Off Side

Maxim Volkov has been captain of the Breckenridge Blades for four years. He runs his locker room with precision, his defensive system without error, and his personal life in the same silence he brings to the five-forty morning ice. Then the front office trades for Jesse Morrow — and Dane Calloway, who has been on Maxims first line for three years, stops being the only person in this room that Maxim cannot read past.

Maxim Volkov became a captain because he understood two things faster than most men: how to hold a room together, and how to keep himself out of it. He has been doing both since he was thirty. He skates alone at five-forty because the morning ice is the only place the architecture of control doesnt cost him anything. He knows about Dane Calloway — has known for the three seasons theyve been building a wild card contender together — and has been filing it under not his to act on for exactly that long. The front office needs a winger who can finish. They trade for Jesse Morrow. Jesse Morrow, who left Hartford four years ago before whatever was between him and Dane could become something Dane couldnt put down. Jesse Morrow, who walks into the Breckenridge facility and sees Maxim Volkov across the room and does not look away first.

Dane Calloway is the best first-line center the Blades have had in a decade and the man who processes things in motion — night walks, parking lots, forty-five minutes in the cold sorting through what he refuses to name. He knows why Jesse left Hartford. He has known what it has cost him. He has been playing next to Maxim Volkov for three seasons, and there is a version of this season where the three of them are just a line. There is also another version.

The captain does not bend. The rival does not stay away. The man between them has been running from the answer for four years. Someone is going to have to stop moving first.

The Blades are three points out of the wild card with nine weeks left. A media piece on the first lines chemistry runs before the playoff push — correct sentences, accurate statistics, one photograph taken at the right angle in the wrong light. The front office is ready to offer Jesse an extension. The room is watching. Maxim Volkov does not make decisions without accounting for every variable. He missed one.

Perfect for fans of Eden Finley, Piper Rayne, and Sarina Bowen.

Off Side is a full-length standalone MM Hockey Romance with HEA and no cliffhanger. Contains mature content, steam, and a captain who has been managing every variable in his life except the one standing in his kitchen with a mug that was always going to be there.

If you love MM sports romance with slow burn tension, locker room heat, and endings that make you want to start over from page one — this one was written for you.

? Rivals to lovers ? Forbidden love ? Forced proximity ? Possessive hero ? Second chance ? Sports romance ? HEA guaranteed ?

Click to read now and find out how long two men can pretend the ice between them is just the game.