Power Play

The second installment in the DC Stars series, Power Play follows Piper Mitchell, a thirty-two-year-old divorcée working as the alternate rinkside reporter and media coordinator for the DC Stars, a professional hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL), and Liam Sullivan, the team's star goalie.

Piper is rebuilding her life after a painful divorce from her ex-husband Steven. She has climbed from unpaid gigs and minor league internships to a position with the Stars but feels stuck professionally and personally. Her boss, Charlie, makes sexist comments about her appearance, and Steven keeps pressuring her to renegotiate their divorce settlement. Liam, meanwhile, maintains a strict in-season routine that excludes dating and sex and has signed the highest goalie contract in NHL history. When his younger sister Alana calls about her February wedding in Spain, Liam impulsively lies that he is bringing a date, a claim he immediately regrets.

Piper confides in her close friends: Lexi Armstrong, the Stars' head athletic trainer; Maven Lansfield, the team photographer; and Emerson "Emmy" Hartwell, the fiancée of teammate Maverick Miller. She reveals her loneliness and lack of sexual experience; Steven was the only man she had ever been with, and their intimate life was almost nonexistent. Her friends encourage her to explore at her own pace. Piper's connection with Liam also begins to shift. At a team dinner, he tells her she looks "pretty" rather than just "fine," and on the balcony afterward, he confesses his lie about the wedding date. Piper suggests he try "fake dating," an idea he dismisses but does not forget.

During a road trip to Austin, Piper overhears Charlie and co-announcer Doug making sexually degrading comments about her. She is devastated but does not immediately report the incident. Unbeknownst to Piper, Liam had previously overheard her complaints about Charlie and quietly encouraged colleague Bradley to report the behavior to HR. Charlie and Doug are fired, Bradley is promoted to play-by-play announcer, and Piper is named lead rinkside reporter for the rest of the season.

Piper's first broadcast in her new role goes well, with the entire team lining up to offer fist bumps of support before the game in Edmonton. Afterward, she and Liam end up alone in a back hallway where physical tension escalates. Piper blurts out her frustrations about her inexperience and her wish to find someone who could teach her without judgment. Liam implies she could come to him, then walks away.

Days later, Piper arrives at Liam's apartment with a proposition: She will pose as his girlfriend at Alana's wedding if he serves as her sexual guide. Liam reveals he has not had sex in four years and sets ground rules, including honest communication, exclusivity, and the primacy of his hockey career. After deliberating, he agrees.

Their physical relationship progresses slowly and deliberately. Liam brings Piper to orgasm through foreplay alone during their first session, a first for her, and patiently coaches her through each new experience. Outside the bedroom, their bond deepens too. Liam teaches Piper to ice skate at a team event, a sharp contrast to a humiliating past attempt with Steven. He pays for her migraine prescription after learning she cannot afford it. He reveals he is dyslexic, and Piper begins reading aloud to him, a gesture that becomes part of their routine.

On New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, Liam sets the NHL record for most saves in a single game. The team celebrates at a club, where, heavily intoxicated, Liam wins a drinking game and suggests he and Piper get married. Hudson Hayes, the team's starting defenseman and the only sober person present, serves as witness after confirming Liam's consent. The next morning, they wake with no memory of the ceremony and matching silver rings. Liam panics and accuses Piper of orchestrating it, but Hudson arrives to confirm that Liam proposed the idea himself.

Back in DC, Liam raises the possibility of keeping the marriage so Piper can access his superior NHL health insurance, which would cover the migraine specialists and medications she cannot afford. Piper resists at first but agrees after making a detailed pros-and-cons list. They establish terms: separate residences, secrecy from everyone except Hudson, and the option to continue their physical arrangement. Both keep their wedding rings, Piper on a necklace chain and Liam behind a photo in his wallet.

Over the winter, they have sex for the first time. Liam is patient and attentive, and afterward he washes Piper's hair and holds her. They begin spending most nights together. When Piper misses a game due to a severe migraine, Liam leaves the arena, calls an emergency nurse hotline, refills her prescription, and stays on her couch all night. Piper realizes she has developed a crush on her husband.

The trip to Spain for Alana's wedding forces both to confront their feelings. Liam charters a private plane because Piper dislikes flying. Alana figures out within hours that the relationship is fake but keeps it from their parents. On a balcony before the rehearsal dinner, Liam tells Piper she makes him want things he does not think he is allowed to have. Piper recognizes she is falling for him. When she later voices her fear of never finding lasting love and Liam fails to reassure her, she withdraws emotionally. Alana privately warns Liam he will lose Piper if he does not act.

After returning to DC, Piper confesses that her feelings have grown beyond their arrangement. Liam admits he has liked her since the day she first walked into the arena years ago and proposes they continue what they have, acknowledging it has become real. At a subsequent event, former boss Charlie appears and calls Piper a slur. Liam pins him against a wall and warns him to stay away, while Maverick punches Charlie. In the confrontation, Liam inadvertently reveals to Maverick that Piper is his wife.

Their relationship solidifies as the season winds down. Liam takes Piper on a proper first date at the empty arena, where teammates serve dinner on center ice. He gives her a temporary lotus flower tattoo representing strength and resilience, fulfilling a wish she once mentioned. They exchange direct declarations of love. During a game, Liam's wedding ring falls out of his skate, and the entire team abandons warmup to search the ice, an incident that publicly reveals the secret marriage to the rest of the roster. Liam then gives his first voluntary postgame interview, choosing Piper as his interviewer.

In game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, the league championship series, Liam makes a crucial diving save in the final seconds before Maverick scores the winning goal. Liam skates past his celebrating teammates to reach Piper, pulling her onto the ice and telling her she is the only person he wants to celebrate with.

In an epilogue set one year later, Piper has been promoted to lead play-by-play commentator, becoming the first woman in NHL history to hold the position, and has co-founded a nonprofit with Emmy providing scholarships to women in athletic careers. Liam lures her to the arena's media room and proposes with a diamond ring, pulling out a worn list of every detail she once described wanting in a proposal: small, intimate, in a place she loves. Piper says yes, insisting on keeping her original silver band. Liam tells her he has been thinking about taking her last name, and the story closes with Piper reflecting that every painful chapter of her past was worth enduring because it led her to him.