Getting dumped by my boyfriend, Caleb, the week before Christmas was humiliating enough. Finding out he'd been seeing my best friend, Nora, for months? That was the part I couldn't forgive. Then Rhys Kane skates back into my life-team captain, certified Alpha, and the guy who's apparently been waiting three years to tell me the mate bond between us never actually broke. He doesn't want a second chance at romance, though. He wants to torch his ex-teammate's smug new "power couple" image before the play-offs, and he needs a fake girlfriend to do it. Guess who he picks. Now I'm wearing his jersey to every home game, moving into his lakehouse for the holidays, and trying not to notice that the growly, over-protective act stops looking fake more each day. Rhys says this is strictly business—revenge, optics, nothing real. So why does he skate like he's trying to prove something to me every single night, and why won't he tell me what actually happened the last time we were "just pretend"? Christmas with the league's most hated Alpha was supposed to be a two-month performance. Somebody forgot to tell my heart..
