Bar Down — Jamie K. Schmidt

Marcus Adeyemi trusts numbers. As the analytical defenseman behind the Charm City Chill's playoff run, he believes data reveals the only truth. When a hacker threatens to leak his confidential player analytics in 72 hours—exposing career-destroying weaknesses and personal secrets—his calculated world shatters.Stephanie Ellis, the Chill's razor-sharp PR director, has built her career controlling narratives and protecting players. Now she's forced to work with the one man who drives her crazy—the frustratingly logical, irritatingly attractive defenseman who dismisses her carefully crafted stories as spin.As they race to stop the leak, professional friction ignites into something scorching. Late nights blur into heated touches and stolen kisses. But when Marcus discovers the hacker has ties to Stephanie's hidden past, the man who only trusts certainties must decide: Can he risk his heart on a woman who spins stories for a living, or is their chemistry just another variable he can't control?Some equations have no perfect solution—and sometimes the most beautiful goal is the one you never saw coming.A sizzling, opposites-attract hockey romance where analytics meet emotion on and off the ice.