Checking Her Twice

A Small-Town Second Chance Hockey Romance

Maybe some mistakes are worth fixing.

EMMA:
Ever been ghosted by a hot hockey player who happens to be your brother's best friend? Unfortunately, I have.

Five years. That's how long it's taken me to get over one perfect night. Long enough to convince myself I'm fine.

Then Nate Winters limps into my world like he owns the place.

Career-ending knee injury. Twelve weeks of recovery. And I'm the lucky physical therapist who gets to put my hands on him three times a week. Professional. Clinical. Like I don't remember exactly what those muscles feel like.

He doesn't even recognize me at first. Just stares at my name tag like he's seeing a ghost.

Good. Let him squirm.

NATE:
Rehab was supposed to be simple. Fix my knee. Get back to Boston. Keep my head down.
Then I walk into physical therapy, and the biggest mistake of my life looks at me like she'd be happy to break my other knee.

Emma Sullivan. My best friend's little sister. The woman whose number I blocked five years ago because I was too much of a coward to face what I felt.

Now my career is in her hands—hands I still remember on my skin. But when she tells me to get on the table, her warm eyes turn ice cold.

Fair.

But when I help a kid tie his skates, I catch her staring. When I untangle Christmas lights at the community center, that wall cracks just a little. And when our hands touch during therapy, her breath catches.

I came here to save my career. But losing her once almost destroyed me. Losing her twice? That would finish the job.

This time, I'm not running.

A steamy small-town hockey romance with second chances, forced proximity, brother's best friend angst, and enough holiday magic to melt the ice—on and off the rink.