Risking the Pucking Defense by Tracy Lorraine

Hayden Monroe.
Hockey god.
Far too innocent for me.

When I secured my job with the LA Vipers franchise, I was running—running from my past and a pain that never stopped chasing me.
LA was supposed to be a fresh start, but the nightmares still haunt me. And the second I look into Hayden’s eyes, I see the same pain staring back.
He’s too young, too good, too sweet to carry grief like that. But it’s too late. The damage has been done, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. I should stay away. He needs to focus on the new season.
But I can’t.
I know that kind of loss.
What it is to survive it alone.
So I tell myself I’m only helping him through the worst of it. But somewhere along the way, that line blurs. Now, I don’t just want to keep him afloat— I want to be the thing he holds onto.
While I fight with every reason we can’t be together, Hayden doesn’t care about any of them.
He just wants me. But can I give him that?