Past the
Whistle

Name: Past the Whistle
Author: Lorraine H.

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

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, technical, unbothered by everything Alex throws at him — or he wouldn't, if he could stop thinking about the moment Morgan held him 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 three weeks later.

They're going to be competing against each other for months. One of them is going to have to figure out the difference between wanting to beat the other and just wanting him.

Genre MM Romance · Sports Romance

Tropes Rivals to Lovers · Slow Burn · Explicit

Series Standalone

Status Forthcoming — ARCs available

Heat level

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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.

— Past the Whistle, Chapter 3

Past theWhistle

Past the
Whistle