Second Shift by Isabella Marén

Second Shift

When trust feels risky, love is worth the shot.

Nina Caruso doesn't do second chances. Not with houses falling apart, and definitely not with men.

Then Daniel Kincaid shows up — retired hockey star, hardware store owner, way too good-looking for his own good — and starts fixing things Nina didn't ask him to fix. Her porch. Her trust. Her heart, one stubborn inch at a time.

She knows how this ends. Men like him don't stay.

When his past turns up wearing someone else's face, Nina runs — straight across an ocean, all the way to Italy. Daniel follows anyway.

Second Shift is a slow-burn, clean, closed-door contemporary romance between a retired professional athlete and a woman rebuilding her late grandmother's house — one careful decision at a time. Set between Manhattan and the Amalfi Coast, it's for readers who want emotional depth without spice, a hero who shows up and stays, and a happily-ever-after that's genuinely earned.

Standalone. No cliffhanger. Guaranteed HEA.