Play Hard

Book catalog

7 Feb

Written By Anzhelika Li

It appears rather hard to extinguish the fire on the ice.

1. HARD TO HANDLE by K. Bromberg

SYNOPSIS

At first, the request seemed simple—sign a new athlete to the agency. Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter Maddox Gifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart. If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked.

But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated. But I know better than to cross that line. I’ll never date a client. Not even for him.

Win the Stanley Cup and do it before time runs out. Not a small feat, but it’s what’s motivated me since the start of my career. And time is running out. Enter Dekker Kincade. Feisty. Dogged. Damn gorgeous. The one I let get away. I have no idea why she’s traveling with the team, but hell if resisting her is going to be easy. But I have a job to do, and I refuse to lose sight of that end game. Even if she confuses me. Even if she sees parts of me I’ve hidden from the world. I can’t lose focus. Not even for her.

2. HARD TO HOLD by K. Bromberg

SYNOPSIS

The contract with Major League Soccer was supposed to help repair my damaged reputation. Then I discovered that I’d made a deal with the devil: the player I’m supposed to recruit is none other than the bad boy, star Premier League footballer, Rush McKenzie. British. Tattooed. Sexy. A man currently at the center of a huge scandal. The goal? To convince him to stay in the States.

But what’s wrong with a little fun in the meantime? No strings. No sweet nothings. Just a way to pass the time while we’re both struggling to prove our true selves to the world. If someone found out our relationship was anything more than professional, it would only serve to prove all our critics right.

I never should have agreed to take the fall. But I did and I’m a man of my word. Even if it means risking everything I’ve worked for. The only bright side is Lennox Kincade. Gorgeous. Defiant. Rumor-tainted. Totally off-limits. Sharing a house with the gorgeous sports agent should have been a fun distraction from the turmoil. Someone to help pass the time while the tensions back home die down. But what started as nothing, ends up as something I never saw coming.

3. HARD TO SCORE by K. Bromberg

SYNOPSIS

I’ve signed numerous players to my family’s agency—I assumed winning over my next client would be just as easy. The last thing I expected was to run into the boy who took my first kiss and broke my heart: only now Drew Bowman is all grown up. Sexy. Scandal-tainted. Second-string. The crush I never got over.

I tell myself work is the reason I can’t get him out of my head. I tell him his talent far outweighs his position, and I know I can help. I lie and lie, because admitting that I want a second chance at my first love is impossible. Some lines cannot be crossed, and ours was drawn in the sand years ago.

I’m supposed to hate her. I’ve been told so time and again for ten years—her father ruined our family, smeared my name before my career even began. But that’s not what I’m feeling now.

Brexton Kincade just strode out of my memories and onto my field. Driven. Determined. Grown-up. The Capulet to my Montague.

Being with her would be an unforgivable sin against my father, but I can’t resist the pull between us. Even if it means hiding what we have. Even if it means confronting the secrets I’ve always feared were lies.

4. HARD TO LOSE by K. Bromberg

SYNOPSIS

I know finding and signing a military vet to the agency is a long shot—but it’ll be good press just letting him try out. That’s what I tell my family, rather than admit I can’t get the letter he wrote us five years ago out of my head. But what I tell the bartender in his hometown is a lie. I know veterans protect each other. So I pretend to be a graduate student.

Sparks. Flame. Fire. I accidentally got in too deep. I didn’t expect to develop feelings for Gunner Camden. And there’s no way I can admit to my lies now, not without destroying what we share. So I’ll keep faking it.

There are two versions of me: before and after deployment. Back then I was a screwup kid. I’d lie, cheat, and steal my way out of everything. My only love was baseball. After I started fighting, I found out there had been another path for me. One that involved my dream. But by then I had seen too much. The old me was dead, so I put my dreams to rest, too.

Then Chase Kinkade walks into my bar and reminds me that life is meant to live. No regrets. Fresh. Happy. Hopeful. I can start to see a new dream, with her. But sometimes things are too good to be true… and dishonesty is the one thing I can’t forgive.

5. HARD TO LOVE by K. Bromberg

SYNOPSIS

He was the one-night stand that didn’t exactly go as planned. Now he’s standing before me as if he’s never seen me naked, telling my manager he’ll take the job. Reluctantly. Finn Sanderson. Sports agent extraordinaire. Handsome as hell. The man who just signed on to control my every move.

Sure, I’m to blame for my recent bad press, but when your whole life has been so regimented, isn’t it normal to want to live it up a little? But when the partying stops and the grief I’m running from has nowhere else to hide, reality sets in. Turns out, Finn’s the only person I have left to help pick up the pieces. The only person to call.

Staying with him is a temporary thing. But when our fighting turns into laughter and our friendship turns into something more, will I fight for a man who swears he’s hard to love? Or is it wiser to walk away? To follow the plan?

Offering to help with a client is a way to repay a long overdue IOU to my mentor. Little did I know she was the woman who left my hotel room at four in the morning. Stevie Lancaster. Top-seeded US tennis player. Good girl gone bad. The woman currently about to throw her career away. And now my problem.

The compensation to ‘babysit’ her is great, but she isn’t worth my trouble. But when her world falls apart and she has no one else to turn to, I try to be a good guy by gathering her up and hiding her from the media’s eye.

Now she’s in my house, in my space, and even though I’m enjoying the side benefits of this unexpected arrangement, surely she’s better to leave when the time comes and follow her destiny. Because I’m not the man she needs. Not the man she could love. Right?