Face Off: An Enemies to Lovers MM Hockey Romance (Atlanta Firebirds Book 2)

Two years ago, Bastian Fontenot and Tikhon Volkov made NHL history for all the wrong reasons — a playoff handshake line that turned into the most talked-about blow-up of the season, caught on camera, burned into memory.

Now they're teammates.

The Atlanta Firebirds are an expansion team built from misfits and second chances, which apparently includes a loud-mouthed Cajun forward and an ice-cold Russian winger who can barely occupy the same locker room without frost forming on the walls. Bastian manages his ADHD the way he manages everything — full throttle, no filter — and the last thing he needs is Tikhon's perfectly arched eyebrow judging his every move. A night in a Toronto gay bar during a road trip cracked something open in him, and he's still figuring out what to do about it.

Tikhon has spent his entire career keeping people at arm's length. Closeted, controlled, and determined to stay that way. Bastian Fontenot is the single greatest threat to every wall he's ever built.

Then two bonded kittens show up in the equipment room, and somehow — against all logic, against every instinct — these two men become their reluctant co-parents.

Sharing responsibility for a pair of inseparable cats turns out to be surprisingly effective at dismantling a two-year grudge. So does realizing that the person who got under your skin the most might be the only one who actually sees you.

The question is whether either of them is brave enough to admit it.