The Grumpy Defenseman

I was sent to photograph the grumpiest man in the NHL. Falling for him could ruin us both.

I came to San Antonio for one summer assignment and a clean exit.

Then there’s Evan McKinney.

NHL shutdown defenseman. Contract year. Training camp. Broad shoulders, sharp edges, and a stare built to keep the world out.

He treats every camera like a weapon.

And I’m the one aiming it at him.

But my lens keeps catching what he works so hard to hide.

The restraint.

The hunger.

The man beneath all that control.

One drink becomes a night I can’t stop replaying.

One kiss turns professional distance into something hotter, deeper, and impossible to resist.

I know better than to want a man whose career depends on control.

Especially when my job is to expose what he keeps hidden.

Now Evan’s future is on the line, the league is watching, and if this becomes a story, it could cost him his contract year.

And cost me the job, the exit I planned, and the man I was never supposed to want.

Can be read as a standalone in The Stampede Series.

This is an open-door hockey romance with on-page intimacy. The heat is earned, character-driven, and never gratuitous.

Grumpy x Sunshine • Workplace Romance • Forced Proximity • Secret Relationship • He Falls First