Recommendations based on "A Numbers Game"

FLIRTING ON ICE (Book 1) When a sexy, forbidden spark blazes to life between professional hockey player Zac Elliott and the team owner's daughter, he's willing to risk being benched to have her. Their relationship is deeply passionate and intensely private...until the press catches them in the act. The only way out of the penalty box is for Zac to play hockey like life--and love--depends on it...SIMMERING ICE (Book 2) Physical therapist Annie Davidson is great at her job but unlucky when it comes to love. All she can do is focus on work...that is until she runs into professional hockey player Alec O'Meara. Alec likes to keep things loose on and off the ice, but the red-headed Annie challenges his beliefs and makes him think about taking their relationship to the net...

“A queer sports romance and a triumphant debut . . . a heartstring-pulling tale of two minor-league baseball rivals who realize they play much better together.”—Elle, The Best (and Most Anticipated) Romance Books of 2024, So Far“I completely adored it.”—Casey McQuiston, author of Red, White & Royal BlueMinor leagues. Major chemistry.Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis inspires.This triumphant debut romance reveals what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences.

Hendrix Bateman is one of The Lucky Three, a trio of players who were not on the Titan's team plane the night it crashed. Feeling as if he's been given a second chance, Hendrix is determined to make the most out of his life, but that doesn't mean he's not suffering from scars that can't be seen.When I lost my Titan brothers in the crash, it was a mixed bag of emotions. I was devastated and grief stricken, but I was also grateful to be alive. Yeah, that might cause a little-okay, a lot of-guilt, but now I'm determined to live each day as if it's my last.A night out with friends puts me in the crosshairs of Stevie Kisner-the devastatingly beautiful bar owner with a sharp tongue and a fire in her eyes that lets me know she has zero tolerance for guys like me. I've never been one to back away from a challenge, so I'm not dissuaded by Stevie's tough as nails attitude or her big biker dad who looks like he wants to kill me. Fueled by too many shots and the raucous urging of my teammates, I set out to show Stevie I've got game both on and off the ice.While I shouldn't be looking for anything more than a good time, I can't help but be captivated by Stevie. She's cool as hell and we burn hot together. But the more I get to know her, the more I can tell she's holding something in reserve, and let's just say I've got some trust issues after my last disastrous attempt at a relationship. Now I need to decide if I'm going to let my past dictate my future or if I am willing to put my heart on the line to find out if Stevie is exactly what I think she is-my everything.

As the coach’s curvy daughter, I shouldn’t fake-date the rival team’s hot, tattooed, grumpy defenseman, even if I used to have a crush on him back in high school.My dad, the coach, spent months training our guys to take down Dmitri Lokhov.He’s the hottest, fastest, and grumpiest defenseman on the rink. No one’s seen him smile, let alone mutter more than a few broody words.But when Dmitri loses his calm, knocking out our best player who happens to be my fiancé, everyone is shocked.With a little liquid courage, I break into Dmitri’s cushy five-star hotel suite. After all, we knew each other as teenagers, so I need to give Mr. Grumpy Superstar a piece of my mind.What I’m not supposed to learn is why he lost his cool in the first place. It was over a nasty comment about me. Made by my fiancé.I break the wedding off, but the best way to get revenge?Fake date his rival.

A sexy he falls first, boy obsessed, sports romance from bestselling author, Lulu MooreMy name is Parker King, and I am in love.Yet Scout Davison barely knows I exist.Therefore, I do what any sensible guy does when he’s trying to get a girl’s attention, I ask her out.Except I’m too late.Thanks to the job offer on the New York Lions Social media team, Scout’s focus is on work, so while pining for her I focus on making her my friend instead. Friends first, date later.Or at least I thought.The more time we spend together though, the harder it becomes for both of us to deny our feelings.And when a new company policy makes it almost impossible for us to give in, we find ourselves falling for one another.Now all we need to do is keep our relationship a secret until after the playoffs, and avoid Coach breathing down our necks.The Strike Zone is a dangerous place to stay, but we’re going out swinging.

