Book Title: Playing Deep (Miami Piranhas Book 5)
Author and Publisher: Beth Bolden
Cover Artist: Cate Ashwood Designs
Release Date: February 15, 2023
Genre: gay contemporary sports romance
Tropes: hookups to lovers, mysterious past, player and reporter
Themes: loyalty, honor, and unconditional love
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 98 000 words
It is #5 in the series, but could be read by itself.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb
Kenyon Ellis knows getting involved with Julian Anderson is an enormous mistake—but from the very first night, he finds him annoying, intriguing and ultimately, irresistible.
One, Kenyon is a player, and Julian is a reporter, so hooking up with him, no matter how spectacular the nights are, is a terrible idea.
Two, he’s falling for him, even if Julian continues to be prickly and impossible. But every time Julian’s walls shift, Kenyon sees the real man behind the attitude, and he only wants more.
Three, between the Piranhas and the charity work he’s committed to, Kenyon really doesn’t have the time for a relationship—but a relationship with Julian turns out to be exactly what he wants.
Maybe even exactly what he needs.
But when Julian starts calling out his performance on the field, the last thing Kenyon expects is his betrayal. But is it betrayal? Or does Julian see something in Kenyon that he’s lost?
The answer leads him not only to love, but to the biggest crossroads of his life.
The fifth and final Miami Piranhas book.
This was usually when Kenyon got dressed and left, but to Julian’s surprise, he walked into the bathroom, still gloriously naked, and leaned against the doorjamb. “Maybe it’s not just sex,” he said. “You know people do that, things that aren’t sex.”
This sounded like a risky line of conversation.
Julian could see danger signs and flashing red lights everywhere.
The only question was why Kenyon didn’t just leave it alone.
He pulled the shower curtain back and got in, putting his head under the hot water, but annoyingly it didn’t clear his head.
“You looking for satisfaction somewhere else?” Julian asked, raising his voice so Kenyon could hear him over the water.
He could still see the faint outline of Kenyon through the shower curtain.
He hadn’t moved.
“You know I’m not,” Kenyon said. “How could I possibly?” He sounded frustrated, like he knew Julian had purposefully misunderstood what he was asking.
“Yeah, I guess, maybe he’s wildly in love with someone. That happens. I know it happens.” To other people.
“I used to think that’d take up a lot of time, that wildly-in-love thing,” Kenyon said. “But then I started hooking up with you, and it’s not like that doesn’t take up a chunk of time.”
Julian finished washing up, but instead of getting out, he leaned against the cool shower wall. Hoping that it might resolve his conflicted heart. This wasn’t fair; Kenyon wasn’t being fair. Sure, he had these thoughts too, but he didn’t say them. That was against the unspoken rules they’d laid out, at the very beginning. Just fucking. No kissing. No cuddling. No talking.
No feelings.
Julian just hadn’t anticipated still doing it six months later or that after spending all this time together, even in bed, he’d like the guy so goddamned much.
Or that it might be mutual.
Nobody had ever really spent so much time with him before, even if it was between the sheets—or in hotels, or in janitor closets, or in empty classrooms—and still liked him at the end of it.
Julian didn’t know what to do with that particular fact.
“You’re being awfully quiet in there,” Kenyon said. “You drowning? Taking on water? Need a rescue?”
It was the last word that shook Julian out of his stupor.
No, he didn’t need a rescue.
After all, he’d promised Kenyon at the very beginning that he wouldn’t end up needing to be saved, or crying in his arms like some pathetic damsel in distress.
He shut the water off and tugged the curtain over.
“I’m fine,” Julian said. He pulled a towel from the rack and began drying off. “If you need more time for practice or for your foundation or something, you know you can take it.”
“I know I can,” Kenyon said. A little annoyed now. And yes, that was fair. Julian had deliberately misunderstood him.
“Good,” Julian said. “I’ve got to finish my story. Get it filed before tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get out of your hair. I know how much you hate it when someone sits there and watches you type.”
There had been a night, not unlike this one, a few months back, when Julian had sent Kenyon the go-ahead text to come over, and then Nikki had assigned him a last-minute story.
“For good reason,” Julian said, toweling his hair off. “It’s incredibly annoying.”
“Apparently,” Kenyon grumbled. “I was silent.”
“Except your thoughts are really noisy,” Julian explained with a lopsided grin. “I told you this.”
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.
Author Links
Blog/Website | Facebook | Twitter | BookBub
Instagram | Newsletter Sign-up
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win
a $20 Amazon gift card.
