Summary
Some men are just off-limits. Like, say, all the other football players in the league.
But I’ve been crushing hard on one quarterback in particular for the last year. When Jason invites me to his place the night before my first pro football game, I say yes so fast. Our white-hot time together answers a lot of questions I’ve had about myself.
Then life happens, and I don’t show up for our second date. The worst part is that he’ll never know how much it meant to me.
And when I’m traded to his cross-town rivals, I know that’s not the time to serve up my secrets either. My team’s PR department wants to double down on our rivalry.
And they’re right. I need to focus on football, not on my interest in men. But the more time I spend doing media appearances and charity events with the generous, quick-witted, popular guy, the hungrier I am for him.
It’s a bad idea to knock on his door late one night. I could lose everything. He’s probably not even home.
But then the door swings open, and I have a choice to make.
Excerpt
I knew this day was coming.
Saturday, August 15th, ten a.m., has been on the calendar since training camp began.
But as I stand on the sidelines of the San Francisco Hawks facility with my receivers, staring at the field, slack-jawed, I am thoroughly unprepared for the onslaught of cute.
“Those furballs are so damn adorable.” I smack Nate’s rock-hard shoulder. “Just look at them,” I say, pointing at the kittens on the fifty-yard line.
“Like I can look anywhere else,” Nate says, as if he’s been injected with sunshine.
Volunteers from the Furry Friends local animal rescue have escorted a dozen or so adoptable critters to the final practice before our first preseason game tomorrow against the Los Angeles Mercenaries. Until this second, I had no idea I wanted a kitten in my life. I’m a pro baller who’s on the road a ton, with no need for that kind of responsibility in my very single life.
But now?
Sign me up. Starting with . . . that one.
The black-and-white cat with tiny white gloves. “Dude, that tuxedo is all mine,” I shout, laying claim to my favorite.
Nate points at another crate. “Dibs on the orange one!”
The tight end, Orlando, joins us and calls out, “I want the Siamese, then.” Orlando peers around me, then Nate, like he needs to protect his turf from some of the most competitive guys on the team. It’s just receivers and quarterbacks here while the defensive backs are running drills on the far end of the field.
Nate and I trot over to the crate with the black-and-white one. The little critter meows, sauntering to the door to say hi. Bending to one knee, I offer a finger through the crate wires. “Hey there, sweet little thing,” I say, and he nibbles on my finger.
I look up at the sound of sneakers on spongy grass. A friendly blonde makes her way toward us. Reese Kingsley is the publicist for the team and its charitable efforts, including the Furry Friends Weekend. All proceeds from that game will go to the animal rescue, and soon our team photographer will snap pics of the players with the pets to get fans excited and try to rehome some animals.
“You two ready for the first pics?” she asks as she arrives next to me.
“I am ready for my close-up,” I say.
“And then he wants two kittens for the road, please,” Nate puts in, smart-ass that he is. His eyes twinkle with humor.
“So does Nate,” I add.
Reese shakes her head in amusement. “Every time. Every single time we do one of these events, the guys all melt.”
That perks my interest. “You’re saying the other athletes go home with armfuls of kittens?”
With a smirk, Reese nods. “They do. But listen, don’t feel obligated to adopt. We always clear the shelters with the promo. Just the pics will be more than enough,” she says.
Nearby, a woman with a camera around her neck, her black hair piled on her head, waves to Reese.
Reese waves back to the photographer and turns to me. “Looks like we’re ready. We appreciate you doing this with the opposing team.”
Shielding my eyes from the bright morning sun, I scan the field, looking for the Mercenaries—some jog out from their tunnel, also in practice gear.
A guy in a Furry Friends T-shirt walks over from a nearby crate and reaches into the one housing my favorite tux-wearing feline.
Reese sets a hand on my arm. “Jason, we’ll get you first, along with some shots of you and the Mercenaries QB. We want a picture of you holding Bandit. He’s six months old and is part gymnast already. The shelter handler will be off-camera in case the little dude treats you like you’re a vault.”
“I’ve got pretty steady hands,” I say with a grin. If I can carry a ball downfield, I can handle a high-flying kitten.
Review
(audiobook) I was so enthusiastic for this book that I ended up disappointed. Not a lot, but enough. All the ingredients were there to seduce me: sports romance, LGBTQ+ positive, some team, a bisexual character. But I found a few problems with this book.
Beck and Jason were both interesting characters. Between the seasoned openly out generally bubbly QB, and his younger more introverted suffering from anxiety rival, there was more than a spark, and they had things to learn from each other. And they did. But it took so long! I get it, their opposite personalities didn’t help with communication, but if misunderstanding was a sports, they’d be gold medal. As their intimate and public interactions were so contradictory, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
Their relationship was riddled with cliché moments, ultimately lessening the impact it had on me. I mean, there were cute moments, and sexy moments, and some angst too, but I was never surprised neither by the obstacles they met, nor the resolution. I didn’t feel enough tension to keep me on the edge of my seat.
I loved the sports side of the story. We see a lot of Beck and Jason with their respective teammates. They also speak together about what their role is as a QB, and as a celebrity. The radio show was an interesting touch–though I failed to see the interest after a couple of shows if I was to listen to such a show, let alone a whole season. That’s where Beck’s anxiety became important.
As we slowly learn more about him, we can see how it came to be, and why it has such an impact on his professional life. It was interesting to see him coming to term with it and finding ways to cope. Of course, Jason is mostly responsible for that, which make the couple a little tighter in my opinion.
Steamy moments involving a virgin character–any kind of virginity–are always difficult to write. They’re supposed to discover every aspect one after another, which makes it look a bit like a play by play, or a check list. Unfortunately, it’s a lot like that here. I felt it made those sexy times less sexy and more educational.
The narrators were both really good, and perfectly cast, with one cocky and playful, the other more vulnerable and quiet. But–yes, I had a problem even with the narration–the voice each did for the other narrator’s character didn’t fit at all with the other narrator’s voice for them, and I had trouble associating the character with the voice.
It wasn’t a bad book overall, but it didn’t meet my expectations.
Quickie
- Series: Winner takes all #1 (can be read as a standalone but connected to other books by the author)
- Hashtags: #MM romance #sports romance #football #forbidden romance #second chance #rivals #bisexual
- Triggers: anxiety
- Main couple: Beck Cafferty & Jason McKay
- Hotness: 3/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + I loved the way they helped each other in some way
- – so many gay people out in sports? not realistic, unfortunately
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