Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals, #3)

by Kandi Steiner

To the ones who have been strangled by the dark hand of grief, who have found the strength to stand even with its heavy boot on your chest, to those who continue to live even when it feels impossible… this one’s for you.

Because all my life, football had been my one and only focus. It was all I cared about. It was my reason for waking up in the morning, and the only thought that consumed me when I laid

my head down at night. It was my lifeline, my muse, the center of my attention. But in one fatal moment, that focus shifted. Julep Lee was the coach’s daughter. She was completely off limits. And yet, I knew right then and there that I had to have her.

I craved her. Not in the way you crave a cigarette or a beer, either, but in the way you crave a tall glass of ice water after a grueling workout.

“This is perfect reading weather. Just me, my book, maybe a crackling fireplace and some cozy socks.”

“I like vanilla romance sometimes… a sweet friends-to-lovers, maybe a second-chance situation.” “And those don’t have sex in them?”

Giana snorted. “Like I’d waste my time on a book without spice.”

“I’ll admit, the one you gave me about the high fae bat-winged dude was p...

Clay smirked. “Reading dirty books and highlighting all the best parts for us to try after the win.”

“You are enough, Julep,” he whispered, the words wrecking me and healing me all at once. “And you are needed. Most of all by me.”

I need you, I told him with every kiss. I’m here, he said back with every thrust of his hips. Don’t leave me, I begged with every bite of my nails into his back.

“I love your daughter, Coach Lee,” I said, though my eyes didn’t leave her. “I love her, and I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks about it. My heart used to belong to football, but now it belongs to her. And none of this,” I added, throwing my hands up. “None of it means a damn thing without her.”

“I will be here,” I said, tugging her hands to my chest again. “Every day. I’ll be right by your side reminding you that you matter, that you are needed, that there is a reason to have hope and a reason to live. I’ll be here reminding you that for me? You are that reason.”