He's Not My Type (the Vancouver Agitators, #4)

Halsey Holmes, center for the Vancouver Agitators hockey team, has been emotionally shut down since the death of his twin brother, Holden, in a car accident. His close-knit group of teammates, Levi Posey, Eli Hornsby, Pacey Lawes, and Silas Tatters, worry about his withdrawal from life. Over a year before the main story begins, Halsey meets Blakely White, who works in the Agitators' VIP relations and marketing department, and feels an immediate, intense attraction: the first spark of emotion he has experienced since losing Holden. He resolves to ask her out, but she casually mentions her boyfriend, Perry, and Halsey buries his feelings. Over the following year, his unrequited crush only deepens.

In the present timeline, Posey announces that Blakely has broken up with Perry, who left for a job in Australia without consulting her. Blakely herself appears shortly after, mentioning that her new apartment has flooded. Posey volunteers Halsey's spare bedroom, claiming Halsey owns a bonsai tree named Sherman that needs tending. Halsey, who has no bonsai tree, agrees out of stunned desperation. He and Posey scramble to prepare the apartment, purchasing a juniper bonsai and moving Halsey's mattress into Blakely's room. The original Sherman is crushed during the move, and the teammates rally with a replacement tree, a vacuum, and mismatched nightstands. Blakely arrives to wrinkled curtains and a nervous Halsey who can barely string a sentence together.

Early cohabitation brings endearing awkwardness. Blakely shatters her phone on the floor, then trips on her own skirt and exposes herself to a mortified Halsey. He later brings her donuts and a replacement phone at her office, gestures she finds sweet. Huxley Cane, a billionaire investor in the sports platform The Jock Report, offers Blakely a high-paying VIP relations position that may require relocating to Los Angeles. When Halsey learns about the offer, panic sets in. His teammates form a group they call the "Frozen Fellas" and devise a plan to help him win Blakely over. Penny, Eli's partner and Blakely's best friend at the Agitators, joins the effort after Eli accidentally reveals the scheme.

Following the group's advice, Halsey stops wearing shirts around the apartment. Blakely notices his physique but maintains he is not her type. Their routines grow warmer as Halsey begins opening up about Holden in conversation, something he has never done with anyone.

Halsey's on-ice performance improves dramatically as his connection with Blakely deepens. During his recovery from a rolled ankle, sustained in a struggle over sleeping arrangements that destroys the air mattress, the two grow closer. With only one bed remaining, Blakely suggests they share the king bed and admits the next morning that she always sleeps better beside someone. They settle into a rhythm of shared meals and late-night conversations. Halsey reveals his family's disintegration after Holden's death: his parents' divorce, his estrangement from his older brother Hayden, and the deep isolation that followed. The Frozen Fellas' aggressive tactics backfire; one attempt at a casual touch ends with Halsey's hand on Blakely's breast and a smoothie shattering across the floor.

Things shift when Halsey accompanies Blakely to her flooded apartment and discovers a dead rat in her closet. He confronts the landlord, introduces Blakely as his girlfriend, and declares she will never live there again. He then takes her dress shopping for a friend's wedding, selecting a light-blue gown and zipping her into it with a tenderness that unsettles her. Blakely begins questioning whether Halsey might be her type after all, recognizing that his protectiveness makes her feel cared for in ways Perry never managed.

When Perry texts that he is returning for the wedding, Halsey volunteers to attend as Blakely's fake boyfriend. At the wedding, he plays the role with convincing devotion: holding her hand, whispering in her ear, and pressing a light kiss to her lips when Perry approaches. Perry reveals he has moved back to win Blakely over, but Halsey blocks him and warns him to stay away. On the dance floor, Halsey asks Blakely directly if she wants Perry back, and she says she does not. When Perry corners Blakely again, Halsey pins him against the wall and insists they leave.

Back at the apartment, the tension breaks. Halsey kisses Blakely, and they have passionate sex for the first time. The experience shakes Blakely so deeply that she tells Penny she was "cock-shocked" (255), realizing her physical relationship with Perry was satisfying only because she had nothing to compare it to. A pattern develops: They sleep together every night, but Blakely leaves each morning before they can talk. Halsey grows increasingly worried about the emotional distance.

Blakely eventually texts Halsey asking if things will always be awkward. He responds that he wants to talk in person. When he returns from an away trip, he confesses that he has liked her since the day they met, that Posey engineered the roommate arrangement, and that his friends' schemes were all aimed at helping him win her over. Blakely reveals she accepted Huxley's job offer but negotiated to work remotely from Vancouver. She is not leaving. Halsey asks her on a date, and she says yes.

Their first date to Granville Island, a popular Vancouver destination, marks a shift into genuine partnership. Halsey recounts the full history of his pursuit, including the bonsai tree deception and Penny's involvement. Blakely is flattered rather than angry. They become a couple and begin transforming his apartment into a shared home. Blakely privately acknowledges that she loves Halsey, recognizing the feeling as deeper than anything she experienced with Perry.

Wanting to share his happiness and fearing unresolved grief could damage their relationship, Halsey tries to call his estranged father while on an away trip. His father's number is disconnected, so he calls his mother, who coldly informs him that his father died of a heart attack months earlier. She blames Halsey for Holden's death: "The wrong twin died" (363). She tells him she considers him dead to her and hangs up. Halsey is physically sick and drinks heavily at the hotel bar. Eli finds him and stays the night. Blakely, unable to reach Halsey, borrows Huxley Cane's private plane to fly to Vegas, telling her boss she will stay as long as Halsey needs, even if it costs her the job.

Blakely arrives and holds Halsey as he cries. The next morning, she tells him firmly that his mother's words hold no truth and, for the first time, says she loves him. Halsey says he has loved her since the moment they met. In the locker room, Eli reveals he was at the bar with Holden the night of the accident and carries his own guilt, but tells Halsey that Holden had an alcohol addiction and that his choices were his own. Each teammate embraces Halsey and tells him they love him.

In the epilogue, set some time later, Halsey and Blakely are engaged, and the Agitators have won the championship. They drive to Hayden's home in California, where Halsey's older brother opens the door and immediately pulls him into a hug. Halsey feels not only Hayden's embrace but Holden's presence as well. He reflects that losing Holden was the hardest experience of his life, but that Blakely's love helped him find the courage to heal and to live fully again.