Zanders and Maddison board the Raptors' private jet and meet their new flight attendant crew, including Stevie Shay.

Zanders teases Stevie during the exit row safety instructions; she pushes back against his flirtatious attitude.

Zanders approaches Stevie at a Denver bar before fleeing in panic after receiving a text about his mother.

Maddison bluntly announces to Stevie on a team flight that Zanders wants to sleep with her.

Zanders rescues Stevie from mocking friends and dismissive strangers at a Nashville bar by pretending to be her boyfriend.

Stevie messages Zanders after days of tension; they meet at a club and spend the night together in his hotel room.

After their first night together, Zanders begs Stevie to stay, then accidentally locks himself out of his room naked.

Zanders arrives at Stevie's building on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with Maddison's daughter, shocking Stevie completely.

Zanders finds Stevie crying outside and she invites him into the dog shelter, introducing him to the dogs including Rosie.

Stevie and Zanders run into each other in their building's hallway on Christmas night and bond over shared family frustrations.

Stevie discovers at the Active Minds charity gala that Zanders co-founded the organization alongside Maddison.

Zanders brings Maddison's daughter to SDOC to meet the dogs and presents Cheryl with a surprise $50,000 donation check.

Paparazzi photograph Stevie and Zanders outside their building, and negative online stories spread about his mysterious new woman.

Zanders breaks up with Stevie at her apartment, insisting his reputation will only keep damaging her career.

Zanders rushes into the dog shelter and professes his love to Stevie; she apologizes and they reunite.

Evan Zanders and Stevie Shay meet when Stevie joins the Chicago Raptors' flight crew and Zanders immediately begins flirting while she pushes back, setting up an enemies-to-lovers dynamic. Their initial hostility softens through a series of unexpected encounters around Chicago, and after a charged night together in a hotel room, their connection deepens into something neither expected. As they secretly date to protect both their careers, their bond grows through shared vulnerabilities and tender moments across the city. The relationship is threatened when paparazzi expose them together, prompting Zanders to make the misguided decision to break up with Stevie in order to protect her. After a painful separation filled with personal reckonings, both characters fight for their future through independent acts of courage and self-discovery. Zanders ultimately tracks Stevie down at the dog shelter and they confess their love, choosing to build a shared life in Chicago together.

The central romance from first meeting to reunion.

Stevie and new coworker Indy bond on the Raptors' first flight, both admitting they know nothing about hockey.

Zanders and Maddison give a pre-game interview where the journalist ignores their charity and steers every question toward Zanders's sex life.

Ryan tells Stevie that her ex Brett wants help finding a sports job in Chicago, causing her to panic.

Stevie visits her parents in Nashville; her mother criticizes her appearance and pressures her to reconcile with Brett.

Zanders takes Stevie's phone on a team flight and follows himself on her Instagram, daring her to DM him.

Zanders steps in at the Active Minds gala to intercede when Brett corners Stevie and refuses to leave her alone.

Zanders plays poorly and gets into an on-ice fight; Logan confronts him afterward about his erratic and unfocused behavior.

Zanders asks the Maddisons if he can take Ella to the dog shelter to see how a dog reacts to her before adopting.

Stevie and Zanders spend a day shopping together, and he replaces all her cheap rings with real gold ones.

Stevie finally tells Ryan the full story of what Brett said in the locker room; Ryan promises to cut Brett out of his life.

Ryan punches Brett at a Miami club after Zanders publicly announces to his teammates that he and Stevie are together.

Stevie flies back to Chicago early from Seattle; Ryan tells her about Zanders's visit and the Stanley Cup Finals ticket he left.

Stevie confronts paparazzi reporters camped outside her building, speaking on camera to defend herself and Zanders.

Stevie waits outside Zanders's penthouse door past 2am after the Stanley Cup celebration, then gives up and goes home.

Team manager Scott reveals that Rich had a contract offer waiting for Zanders all season but never passed it on.

Behind the headline romance, a series of significant secondary events shape the paths of both Stevie and Zanders throughout the season. Stevie's past trauma with her ex Brett resurfaces when Ryan announces Brett may be moving to Chicago, and Brett continues to appear at key moments, forcing Stevie to confront what he did to her self-worth. Meanwhile, Zanders and Maddison's charity work is perpetually overshadowed by the bad-boy media reputation that his agent Rich continues to exploit for profit. Their secret relationship becomes harder to conceal as teammates, rivals, and Zanders's own family get pulled into the story, culminating in a public confrontation in Miami and mounting pressure from the press. After the breakup, Stevie takes bold independent action by confronting the paparazzi herself, while a key revelation about Rich's deception reframes every professional obstacle Zanders faced all season. The final pieces fall into place when team manager Scott's disclosure frees Zanders to re-sign with the Raptors entirely on his own terms.

The supporting moments and confrontations that shaped the main story.

Coworker Tara warns Stevie against getting involved with any players and criticizes her uniform for being too tight.

Stevie misinterprets Zanders's request for a grilled cheese sandwich as a veiled insult about her weight and races away upset.

Zanders's agent Rich scolds him for leaving the arena alone and warns the Raptors won't re-sign him without the bad-boy image.

Zanders visits Logan at the Maddisons' penthouse and opens up about his mother's abandonment and his unresolved anger at his father.

Zanders has a therapy session with Eddie about his family trauma; Eddie challenges him to show his real self to at least one person.

Stevie opens a surprise Christmas gift to find designer sweatpants in multiple sizes, sent anonymously by Zanders.

At midnight on a New Year's Day flight, Zanders sneaks to the back of the plane and kisses Stevie for the first time.

During Rosie's home visit, Zanders confesses his fear that no one loves his true self; Stevie tells him she likes him and they kiss.

Stevie confronts her mother on a FaceTime call for the first time; Zanders reaches over and shuts the laptop to end it.

Zanders discovers that every entry in his Notes app about women this season is actually written about Stevie.

Zanders texts his estranged father and tears up when his dad writes back to say he loves him.

Zanders's sister Lindsey visits Chicago, meets Stevie, and pushes Zanders to stop hiding his true self from the world.

Zanders finds Stevie crying over a shirt that no longer fits, makes her look in the mirror, and counters every insecurity she voices.

Maddison visits Zanders after the breakup and reveals his belief that Rich was secretly tipping off the press all season.

Zanders skips a team practice to drive to his father's home, apologize for years of bitterness, and ask for relationship advice.

Beneath the surface of the romance, a series of private moments and emotional discoveries drive both protagonists toward genuine transformation. Zanders wrestles with his mother's abandonment and his terror of being unloved, guided by his therapist Eddie's challenge to let at least one person see who he truly is, while his agent Rich exploits his insecurities to maintain control over his career. Stevie meanwhile battles deeply rooted shame about her body and her worthiness of love, shaped by years of criticism from her mother and the damage done by Brett. As the two let their guards down with each other, small intimate moments chip away at their defenses — a midnight kiss, a morning FaceTime confrontation, and a quiet conversation in front of a mirror each mark irreversible steps forward. Their connection gives each of them the courage to confront the family members who hurt them most, bringing long-overdue reckonings with parents they had avoided for years. By the end of the novel, both characters have taken decisive personal actions that have nothing to do with each other but everything to do with the love they found together.