Good boys don’t date the coach’s daughter, but a date isn’t what she wants…
Cole
Hockey is my life. I play hard, and I don’t lose. The Frozen Four is at my fingertips, but my eligibility is at risk thanks to one frustrating class. Enter Avery Dalton—beautiful, independent, and utterly off limits. She’s my coach’s daughter and his choice for a tutor. Too bad she isn’t interested… Until she offers me a secret deal her dad can never find out about. She’ll help me pass, and I’ll help her forget about her ex. Friends with very specific benefits. Except for one little problem—I can’t stop trying to win her heart.
Avery
I don’t date hockey players. I don’t befriend them or kiss them in the library either. No one told Cole Mathis that. His perfect good looks and golden boy reputation are everything I should avoid after my last disastrous ex, but when he needs my help, I offer him a deal. Staying detached should be easy, but my weakness is apparently a hockey playing country boy with a wicked sense of humor and a talented mouth. As we get closer, I cling to my rules and hope he doesn’t figure out the truth—he’s the one person who could break me.
This story has a hot hockey player, forbidden lust with the coach’s daughter, a snarky, quirky, paranoid-of-serial-killers heroine and a even duck so really, what more do you need? Nothing, nothing at all. Cole and Avery meet by chance on campus and share a very hot kiss. He wants more but she isn’t looking for a relationship, so they agree to be ‘just friends’. Unfortunately for them, her dad knows Avery is the perfect person to help his star player pass the required English course that’s been dogging him for multiple semesters.
Cole’s learning disability is making it nearly impossible for him to complete the course and the college’s tutoring program was a huge failure for Cole in every way, so he won’t use it again. He’s grateful for the help and really wants to get to know Avery better but she wants a friends-with-benefits arrangement in exchange for tutoring him. He’s not at all opposed to the idea, but he’s not entirely comfortable with the arrangement. After all, her father has the power to ensure Cole has no future in the NHL and he will exercise it if anyone touches his daughter.
Avery actually likes Cole probably a bit too much. But after being betrayed by the two people she trusted most, she won’t open her heart to anyone again. Besides, she’s in no position for a relationship anyway as she navigates the unknown at a new school and living with the father she hasn’t seen since she was eight years old, the one who never wanted anything to do with her after the divorce.
I really like these characters, despite Avery’s best attempts to be closed off and keep the world at arms’ length. Cole is just a big old sweetheart, which she recognizes early on and they’re both so very loveable. Their story is a lot of fun with a great balance of sweet and steamy goodness. This is my first book by the author but certainly won’t be the last. I’d like to thank the author and Grey’s Promotions for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
