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    Rookies at Love: Face Off for Love, #3
    Rookies at Love: Face Off for Love, #3
    Rookies at Love: Face Off for Love, #3
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Rookies at Love: Face Off for Love, #3

    By Jen FitzGerald

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Ryan Macklin's wife walks out, leaving him and their three-year-old daughter in the lurch. Ryan's obligations to his hockey career careen head-first into his responsibilities as a father. Avery's Down Syndrome adds a layer of complexity to the challenge of finding immediate and also longterm, practically full-time care for her.

    When Nicholas, a teacher from Avery's school, offers to take on the role of caregiver, Ryan scoffs. It's not that he doesn't think men are suitable caregivers--he's seen his teammates in action--but Avery needs a mother-figure, right?

    Or does she?

    Avery flourishes under Nicholas's care, and Ryan's house becomes a home for the first time in the four years he's lived there.


    Nicholas Pruitt's education is his top priority. Ryan Macklin's plea for childcare comes to his attention and he determines that working twenty-four/seven caring for Avery Macklin will allow him more time to attend online classes and do his homework than his nine-to-five at the specialty school for children with Down Syndrome does.

    Ryan's appreciation of any little consideration brings out the nurturer in Nicholas even more than Avery does, as precious and clever as she is, and he finds himself doing things specifically to bring that sparkle to Ryan's eyes--but he's straight, right?

    Or is he?

    Nicholas notices Ryan checking him out and he begins to wonder about Ryan's sexuality. Taking a chance and stealing a kiss, Nicholas and Ryan both discover that the answer is no.

    But when Nicholas's grades take a dip and Ryan refuses to follow in his dad's footsteps, all contract negotiations are off.

    Or are they?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKnotted Hearts Publishing
    Release dateOct 14, 2020
    ISBN9781948236300
    Rookies at Love: Face Off for Love, #3
    Author

    Jen FitzGerald

    Jen FitzGerald has loved romance since her Winnie the Pooh days. Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh have always been platonic soulmates. As a teen, Jen cut her romance teeth on Silhouette’s teen romance line and Danielle Steele books concurrently. She’s still an avid reader, but these days, Jen has added writing romances of her own to her list of fun things to do. Jen lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband and dog. Their three children are now adults and out terrorizing the world at large instead of them. When not working her day job, Jen spends a lot of time reading, writing, watching hockey, and perusing her social media platforms of preference. She also enjoys music, cross stitching, and chatting online with writer friends.

    Read more from Jen Fitz Gerald

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    Reviews for Rookies at Love

    3.5/5

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    • 2/5
      Sweet and simple, easy weekend fluffy reading with happy ever after. Very cute and sensible story about what could plausibly happen with WAGs and trophy partners, and disabled children coming into the picture. Completely relationship-driven storytelling in this series. Very little about actual ice hockey (if you happen to be here for it, you won't find it.)

    Book preview

    Rookies at Love - Jen FitzGerald

    Rookies At Love

    Face Off for Love ~ Book Three

    Jen FitzGerald

    Knotted Hearts Publishing

    Knotted Hearts Publishing

    Fort Worth Texas

    www.knottedheartspublishing.com

    Published in the Unites States of America

    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

    Copyright 2020 Jen FitzGerald

    All rights reserved.

    First edition.

    ISBN: 978-1-948236-30-0 (ePub)

    This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

    Contributors

    Content/copy editing provided by

    Teri McGill

    Cover art created by

    Dianne Thies

    https://www.lyricallines.net/

    Dedication

    To my three kids.

    To the oldest and the youngest who are nothing like me and to my middle child who is the most like me.

    I love you all.

    * * * * *

    Dear Reader,

    Regarding the NHL Iron Man Streak: the stats Ryan offers Nicholas in chapter ten are accurate as of March 12, 2020 when NHL game play was suspended due to COVID-19 and if you subtract two from each stat since Ryan and Mendoza, mentioned to be playing his 1000th game, are fictional players. As of March 12, 2020, there were 25 players on the Iron Man Streak list, four of them active as of the 2019-2020 season. The Iron Man designation is applied to any player with a minimum of 500 consecutive games played. Those include regular season games only, not post-season play. The record is 964 consecutive games, held by Doug Jarvis. At 82 games per season, that’s approximately an 11-year career, which is a long time for a hockey player, although it’s becoming a bit more common now than it was back when Doug played from 1975 to 1987.

