by C.R. Jane
First published 2024
Blake moved to Los Angeles to build something new. She put the past where it belonged, including the boy who walked away from her to chase his own future. That worked fine until Ari Lancaster showed up again, all 6'4" of him, covered in tattoos, and playing professional hockey like he owns the ice and everything near it. He says he came back for her years ago. He says she is the one. He says he is never letting go. Blake has heard versions of this story before and knows how it ends. But Ari is not backing down. He crowds into her new life, her new city, her carefully rebuilt sense of self, and refuses to be treated like a mistake she can file away. Blake has to decide whether the man standing in front of her is the same person who broke her heart, or whether she had him wrong from the start. C.R. Jane writes this as a standalone hockey romance, no prior series knowledge required.
Genres: fiction, romance, adult, contemporary-romance, sports-romance
Vibes: character-driven, emotional, intimate, romantic, steamy
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, second-chance-romance
Setting: Los Angeles
337 pages · Paperback · Podium Publishing