Grant Callahan has spent twenty years winning faceoffs, playing through pain, and making himself indispensable. Eleven months after a devastating shoulder injury, the thirty-eight-year-old Breakers captain is running out of time. His contract is ending, a younger player has taken his place, and the one woman who has never treated him like he's broken is the surgeon who put him back together.

Dr. Elise Ward doesn't do comforting lies. She's built her career on precision, integrity, and never wanting anything she can't defend. Unfortunately, she wants Grant Callahan—the stubborn, devastatingly attractive hockey player who once promised to ask her out when he was whole.

When Grant enters her groundbreaking performance study, their attraction becomes impossible to ignore. Elise is willing to surrender control of his case to give them a chance. But even after the paperwork is signed, the boundaries are clear: she won't be his doctor at home, and he won't hide the truth about his recovery.

Their chemistry is explosive. Behind closed doors, the controlled surgeon discovers the pleasure of letting go, while the captain who has always taken care of everyone else learns what it means to be wanted without having to earn it.

But when Grant's comeback collides with an uncertain future, old habits threaten everything they've built. With his career, her professional reputation, and their fragile trust on the line, loving each other may require the one thing neither has ever been good at.

Admitting they can't control the outcome.

A high-heat, emotionally intense contemporary hockey romance featuring mature protagonists, a forbidden professional attraction, hard-won trust, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

Tessa Valehart