Good Boy

He said “good boy” once. It rewired everything.

Sasha Mirova is a first-round pick with blinding speed and zero discipline. Called up to the Boston Nor’easters with everything to prove, he’s masking crushing imposter syndrome with arrogance and reckless plays — and melting the second someone tells him he’s doing a good job.

Dominic “Dom” Calder is the team’s veteran captain. Thirty-two, nearing retirement, hiding a shoulder injury that’s slowly ending his career. He’s stern, controlled, demands absolute perfection — and when the coaching staff assigns him to fix the undisciplined rookie, what starts as a professional obligation becomes something neither of them can contain.

What begins with a late-night reprimand in the locker room turns into midnight shooting drills, hands correcting stances that linger too long, and a voice so low it rewires Sasha’s entire nervous system. When the praise spills off the ice — good boy, just like that, you’re doing so well — Sasha discovers that the captain’s heavy-handed approval is exactly what he needs to thrive. And Dom discovers that the reckless rookie is the first person who’s ever made him want to let his walls come down.

But a secret relationship between a captain and his rookie is a powder keg. Dom’s shoulder is failing. The playoffs are coming. And the man who holds everyone together is about to learn that the hardest thing he’s ever done isn’t blocking a shot — it’s letting someone hold him.

You’ll love this if you enjoy:

✓ Age gap (32/21) with a stoic, silver-templed captain
✓ Praise kink that escalates from coaching to bedroom to love language
✓ Captain x rookie with real power dynamics
✓ Slow burn that detonates in a film room
✓ A man who says “good boy” and means it with his whole body
✓ Hurt/comfort that goes both directions
✓ A team that knows and has their backs
✓ Stanley Cup run with everything on the line
✓ Scorching heat that escalates chapter after chapter
✓ A guaranteed HEA earned on the ice and off it