Offside for Christmas

When NHL bad boy Cole Hansen gets exiled to Christmas Town, USA—population 4,200, Christmas cheer: excessive—the last thing he expects is to fall for Ellie Winters, the town’s relentlessly optimistic physical therapist.

She’s got six weeks to heal his shoulder. He’s got six weeks to convince her that the grumpy guy who hates Christmas might just be worth keeping.
Cole Hansen’s life is imploding.
A viral bar fight video. A career-ending shoulder injury he’s hiding with painkillers. And a one-way ticket to Evergreen Cove, Vermont—the most aggressively festive town in America.
Six weeks playing minor league hockey in a place where Christmas isn’t a holiday, it’s a competitive sport.
Keep his head down. Heal up. Get back to the NHL. Easy.
Except nothing about Evergreen Cove is easy.
Ellie Winters believes in second chances.
She loves her small town, adores the holidays, and has built a life helping people heal. When a surly, injured hockey player walks into her clinic radiating “leave me alone” energy, she should keep it professional.

She really, really should.
But Cole Hansen isn’t just another patient. Behind the sarcasm and scowls, she sees someone who’s forgotten what home feels like. Someone who’s convinced he doesn’t deserve to stay.

Someone she’s dangerously close to falling for.