Wrecking Crew

They call him the Reaper. She's the one person who isn't afraid to look closer.

Rowan Graves is the most feared defenseman in professional hockey-and the league's most visible problem. When a brutal hit earns him two hundred hours of community service at a South Side youth hockey foundation, everyone expects a disaster. The media wants a villain. The league wants a redemption story. Rowan just wants to serve his time and disappear.

Thea Bergström has spent three years building something that matters. Her foundation gives kids who can't afford ice time a place to belong. The last thing she needs is a six-foot-three walking controversy scaring away her donors, her parents, and her credibility.

But the man who shows up isn't the Reaper.

He's patient with the kids. He's honest about his damage. He sits on the ice with a nine-year-old and explains that falling down is data, not failure. And when he looks at Thea-really looks-it's like he's seeing someone who hasn't already decided what he is.

She swore she'd never fall for a hockey player. She watched her father's career consume her mother. She built walls against exactly this.

He swore he'd never let anyone close enough to see past the reputation. Closeness meant vulnerability. Vulnerability meant loss.

But the rink keeps getting smaller. The distance keeps closing. And when the ice demands he become the thing she's most afraid of, they'll both have to decide: protect the walls, or risk everything on the possibility that a man built for violence might also be built for love.

Wrecking Crew is a grumpy hockey hero / forced proximity / community service romance with a possessive protector, a heroine who organizes her feelings into spreadsheets, and a German Shepherd named Bruiser who has better emotional intelligence than everyone. Open door. HEA guaranteed. Book 2 of the Chicago Wreckers series.