An MM hockey romance about forbidden love and professional boundaries. A gay Italian-American winger. The bisexual physical therapist who can’t cross the line.
Matteo Marchetti is the loudest man on the Atlanta Firebirds and the founder of the team book club. He’s narrated every teammate’s love story like a personal mission. But his own life is a locked door. He deflects with comedy, and nobody on this roster has ever looked underneath.
Isaiah “Zay” Brooks is the physical therapist for the Atlanta Firebirds expansion team. Out, settled, rooted in Atlanta’s queer community. He has professional boundaries he’s never crossed. Dating a patient on the NHL team that employs him is not something his career could survive.
A shoulder injury puts Marchetti on Zay’s treatment table three mornings a week. The loudest man in hockey goes quiet under Zay’s hands. And the man underneath the jokes is someone Zay’s professional code says he cannot want.
A slow burn teammates romance about a sports injury that breaks down every wall, a physical therapist who knows better, and a locker room book club that has read this exact plot before and is narrating it in the group chat in real time.
Tropes: MM Hockey Romance, Forbidden Romance, Professional Boundaries, Forced Proximity, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Grumpy-Sunshine, Comedy as Armor, Found Family
