Meant for You (Playing For Keeps)

He’s a hometown hero trying to make it as a firefighter. She’s barely surviving sleep training her toddler. Love is not on their to-do lists.

Chelsea Lewis is a year post-divorce, working at her cousin’s bakery, hiding vegetables in her toddler’s food, and pretending she totally has her life together. Spoiler: she doesn’t. Then DJ Kaiser—former football star and accidental barbeque arsonist—waltzes into her life with his do-gooder energy and a smile that should come with a warning label.

DJ’s trying to redeem himself after a few… let’s call them unfortunate mistakes as a rookie firefighter. Helping Chelsea feels like a win—until he starts catching real feelings, and suddenly this “favor” feels a lot like a forever kind of thing.

But just when things start heating up—in a good way—Chelsea’s ex asks her to move closer so he can be a better dad. DJ and Chelsea have to face the hardest question of all: Can something this good survive when doing the “right” thing might mean saying goodbye?

Meant for You is the fourth in the Playing for Keeps series but can be read as a standalone. It is a lighthearted inspirational romance with friends to lovers, a cinnamon roll hero, a single mom, and small-town romance.