    As for the choice of Down Syndrome as the disability of choice…I got nothin’ really. Cute kids are cute kids. Single dads in need of love are also cute. There weren’t many other disabilities a hockey player could have and still play, although I guess his love interest could have had one, but this is what my brain came up with and I think it worked out rather well. I hope you think so too.

    Take care and happy reading.

    Jen

    Chapter One

    Ryan kicked the door closed with his foot. Despite having a four-game point streak and inching closer to his 500-games played milestone, it was a shit show of a road trip. They’d lost all four games and were 0-4 to start the year. Last place in the division. Fuck. What the hell was going on with the team? He didn’t know, but they needed to get their collective heads out of their asses and figure their shit out.

    He needed to figure his own shit out as well. He was one of the highest paid players on the team; he should be producing more, point streak notwithstanding. The fact that he wasn’t weighed on him. He took a breath and shook his head. Tomorrow was a full day off. Maybe he could convince Leyna to go to the zoo with him and Avery. He took another breath and realized there was still coffee. The scent tugged him through the laundry room and into the kitchen. It was spic and span as usual and he sighed.

    Doo-dah, Avery shrieked and scuttled across the room, looking pleased to see him. At least somebody was. She patted his thigh and said, Up.

    Hi, kiddo, he said and dutifully hefted her to his hip. He kissed her forehead, the corn silk strands of her wheat-colored hair soft against his lips. Where’s Momma, huh?

    Avery twisted and pointed toward the arched doorway. Mah.

    Leyna entered the room, long light brown hair straightened, makeup skillfully applied, dressed for…he didn’t know what. Her manicured hand held her purse in place at her hip as she glided toward him, her nails a bright red.

    I’m leaving.

    Ryan blinked. What the fuck? He’d just gotten home after being away for seven days. What was he supposed to say but Okay.? He shifted Avery to his other hip. Where are you going? When will you be back?

    No, Ryan. I’m leaving.

    So you said.

    Bye bye, Avery chirped.

    Leyna’s bright red lips thinned and she huffed. I’m going home and I’m not coming back.

    Ryan blinked again; his stomach dropped. What?

    You heard me. Leyna stood straight and tall and gazed back at him.

    You’re leaving and you’re not coming back.

    Bye bye, Avery said again and flapped her fingers open and closed.

    What the actual fuck? Ryan’s thoughts whirled. There was practice on Thursday and a back-to-back Friday and Saturday. She couldn’t leave. What about Avery?

    What about her? Leyna shrugged one shoulder, the opposite, perfectly-manicured eyebrow rising. I’m not taking her. She’s your problem to deal with now. I can’t anymore. I tried. I mean, look at her.

    Ryan peered down in the face of his precious three-year-old daughter. The Down Syndrome had been a shock to them both, but, even back then, on his entry level contract, Ryan had earned enough money to provide all the help they needed.

    Avery peered back at him with her bright eyes and toothy smile. She swung her feet back and forth and pressed her palms into his chest. Down.

    He obliged and set her to her feet, making sure she had her balance before letting go. She waddled out of the kitchen, leaving Ryan and Leyna alone.

    Her schedule is detailed on the laptop. She scooped an envelope from the counter and handed it to him. Here. Divorce paperwork. I’m asking for three grand a month for two years while I go back to school. I don’t want anything else and I don’t want Avery. I’ve already seen an attorney. Everything’s on the up and up. Have your agent and your attorney verify. Good luck with the season.

    Her heels clicked on the flooring, marking her passage across the kitchen and through the laundry room. The door to the garage opened and closed and then the rumble of the garage door sounded once and then again a few minutes later after Leyna ostensibly got into her car and backed out of the garage.

    Ryan gazed around the kitchen. Bright, shiny, polished, perfect.

    Movement in the corner of his eye had him turning toward the bay window at the end of the dining area of the kitchen. The bright red of Leyna’s car reached the end of the driveway, turned left, and disappeared from view.

    He looked at the fat white envelope in his hand and back out the window.

    Relief washed through him, thoroughly and profoundly.

    Ryan thought back over the last four years. He’d tried. He’d really tried. Insofar as he could while being a professional

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