It's also this particular issue that had me pausing a bit because I wasn't a fan of the way Sebastian pressured him to come out.

These two men had some major hurdles to get through, the biggest of which was Tristan's not being open about his sexuality. Same goes with how most of those around them reacted to their relationship and the revelation of Tristan's sexuality, what with him being in the closet for fear of how his Midwestern family and his teammates would deal with his secret.

I appreciated that there weren't any other men popping about simply to cause friction between these two because that's one of the more common sources of tension in romances. Both men are complicated, and I enjoyed getting to know them beyond Tristan's being a young professional hockey player and Sebastian's being a university professor with ambitions of tenure. The direction that the authors chose to take was one that I appreciated, especially because we got to see that Tristan wasn't a simple story about a teacher and his student crushing on one another and then falling madly in love and defying the odds and rules and regulations of the school and society. I loved the pace in which Tristan and Sebastian's relationship developed, even though there was that unacknowledged mutual spark of attraction from the moment they noticed each other inside the classroom. Sebastian seems to be more than qualified to be who Tristan needs, but as quickly as his feelings are developing for the pro hockey player, he refuses to be any man's dirty secret-even if it's Tristan's.

In order to do what he does, Tristan needs to stay in control, but he craves to be with someone who can get him out of his own head-someone in whom he can pass on that tightly held control. Going back to school to get his business degree while playing the sport he loves is his main focus, but he soon finds himself distracted by his professor, the grumpy and very much out Sebastian. Tristan may be you and capable of doing his job on the ice, but he's also realistic and knows that the time may come wherein he'll need something to fall back on.

The series kicks off with Off the Ice, a student-professor story with BDSM elements between twenty-three-year-old Atlanta Venom defenseman Tristan Holt and thirty-four-year-old sociology professor Sebastian Cruz. Authors Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn have joined writing forces once again for a brand new hockey romance-themed series entitled Hat Trick.

Off the Ice by Avon Gale