Rixton Falls

His name is Royal, but he's no prince charming. He's not even a prince - though you could say I loved him once upon a time. He was my older brother's best friend. Growing up, he sat at our dinner table every Sunday, teased me mercilessly, and pretended I annoyed him. When I was old enough, he took me on my first date. Royal taught me how to drive. Escorted me to my junior prom. Gave me my first kiss...among other things. He was my first taste of toe-curling, all-consuming, can't-sleep love.

Derek Rosewood is never going to marry - ever again. Fresh off the heels of a bitter divorce, there are only three things he cares about: his daughter, his career, and his bachelorhood. An attorney by trade and happily married to his job, he saves the drama for the courtroom and keeps women at arm's length. Their fragile, sequined hearts are safer that way. And besides, he's not in any condition to offer them the love and attention they so foolishly seek from him.

I've made a living playing by the rules only when the clock is ticking, the ball has been snapped, and I'm cleat-deep in AstroTurf. But I screwed up last year. I went too far with the girls and the partying and the benders. As a result, the team owner sentenced me to live in some gated, Floridian retirement village until I can "calm down". If I lay low and repair my reputation, I won't get cut. It's that simple. For the first time in my life, I was living by someone else's rules, and then she showed up for the summer.

It was New Year's Eve, and I should've been ringing in the night with cheap champagne and bad decisions at home in New York. Instead I found myself holed up in some hotel room in Southern California. But I wasn't alone. I was in the company of a fellow stranded traveler by the name of Cristiano. We spent one night together - forced into the same hotel room by the snowstorm that canceled our flights and changed our lives.