The Play Hard Series

At first, the request seemed simple - sign a new athlete to the agency. Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter Maddox. Gifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart. If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked. But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated. But I know better than to cross that line.

The contract with Major League Soccer was supposed to help repair my damaged reputation. Then I discovered that I’d made a deal with the devil: The player I’m supposed to recruit is none other than the bad-boy star Premier League footballer Rush McKenzie. British. Tattooed. Sexy. A man currently at the center of a huge scandal. The goal? To convince him to stay in the States. But what’s wrong with a little fun in the meantime? No strings. No sweet nothings. Just a way to pass the time while we’re both struggling to prove our true selves to the world.

I’ve signed numerous players to my family’s agency - I assumed winning over my next client would be just as easy. The last thing I expected was to run into the boy who took my first kiss and broke my heart: only now Drew Bowman is all grown up. Sexy. Scandal-tainted. Second-string. The crush I never got over. aI tell myself work is the reason I can’t get him out of my head. I tell him his talent far outweighs his position, and I know I can help. I lie and lie, because admitting that I want a second chance at my first love is impossible.

I know finding and signing a military vet to the agency is a long shot - but it’ll be good press just letting him try out. That’s what I tell my family, rather than admit I can’t get the letter he wrote us five years ago out of my head. But what I tell the bartender in his hometown is a lie. I know veterans protect each other. So I pretend to be a graduate student. Sparks. Flame. Fire. I accidentally got in too deep. I didn’t expect to develop feelings for Gunner Camden. And there’s no way I can admit to my lies now.

He was the one-night stand that didn’t exactly go as planned. Now he’s standing before me as if he’s never seen me naked, telling my manager he’ll take the job. Reluctantly. Finn Sanderson. Sports agent extraordinaire. Handsome as hell. The man who just signed on to control my every move.