There are two sacred rules in the Montagalo household:
- Family comes first.
- Don’t date my brother’s teammates.
Of course I went and broke both…
It started with a little banter on a dating app. A teeny, tiny secret: Flirty messages with Luca Babineaux, the sweet, charming—and stupidly attractive forward on the Houston Baddies—who makes sweat and bruises look so f’ing hot.
One spark turns into a secret first date. A few kisses become way more.
Now I’m tangled in a full-blown secret romance and every time Gio walks into the room, I have a full-blown anxiety attack.
Dating in secret? Thrilling.
Lying to my brother? Exhausting.
Falling for Luca Babineaux obviously wasn’t part of the game plan. It never is, is it?
He wants to go public with our relationship. I’d rather not.
Now I have to decide what matters more: keeping my promises to my dumb, overprotective brother…or choose myself for once.
All’s fair in love and hockey. Right?
Nova was great in Gio’s story so I knew hers would be good and it did not disappoint. When she matches with her brother’s teammate on a dating app, she knows it’s a bad idea to proceed but Luca is so ridiculously hot that she just can’t help herself. She has no idea that Luca has had it bad for her since the first time he laid eyes on her, before he was Gio’s teammate, even before he was in the league.
Luca has dreamed of this moment but never thought he’d get the chance to make his move on the woman who has captivated him for so long and jumps in with both feet. They hit it off from the start and the attraction is mutual so things should be great, but Nova is worried about breaking Gio’s rule of staying away from his teammates.
She doesn’t want to do anything that could jeopardize the team or her relationship with her brother, since Gio is the only family she has, but she can’t give up Luca either, it’s just not an option. Nova insists on hiding their relationship, but Luca is getting fed up with all the secrecy and decides to teach her a lesson. I was getting a bit impatient with her myself because I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just own up to it and tell her brother. She’s an adult after all and he has his own life, with a wife and baby, Nova deserves to have that too and Luca is the one she wants.
Their story is laugh out loud funny and the banter was top notch. Luca is also an instant book boyfriend and these two are one of my favorite couples of the year so far, even if Nova was frustrating at times. Can’t wait to see what comes next. I’d like to thank the author and The Author Agency for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
