Cali Melle

She's my best friend's little sister… And my biggest secret. Logan It’s been two years since I left for college and the last time I saw Isla, but when she shows up on my doorstep, the last thing I’m expecting is old feelings to resurface. Growing up, we were friends, until everything started to shift. Our friendship turned into stolen kisses and forbidden touches, but we agreed it could never be anything more. Not when her brother was my best friend. Leaving Clifton Falls meant leaving the past behind too. Hockey is my life now, more so than before, and Isla is a distraction. But what happens when the lines begin to blur and she becomes the only thing I can see? Isla Logan Knight– Star hockey player, my brother's best friend, and the first boy I ever loved. But we could never be more than friends. He broke my heart when he left for college and now, two years later, he's back in my life and my new roommate. Old feelings resurface and our friendship is put to the test. I've tried to resist him as long as I could, but Logan has a way of knocking down every wall I've built around my heart. It's only a matter of time before our secret comes to light and when it finally does, will Logan be the one to protect my heart?

When Raegan returns home for Christmas, the last thing she expects is to be reunited with her two old best friends. It’s been a year since she last saw Julian and Miles and seeing them again awakens old feelings. When their families decide to celebrate the holiday together, the three of them take a spontaneous trip to the mountains to spend the weekend skiing. No one could predict the weather and a terrible snow storm hits, leaving them snowed in together… With one bed and resurfacing feelings. And instead of a traditional Christmas exchange, they want to exchange her…

Olivia Transferring schools in the middle of my freshman year wasn’t a part of my plan, but I won’t let my smile falter. Even when I run into my best friend’s older brother… the grumpy hockey player who I had a crush on in high school. He threatens to break down every wall that I’ve barricaded myself behind, but I can’t let him in. Not when I know that he’ll only break my heart. He claims that he doesn’t have feelings for me, so I’m left with no choice but to move on from the fantasy land I’ve been living inside my head. But as soon as I meet another guy, Sterling Barrett has other plans… And he won’t stop until he sabotages everything. Sterling Hockey is the only thing that matters. There isn’t a single thing in my life that comes above it. So, when my little sister’s best friend transfers to Wyncote, I add that to the list of things I don’t care about. After going out of my way to avoid her, my sister begs me to keep Olivia Davis company. Reluctantly, I give in, even though it’s the last thing I want to do But as I begin to get close with Olivia, I find myself going out of my way to see her. She is my little sister’s best friend. She isn’t supposed to be anything more to me. So, why do I find myself running toward her instead of away?

Eden After experiencing a nasty break-up during my freshman year, there is one type of guy that I refuse to get involved with. Anyone from the university’s hockey team. Hayden King is arrogant, cocky, has a reputation for being a playboy and there isn’t a single thing about him that I like. One drunken summer night turns into a bad decision with Hayden. One that I swear that I’ll never make again. But once senior year starts, I can’t seem to get away from him. He’s everywhere I go, everywhere I turn. He’s under my skin and I find myself making mistake after mistake with him. We better learn from our mistakes before our hearts get involved… Hayden Eden Finley is as cold as the ice that she skates on. She’s the best figure skater at Wyncote University and I don’t know how I missed her when I first came here. After one night with her over the summer, I can’t get her out of my head. She has a chip on her shoulder, a nasty attitude and she hates my guts. Which all only makes her more appealing. I live for the chase, for the challenge. And Eden Finley has no idea what she’s gotten herself into….

Cameron Two things I never thought I’d a say: My entire future is about to go up in flames. And Aspen Rossi is my ticket to keeping my scholarship. The only problem..She hates me. Aspen The last thing that I want to be doing is tutoring Cameron Sawyer. When he asked for my help, I tried to resist but tutoring another student would look good on my application for med school. That’s all he is—a means to an end. However, the more time that we spend together, the harder it is to ignore his charm. Cam is starting to grow on me, but I can’t get involved with him. We want two different things out of life We’re on two separate paths… Our dreams can’t coexist and neither can our hearts. Even if they keep playing offsides.

She was the one thing he couldn't have, but that wouldn't stop him from getting what he wanted. After a nasty break-up with her ex, moving to Orchid Beach was like a breath of fresh air. Harper landed a brand new job as a sports photographer for a professional hockey team. It was just what she needed to get away from everything she had ever known. One drunken night at a club had her sneaking into another room with a stranger. But that stranger ended up being no one other than Nico Cirone. The star rookie player for the Orchid City Vipers. The same team that she was now working for. And that made him completely off limits. Nico Cirone had been at the top of his game, but as a rookie, he couldn’t afford to lose his new position. His luck felt like it was stretching thin and there was only one solution. He needed a new good luck charm. And after running into Harper, he knew that he had finally found what he was looking for. It was an easy arrangement, one they could both benefit from. He would help her forget her ex and she would help him play the best hockey he’d ever played before. It was supposed to be simple… Until it wasn’t anymore.

