She bid twenty thousand dollars on a hockey player she’d never heard of.

Monster romance author Brooke Douglas writes about demons and orcs who know how to worship their women. Real men? Not so much. So when her best friend drags her to a charity auction and she accidentally bids a small fortune on the saddest-looking athlete she’s ever seen, she’s mortified.

Harrison “Harry” Kennedy is the New York Fury’s star goalie—nicknamed “The Fortress” for his impenetrable game and his even more impenetrable walls. He hates PR events, hates being paraded around like merchandise, and definitely hates the chaotic, rambling woman who just bought him to save him from public humiliation.

But Brooke doesn’t want anything from him. Not his fame. Not his money. Not even his autograph.

She just felt bad.

For the first time in years, Harry meets someone who sees the man behind the mask—the one who writes poetry in secret, panics before games, and hasn’t let anyone close since his ex sold his secrets to the tabloids.

Brooke makes him laugh. Makes him feel. Makes him want things he’d convinced himself he didn’t deserve.

But her BookTok followers are watching, the media is circling, and Harry’s old wounds are about to collide with Brooke’s pathological need to fix everyone she loves.

Pucking the Highest Bidder is book 2 in the New York Fury Hockey Series. Each book in this series features different characters and can be read as standalones, though interconnected through the vibrant world of professional hockey—including fan-favorite characters from the Boston Titans series.

Tropes you’ll love: charity auction, strangers to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, he falls first, touch her and die, secret soft hero, and a goalie who discovers that letting someone in is the bravest save he’ll ever make.