Julian Langley has everything a man could ever want?a sprawling Manhattan townhouse, a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, and ownership of the New York Vipers, one of the most coveted franchises in professional hockey. What he doesn't have, and will never allow himself, is anyone who matters too much. Carrying a devastating loss that completely reshaped him, Julian has since built his life around the certainty that nothing will ever cost him that dearly again.

Harper Hawthorne isn't looking for a billionaire. She's looking for a way to keep the lights on. Single-handedly holding her world together since she was a teenager, Harper works two jobs, lives in a rent-controlled apartment on the Lower East Side, and sacrifices everything for her younger brother. When an unexpected phone call lands her a chauffeur job behind the wheel of Julian's car, she takes it for exactly what it is: a paycheck.

Julian notices everything about her. Harper tries not to notice anything about him. What begins as a professional arrangement starts to crack at the edges when Harper proves, repeatedly and effortlessly, that she's unlike anyone Julian has ever encountered before. She's too sharp to ignore, too genuine to keep at arm's length, and entirely unimpressed by his world in a way that makes it impossible for him to stop thinking about her.

Julian doesn't do commitment. Harper doesn't believe in fairy tales. But some collisions are inevitable and some people are worth every risk you swore you'd never take again.

Julian is a slow-burn hockey romance about a guarded billionaire, the woman who got under his skin without trying, and the long road back to trusting that a second shot at love is always worth the leap.