The Risk Taker by Cathryn Fox

Jamie: In the NHL, I’m known as the Risk Taker, and I happily lived up to that handle, especially in my private life, until tragedy struck and turned my world inside out. I still play hard on the ice, take chances in every game and reap the rewards when they pay off, but when the buzzer sounds, ending the game, The Risk Taker takes the bench. Off the ice, I’m cautious. No commitments, no tomorrows. Then my late brother’s wife returns to Seattle with her four-year-old son, asking me for help. Fallon an I used to be best friends. Used to be. I don’t want to get close. I’ll only end up hurting her again. But how can I say no to the woman I’ve secretly loved for as long as I can remember? The woman who is a widow because of me. Or do I let down my guard and take the biggest risk of my life?

Fallon: Coming back to Seattle and facing Jamie is the second hardest thing I’ve done in my life. The first was burying his brother and then walking away. But my son needs a positive male role model, and there’s no one I trust for the job but his Uncle Jamie. I ran away from him after the fatal car accident—not because I blamed him, but to protect him. He’s agreed to help us, opened his home to us, and for the first time in my life, I feel I’m finally where I was always meant to be. When I’m in his arms, I’m sure of it. When I learn he blames himself for the accident, I know I must tell him the truth, but will knowing the real reason behind the crash give him the freedom to forgive himself and move on, or will it destroy everything he’s believed in, including me? For Jamie’s sake, it’s a risk I have to take.