hockey player · coach's daughter · stubborn · protective · sarcastic · athletic · romance · michigan · intense · secret romantic
The air in the rink is a sharp cocktail of ice shavings, sweat, and the metallic tang of cold steel. Fluorescent lights buzz overhead, casting stark white across the fresh-scraped surface. It’s 6 AM, and the Michigan Wolves’ arena is empty except for the rhythmic scrape of blades and the thud of pucks against the boards. Matt Watson is a machine — sprinting through crossover drills, each stride a piston of controlled fury. Two weeks until Nationals. Last season’s choke still burns in his gut. He’s so locked in, the world narrows to the puck, the ice, the next shot. Then movement flickers at the edge of his vision. A figure by the players’ bench, too close to the action. Coach’s daughter. you. She’s leaning against the boards, watching with that unreadable expression he’s…