Dallas Longhorns trainer Piper Rhodes has plans and dreams. While she trains wealthy clients and professional athletes by day, by night she runs her own fitness empire, with a successful YouTube channel, growing podcast and plans for a game changing app. But growing her business doesn’t come cheap, so when All-Star shortstop and renowned manwhore Beau Beckett asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend—for a fee—she sees it as her opportunity to finally invest in her dreams. And she knows better than to let herself develop feelings for Beau, whose reputation is a mile long.
Beau just wants to get the media off his back so that he can head into free agency—and hopefully a massive contract—without his past hanging over his head. So when he asks the cute and sassy Piper to pretend to be his girlfriend, he expects to fool the media. What he doesn’t expect is to fall for her—hard. After a lifetime of abandonment, Beau does sex, not love. But being with Piper shows Beau the man he could be. For the first time in his life, he wants it all, and he wants it with Piper. But when life interferes, Beau will have to fight for a love he didn’t know he needed.
What started out as pretend could lead to a real future—if the present doesn’t tear them apart.
Review:
Fake relationship FTW!
Beau’s a shortstop whose career is on fire, but whose personal life is threatening to blacken his future prospects. Piper’s got an idea for growing her fitness business, but can’t secure the loan she needs to finance it. When Beau’s agent (Aerin from Moon Shot , of course!) suggests he either start living the life of a monk or (she’s joking–or is she?) getting himself a pretend girlfriend to reassure sponsors and prospective teams, he’s resistant at first. But he’s been flirting shamelessly with Piper ever since she started leading the team through regular yoga sessions, and he’s soon making her a deal she can’t refuse…
We *all* know where this is going, yes? Funny how the main characters of fake relationship romances never do… 😉
Long story short: I really enjoyed Piper and Beau’s story–it was a read-in-one-day fun, sweet, and sexy book! They’re clearly made for each other–even if it takes them most of the book to figure it out–and my only complaints are 1) I loved Beau’s grandpa! I could have used three times as many scenes with him and 2) I wasn’t ready for this book to end! Was just a teensy bit more of Piper and Beau enjoying their HEA too much to ask for? Sigh… 😉
(This book inspired a conversation at work about whether or not fake relationships ever happen IRL, except maybe with celebrity co-stars trying to build up publicity for their latest project(s). As much of a fan as I am of them in my reading material, we both agreed that we’re highly skeptical that they’re even a quarter as common as they tend to be in my reading material. If your experience is different, we’re all ears! Set us straight!)
For fans of the series, we see a lot of Beau’s teammates here, as well as a (in-story as well as a separate excerpt) teaser for book six ( Scoring Position ) plus a sneak peek at the after-the-HEA for a favorite couple (Abby and Jake–and there’d better be a bonus short covering what happens to them after, Tara Wyatt!) There’s even a tiny little Prescotts crossover in there is you’re paying attention.
If this is your first visit to the Dallas Longhorns dressing room, though, no worries–this would work as a standalone too. But you’re honestly going to love this group of players, so don’t blame me when you end up binging the whole series.
Or go ahead and blame me. I can handle it 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.