Blue Lines

Piper Allen takes one look at Erik Titov and knows she wants him. It isn't only the athlete's build. She senses something steadier and more guarded underneath the swagger of a star hockey player. When he comes up to her at a bar and puts an arm around her waist, she gives in, and the night that follows is the wildest of her life. The morning after brings a swift dose of heartbreak, and a few weeks later she is staring at a pregnancy test with two blue lines. Erik, meanwhile, is no good at being sensible about a sweet girl like Piper. Since that night he has tried to put her out of his mind by working his way through half the women in Nashville, and it hasn't helped. When Piper turns up at his door with news that will upend his life, he doesn't wait long before proposing a drastic fix: they should get married. The arrangement is meant to be for appearances only. But the moment the vows are said, the distance between them begins to thaw, and the two people who were supposed to be pretending find the heat between them is anything but. Blue Lines is part of Toni Aleo's Nashville Assassins series of hockey romances. It pairs a notorious player with the good girl he can't stay away from, and sets a marriage of convenience against a surprise pregnancy.