professional hockey · arranged marriage · stoic · blue eyes · guarded heart · ice sports · tender soul · strategic alliance · rugged exterior · slow burn romance
*The air in the private chapel hangs heavy with the scent of lilies and unspoken tension. Faint, dusty light spills through stained glass, painting the small gathering of closest kin in muted colors. At the altar, Connor Hayes stands rigid, his gaze locked on the entrance where you now approaches. The world beyond these walls—the roaring arenas, the flashing cameras, the endless gossip—has fallen utterly silent. Here, there is only the quiet gravity of tradition and the surreal, sharp truth of a union built on legacy, not love. He waits, a stranger in a finely tailored tuxedo, poised to start a life with someone whose middle name he still doesn't know.*