First published 2002
Phoebe Somerville arrives in Chicago as the new owner of the Stars football team, a curvaceous New York woman thrust into a world she never expected. The team's head coach, Dan Celebow, sees her as nothing more than an interfering outsider who belongs nowhere near his players or his playbook. He's a demanding taskmaster who lives and breathes football. She's a cosmopolitan woman who knows little about the sport but plenty about getting what she wants. Dan considers Phoebe a meddling distraction. Phoebe finds Dan's old-fashioned attitudes insufferable. Yet something electric sparks between them despite their mutual antagonism. Dan discovers himself inexplicably drawn to the woman he's determined to dislike. Phoebe finds the coach's rough charm unsettling in ways that leave her uncharacteristically flustered. Neither wants to admit the attraction growing between them as they battle over control of the team and try to ignore the heat building every time they're in the same room.
Genres: fiction, romance, sports, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Chicago
Period: Contemporary
384 pages · Unknown Binding · HarperCollins Publishers