North & Rye: The Billionaire Hockey Captain Next Door
When NHL captain Ethan Brooks becomes the center of a career-ending scandal, the last thing he expects is to find comfort in a neighborhood bakery.
Emma Carter has spent years rebuilding her life after losing her parents, pouring everything she has into North & Rye. She doesn’t care about celebrity gossip or billionaire families. She only knows that the quiet man who comes in every morning for coffee seems exhausted by the weight of the world.
As their friendship grows into something deeper, Ethan begins finding pieces of himself he thought he’d lost. But falling in love with him comes at a cost Emma never imagined. Her bakery becomes the target of public outrage, her neighborhood is threatened by the very company Ethan’s father controls, and every decision they make seems to pull them further into the spotlight they both wish they could escape.
With Ethan chasing one final chance at the Stanley Cup and Emma fighting to save the place that has always felt like home, they’ll have to decide whether love is enough when the entire world seems determined to tear them apart.
In the end, Ethan discovers that redemption isn’t found in winning championships or changing public opinion. It’s found every morning inside a little bakery called North & Rye, where one woman believed in him long before anyone else did.
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Chapter: Chapter 47Emma: I called Ethan twice before I even reached his building. Both calls rang until they cut off, giving me far too much time to reconsider the entire reason I was there. I had spent the drive rehearsing what I wanted to say. I had a plan, or something close enough to one. Then I found a parking spot, climbed the stairs, and discovered that his apartment was dark. His car wasn’t in its usual place, either. I knocked anyway, because apparently I enjoyed making things harder for myself. When no one answered, I stood in the hallway, staring at the door as if it might suddenly offer an explanation. It didn’t. I pulled out my phone and typed, When are you going to be back? I have something I need to tell you. Then I waited. Nothing. I told myself it didn’t mean anything. Ethan could be at his parents’ house. He could be somewhere with terrible service. He could be doing any number of perfectly reasonable things that had nothing to do with me or the fact that I had shown up ready to
Last Updated: 2026-09-10
Chapter: Chapter 46Emma:Morning light slipped through Ethan’s curtains, soft enough that I stayed where I was for a moment, listening to the city stir beyond the windows. His apartment still felt unfamiliar in the quiet of morning. So did the fact that I had spent the night there, tucked against him instead of waking alone in my loft.When I turned over, Ethan was already awake. He watched me with an openness I wasn’t used to seeing from him before coffee, before either of us had decided what the day might demand. I pushed myself upright and reached for my shirt on the floor, but when I glanced back, I saw the crease between his brows.“What’s wrong?”“Nothing.” He rubbed both hands over his face, then let them fall into his lap. “I don’t know. I’m scared.”“Of what?”“That you’ll go back to the bakery, go back to your life, and by tonight you’ll have convinced yourself this was a mistake.” His gaze dropped to the sheets. “That whatever happened last night won’t survive daylight.”I understood why he w
Last Updated: 2026-09-10
Chapter: Chapter 45Ethan:They were still talking when I looked back. Ryan had one of the pastry boxes tucked against his hip while Emma folded the tablecloth, and they moved around each other without getting in the way. It was the kind of ease people developed after spending years learning one another’s habits.That was fast.I hated how much the thought hurt.Before I could make myself watch them any longer, I turned away. Across the rink, Noah caught my eye and nodded toward the exit. I returned the gesture, said goodbye to the last few kids, and let the guys head downtown without me.I went home.The apartment was quiet in the way it always was after a crowded night, as if the walls needed time to settle. I sat at the kitchen table with a legal pad and began sketching ideas for the rink: jerseys for a kids’ team, better ice schedules, equipment budgets. Things that could turn the place into something more than a headline people would forget as soon as the next story came along.I kept drawing, but m
Last Updated: 2026-09-08
Chapter: Chapter 44Emma:The rink barely resembled the place where I had first watched Ethan skate laps by himself months earlier, my coffee cooling untouched on a bench across the street. Lights now looped along the rafters, handmade banners brightened the boards, and children filled every corner of the building. More than I had ever seen there at once. Some crowded against the glass, while others sat on the benches in various stages of being laced into their skates.Sophie and I had spent the morning setting up a table near the entrance with trays of pastries and a coffee urn borrowed from the bakery. By the time the doors officially opened, half the neighborhood had already come through. People greeted one another as if it were a holiday instead of an ordinary Saturday, which probably said more about how badly everyone had needed something good than it did about the rink itself.Ethan was there, though I had to look for him. He stayed near the far boards, helping a little boy adjust his helmet while
Last Updated: 2026-09-08
Chapter: Chapter 43Emma: The two weeks after Ethan left passed in a blur of early mornings, burnt pastries, and customers who seemed determined to discuss the neighborhood’s future while standing directly in front of the register. The bakery stayed busy, the neighborhood stayed tense, and I kept pretending I had enough work to do that I did not notice Ethan’s absence. I noticed it. I noticed every time the bell above the door rang, every time a tall man in a dark coat passed the front window, and every time Sophie glanced at me after I looked toward the street. So when Mrs. Dawson knocked on our door with a flyer for a community meeting at the rink, I accepted it before she could give me the speech she had clearly prepared. “You’re coming,” she said. “I gathered that.” “Good. Wear something decent.” “I own decent clothes.” Her gaze moved past me to the sweatshirt I was wearing. “Somewhere in this house, maybe.” The next evening, I stood in front of my closet while Sophie sat on the edge of my b
Last Updated: 2026-09-03
Chapter: Chapter 42Emma: I was turning the key in the front door when I heard footsteps behind me. I knew who it was before he said my name, which was irritating enough on its own. “Emma.” I kept my hand on the lock. “It’s late, Ethan.” “I know. I waited until it was.” Of course he had. Ethan had always been annoyingly considerate whenever I wanted him to be careless. I turned and found him standing several feet away, his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. He had left enough space between us to make it clear he wasn’t going to force a conversation. “I’m not here to argue,” he said. “I need to say a few things, and then I’ll go. If you never want to see me again after tonight, I’ll respect that.” I folded my arms, still holding my keys. “Go ahead.” He glanced toward the bakery, then back at me. “I wasn’t trying to sabotage you. Or play you. Or use you. Whatever version of me you’ve been carrying around for the last two weeks, that isn’t who I was with you.” “You still kept the truth from me.”
Last Updated: 2026-09-01
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