As an NHL player, relationships haven't been my thing. Shrouded in secrecy and speculation, they never last very long. But then that's what happens when you require an NDA before the first date. Until Charlene. She's like a firefly. She's elusive, and if you catch her she'll burn bright, but keeping her trapped dulls her fire and dims her beauty. I caught her. And as much as I might want to keep her, I'll never put the lid on her jar. Not at the risk of losing her. So I've let her set the rules in our relationship.

Life is full of expectations. For Brady Coldwell, it's always been about the game. Hockey is, and always will be, his life. His family sacrificed everything to get him here, and he won't let them down. He knows what's expected of him. Natalie Banks is no different. She too knows what it means to have everyone sacrifice for you. She knows about the debt that's owed in the end, and the price you pay for making up your own mind. But when an innocent mistake lands Brady and Natalie as roommates, neither of them is prepared for the feelings they have.

A little subdued, a little stubborn, a little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day she's a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team - especially their notorious goalie, Luc Martineau. By night she's a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of "Honey Pie"...the magazine series that has all the men talking.

Josephine Rossi has recovered from a broken heart, but has vowed that she's all about the desserts now as a recipe tester for Bake It! magazine. Cheesecake never breaks your heart. Unless it cracks on the top, but still, it tastes amazing if you bake it just right. She knows what to do in the kitchen as far as making luscious desserts. Men? Apparently she's not so good at figuring them out, so she refuses to bother. Josephine knows it is safer to stay in the kitchen than to take another chance with her heart.

Ryan Burnham is the privileged son of a US congressman and captain of his university's hockey team. While he is on the verge of fulfilling his dreams to play in the NHL, his parents want him on a different course. One he is expected to accept for the sake of his family's public image. Forced to abandon her music career after the heartbreaking death of her parents, Danny Cross exists on the opposite side of the tracks from Ryan. She is struggling to make her own way, working two jobs, attending college part time, and volunteering in a homeless shelter.

When circumstance brings Kate and Ryke together, they discover they don't have to hurt alone. Bound by a grief that haunts them both, they must rely on one another to survive heartbreak. But that grief is more powerful than they realize, and the tie that binds them together may ultimately tear them apart.