Man Advantage by Quinn Ward (Lakeshore Stags Book 2)

We're back in the Lakeshore Stags world with Man Advantage.

 

From the blurb:

A veteran goalie. A traded defenseman. And a spare room that was only supposed to be temporary.

Ford Callahan is used to holding everything together. His team. His six-year-old daughter. The hip he’s been hiding all season. Years in net have taught him to stop everything that comes at him—until what’s coming at him is Cole Englund.

Patient. Loyal. The only one who sees him cracking.

Cole was supposed to move out months ago. Instead, he’s making Ford’s daughter pancakes every morning and noticing every crack Ford thinks no one can see. Then one late night at the kitchen sink, Ford looks at him like pretending was never going to last.

What starts as quiet mornings and late-night dishes turns into the first thing Ford has let himself want in years. Being with Cole feels easy. Hiding it from the team doesn’t.

Stolen kisses turn into secret nights and the kind of want Ford stopped believing was meant for him, until keeping it inside the house starts feeling impossible.

But Ford’s career is running out of time, and one bad night could end it. Cole is one call away from the shot he’s chased his whole life.

Now Ford has to decide whether he’s allowed to ask Cole to stay. And Cole has to decide whether the home he never meant to find is worth more than the dream he came here for.

For readers who love Sarina Bowen, Brigham Vaughn, and VL Locey: a spicy small-town MM hockey romance featuring roommates to lovers, a single-dad goalie holding everything together, and a defenseman who was supposed to move out months ago.

Heather's review:

So many great hockey romances focus on more than the hockey and that's what Man Advantage does - we open with roommates and friends who also share the care of Ford's six year old daughter.  They are in different places in their careers and in life, but you as the reader will easily be able to pick out the simmering beneath the surface!  This book comes with pining, secret looks and builds to a chance for these two men to build the future they were meant to have.    I love that Ford needs to learn to let Cole in and Cole needs to learn to ask for what he wants!

As a reader, you would know about more of the side characters if you have read book 1, but this easily can be read as standalone if you prefer.