Patton Cooper won three national championships as the starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Marauders, but that didn’t stop them from trading him to Phoenix without so much as a warning. At thirty-two, he finds himself weighed down by old injuries and forced to start over again as a backup quarterback for an untried rookie. Deeply hurt by the betrayal of both his team and his ex-lover, Patton keeps to himself and takes what solace he can in football.<br><br>Cornerback DeShawn Jones has loved two things in his life -- football and Patton Cooper. It seems like his dreams have come true when he’s drafted to play for the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man. But DeShawn refuses to give up on his dreams of playing, or his hope of reaching Patton.<br><br>A tentative connection forms between the two men, but the pressures of the game may be too much for the relationship to withstand. Especially when DeShawn is given the chance of a lifetime while Patton struggles not to relive the mistakes from his past.

Mr. November

“I honestly don’t understand anything that goes on in that man’s head,” Vanessa said. “I’ve been a Marauders fan since I a kid, and I don’t get it. So, do you at least like playing in Phoenix?”


“Phoenix is a beautiful city and I’ve got great teammates,” Patton answered automatically.


The three girls looked at each other, then at him and started to laugh. “Could that have been more of a canned response? We’re not reporters, you know,” Sunny said.


“It’s been difficult to adjust,” Patton admitted. It was the most he’d confessed of his unhappiness, and it felt like a small weight had been lifted from his chest. In the morning, they would all leave Houston for their respective homes, and his impulsive honesty would be forgotten. “Really difficult.”


“Moving to a new city can be hard,” Vanessa said with full sympathy. “Especially if everything else is different, too.”


Chapter 7