Hot for the Hockey Player — Whitley Cox

A reverse age gap (older woman/younger man), single mom, small town romance.

Welcome to San Camanez, a humble, peaceful little island in the Puget Sound and home to the Vino Vixens. Four cousins -- and single moms -- who run a vineyard, love the wine they sell, raise their kids together, and still hold out hope that not all men are the like ones they married. This is Gabrielle's story …

She's a guarded single mom. He's the hockey player who never forgot her. In a small town full of whispers, their slow-burn attraction is about to ignite.

Maverick
Eight years ago, Gabrielle Campbell was the untouchable woman I lived with -- sophisticated, stunning, off-limits. I was just a teenage hockey player with a hopeless crush. Now I'm twenty-six, a pro athlete sidelined by injury, and she's back in my sights … watching me get carted off the ice.

When I head to her sleepy island to rehab, I don't expect her to still haunt my thoughts -- or for that fire between us to burn hotter than ever. She's trying to keep her distance, but I didn't come this far to stay in the friend zone.

Gabrielle
Maverick Roy is temptation wrapped in muscle and charm … and completely wrong for me. I'm forty-one, a mother of two, and I don't do impulsive. He's younger, temporary, stirring up gossip on the island and trouble in the league. He's a risk I can't afford.

But when he looks at me, I forget every reason I should say no. He's patient. He's kind. And when he touches me, I forget how to be careful. I swore I'd never gamble with my heart -- or my kids' -- but Maverick is breaking down every wall I've built.

Letting him in could ruin everything -- but denying him might ruin me.