USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Norinne believes every great love story should bring the heat and make you swoon. When not banging away at the keyboard, you can find her cheering on Leinster Rugby, playing strategy board games, or planning her next vacation.

Originally from California, Rebecca lives near Boston in a house built in the 1700s with her wonderful husband and two adorable cats. And yes, there is a ghost.

You can reach her by email at rebecca@rebeccanorinne.com or follow her on Instagram.

COMING MAY 20

One more season. One last secret.

I’ve spent fifteen years in the NHL hiding who I really am. One final season—head down, stick on the ice—and I can retire with my secret intact.

Then Stryker Bell, a hotshot rookie with hands of gold and a smile that’s pure sin, crashes into my life. Ten years my junior and radiating the confidence I’ve never had, he’s everything I can’t afford to want: bold, fearless, and impossible to ignore. And now Coach has made him my responsibility. My problem. My temptation.

We clash from day one, but no matter how hard I try to keep him at a distance, he sees right through my defenses like they’re made of glass. Chemistry crackles. Tension builds. And after a crushing loss on the road, I finally snap. One heated moment, and I’m backing him against the wall, devouring his mouth like I’ve been starving for him my entire life.

Now I’m playing the most dangerous game of my career—falling for the teammate who makes me feel like I’m finally winning something that matters, while fighting to keep my sexuality buried. 

But Bell refuses to be anyone’s dirty little secret, and if I don't find the courage to choose him over everything I’ve built, the final buzzer will sound on the one thing I can’t afford to lose.

I won’t go back into the shadows. Not for him. Not for anyone.

Ethan Harrison was the poster on my bedroom wall growing up. Now he’s my teammate—my linemate—and the most infuriatingly closed-off man I’ve ever met. All brooding stares and clenched jaws. He’s a hockey legend one season away from retirement, and I’m the “brash,  unpredictable” rookie he’s been tasked with mentoring. 

I know I should focus on proving myself to the team, but something about the way Ethan watches me when he thinks I’m not looking makes me want to push him. To crack that perfect composure. To make him see me.

So when he corners me in the hotel room we’ve been forced to share and kisses me like he’s finally letting himself have what he wants? Everything suddenly makes sense. The tension simmering between us. The way his eyes track me across every room. The careful distance he keeps, like he’s afraid of what will happen if he gets too close.

He’s spent a decade and a half burying who he is, terrified of what coming out would cost him. I get it—my own journey out of the closet left its scars—but I fought like hell to own my truth, and I won’t start hiding now. Not even for the man who makes my heart race faster than a breakaway in overtime.

I want all of Ethan, not just the parts he’s willing to share behind locked doors. But if he won’t stand beside me in the light, I’ll have to skate away for good.