The Five Hole

Roe Monroe
Taking a lap in hockey purgatory wasn’t in my plan, but I guess even hockey players don’t plan on blowing out a knee, much less picking up some bad habits on how to deal with the injury.
Fox River Falls wasn’t in the plan either, a town where gossip spreads faster than a slapshot and the local coffee shop doubles as a soap opera set.
I’m here to earn my way back to the NHL—not to flirt with the grumpy carpenter who hates everything I stand for.
Too bad his kid worships me, his scowl kind of turns me on, and his quiet, steady belief in me? Yeah, that’s dangerous.
I’m not here to stay. But he’s making me want things I swore I’d given up on.

Gabe Thatcher
I build things with my hands, raise my kid, and avoid the gossip that Fox River Falls loves so well.
Roe Monroe is exactly the kind of trouble I don’t want, don’t need.
He’s cocky, chaotic, and everything I swore I wouldn’t let near my son—or my heart.
But he sees something in me I stopped believing was there. And when he looks at me, I forget my name.
Somehow, he fits into the life I thought I was building alone.