Playing Pretend with the Fullback

Seren Davis refuses to keep coming last in her own life.

After more than two years away, the single mom is back in professional rugby, eager to prove herself to her new team, the public, and the part of her that still worries motherhood erased who she was.

Jake Ledger is a risk she does not need: the Knights' charming, funny playboy fullback is her brother's teammate, and that makes him off-limits.

Still, he keeps turning up for her rough days, her return to the game, and the little boy who gives him a feeling he has never known: being chosen.

They swear the bond is only friendship, an easy bit of pretend that cannot hurt anyone, even as their jobs, their families, and a little boy's heart sit in the balance.

Letting the feelings become genuine might wreck the lives they are both trying to rebuild.