He's the captain. I'm his rival. We're sharing a hotel room—and he's losing the fight against what he wants. A slow-burn, spicy, MM hockey romance about a closeted captain, the cocky out-and-proud forward who gets traded onto his line, and the chemistry that's about to torch both their careers. Perfect for fans of Rachel Reid's Heated Rivalry_, Sarina Bowen's_ Him_, and Eden Finley's_ Hat Trick_._ Luke Callahan does everything right. Captain of the Lakeview Titans. Twenty-two. NHL scouts in the building, a season to save, and a body that's started waking him up at 4 AM with dreams he refuses to name. He runs five miles along the lake before sunrise to forget them. It almost works. Then Evan Mercer gets traded onto his line. Big. Broad-shouldered. Brown-eyed. Out—quietly, dangerously, the kind of out that got him shipped out of his last city without an explanation. The one player who's ever made Luke miss a faceoff. The one player who's ever made him want to lose. Forced together on the top line. Forced into the same hotel room on the road. Forced to admit, finally, that the man in the dreams has had a face all along.But the locker room is watching. The assistant coach is watching. The scouts are watching. And every rule Luke has ever lived by is screaming at him to walk away—even as his hands are gripping Evan's jacket in a doorway, pulling him closer. Some captains are made to be broken. Tropes readers will Rivals-to-loversForced proximity / only one bedCloseted MC / out MCSharing a hotel room on the roadWorkplace romance with stakesSecret relationshipSlow burn → very spicyFound family in a locker roomHe falls first… but he falls harderHEA guaranteed★★★★★ "I have not stopped thinking about Chapter 8. The ice storm. The doorway. The doorway. Megan Tate writes longing like she invented it." ★★★★★ "If you loved Heated Rivalry_, drop everything and read this. Same emotional gut-punch, same heat, same 'I am kicking my feet at 2 AM and texting my friends about a fictional hockey player' energy."_ ★★★★★ "Luke Callahan broke me. The dreams. The 5 AM runs. The way he holds himself together until Evan finally says his name. This is the closeted MC arc done with so much tenderness I cried twice." ★★★★★ "Evan Mercer is the bisexual hockey hero of my dreams. Confident, patient, funny, and absolutely filthy when it counts. Megan Tate, I am begging for Brooks' book."★★★★★ "Hockey romance perfection. The chemistry on the ice IS the chemistry off the ice and I have never read it done this well. One-clicked the rest of the series before I finished the epilogue."