The Grumpy Defenseman: A Forced Proximity Hockey Romance

I was sent to photograph the grumpiest man in the NHL. Falling for him could ruin us both.

I came to San Antonio for one summer assignment and a clean exit. That was the plan.

Then there’s Evan McKinney.

NHL shutdown defenseman. Contract year. Training camp. Broad shoulders, sharp edges, and a stare built to keep the world out. He treats every camera like a weapon.

And I’m the one aiming it at him.

But my lens keeps catching what he works so hard to hide: the heat beneath his restraint, the hunger he can’t bury, and the man beneath all that control.

One drink turns into a night I can’t stop replaying. One kiss turns professional distance into something hotter, deeper, and impossible to control.

But Evan’s future is on the line, the league is watching, and if this becomes a story, it could cost him his contract year—and cost me the job, the exit I planned, and the man I was never supposed to want.

Can be read as a standalone in The Stampede Series.

Grumpy x Sunshine • Workplace Romance • Forced Proximity • Secret Relationship • He Falls First