L.H.
Past the Whistle cover
Past the
Whistle
Lorraine H.
Sports Romance

MM Romance

Past the
Whistle

MM Romance · Sports Romance · Rivals to Lovers · Slow Burn · Explicit

On the mat, forty seconds is nothing. In his hands, it changes everything.

Alex Carter doesn't lose well. He especially doesn't lose to Daniel Morgan — Australian, controlled, unbothered by anything Alex throws at him. The loss he could live with. He can't stop thinking about the forty seconds Morgan held him down and didn't let go.

Daniel Morgan keeps clean records. Match data, training logs, everything accounted for. He can't account for the twelve seconds that became forty, or why an American's phone number is still in his wallet.

Now a league is paying them to be rivals — three cities, same bracket, cameras on all of it. What happens in the hotel rooms after isn't on any schedule, and neither of them can afford for anyone to find out.

If they both keep winning, they meet in the final.

One hold that ran twenty-eight seconds longer than it needed to, a draw that keeps landing them in the same city, and both of them going up to the same room every time it does, knowing exactly what it would cost them to be caught. Explicit, and often.

Genre MM Romance · Sports Romance
Tropes Rivals to Lovers · Slow Burn · Explicit
ISBN (ebook) 978-1764784498
Series Book one of a forthcoming series
Release Late 2026
Status Preorder now · ARCs coming soon
Heat level
Ending HFN. They are settled by the end, the distance and the logistics are not

Reader notes

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Show reader notes
Explicit sexual content (M/M) Sports injury Emotional unavailability Long distance Closeted characters

Sample

He made it to the corridor. Heard footsteps before the bar door had finished closing.

"Where are you going?"
"Away from you."
"Walk away? That's it?"
"The match is over."
"Bullshit."

He should have kept walking. He stopped.

Carter. Right behind him. Breathing harder than a short walk explained.

"Forty seconds," Alex said. "They timed it."
"The position justified it—"
"Not for that long."
"You held me longer than you needed to."
"You're reading into it."
"Am I?"

A hand caught his shoulder. He spun. Alex shoved him backward.

Wall. Hard.

Alex's hand on his chest. Pressing. "There." His voice was rough. Close. "Now you know what it feels like."

Daniel's training overrode everything else.

He broke Alex's hold and reversed their positions in one movement.

Alex's back hit the wall hard. Daniel's forearm locked across his collarbone. Alex fought it — hands on Daniel's shoulders, shoving. Daniel pressed down. Weight against weight, chest to chest, forearm solid.

Alex shoved again. Harder.

Daniel matched him. Pressure for pressure.

Then Alex's grip changed. Still tight. Still holding. But the resistance stopped.

Daniel felt the shift.

Alex's breath on his face. Warm. Coming fast.

He should have stepped back.

He didn't.

The hands on his shoulders tightened. Pulling him in.

Alex's hips came off the wall.

Alex's head went back. Throat there. His hand found Alex's jaw. Close enough to feel the warmth of his exhale.

Alex's lips parted.

One more second and he'd—

He stepped back hard enough that his shoulders hit the opposite wall.

From Past the Whistle, Chapter 3

Next: Marked by Fire