Falling for the Forward

I co-signed loans for a man who promised forever. He took the money, fled the country, and left me drowning in his debt.
Now I'm working two jobs and barely surviving—until my new boss makes me an offer I can't refuse.
Carter Stanton is pro hockey's most eligible bachelor and the guardian of three little girls who've already lost too much. He needs a wife to secure permanent custody. I need half a million dollars to dig myself out of the hole my ex left me in.
The deal: fake marry him for one year. Play the devoted wife. Help him prove he can give his nieces a stable home. Walk away with enough money to start over.
It should be simple. Transactional. Safe.
But Carter isn't what I expected. Beneath the brooding scowls and sky-high walls, there's a man who reads bedtime stories in funny voices and panics over braiding hair. A man who looks at me across the dinner table like I'm not just playing a role.
And somewhere between becoming a family on paper and actually living like one, the lines blurred. The touches that were supposed to be for show linger too long. The warmth in his eyes when he thinks I'm not looking feels dangerously real.
I'm falling for a life that was never supposed to be mine.
The problem? Our marriage has an expiration date. The divorce papers are already drawn up, just waiting for signatures. And I have no idea if the man who's only ever let me in because of a contract could ever want me to stay for real.

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Tropes:

Pro Hockey Romance
Forced Proximity
Grumpy Sunshine
Fake Marriage
Found Family
He Falls First

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Falling for the Forward is the first book in the Love on the Line series: all books are interconnected standalones about a team of professional hockey players and the women they fall hard for. The books don’t need to be read in order, but future characters appear in each book.