Hooked On The Game By C.m. Owens. Everyone Has Secrets That Define Them, A Past That Has Shaped Them, And A Game They Play - Whether They Know It Or Not.despite The Fact They Live Next Door To Each Other, Kade And Raya Have Never Made An Effort To Speak, Until A Wild Party, Four Frat Boys, And... A Bulldozer.sterling Shore Was Supposed To Be A New Start For Eighteen-year-old Raya Capperton. Everything Was Working Out Perfectly Until Her Two Roommates Were Expelled For A Prank, Leaving Raya With The House She Couldn't Afford On Her Own. Fate Intervenes Before She Has The Chance To Find A New Home, But She Struggles To Decide If It's Divine Luck Or The Devil's Cruel Sense Of Humor.twenty-one-year-old Kade Colton Has His Life Planned Out, And Everything He Does Is An Elaborate Game To Aid Him With His Future Endeavors. Coming From Money Has Made Kade's Life Easy, But He Wants To Build His Own Name - His Own Future. The Thing He Doesn't Realize... When You Only Put Forth Superficial...

He’s a professional hockey player trying to survive on his new team. I’m just trying to survive. I’m down to my last dollar.I live day-to-day in a world that doesn’t care.Despite my bad luck, I’m a fighter.I never give up. I never stop trying.Ryan Parker's wealth and generosity, sets him apart from anyone I know.Yet, I don’t trust him.It’s nothing personal. I trust no one.But when my bad luck takes a turn for the worse, one person shows up.Ryan Parker. I do not understand why he bothered because the guy has enough of his own issues to deal with.But I don’t have a choice.I need him. It’s a matter of survival.His friendship changed everything.It changed me.I started to believe in myself.I allowed myself to trust. And for the first time, in a long time, I felt my heart beat again.In the game of love, winning is harder than it looks.I don’t know the rules.I don’t know how to win.But I’ll play my heart out until the whistle blows.Home Game: Who's got your back when the puck drops?This is a standalone book, and this series can be read in any order.Read all the Guilty Series Navy SEAL romances:1. My Fiancé’s Brother: Book 12. My Fiancé’s Brother: Book 23. My Fake Fiancé: Book 3, standalone4. My Donut Princess: free novellaRead all the Vancouver Wolves Hockey romances:1. Puck Me Secretly2. Home Game3. The Penalty Box4. High Risk Rookie

Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world: a bona-fide sports superstar and the pride of the NFL with a profitable side career as a buff billboard model for End Zone underwear. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a cross-country trip to figure out what's gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can't imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.Blue Bailey is on a mission to murder her ex. Or at least inflict serious damage. As for the beaver suit she's wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curveballs? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.Blue's career as a portrait painter is the perfect job for someone who refuses to stay in one place for very long. She needs a ride, and America's most famous football player has an imposing set of wheels. Now, all she has to do is keep him entertained, off guard, and fully clothed before he figures out exactly how desperate she is.But Dean isn't the brainless jock she imagines, and Blue—despite her petite stature—is just about the toughest woman Dean has ever met. They're soon heading for his summer home where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.As the summer progresses, the wandering portrait artist and the charming football star play a high-stakes game, fighting themselves and each other for a chance to have it all.Natural Born Charmer is for everyone who's ever thought about leaving their old life in the dust and never looking back. New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips takes us home again . . . and shows us where love truly lives

