Book picks similar to
Last Play by Taylor Hart


romance
contemporary
sports
clean-romance

The Miracle Groom (Texas Titans Romances)


Lucy McConnell - 2018
     Teo Parata, offensive tackle for the Texas Titans believes in miracles. He sees them every day when he looks into his son’s trusting eyes. Meeting Intern Oakley Bell at the Tiny Titan’s Football Camp was another miracle—at least he though so, until she chewed him out for being irresponsible and rude and demanding. She may have also mentioned something about an “egotistical diva football player” but he's trying to forget that part of the conversation. When he offers to take her to dinner to make up for his mistake, she accuses him of hitting on her and storms off. Wanting only the best for his son, Teo swallows his pride and begs Oakley to be his nanny. To his relief, she accepts the job on a temporary basis. Teo has two months to convince her to stick around. When he finds out there’s more to this woman than ocean blue eyes and a way with kids, his heart begins to truly beat for the first time since his wife passed away. Teo puts himself on the line in every football game, taking hit after hit and giving right back, but putting his heart on the line will take more than all his muscles and determination combined—it will take a miracle.

Love Restored


Carrie Ann Ryan - 2016
    And when tragedy struck, lost it all. He’s been the backbone of his brothers, the one they all rely on in their lives and business. And when it comes to falling in love and creating a life, he knows what it’s like to have it all and watch it crumble. He’s done with looking for another person to warm his bed, but apparently he didn’t learn his lesson because the new piercer at Montgomery Ink tempts him like no other.   Blake Brennen may have been born a trust fund baby, but she’s created a whole new life for herself in the world of ink, piercings, and freedom. Only the ties she’d thought she’d cut long ago aren’t as severed as she’d believed. When she finds Graham constantly in her path, she knows from first glance that he’s the wrong kind of guy for her. Except that Blake excels at making the wrong choice and Graham might be the ultimate temptation for the bad girl she’d thought long buried.

After the Fire


Kathryn Shay - 2003
    Read the firefighter romance novels that resulted from her intense relationship with firefighters! “Inspiring and emotionally invigorating…a true hero’s tale.” RT Book Reviews Three firefighters from the Malvaso family are trapped in a burning building and almost lose their lives. After they are rescued, they decide to change the way they’ve been living. Mitch, the eldest, wants to make some decisions about his dysfunctional marriage and spend more time with his troubled teenagers. Jenn decides to have a baby—with her best friend, Grady. And Zach, the bad boy of the group, vows to make up for his past sins and become a better man. Read the whole family saga romance in these exciting stories. Praise for AFTER THE FIRE: “This powerful, emotionally realistic book is the first of Shay's new series about the men and women who put their lives on the line every day and how that dedication and commitment affect all those around them. Poignant and compelling, this novel reinforces Shay's well-earned reputation as a first-rate storyteller.” Shelley Mosley, American Library Association. “A superb contemporary romance that grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page. Bravo, Ms. Shay!” The Romance Readers Connection Also available: Don’t miss the rest of the firefighter romance series ON THE LINE, NOTHING MORE TO LOSE, AMERICA’S BRAVEST, IT HAD TO BE YOU, CHASING THE FIRE, THE FIRE INSIDE

Wet


Stacy Kestwick - 2015
    Wouldn’t have dived in after him.Wouldn’t have met West Montgomery.The cocky bastard should have been thankful, grateful even. Of course, he wasn’t.That should have been the end of it. Of course, it wasn’t.Damn doughnuts.

The Wedding Audition


Catherine Mann - 2015
    Eager to escape her notoriety, Annamae takes a road trip to find the grandmother she’s never met and winds up discovering a whole lot more than a band of back woods relatives. There’s no escape from reality TV, even in Beulah, Alabama, population 3000.The last thing Wynn Rafferty needs in his new life is a spoiled television princess who can’t even know his real name. He’s in temporary witness protection as an apple farmer after his undercover work put his life in danger. He needs to lay low until the heat dies down from his last case— even if he sucks at growing apples as badly as he sucks at relationships. But Annamae turns his new town into a media circus, unwittingly threatening the lives of him, her and most of Beulah. Wynn is an expert at keeping the world at arm’s length, but when it comes to Annamae, the only way he can keep her safe is to keep her very, very close.

