**Eight years ago, Declan Knox chose hockey over the woman he loved. Now the ice has put her directly back in his path.**

Mara Reyes has built a good life in Portland without Declan Knox.

She runs Rosebridge Ice Center, protects the community that depends on it, and has no intention of reopening the worst chapter of her past. Especially not for the man who once let her career take the fall for a decision that helped his.

Then the Portland Wildfire suddenly needs Rosebridge for practice.

And their player liaison is Knox.

At thirty-four, Declan is no longer the young hockey star Mara walked away from. He has the scars, the regrets, and eight long years of knowing that an apology cannot undo what he did. Being near Mara again makes one thing painfully clear: he never stopped loving her.

But wanting a second chance and deserving one are not the same thing.

Forced into the same rink day after day, old habits begin slipping through the cracks. Shared coffee. Familiar arguments. A laugh neither of them meant to give. The chemistry is still there, but so is the betrayal Mara has never forgotten.

And when a buried truth from eight years ago finally comes to light, Mara discovers Knox kept one devastating detail from her all this time.

Now the Wildfire’s future at Rosebridge is on the line. Declan’s hockey career is approaching a crossroads. And the same kind of choice that destroyed them once is coming around again.

This time, Knox has to decide who he is **before** the consequences arrive.

Because Mara doesn’t need another promise.

She needs proof.

And if Declan wants the woman he lost, he’ll have to show her that love isn’t making someone else’s choices for them.

It’s trusting them enough to tell the truth while the choice is still theirs.

**KNOX** is an emotionally gripping Portland hockey romance featuring second chances, forced proximity, mature love, painful history, slow-earned trust, found family, rink-side tension, and a deeply satisfying HEA.