Body Check, book two in Brigham Vaughn’s Scoring Chances series, is an engaging and thoughtful age-gap romance between two men who have good reason to be wary of relationships but who, after an inauspicious start, are willing to work on their hang-ups and insecurities in order to move forward together. The characters are well-developed and engaging, their chemistry sizzles and I enjoyed their slowly evolving romance – but overall, the story lacks the energy and vibrancy of book one, Goaltender Interference, hence the lower grade.

Director of Hockey and General Manager of the Boston Harriers, Gavin Racine is not at all opposed to hiring a new fitness coach who specialises in pilates and yoga to help improve the flexibilty, balance and co-ordination of the guys on the team. What he is opposed to, however, is being told which candidate to hire, especially when that candidate is the brother of one of the women who works in accounts and who, for some reason, has the ear of the team’s owner. Gavin can’t exactly cry nepotism, given he recently got his twin brother a job in the team’s social media department – but he still isn’t happy about the owner pulling rank on him.

Unfortunately, he isn’t shy about voicing those opinions – even though he hadn’t intended to voice them in the new coach’s hearing. Dakota Crane is not impressed by Gavin’s dismissive attitude or his apology, which he knows is less for what he said than for saying it within earshot.

Gavin realises he’s been a total dick and knows it’s up to him to extend an olive branch. Dakota is doing good work with the team and it’s starting to show; but whenever they’ve encoutered each other in the HCI building, Dakoka has been distinctly cool towards him, which Gavin guesses he deserves. At a Thanksgiving party at the O’Shea’s, he decides it’s time to bite the bullet and at least make an effort to be friendly; he strikes up a conversation with Dakota and is pleased when he isn’t rebuffed. They spend some time chatting fairly easily, and Gavin discovers that he likes that Dakota isn’t intimidated by him, enjoying the unexpected low-level flirtation that develops. When Gavin mentions he’s feeling a bit off due to the tension headache that’s been hanging around for days, Dakota suggests Gavin comes to his studio so they can work on a few things, and offers to work out a training plan that will help ease some of the tension he’s carrying that Gavin can fit in around his hectic schedule.

That low-key flirtation continues into their next few interactions, as does a growing awareness of the mutual attraction humming between them. Neither man is in the market for a relationship – Dakota has recently left an ex who did a number on him emotionally and screwed him over financially, and Gavin just went through a messy, very public divorce – but as the pull between them intensifies and becomes impossible to ignore, maybe, given that their packed schedules make it difficult to find time to hook-up and blow off some steam, some no-strings sex with each other isn’t totally out of the question? Dakota quite rightly brings up the fact that Gavin is effectively his boss, and that if they do start something and are found out, it’ll be his job on the line and not Gavin’s, and Gavin is absolutely clear that the decision is Dakota’s and that he isn’t going to pressure him into anything he’s not comfortable with. I appreciated that aspect of their relationship – there’s a lot of give and take and good communication right from the start, and I was pleased that Dakota is so up front about what he does and doesn’t want in the bedroom. He’s done with letting himself be pushed into situations or guilt-tripped into things he doesn’t want, and is very clear on what his limits are. Knowing Gavin to be such a forceful, type-A personality, it takes a while for Dakota to trust that Gavin is truly serious about respecting those limits and that when he does nice things for him – like stocking up on his favourite foods, or offering him a ride home – he’s doing them because he’s being considerate and not because he expects something in return.

While the attraction and sexual relationship happen fairly quickly, the emotional connection is more of a slow-burn as what starts out as stress-relief becomes something more and Gavin and Dakota get to know each other and correct some of their initial misconceptions. Dakota discovers that Gavin has a good sense of humour, that he’s a generous lover and a thoughtful, caring person while Dakota makes Gavin feel valued and appreciated and gives him a safe space to be himself and to unload about the personal failures he feels keenly and carries a lot of guilt over.

There’s an interesting sub-plot concerning Gavin’s twin brother, Thad, who showed up out of the blue at the end of the previous book, and who looks like he’s out to stir up trouble. However, things go in a direction I didn’t expect when we learn the truth about the events that landed Thad in prison – and which didn’t turn out well for Gavin, either. This aspect of the story is very well done; there is a lot of pain and a wealth of hurt lying between the brothers which Gavin doesn’t know how to bridge – until Dakota helps him to see things through a different lens and to find a way to reconnect.

There’s plenty going on on the ice, too, for those who like their hockey romances to include some actual hockey (!) – the Harriers are still struggling to find their footing – although some things are falling into place – and Gavin decides it’s time to open negotiations to bring a new defenceman on board.

As I’ve observed about the other books by this author I’ve read or listened to, they tend to be long (Amazon lists the page count for this one as 526). Sometimes, as in The Head Game or Goaltender Interference, I know they’re long because I can see the numbers going up on my Kindle screen, but I don’t really feel the length because I’m invested in the story and characters and don’t notice. With Body Check, though, I did notice. Dakota and Gavin are all in well before the end; they’ve make their relationship public, other (spoilery) things have happened – but it’s all wrapped up by 85%. The final few chapters don’t really add anything to the story, which would have worked perfectly well without them and would still have run to almost 450 pages.

Body Check is unusual for a hockey romance in that neither of the leads are players, but I liked getting a couple of different perspectives on the day-to-day of the team. There are some pacing issues and some degree of repetition around Dakota’s reasons for being slow to trust Gavin – they’re understandable but are a bit drawn out nonetheless – and for a story that has some difficult themes (guilt, health issues, debt and other emotional baggage) it’s pretty low angst. There’s one odd scene in which Gavin becomes really aggressive – it stuck out to me because it felt so out of character – but otherwise, the central romance is nicely done. Gavin and Dakota are well-matched, they’re supportive, intuitive, and they bring out the best in each other, they behave like adults and they communicate well throughout. Despite my reservations I enjoyed the book – and I’ll be back for the next one later this year.