Total Shutdown

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The plan was simple: just me my boy and hockey.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I'm the unapproachable NHL captain with a reputation for chewing up reporters in interviews forwards on the ice and shutting down anyone who tries to get close to me. And that's how I like it-no feelings no complications and zero chance of reliving the grief I experienced when my wife passed away seven years ago.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>But sometimes the best laid plans go up in flames and that's exactly what Collins Mackenzie does when strolls into a bar one post-game night and gives me a taste of the cold shoulder I've bestowed on all those around me.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The only person she doesn't dismiss? My boy. In fact she lights him up with her pink hair and perfectly winged eyeliner leaving him fascinated and me infatuated.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>There's only one problem: she's nine years younger convinced I'm not her type and doesn't do relationships. She doesn't even hang around in the same city beyond a few months. Trouble is I want her permanence right next to me-on the couch watching movies and in my bed on lazy mornings.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I'm ready to chase her no matter where she goes or how quickly she hits the accelerator. This girl is a ride I never want to get off.</span></p><p></p>