Collide by Bal Khabra (Paperback)

Summer Preston has worked for years to reach her goal of becoming a sport psychologist. Hockey was never part of the plan. When an ultimatum from her professor forces her into a research project centred on the college hockey team, she finds herself paired with the one person who represents everything she wants to avoid.

Aiden Crawford is used to control. As team captain, he leads on and off the ice, until a reckless mistake by his teammates puts the entire season at risk. To restore order, his coach selects Aiden as the focus of a psychological study. Being analysed is bad enough. Being analysed by someone who clearly despises hockey makes it worse.

From the start, Summer and Aiden clash. Her rigid schedules and sharp focus grind against his relaxed confidence and instinct-driven choices. Neither is willing to back down. Their meetings become battles of patience, pride, and persistence, with both determined to prove the other wrong.

As the research progresses, lines begin to blur. The project forces honesty neither expected. Beneath Aiden’s casual attitude is a leader carrying responsibility and pressure. Behind Summer’s discipline is fear of losing control over the future she has planned so carefully.

Collide explores ambition, rivalry, and attraction when two people are pushed together against their will. Set within college sport, it follows the tension between logic and instinct, showing how growth often begins when certainty is challenged and resistance gives way to understanding.