Vegas Aces

The first time I met pro football’s hottest quarterback, we ended up horizontal just before the most embarrassing moment of my life. The second time, I unleashed all my pent-up anger on him. The third time was when the owner of the Vegas Aces introduced him as the newly traded player I’d be coaching for the next year. No…I’m not a football coach. I’ve been hired as his full-time behavior coach. Now I have to live with my one-night stand, his fiancée, and their newborn while I attempt to help him make better decisions.

Getting fired and dumped in the same 30 seconds makes for a pretty bad Tuesday. But by Thursday, I'll be in Vegas celebrating my brother's wedding. Since I could use a fresh start, he offers me a place to stay with a buddy of his. At the bachelorette party, a raunchy game results in a quest to find me a one-night stand. When a hunk with dark blue eyes and perfect bone structure hits me with a silly line at the bar, my mission is complete.

Luke hired me as his publicist so his pro football team owner will see that he's indispensable to the organization. When a defamatory headline hits newsstands, it's up to me to show the world what a Prince Charming he truly is. My solution? A marriage of convenience. It'll get his boss off his back and quiet the slanderous voices. Luke is adamant that this is nothing more than a business transaction, but I still feel the heat from the single night we spent together when we were strangers. Now, I just have to figure out how not to fall in love with my fiancé.

When the guy I'm fake engaged to suggests we get married in Hawaii, I'm all in. And then I meet his family. His parents look upon him with disapproving eyes, and that's nice compared to the way they look at me. His pro quarterback brother thinks everything's a contest, including wooing me away from Luke. His sweet and bubbly sister is the one saving grace in this family.

My wedding to Prince Charming is interrupted with accusations that it's a sham. It is, but we both hold tight to the story that we're marrying for love. I don't have to fake it, but I'm not so sure about my husband. As I play the waiting game for him to return home from training camp, I start to find my niche with the wives of his pro football teammates. But our marriage contract is only valid for one year.

Just when Luke started to open up, he closes himself off again. When we first met, he assured me he was no prince charming. I'm starting to believe him. And then tragedy strikes. This can go one of two ways: Either he'll lean on me the way a husband should lean on a wife, or he'll push me away. But I've got a little secret of my own, and I have no idea what it means for our end game.