Lulu Moore

My name is Jupiter Reeves, and I am a fraud. It’s not that what’s written about me isn’t true. I am the greatest third baseman of my generation, possibly ever. I am surly and unapproachable. I do have a constant scowl, with an armour of tattoos. And to the outside world, I play my role as the bad boy of baseball like I was born to do it. But when the doors are closed and you boil it down, I’m nothing more than a man who lost his heart too young, with no prospect of getting it back... especially as I still have no idea where its current owner is. That was until I was offered an opportunity I couldn't Leave the Los Angeles Dodgers - where I've played my entire career - and join The New York Lions in exchange for tracking down the one woman who's consumed me since the day I first saw her fourteen years ago. Job done. Now we're under the same roof once again; except Marnie Matthews wants nothing to do with me, or my heart. So along with winning the Commissioner's Trophy, I have the added challenge of winning back the only woman I've ever loved before the season ends, and convince her to stay in New York with me. I might have been stupid enough to lose her once, but I'm definitely not going to do it again. Marnie Matthews is about to become the biggest achievement of my life.

My name is Ace Watson, and I’m having an existential crisis. I finished last season as one of the league's best pitchers. Baseball’s smooth-talking boy wonder. The future of The New York Lions. I'm starting this season as the worst. And I don't want to sound dramatic, but the fault lies entirely with Payton Lopez. She walked into my life with her mile long legs and dark brown waves, and threw me the curviest of all curve balls. Overnight my ability to pitch disappeared with my ability to charm, and I found myself riding a one way ticket to being the most expensive bench warmer in the M.L.B. The only solution: to get Payton to fix what she broke, something she agrees to on one very easy condition. Before long, what started as a way to get my pitch back, soon turns into any excuse I can find for us to spend time together. Before long I have everything I didn't even realize I wanted. Now I just need to prove to her that while I exist without baseball, I can’t live without her. Payton Lopez might have thrown me a curve ball, but I’m pitching it right back.

As Captain of an NHL team, I'm rich, successful and have women falling at my feet. I thought my life was perfect until a pint sized blonde checked into me one day, knocking my life off course. Wolfie Williams is sass personified. Beautiful, fiery, funny and oh so sexy. With every eye roll she gives me I become more and more wrapped around her finger, making me realise she is my missing piece. The only problem is she hates me and she’s heading back to England in five months. So I’m against the clock to make her understand that she can’t live without me either.

Thirteen years ago I fell for the wrong person and swore I’d never let another woman into my heart. Ever since, I’ve lived on a diet of bunnies and casual sex. That was until Francesca Danvers walked into my life. The sister of my team Captain’s fiancée, her Maid of Honor to my Best Man. She’s my match in every stubborn way. Boiling my blood during the day, lighting me on fire at night. It took her forty eight hours to get under my skin, but turned out she’d been there all along. I never meant to fall in love. Just like I never meant to mess it all up. Now I just have to convince her I’m in love for good and we’re playing for keeps.

You don’t date the Coach’s daughter. It’s the first thing you learn in Hockey 101. Except whoever made that rule had never met Nora Campbell. She came into my life like the blondest ray of sunshine, and I thought all my dreams had come true. Then I found out who she was. For two excruciating years I’ve crushed on her from afar, keeping my distance while she’s been working her magic rehabbing my injured teammates. For two years I’ve been concentrating on my game; honing my skills, my speed and my strength to become the best defenceman in the league. It all pays off the day I’m made Captain. Unfortunately for me, it’s the same day an injury forces me to seek help from the one person who definitely shouldn’t be putting their hands on me, and the only person I want. The more time we spend together, the harder it becomes to resist her. And the harder it becomes to remember the one rule I’m supposed to follow above all else. Because it’s the one rule that was made to be broken.

I have a secret. Twelve years ago I crushed on my teammate’s little sister, before firmly putting her in the friend zone. Which then became the best friend zone. And my teammate became more of a brother. But now we have two problems. 1. I just found out she’s been crushing on me too, and my feelings have come hurtling back like a puck heading for the net 2. She’s my doctor and I’m her patient So we have some hurdles to get through. And I need to convince Doctor Molly Marks that we’re worth the fight. That love is enough. Because this isn’t a game I plan on losing.

As any true sports fan will tell you, once you have an allegiance to a team it's set in stone. It's unwavering. It's finite. You never leave. Yet somehow, I’ve been asked to do just that. To set aside my love for The Yankees and take ownership of The New York Lions - the worst team in Major League Baseball. Oh, yes, and turn them into winners. An impossible job I don’t want, from a gift I couldn’t get a refund on. But bring me a challenge and I will rise to it... Never, in all my thirty one years, have I shied away. And, technically, I still haven't. Because, technically, I haven't accepted this particular challenge. Or two. Enter Lowe Slater. The woman of my dreams. The woman I've loved from afar since I knew what love meant. My sister's best friend and the one who's been tasked to help me. Twenty-five years I've kept Lowe at arm's length. Now she's everywhere I go. I have a team to build and somehow I’m doing it with Lowe by my side. The walls I’ve so carefully constructed are falling down brick by brick, and soon it's not just the Commissioner's Trophy at stake. It's my heart, too.

Have you ever met someone who makes your blood boil simply by existing? Or turn your notorious, ice-cool demeanor volcanic in a nanosecond? Perhaps smother your usual air of indifference with a lightning-charged thundercloud, threatening to strike at any moment? Because that’s what she does. It’s been seven peaceful years since I last saw Beulah Holmes. Seven peaceful years of practicing the law without her arguing against me, and if I never saw her again it would be too soon; but I'm not that fortunate. She hasn’t changed a bit. Still the same shouty mouth threatening to burst my eardrums. Still the same murderous eyes which laser through me, promising to reign Hell. Except this time, the longer I have to sit opposite her, the longer I have to notice that the murderous eyes are also the most beautiful I've ever seen. And that shouty mouth with its full lips curled up in a snarl? I want to know what else it can do. As each day passes, hating her isn't the only thing becoming harder. Beulah Holmes was my own personal devil, until the day I realized she wasn’t... And then I made it my mission to bring her back from Hell.

Let me ask you a question. Have you met your soulmate? I did, then promptly lost her. Because what happens in Vegas stays there, right? Wrong. I’d never been the relationship type, but I’ve spent every spare second of the past twelve months wondering what if. What if I hadn’t slept through my alarm? What if I hadn’t lost her number? What if I’d known her name? But I came up blank. That was until I found her. Emerson Reeves. My forever. Giving me the answers to all my questions. What happened in Vegas isn’t staying there this time. This time, I’m not letting go. And all bets are off.