She’s his coach’s daughter, but he’s willing to risk it all for her... Juliette Anderson needs a change of scenery and a new purpose in life. So, when her parents suggest she moves to Orchid City, she doesn't hesitate. What she doesn't need is to catch the attention of the hot shot hockey player next door. Juliette does not date hockey players and Mac Sullivan is no exception to her rule. Even if he’s insistent on changing her mind… Mac Sullivan never was good at following rules. When his coach's daughter moves in next door, he can't seem to keep his distance, even though he knows she's off limits. Juliette challenges him and she doesn't fold like most women do under his charm. He likes that about her. He likes everything about her. She tells him they can't get involved and Mac decides he'll do whatever he has to do to change her mind. It's a dirty pucking play, but Mac Sullivan only plays to win...

Rule #1: don’t get involved with any of the players from the Aston Archers. That rule flies out the window the moment Quinn sneaks away with star player, Hayes Wilder, in the middle of a Christmas Eve party. She was already planning on ending things with her on and off boyfriend, but when she finds him on Christmas Day with another woman, she’s caught off guard and left feeling embarrassed. Quinn finds herself alone for the holidays and nursing a bruised ego when she ends up running into Hayes and his roommate. There’s an undeniable attraction between them and as the sparks begin to fly, they proposition her with fulfilling a fantasy her ex never could. They want to be her rebound. And Quinn’s ready to break her #1 rule for them.

Asher After my mother was diagnosed with cancer last year, she has been on my siblings and I to get married. Afraid that her time is running out, she just wants to be here for all of the milestones in our life. I’m the last one left, the one who doesn’t even have a girlfriend. My family knows that my life is invested in hockey, yet they still continue to push. I can’t show up at my brother’s wedding alone and deal with their disappointment. Instead, I need to find someone who will pretend to be my girlfriend for the week. And Sydney Williams is the perfect candidate… Sydney With my family gone for Christmas, it looks like I’m spending the holidays alone. Until Asher Golding propositions me. We’ve been friends since freshman year and swore to keep it that way. Asher asks me to go to Maine with him, to be his fake date for his brother’s wedding. He wants me to spend the holiday with his family afterwards, to make his mother happy. Who am I to say no? I don’t have any plans, Asher is one of my closest friends, and we’re just playing pretend. Nothing could possibly go wrong with our fake relationship, right? Even if we do end up having to share a bed…

When life gives you your enemy, you make a deal with him… Leo Wells is the last person I want to be skating with. He’s aloof, abrasive… and stupidly attractive. Nevermind the fact that I had a lapse in judgment one night with him in the past. We may not like each other, but I like winning more and if I want to do that, I need him. We need each other. Leo doesn’t like the idea anymore than I do, but we make a deal. We can put our differences aside and forget about our history so we can compete together. It should be easy enough–after all, neither of us like the other. But there’s a spark between us, one that reignites a burning fire we lit a long time ago. The lines are blurring and melting like the ice around my heart. Leo Wells is breaking through my walls, tearing them down one layer at a time. And all I can do is tell him how I hate him… Because I’m afraid I don’t hate him at all.

Stella The last thing I expected was to find my boyfriend in bed with one of my best friends. Their betrayal sent me on the next flight back to my home town in Vermont. The plan was to take the summer to find myself. No dating and no distractions. But when my brother’s roommate asks me to come to Canada with him for the summer, I find myself saying yes. I’ve never been one to turn down an adventure and how could I possibly deny Simon Murray with those steel gray eyes and dimples he has? Simon When Stella came back to Vermont with her heart broken, I needed to find a way to cheer her up. Taking her to Canada with me was the first thing I could think of. It was a perfect change of scenery for her to find herself. She agreed and we headed north with no plans of involving ourselves with each other. There was an attraction neither of us could deny and when we found ourselves in a different country sharing an apartment with one bed, the dynamic shifted. It was just a temporary arrangement for the short summer months. So, why did I find myself wanting her to move coast to coast to be with me?

Vaughn One moment in time, one freak accident, and my entire hockey career was over. Two years had passed since my injury and I am still mentally struggling with this loss. Mad at the world and everyone in it, I sought solace at my parents' lake house for the summer. It was supposed to be somewhere for me to be alone and heal. But when London Hayes walks back into my life, the universe has different plans. And I need to find a way to derail them because I refuse to drag her down with me. London It had been over two years since I'd last seen Vaughn Carter. And he feels like a stranger. Cold and distant, abrasive and angry. He’s a shell of a person compared to the version I used to know, but I know he’s still in there. Somewhere deep inside is the boy I used to love, but he needs help finding himself again. And I won’t be the one to give up on him, even if it costs me my own heart in the end.

