I've spent my whole life being the one who holds everyone else together. Little sisters, a mother who needed me more than I needed her, a career plan with no room for mistakes. So when my best friend since freshman year — six-foot-three, unfairly gorgeous, allergic to talking about his feelings — starts looking at me like I'm something worth guarding, I know exactly what to do with it.
Ignore it. Bury it. Finish my capstone project, which happens to be a documentary following his team's championship run, which means I am now professionally, contractually required to spend the next four months five feet away from the only person who's ever made me want to be taken care of.
This was supposed to be simple. Get the footage. Get the grade. Get out.
Jonah
I've built my whole career on being the last line of defense — the guy who doesn't flinch, doesn't blink, doesn't let anything past him. On the field, it's earned me a shot at going pro. Off the field, it's the only thing standing between me and telling Nora Bennett the truth: I've been in love with my best friend since the night I watched her drive four hours home to take care of her sisters and never once complained about it.
She thinks she doesn't need anyone. I think she's never let anyone try.
I have one season left to prove her wrong, one camera crew's worth of witnesses making it impossible to hide, and exactly zero interest in being just her friend for one more year.
Something's going to give. I'm betting it's her.
Heart Stopper is a full-length, standalone New Adult sports romance with a protector hero who falls first, a heroine who has to unlearn what it means to be loved instead of needed, and an HEA you can trust.
Tropes: Friends-to-lovers • He falls first • Protector hero • Forced proximity • Angst with a happy ending • Found family