The Beautiful Collision: A forced proximity & secret bet hockey romance (Pine Barren University)

Maya Hayes never expected to pay rent—especially not to him.

She's Pine Barren University's golden girl: the social media darling, the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be or be with. But when her wealthy family cuts her off, Maya's carefully curated life crumbles.

She needs a place to stay. Fast.

Maine Hamilton has a spare room, and problems of his own. He's the hockey team's alpha and resident comedian, but behind the jokes, he's drowning in debt, working brutal hours, and sending every spare dollar home to help his kid sister.

Rent money would solve everything.

It's the perfect deal. Practical. Temporary. No feelings involved.

Except forced proximity has its own rules.

Every morning she does yoga in tiny shorts. Every night he does shirtless pull-ups. They share a kitchen, a bathroom, late-night confessions, and heated glances between their passive-aggressive sticky-note war.

Suddenly what started as survival turns dangerous. The parties stop, the masks slip, and Maya and Maine have to decide if what's building between them is just another performance—or the realest thing either of them has ever had.

When the people everyone leans on finally lean on each other, letting go becomes impossible.

The Beautiful Collision is a college hockey romance about dropping the act, finding someone who sees past the performance, and learning that sometimes the person who saves you is the one who needs saving too.

Inside you'll find:

• Forced proximity (one small apartment, big feels, zero chill!)
• Secret bet (they don't know they're both playing each other!)
• Emotional caretakers finding each other (who saves the saviors?)
• Class differences (champagne problems meet beer budget!)
• Fourth in series (but read as standalone!)
• Steamy 'open door' spice level
• Happily-ever-after and no cliffhangers

When the masks come off, what's underneath is real. Start reading now.