She makes a living in happily ever afters. She just doesn't believe in them anymore.

Vivian Sullivan designs engagement rings in her Old Town Alexandria studio. She's the person people trust with their happily ever after, even after her own ended before the wedding.

Now she keeps things light. Safe. Predictable… Until a desperate attempt to escape an overly interested stranger ends with her kissing the nearest man on the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, he's not just anyone. He's Ty McCade—NHL defenseman—and he's not nearly as easy to forget as he should be.

Ty sees the world a little differently—and he sees her in a way no one else ever has. Where others see effortless, he sees the effort. The cracks. Her truth. What starts as a moment of impulse turns into a series of unexpected run-ins neither of them can avoid, and a connection that refuses to stay casual.

Because when a guarded woman who's sworn off love meets the one man who notices everything, keeping her distance stops being simple.

Falling is easy, but letting someone catch you?

That'sthe risk.

The Midnight Defensive is a closed-door, forced proximity hockey romance filled with sizzling chemistry, undeniable tension, and all the heat—without the spice!

Tropes include: neurodivergent hero; guarded heroine; forced proximity; grumpy sunshine-adjacent; slow burn; she falls first, he falls harder.