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the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man.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

Patton’s message came a few minutes later. I was thinking about you


DeShawn stared at the words, the wind stolen from his lungs. Of all the things Patton could have said, he’d found the exact combination that felt like a hard punch to his solar plexus.


DeShawn considered and deleted several responses including I love youbefore settling on a simple goodnight


“Excuse me?” DeShawn leaned over the bar. “How far is it to Kansas City?”


Orlando was about twenty-one hundred miles from Phoenix, but somehow DeShawn had never felt the distance like he felt these three hundred miles. Patton would already be in his hotel room. The urge to call him just to hear the low rumble of Patton’s voice nearly overwhelmed him, but he pushed the phone back in his pocket and turned to the dart board. Calling wouldn’t do any good now. Nothing could be undone. 11


Chapter 47