Next Play (Paperback or Softback)

One broken camera. One billionaire playboy. One football season that breaks every rule they have about falling in love.

Skylar Hartley hasn't needed anyone since a fire took her family when she was twelve. Nine years later, she's surviving on a scholarship, four jobs, five hours of sleep, and the stubborn belief that self-reliance is the only thing keeping her alive. She didn't come to Thorndale College to fall for anyone. She came to finish what her sister never got the chance to start.

Charlie Carnell has two lives. The public one belongs to his billionaire father: the golden-boy quarterback, the camera-ready grin, the son who has never once chosen something for himself. The private one lives in the stories he writes at three in the morning on his phone, a secret he has never told a single soul. Graduation is closing in, and with it, his last few ounces of freedom are slipping away.

When a blackmail scheme forces the freshman and the quarterback into a PR partnership for the football program, every event pulls them closer to the one thing neither can afford. She thinks his money makes him careless. He thinks wanting her makes him dangerous.

But Skylar's camera keeps finding the version of Charlie nobody else bothers to look for. And Charlie keeps showing up in all the places she swore she didn't need anyone. The closer they get, the more it costs, because the same wounds that draw them together are the ones that could shatter them both. And this football season is about to ruin everything.

Next Play is a steamy, slow burn New Adult college football romance with a cinnamon roll billionaire hero, a fiercely independent scholarship heroine, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Book One in the Thorndale Hearts Series.

Perfect for readers who love Kandi Steiner’s emotional sports romance, Abby Jimenez’s heart-and-humor balance, and Emily Henry-style banter with big feelings.

Forced proximity. Billionaire quarterback. Scholarship heroine. Roommate's ex. He falls first. Slow burn. Dual POV.