Father Found


Judith Arnold - 1997
    Never did he expect to find the unplanned result of that fling - a healthy, wailing baby named Samantha - strapped into a car seat on his back porch, along with a suitcase full of diapers and infant apparel and a note informing Jamie that he’s her father.Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t. But first things first. He’s never fed a baby or changed a diaper in his life. He doesn’t own a crib or a stroller. In a panic, he phones the nearest hospital, where neonatal nurse Allison Winslow takes his call and tells him about a class she teaches called the Daddy School.Classes on how to be a dad are exactly what Jamie needs. But when he attends his first class and sees the tall, earnest, amazingly beautiful and even more amazingly competent Allison, he realizes that he might just need more from her than her lectures on how to hold a baby.Jamie’s efforts to be a father to this precious baby touch Allison. His sense of humor amuses her. His striking good looks turn her on. But how can she trust the sort of guy who’d sleep with a stranger on vacation, without giving a thought to the consequences? How can she give her heart to such a reckless man?

His Baby Bond


Lee Tobin McClain - 2014
    . . Poor-but-proud Kendra Forrester doesn’t need an arrogant millionaire to tell her how to raise her sister’s baby. But when handsome Zeke King arrives at her Colorado cabin demanding custody of his brother’s child, strategy dictates that she let him stick around. Battling mountain weather and the baby’s illness brings these two opposites together, but their own insecurities, their dead siblings’ secrets, and a jealous former boyfriend threaten their tentative bond. Only the Lord and the Sacred Bond Brotherhood can help Kendra and Zeke form a family for their baby.

Losing Faith


Jeremy Asher - 2013
    After climbing the music charts and making his dreams come true, his life took a turn that he’d never expected, causing him to lose it all. But Seth is determined to do whatever it takes to get it all back, even if that includes doing the one thing he swore he’d never do.After turning his back on his career, music, and the life he had worked so hard to build, Seth embarks on a journey to make things right and get his life back.Along the way, Seth encounters a storm that threatens his chances at getting back the one thing that could fix his broken life: his daughter, Faith. Forced to travel with strangers, Seth discovers that his success and failure are not just at the hands of fate, but that they also rest within his traveling companions.This is a story about how far a man will go when he has nothing to lose and only one chance at getting it all back to honor a promise he made to his little girl. The road to picking up the pieces of his broken life places him face-to-face with his demons, leading him to realize that nothing is worse than Losing Faith.

Texas Secrets


Jean Brashear - 1999
    The only place he's ever thought of as home now belongs to a woman who doesn't want it, and he must keep her there for thirty days—or it will be lost to them both.

The Lost One


Liz Lovelock - 2014
    Then one day, my dream was torn to shreds, by my sister’s evil boyfriend, Jacob. It’s been three years since she was ripped from my life. She wasn’t just any sister; no, she was my twin, my best friend.Deciding to follow our childhood dream of moving to New York, I head for a life of adventure and fun. A night on the town and I find myself wrapped in the arms of one gorgeous, drop-dead-sexy man, Corban. He has literally swept me off my feet, taken my breath away with a single kiss and left me wanting more, a feeling completely alien to me.Corban Andrews, CEO of Case Construction, rich, sexy and ravishing is set to make my world come undone. I allow myself to put my trust in him, but will his rules and my trust issues let us explore what we could have together? It’s either that or am I at risk of staying lost and alone.When a blast from my past reappears, I know I may be pushed so far down the rabbit hole, Corban and I just may not survive. It all comes down to survival and choices. I have no idea which I will choose.

SEAL The Deal


Kate Aster - 2013
    Yet she is the type of woman he wants to avoid – the kind that gets him thinking about settling down, spawning kids, and finding lower-mortality employment.Lacey has her own reasons for avoiding Mick. Tired of living in the shadow of her financial mogul sister, this real estate agent has tossed ethics aside to succeed in today’s beleaguered housing market. Her no-fail plan to land lucrative listings? Crashing the funerals of wealthy corpses with the hope their heirs will need to sell their homes.But when their circles of friends collide, Lacey can’t avoid Mick’s rock-hard abs and a smile that melts her into a pool of hot wax. Friendship blossoms and passion simmers... even as she struggles to conceal the unethical business plan that brought him into her life.SEAL the Deal is a full-length novel about the fine line that divides friendship and love, and the unexpected joy of crossing it.

