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the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man.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

“Hey,” Chris said quickly, putting his hand out to stop Patton from closing the door. “I got your address from Ben. I hope you don’t mind.”


He didn’t mind, but he would kill his brother at the first opportunity. “What do you want?”


“I don’t have anything to say to you.”


“I think you said everything you needed to say before I left.”


“I’ll just wait out here until you let me inside.”


Chris took a step forward, as though he planned to bully his way in. Chris was a big guy, well over six feet tall with broad shoulders, still young enough that most people mistook him for a player when they saw him with a crowd. But Patton responded by closing the door an inch.


“Do we have to do this, Patton? Can’t we just be adults?”


“You’re not invited here. I never gave you reason to think you’d everbe invited here.”


“Did you really think I wouldn’t even stop by to say hi?”


Chapter 14