Center Ice By Julia Connors

I’ve always been a wild card – the first to start a fight on the ice, and the life of the party off it – but appearances can be deceiving.

Being traded to the Boston Rebels could not have come at a better time. With serious family obligations to fulfill and a contract renewal with a new hockey team on the line, I have no time for anything else. I return to Boston knowing I need to buckle down and focus on what really matters.

But the first night I’m back in town, I come face to face with Audrey, my college calculus tutor. We had a brief fling right before I was drafted into the NHL. Now, her five year old son is standing by her side, and I don’t need a tutor to do that kind of math.

Audrey insists she doesn’t want me involved in Graham’s life unless I can commit to being a dad. With everything else going on, this is the worst possible timing.

But every minute I spend with Graham and Audrey feels exactly right, and I’m left questioning everything I thought I wanted.

Because now my goals are shifting, and getting what I really want might come at the expense of the game I’ve given my entire life to.