Lost in Translation

A Forced Proximity Hockey Captain Romance

Callum Rhys has built his career on control.

As captain of the Northbridge Wolves, he knows exactly how to handle a locker room, a losing streak, and a microphone shoved in his face five minutes after the final buzzer. He says the right thing, keeps the team steady, and never gives the media more than they need.

Then the Wolves bring in Nina Ellery.

Nina is a high-stakes translator hired after a public communication disaster the team would rather forget. She is sharp, exact, and completely uninterested in making powerful men feel comfortable. She does not smooth over meaning. She does not soften messy truths. And she notices, almost immediately, that Callum says one thing and means another.

At first, they clash over everything.

Over wording. Over optics. Over what players owe the public. Over whether honesty is dangerous or necessary.

But as media pressure builds, travel throws them into closer quarters, and one young international player becomes the center of a storm neither of them can control, their friction turns into something far harder to manage. Because the more Nina sees through Callum’s careful answers, the more she starts to glimpse the man underneath them. And the more Callum hears Nina cut through every polished version of him, the harder it becomes to keep hiding behind the language he has always used to survive.

Then one disastrous public moment shatters the fragile trust between them.

And by the time the truth finally comes out, it is no longer just their professional dynamic at risk.

It is the thing growing between them.

Set in the high-pressure world of professional hockey, Lost in Translation is a slow-burn contemporary sports romance about forced proximity, public image, emotional trust, and what happens when two people stop saying the safe thing and finally admit what they mean.

For readers who love grounded tension, sharp dialogue, competent characters, and romance that earns every inch.