Burned Play (On Ice #1)

He’s hockey’s golden boy. I’m the filmmaker hired to fix him.Too bad I don’t shoot fairy tales—and Leo Bane doesn’t do honest.

HazelAfter my ex stole my documentary and torched my career, I swore off “legends” and the machine that sells them. Then a manager dangles the one thing I can’t a story that matters. Two months. Full access. A birthday-release doc to prove Leo Bane—the sport’s brightest star and biggest headline—deserves the world’s faith…and its money.

I don’t stage-manage reputations. I capture the moments no one’s supposed to see. Which is exactly why Leo hates me—until the night the mask slips, ice cream melts down his knuckles, and the man under the myth looks breakable…and unbearably real.

LeoI’ve spent a decade being captain on the ice, scandal in the feeds, endorsements on the line. A rival documentary is dropping in two weeks, knives are out, and the Olympics are watching. I’m supposed to smile for Hazel’s camera and let her stitch me back together.

Instead she calls me on my lies, drags me into the rink before sunrise, and makes me want something I can’t brand—her. Then I fail the one test that matters, and she walks. I can win games with seconds left on the clock…but I’ve never had to fight for a woman who sees the man I buried years ago.

When the truth cuts deep and the past comes roaring back, the only way forward is the one thing neither of us knows how to be real. If I want Hazel, I have to give her back what was stolen and offer the one thing I’ve never put on camera—my heart.

BURNED PLAY is a steamy, high-angst, enemies-to-lovers hockey romance a fierce documentarian who won’t flinch, a captain who learns to be worthy, ice-level banter, public glamour/private vulnerability, and a grand gesture that puts art—and love—first.

Dual POV. Standalone. No cheating. HEA guaranteed.