Book Title: Playing for Keeps
Author and Publisher: Beth Bolden
Cover Artist: Cate Ashwood Designs
Release Date: May 11, 2022
Genres: Gay contemporary sports romance
Tropes: Forbidden love, age gap, player/coach’s son
Themes: Overcoming fear, positive change, growing trust
Length: 85 000 words
It’s the first book in a new series
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb
Sebastian Howard is the best damn cornerback in the NFL.
Or at least he was.
Age and injuries have taken a toll, and while most people have written him off, Sebastian isn’t ready to acknowledge that at only thirty-two, he’s already in the twilight of his career.
He signs with the Miami Piranhas intending to prove everyone wrong.
Only to realize that the head coach’s son, out-and-proud Beau Dawson, doesn’t believe he can.
Beau is infuriating but brilliant, and when he offers to help him on the field, Sebastian wants to say yes, but there’s one thing stopping him: the unexpected, inconvenient, and all-consuming crush he doesn’t want to have on Beau.
But Beau isn’t interested in playing it safe, with football or with anything else, and soon they’re embroiled in a hot—and secret—affair that would finish Sebastian’s career if Coach Dawson found out.
As Sebastian falls harder for Beau, he begins to realize that actually the worst thing in the world isn’t getting benched, but losing the man he loves.
“You knew coming in that we wanted you to switch to safety,” Beau said.
“I knew it was a possibility.”
Sebastian began to pace in front of where Beau was pressed up against the front of his father’s desk.
“You thought you could show up in camp and prove yourself,” Beau guessed.
Sebastian shot him a glare from underneath eyelashes a model would’ve killed for. “You and your daddy really are the same, aren’t you?”
“What?” Beau couldn’t follow. “We’re not . . . no, we’re not alike at all, really.”
“That’s what he said.” Sebastian breathed out, and for a moment, he was silent. “That I planned to come to camp and prove you wrong, that I should stay a corner.”
Sebastian unsettled him so much, he could barely think. “It was a reasonable conclusion,” Beau said. “It’s not like a big injury slowed you down—a bunch of little ones, more like, and age. You’ve been playing ball since you were what, twelve? Thirteen? It’s a lot of wear and tear, it’s going to happen . . .”
“So you thought you could push me, teach me a lesson, huh?”
“No. No. I want . . .” Sebastian took a step closer, and Beau’s breath clogged in his throat. He gripped the edge of the desk and told himself firmly, even though he’d never, not once, been tempted to touch a player who hadn’t clearly wanted to be touched, that he would not reach out and press a palm to Sebastian’s bare chest.
“What I want,” Beau started over again, “is for this to be mutually beneficial for both of us. You want to keep playing. We want you to keep playing.”
Sebastian’s lip curled. “Oh, you’re two regular do-gooders.”
“No. We want to win football games. And you’re gonna help us.”
For a long moment, Sebastian just stared at him. Like he was assessing him. Beau found himself standing a little straighter, and hoping that after pulling off his cap, his hair wasn’t too much of a mess.
Like any of that mattered.
“I think,” Beau continued, uneasily, “that this could be a real good change for you. Honestly. What I want is for everyone to succeed.”
“What if what I want is to play corner?”
Beau shrugged. “You can teach Rose everything you know. He’s got potential. He won’t be you in your golden years, sure. But he could still be really, really good.”
“Sure,” Sebastian retorted.
“Listen”—Beau found his voice growing sharper—“you want to know what I really think?”
Sebastian gestured like, sure, might as well, and Beau kept going. “I think that you’re miserable trying to be your old self. You’re working yourself so hard, you’re going to end up with another injury, and it’s going to end up being a vicious cycle. You played safety this afternoon, and I saw a dynamic, aggressive player who got to be himself again because he wasn’t worried about outrunning a guy he couldn’t outrun anymore. You saw the field, analyzed it, and attacked the play.”
Sebastian stared at him.
Long enough that Beau told himself not to squirm under the intensity of that gaze, but he couldn’t help it.
Finally, he spoke. But only after taking another step closer, and then another to be even closer still. Beau swallowed hard. All he’d have to do was lean in and their chests would touch. He was wearing a cotton polo, but he bet that he’d feel the warmth of Sebastian’s skin, even through the fabric.
“You think you know me?” Sebastian’s voice was low and quiet and so dangerous.
Dangerous to Beau’s peace of mind.
A lifelong Pacific Northwester, Beth Bolden has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband. Beth still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to be just as weird in Raleigh.
Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published twenty-three novels and seven novellas.
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