She was the only one he would travel through hell to win back... Winter left Orchid City six years ago with a broken heart and never once looked back. She put it all in the past and was living the life she always dreamed she’d have. Yet, she was still haunted by those stormy blue eyes. When her parents leave their estate in Winter’s name, she has no choice but to return home. And she finds herself face to face with the very person who broke her heart many years ago. Malakai traveled the world as a professional golfer who was running from his own demons. It's been six years since he pushed away the one person he truly loved. He brought the two of them so many years of heartbreak. But he finally has the chance to make things right again. Knowing that Winter is back in their hometown sends Malakai back to where it all started. And he has no intention of letting her go again…

The tides were shifting and he was lost in the ocean of her... Giana Cirone’s life had been far from easy. After losing her hearing as a child, she had to adjust to a world of silence. To a world of misunderstanding, where she found herself constantly having to accommodate others. But the ocean was the one place where she never felt misunderstood. It was where she felt at peace and Giana was determined on saving it, along with the marine life that called it home. She dedicated her existence to that cause, now living a simple life until one morning. The morning that professional surfer, Declan Parks, shows up with an injured turtle. And she realizes that it isn’t just the turtle that needs her help. An unexpected injury sends Declan Parks to Orchid City for some much needed R&R. His plan was simple: Continue rehabilitating his shoulder and return to the west coast so he can get back to his life and his career. But that all changes one morning and it leaves him questioning everything. He knows he can’t get lost in her tides because he has a life waiting for him. But regardless of how hard he tries, he can’t seem to stay away…

Neither of them were looking for love, but it found them anyway… Charlotte Wells needs a drastic change in her life. Her editor is looking for something new, something fresh. Something romantic. And Charlotte–well, Charlotte hates love. She can’t say no to the deal from the publisher, so she heads to Orchid City for a change of scenery. What she doesn’t intend on, is finding inspiration in the hot hockey player she stumbles into. Weston Cole doesn’t do relationships, he doesn’t do commitments. But when he meets Charlotte, she ignites something inside of him. Probably just lust, because Wes doesn’t do anything more than a quick fling. Either way, he’s looking for a good time and he has a proposition for her. He wants to be her source of inspiration, if she agrees to being his temporary distraction. It’s the perfect situation and something they can both agree on. No attachments and definitely no feelings. The only problem? They’re only lying to themselves.

Falling for my brother’s best friend was not on my to-do list… But neither was kissing him the night before he was traded to a team across the country. Clearly, I didn’t think things through and I spent the past decade trying to bury the memory of him. He left and I had no choice but to move on after he seemingly forgot about me. I dove headfirst into my career and after a failed relationship left me a single mom, I had no time for any other distractions that came my way. But when Lincoln Matthews walks back into my life, my carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. He’s my new roommate and no matter how hard I try to resist, old feelings resurface with a force I can’t ignore. Lincoln has never been one to get involved and he doesn’t do long-term commitments, unless it's committing to a new hockey team. But something about him is different now. He’s everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, and just when I think I’ve managed to escape his orbit, he’s there, pushing me to give him a chance to prove not all guys are like my ex. But am I ready to let him back in… or is it already too late to stop falling for him all over again?

Falling for my best friend’s brother was not a part of my plan… especially while I was pregnant with someone else’s child. In my defense, I got pregnant by a guy who wants absolutely nothing to do with me or the baby. And, just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, my health insurance drops me, claiming I lied about a pre-existing condition. Being in this alone is scary enough, but trying to figure out how I’m going to pay for my medical care? That’s a whole new level of terrifying. When Nash Simmons—my best friend’s brother, and Aston Archers star hockey player—finds out about the predicament I’m in, he steps in to save me from a financial disaster with an offer I can’t possibly refuse. His proposal: I marry him for his insurance and we get it annulled after the baby is born. It seems like the perfect solution, but as our arrangement unfolds and we continue to grow closer, it becomes even harder to ignore the electricity sizzling between us. The lines between real and fake are starting to blur, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s room for my son and I in his future. Or am I only fooling myself by thinking this could ever be more than what it was supposed to be? ____________________________________________ From bestselling romance author, Cali Melle, Make Your Play is a fun and steamy standalone from the Aston Archers series. Each book can be read alone and follows a fictional professional player falling in love. MAKE YOUR PLAY TROPES: Pro Hockey Romance Surprise Pregnancy (it's not his) Best Friend's Sibling Marriage of Convenience Forced Proximity He Falls First