Lo Everett

What happens when you fall hard and fast but have no idea that she is your neighbor? The one he’s heard through the wall but never met. The neighbor he can’t stand... Hendrix James is the newest addition to the Denver Bandits baseball team. He was adjusting just fine after his trade. His teammates were great, he found a killer apartment, and he met a girl he really likes. The only problem? His loud neighbor is disrupting his life all day, every day, with her wild habits between the sheets. Poppy Byrne is ready for a change in her career. She’s owned her business, working as an adult phone operator since college. Launching her career as an audiobook narrator is her next big dream. Focused on her goals, she’s all but given up on men entirely. When she finally meets someone worth her time, fate throws her an unexpected curve ball.

Friends with benefits—that’s the agreement. No commitments. No complications … but it’s never that simple. At my wit's end, I planned to spend the winter focusing on my writing, away from the soul-sucking grind that’s become my norm. The last person I expected to step in and save me when things go awry is my brother’s teammate, the intense and sometimes grumpy Dean Harrison. This winter my goals are threefold: find my happy place, elevate my writing, and try not to get my heart broken by an aloof baseball player. Like the ever-growing snowdrifts outside, the tension between us keeps building. Unable to stand it, I suggest we “make each other feel good,” something, it turns out, we excel at. Dean is as emotionally unavailable as he is hot, making it the perfect fix for our mutual attraction. Cold, detached, and grumpy. All words that describe me. But even the most resistant fall. One mint brownie shake is all it takes to upend my life. Well, that and finding Mia James, looking defeated, ordering a shake to drown her sorrows. She’s my teammate’s sister—someone I have no right wanting, but has been a constant in my fantasies since we met. Finding her alone and dejected is my downfall. Weeks later, with her head in the clouds, she waltzes into my cabin and turns everything upside down. Now I’m questioning all the reasons I’ve kept myself closed off for more than a decade. But will the secrets I’ve held onto for so long hold me back? Or will I succeed at shedding my past and going after the one person who makes me believe in a better version of myself? Her.

Vivienne Cardoza is exactly my type. From her curves to her brilliant mind, she’s captivating. If my dating life hadn’t been benched the moment my daughter came screaming into the world, I’d have asked her out. But, as it is, Vivienne hates me. And I don’t blame her. I blew my first shot at a good impression with the stunning brunette when I wrongly assumed she was a fan just because she knew my name. Talk about embarrassing. I struck out again when I volunteered at a youth baseball camp she was running—with my newborn daughter in tow and a missing nanny. Now she thinks I’m not just a jerk, but an incompetent one. I don’t hate Xavier Kingsley, but I certainly think he’s a man-child. And that’s the last thing I need in my life. I’ve spent too many years caring for the ever multiplying nieces and nephews in my family. Old habits die hard and when Xavier shows up to a Double Play event with baby Holland and no nanny, I shift into problem-solving mode calling my niece, Tenley, to save the day. Little did I know I was intertwining our worlds more than I ever intended. Xavier needs a reliable nanny and my niece is his best option. I find myself spending more and more time around the handsome, single dad, and because life loves to throw me curveballs, my body’s unprecedented reaction makes it impossible to fight the enticing pull I feel towards him. It’s clear he wants me too. So when the single dad baseball player offers to lend me a hand—and then some—I let him. As long as he doesn’t fall in love with me, and no one gets hurt. We are two consenting adults. Surely we can give into our physical desires and not catch feelings. Right?!

I’ve always been that guy; charming, charismatic, the one that things come easy for. Baseball is the only thing I’ve ever had to work at … until her. Maybe that carefree smile I wear is part of the reason why I’ve developed a reputation as a playboy. Okay, some of it is deserved. Deep down, under the one-night stands and fun-loving spirit, I’ve always wanted a lasting love like my parents have. One unforgettable night with Indie Moreno was all it took to know she was the one I want it all with. But my dream girl wakes up the next morning and declares we are one and done. No more. When she moves to my city a year later, it's the second chance I’ve been waiting for. I make it my mission to prove to her I’m what she needs, even if it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. With more to unpack than just those moving boxes, will she let me be the one to help her, or will her fear force us apart? A Note about Force Play: This is the fourth book in the Mile High Heart series which follows the Denver Bandits baseball team. It can be read as a standalone, but to fully appreciate the dynamic of the group, I recommend reading it as a series. Dom and Indie’s story starts as a failed one-night stand between frenemies. There’s lots of banter, some heavy pining from our hero, and caretaking. This book also touches on topics of parental death, cancer, and fertility treatments.

I’m not supposed to fall for my best friend. But fate has a funny way of knowing exactly what we need. For the past three years, Delilah Tate has been the only thing aside from baseball that has saved me from my grief. She’s the equivalent of the warm sun filtering through the clouds on the coldest days. She thaws and heals the parts of me that are broken. My brother has been the driving reason behind all my hard work on and off the baseball diamond. But now I have one more reason to fulfill all my promises to him. Be the man she deserves. Cruz Tellez might think that I’m the one who saved him, but he was there during the worst moments of my life, too. My best friend has always been a flirt, but I can’t get him out of my head now that he's stepped up his game. He’s even invaded my dreams, and I’m not sure how I’ll ever face him again after one that was extra steamy. A dream where he sported a filthy mouth, making me question everything I know about what I want in and out of the bedroom. And it’s terrifying. But I’m not sure I can fight it anymore. Giving in would be so easy.