Off-Ice, On Mine

He assumed the ache in his groin was the only thing on the table that day.Mason Doyle, thirty, captain of the Port Ellery Ravens, has spent his whole career keeping his head down and his life small. Three games into the season a torn adductor sends him to a new team physiotherapist: Eli Navarro, thirty-one, calm, kind, openly gay, and very good with his hands. Eli notices everything, says almost nothing, and treats a captain's panic the way he treats a pulled muscle: with patience, honesty, and a steady voice telling him to breathe out.Mason wants to call the way his body answers a coincidence. Eli, who once lost a job and most of a year to a man who chose the closet, has exactly one rule: he will not be anyone's secret. What he offers instead is time, three plain conditions, and a door Mason has to walk through himself. Between early-morning treatment sessions, road-trip hotel hallways, a snowy night above a bakery, and a locker room full of men who have no idea, Mason begins to find out what he actually wants.Then a blurry photo hits a fan forum, a reporter starts asking questions, and the season Mason swore he would protect at all costs asks him a harder one: whose life is this, anyway?What you will find inside:- Bi-awakening and straight-to-gay first time, told at a patient, sensual pace - Hockey captain and team physiotherapist, with locker-room banter and real stakes - A calm, out love interest who asks for honesty and nothing else - Slow burn to steamy: two open-door scenes with consent and care on the page - Secret relationship, media pressure, and a coming out that happens on his own terms - Found family, a gruff father, a warm sister, and a happy ever afterA novella of about 22,000 words for readers who like their hockey romance tender, funny, and sure to end well. Contains explicit adult content; intended for readers 18 and older. All characters are adults.