Love Handles


Gretchen Galway - 2011
    She hates the gym, is nice to everybody, and shops at Ross Dress for Less. When she's not teaching preschool, she's wearing yoga pants... to nap in. So when she inherits her estranged grandfather's fitnesswear company in San Francisco, nobody expects her to keep it. Fite Fitness needs a heartless suit to save it from bankruptcy, not a thirty-year-old woman who cries when her students leave for kindergarten.Someone like Liam Johnson. A former Olympic swimmer, Liam is Fite's executive vice president. Unlike Bev, he's devoted his life to Fite's success. Managing one little preschool teacher — and his attraction to her — shouldn't be an issue. Right?But Bev's tired of being underpaid and underrated, and refuses to step aside as an obedient figurehead. To everyone's shock and horror, she moves up to San Francisco, sets up an office, and dives into the business. Nothing — not mockery, not exercise, not sabotage, not a disastrously hot night with her aggravating VP — is going to scare her away.As Liam realizes she's tougher than she looks, he discovers that losing Fite might not be nearly as bad as losing her...A story about the pursuit of love, happiness, and the perfect yoga pants, Love Handles will speak to anyone who's ever had to face the thing that scares her most.Warning: contains at least two loves scenes and a happy ending.

The Kiss: An Anthology of Love and Other Close Encounters


C.A. NewsomeBen Cassidy - 2014
    It can also be an exchange, a betrayal, an assault, a promise, a hope...or it could be a goodbye. The intimacy of a kiss cannot be denied. Whether shared, stolen or simply dreamed of, its recipient will be affected. Thirty-one stories by authors from around the world will tease your imagination as you anticipate ‘The Kiss’ in each weird or wonderful tale. This cross-genre anthology contains stories by Kate Aaron, Saxon Andrew, Jacques Antoine, Alison Blake, E. B. Boggs, Shirley Bourget, Ben Cassidy, Jason Deas, Sharon Delarose, Meghan Ciana Doidge, Suzy Stewart Dubot, Corrie Fischer, Brandon Hale, Traci Tyne Hilton, Colleen Hoover, Mona Ingram, J. L. Jarvis, Elizabeth Jasper, Anna J. McIntyre, Jess Mountifield, C. A. Newsome, S. Patrick O'Connell, Suzie O'Connell, Jeanette Raleigh, J. R. C. Salter, Molly Snow, Holli Marie Spaulding, Cleve Sylcox, Robert Thomas, Chris Ward and George Wier. 130,000 words

The Enforcer


Nikki Worrell - 2013
    Her best friend, Dr. Zoe Millis, has been begging her to make the move from Maine to California. Taking a leap of faith, Lacey does just that. Living in San Diego definitely has its perks, such as, sunshine and beaches. The best part of moving to the west coast, however, is that Steven is still on the east coast. Catching your almost husband having sex with one of your bridesmaids on your wedding day would make even the strongest woman jaded. Therefore, Lacey has sworn off men for a while, especially men who travel a lot that have easy access to loose women.When Lacey meets the new enforcer for the San Diego Scorpions, she thinks she might be in trouble. But she is determined to fight her attraction to the sexy NHL hunk. And she is successful...for about a day.

Secrets Exposed


Lisa Renee Jones - 2004
    Her enemy is her passion, her passion is her enemy.Lindsey Paxton was once the number one defense attorney in New York. She fought for those who were innocent, but charged. Her instincts were her lifeline, never failing her, as they guided her in her choices of who to defend. Or so she thought. Until she won a case she would forever wish to have lost. Her client, an accused rapist, kills and rapes a woman only a day after being set free. Destroyed by her role in the woman's death, Lindsey blames her father's controlling ways for what she has become, and runs from her career and life. Years later - the past becomes the present . . . Her father has cancer, and Lindsey is forced to leave her career with the Washington branch of the FBI. She finds herself facing the responsibility of running her father's law firm with the reluctant help of hotshot attorney Mark Reeves, a man who sparks her temper while also managing to tempt her body, her mind, maybe even her heart. With his help she finds herself fighting the emotional battles of the past, tempted to trust both him and her instincts. Now, faced with a case inherited from her father so similar to her career-ending one, she now must decide if her instincts will lead her down the path to saving an innocent man or setting free another killer. But while she fights her own battles, someone watches, wanting from the past what he had failed to get the first time . . . Lindsey.NOTE: Previously released as Hidden Instincts. Title change to indicate prelude to the new TALL, DARK, AND DEADLY trilogy coming in late 2011. I wrote this in 2004 and it was published by a library publisher and is in hardback in many libraries. You will meet the first Walker Brother-- Royce