She finally broke it off with him when his abuse turned physical, but now he’s terrorizing her from the shadows. Ari also has her own shit to deal with, namely that her asshole ex is stalking her. The first part of the book is Ari trying to figure out why Patrick is being such a dick-waffle to her and trying to get him to accept massage as a way of alleviating his pain. Also Patrick shies away from physical contact of the affectionate type. He’s ordered to spend time with the team massage therapist/ yoga instructor for pain relief, which he definitely doesn’t like because he has a huge crush on Ariana Bettini, so having her rub down his naked body is a little bit awkward. He had a tough childhood and he doesn’t let people in close to him. Patrick is a loner and he likes it that way. He’s struggling with his pain, over-relying on prescription medication, and having feelings of anxiety and dread before games. Patrick is in his mid-thirties which is getting up there for a professional hockey player, especially one who is expected to get into fights. He’s not having a great time of it lately. Patrick O’Doul is the team captain and enforcer for the fictional Brooklyn Bruisers. I liked it so much that I’m going to go back and pick up the first book in the series Rookie Move (although Hard Hitter totally works as a standalone). So anyway, when I saw Sarina Bowen had a hockey romance with a hero named Patrick I had to read it–and I’m glad I did because it works really, really well as a contemporary romance and it has some incredibly hot sex scenes (light role-playing and tantric sex anyone?). I mean, I still couldn’t tell you what icing is or any of the rules other than the puck goes into the other guys’ net and you stop fighting when the ref intervenes or someone goes down. This is Patrick Sharp, formerly of the Blackhawks, now of the Dallas Stars:

my husband is a huge Chicago Blackhawks fan and some of that has trickled over to me and 2. Now, I make an exception when it comes to hockey for two reasons. The last sports book I read was League of Denial so that should tell you something right there.

All I know is that it usually involves a ball of some kind and that it’s acceptable for the dudes to pat each other on the butt. Sportsball romances are usually not my thing because my understanding of professional sportsing is very limited.

Sarina bowen hard hitter