s brass. He’s loud. He’s funny and charming and…ballsy.

I’m about the furthest thing from ballsy someone can find.

Yet, Connor doesn’t seem to care. From the moment I began working on the player development program for the Baltimore Breakers, Connor had led a campaign to win my heart.

The thing is, I don’t actually want my heart to be won, and the more Connor campaigns, the more I resist. And…the more I resist and argue...

Ballsy

I deal in code.

Well, code, social anxiety, and online gaming.

What I don’t deal in is hockey players.

And I certainly don’t deal in hockey players like Connor Smith. He’s brass. He’s loud. He’s funny and charming and…ballsy.

I’m about the furthest thing from ballsy someone can find.

Yet, Connor doesn’t seem to care. From the moment I began working on the player development program for the Baltimore Breakers, Connor had led a campaign to win my heart.

The thing is, I don’t actually want my heart to be won, and the more Connor campaigns, the more I resist. And…the more I resist and argue and push back, the more I find out that I actually can be ballsy.

And the worst thing about that?

It makes Connor campaign even harder.

Bewitched

I have a secret.

One I’ve spent my whole life running from.

But my secret has finally caught up with me, and I don’t know whether to start running again, to leave the life I built in Baltimore—one I’m finally happy in—or to stay.

To fight.

Or maybe, better yet, to run straight into Raph’s arms.

The hockey player for the Breakers is big and strong and his body is…chef’s kiss.

Bonus? He wants me and makes that clear, but…

He doesn’t know about the secret.

And I know—know—that if he finds out—

He’ll run.

Even faster than I had.

Blowout

I have no time in my life for a man.

Least of all a swoony hockey player who is allergic to commitment.

I’m just trying to give my kid a good life—I work hard, keep my head down, and avoid men like the plague.

Because men are a plague.

There’s a reason I’m a single mom, scraping together an existence, and faking it for my kid.

I’ve been burned. Bad.

So, it doesn’t matter that Cas is successful and smart and can kiss like a dream…

It doesn’t matter that he wants me.

I won’t put my heart on the line.

Not ever again*.*