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Before Overtime: A High-Heat Enemies-to-Lovers Hockey Romance Between a Brand Strategist and a Veteran Defenseman
Paperback
Series: Steel City Skates, Book 2
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Aug 4 2026
Pages: 600
Weight: 1.74
Height: 1.21 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
She came home to rebuild the club.
He is convinced she was hired to sell it.
Brand strategist Phyllis Castillo returns to Iron Bay for a twelve-week contract with Steel City Skates. Her assignment is simple on paper: strengthen the struggling club, reconnect it with the city, and create a future investors will believe in.
Veteran defenceman Zakayo Wawire does not believe a word of it.
At forty, Zakayo has spent too many years watching executives turn loyalty into leverage. As the players' representative, he refuses to let Phyllis transform the team, its supporters, or the city's history into another polished campaign.
Their arguments begin in boardrooms and continue through community meetings, rain-soaked streets, and every corner of Foundry Arena.
Then Phyllis discovers the truth.
A potential buyer is planning to keep the Steel City name while moving the jobs, services, and decisions that make the club belong to Iron Bay. Her research is already being used to make the transition look like preservation.
Zakayo becomes her fiercest ally.
Working together could save the club, but their growing attraction creates a conflict neither can safely hide. Every private moment can be turned into evidence. Every professional choice can be questioned. And both are offered secure futures by the same organisation they are fighting.
Phyllis must decide whether returning home means surrendering the ambition she fought to build.
Zakayo must decide whether loyalty requires silence or the courage to refuse the safest contract of his career.
Before Overtime is a high-heat, enemies-to-lovers hockey romance featuring a formidable brand strategist, a protective veteran defenceman, sharp banter, forbidden workplace attraction, public scandal, community stakes, found family, and a deeply satisfying happily ever after.
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