Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver

I fell for the boy next door, and then my father ripped it all away from us. The first person to catch my eye in a long time is a colleague who tells me what we just did over his desk will never happen again. Then my mother calls with news from back home. I have to head back to the small town my father forced me to leave seven years ago, knowing the boy I still love will show up, too. When I finally see him, it's clear we have unfinished business. But it doesn't matter. His life is in the Vegas spotlight now, where he plays pro football and goes home to his wife.

The boy next door is back, and so am I. He's spending his NFL off-season in our small Midwestern town after seven long years away, and I'm in town for different reasons. Memories shift to reality as we find ourselves in the place where we first fell in love. We're different people now, but I'm falling fast and hard for the man he is now.

He's not the boy next door anymore, and I'm not the girl I used to be, either. His life is in the spotlight as one of the most popular professional football players on the Vegas Aces, while I can't afford to have my secrets exposed. As we work together on a project benefitting our small Midwestern town, we easily slip back into the friendship we once shared. He introduces me to the people he's closest to now, and I find myself fitting into his new life as he works to fix the mistakes of his past. But somebody's digging into my history, threatening to break us before we even get started.

Every time we get close, something threatens to break us. Half-sisters, town gossips, and jealous exes throw punch after punch, but we hold on tight to each other as we attempt to navigate the chaos. With his life in the spotlight as a professional football player, I'm starting to feel like it might always be like this. All I can do is pray there's no mistake so big we can't overcome it together.

The boy next door isn't next door anymore. He's in Vegas, preparing for the upcoming NFL season, and I'm still stuck in the small Midwestern town where we grew up. We should be together, but people wanted us apart. They won. Secrets are uncovered, and lives are forever torn apart.