Common Goal Veteran Goaltender Eric Bennett Has Faced Down Some Of The Toughest Shooters On The Ice, But Nothing Prepared Him For His Latest Challenge—life After Hockey. It’s Time To Make Some Big Changes, Starting With Finally Dating Men For The First Time. Graduate Student Kyle Swift Moved To New York Nursing A Broken Heart. He’d Sworn To Find Someone His Own Age To Crush On (for Once). Until He Meets A Gorgeous, Distinguished Silver Fox Hockey Player. Despite Their Intense Physical Attraction, Kyle Has No Intention Of Getting Emotionally Involved. He’ll Teach Eric A Few Tricks, Have Some Mutually Consensual Fun, Then Walk Away. Eric Is More Than Happy To Learn Anything Kyle Brings To The Table. And Kyle Never Expected Their Friends-with-benefits Arrangement To Leave Him Wanting More. Happily-ever-after Might Be Staring Them In The Face, But It Won’t Happen If They’re Too Stubborn To Come Clean About Their Feelings. Everything They Both Want Is Within Reach… They Just Have To Be Brave Enough To Grab It. Role Model The Hits Just Keep Coming For Troy Barrett. Traded To The Worst Team In The League Would Be Bad Enough, But Coming On The Heels Of A Messy Breakup And A Recent Scandal… Troy Just Wants To Play Hockey And Be Left Alone. He Doesn’t Want To Be In The News Anymore, And He Definitely Doesn’t Want To “work On His Online Presence” With The Team’s Peppy Social Media Manager. Harris Drover Can Tell Standoffish Troy Isn’t Happy About The Trade—anyone Could Tell, Frankly, As He Doesn’t Exactly Hide It Well—but Harris Doesn’t Give Up On People Easily. Even When He’s Developing A Crush He’s Sure Is One-sided. And When He Sees Troy’s Smile Finally Crack Through His Grumpy Exterior, Well… That’s A Man Harris Couldn’t Turn His Back On If He Wanted To. Suddenly, Troy’s Move To The New Team Feels Like An Opportunity—for Troy To Embrace His True Self, And For Both Men To Surrender To Their Growing Attraction. But Indulging In Each Other Behind Closed Doors Is One Thing, And For Troy, Being In A Public Relationship With Harris Will Mean Facing Off With His Fears, Once And For All. The Long Game Shane Hollander And Ilya Rozanov Have Been Seeing Each Other For Ten Years And Have Kept It Secret. From Friends, From Family…from The League. If Shane Wants To Stay At The Top Of His Game, What He And Ilya Share Has To Remain Secret. He Loves Ilya, But What If Going Public Ruins Everything? Ilya Is Sick Of Secrets. Shane Has Gotten So Good At Hiding His Feelings, Sometimes Ilya Questions If They Even Exist. The Closeness, The Intimacy, Even The Risk That Would Come With Being Open About Their Relationship…ilya Wants It All. It’s Time For Them To Make The Call And Decide What’s Most Important—hockey Or Love. Originally Published In 2020

The Jacksonville Rays go international when their Swedish star forward and the team’s physical therapist have to stage a very real fake marriage in this delicious slow burn, spicy MM, workplace hockey romance from viral sensation Emily Rath!My name is Teddy O’Connor, and I think I’ve just made a terrible mistake. It’s been six years since I was an intern for the Jacksonville Rays NHL team. Six years since I was wrapping ice packs on knees and playing Mario Kart on chartered planes. And it’s been six long years since I first met him. Henrik Karlsson, star forward of the Rays...and king of my heart.Oh god, I’ve got to get over this crush! I’m a doctor now, a respected professional in my field. And the Rays just made me Interim Director of Physical Therapy. So you tell me why I’m risking everything to follow this man halfway around the world.After receiving news of his sister’s tragic death, Henrik must fly to Sweden to retrieve his young niece. She’s injured and grieving, but a new hockey season is about to start. Henrik can’t possibly care for her alone. In fact, the Swedish government won’t let him. He needs me. They both do. I’d be heartless not to help…right?Well, that’s what I told myself last week as I signed my name on our Swedish marriage license. It’s what I told myself yesterday as I moved my stuff into his apartment. And it’s what I’m telling myself now as the Rays PR Director stares us down. They want this marriage to look real. The team’s public image, our jobs, and his niece’s custody agreement all depend on it.But the Rays don’t need to worry. My problem isn’t that I don’t love my new fake husband. God help me, my problem is that I do.