Book picks similar to
Down By Contact by Jessica Ruddick


sports
sports-romance
contemporary
romance

Making the Call


Amanda Shelley - 2020
    Ha! I can only wish. With a deadline looming, I’ve escaped to my family’s cabin on Anderson Island to free myself from distractions. My plan's great, until a man, who could pass as a cover model on one of my books, comes to my rescue. Is there chemistry? Sure. Is he everything I’d look for in a guy? Absolutely. But will my career be at risk if I give into my desire?LukeFor a player, women line up outside the locker room. For coaches, we're lucky to get in the game. As the youngest NFL coach in the league, I live, eat, breathe, and even sleep football. To gear up for this season, I return to my home on Anderson Island for a much-needed break. When Dani literally crashes into my life, my mind’s suddenly on the sexy brunette with a sailors mouth, rather than my team's next play. She has me dusting off another playbook entirely, making me wonder, did I make the right call?

Off Sides


Lyssa Lemire - 2021
    And my nightmare.He’s not used to being told no. He thinks I’m just playing hard to get. But really, I hate everything the rich, cocky, so-hot-it-hurts wide receiver represents.Just when I think things couldn’t get any worse, we’re forced to live together: to be roommates. It’s immediately clear that we’re two opposites that will more likely destroy each other than attract.Then a heated argument unexpectedly leaves us face to face and lips to lips. After that, everything changes. But not for the better.Because with Sage Ryker, love might be more dangerous than hate.

Jock Blocked


Shae Sullivan - 2020
    Finish my senior year, then my PhD, and then it’s on to teaching just like my grandmother.There isn’t a single roadblock in my way… until he shows up at my tutoring center.Carter Jenkins.Football star. Arrogant Jock. All around brutal bastard.He may be everyone else’s favorite quarterback—but to me, he’s just the dick that ruined a naïve girl’s first days in college.And now here is he, with his smug face and penetrating eyes, demanding my help.Yeah right.I’ve heard the stories. He’s going all the way to the NFL, so long as he’s not put on academic probation for failing classes. Which is where I’m supposed to come in. And if it wasn’t for my boss/secret crush pleading with me to take Carter on, I’d drop him like a bad habit.So reluctantly, I agree.I’ll do this favor and help the guy I really can’t stand, for the guy I really want to be with.It should be no sweat…because I hate football players.And no matter how much time Carter and I spend together, or how different he may seem, there’s no way in hell I’d ever fall for one…From Bestselling author Shae Sullivan comes a new, deliciously tension filled enemies to lovers sports romance about the quarterback who has it all and the girl who refuses to fall for him. Standalone romance. HEA.

Lie for Me


Ali Parker - 2019
    Our paths cross as she comes to the retreat center for a company getaway.My mind spins a million webs and my body percolates at the possibilities.She’s the one. I can feel it. But I need this to be more of a business transaction than a love affair.I’m hoping I can lie to myself about what’s happening with my heart.At least long enough for her to help me get financing for my company.All I need is for her to lie for me.

Playing with the Enemy


Madison Wright - 2019
    Tall, Dark and Douchey is causing me all kinds of problems... Working 3 jobs while at college and struggling to maintain my GPA, I crashed pretty hard. The result. I’m being punished and I have to share a room with the biggest name and hearth-throb on campus. The trouble: • He’s the burning hot, bad-boy superstar of the football team • Biggest sports star on campus and even bigger jerk • Sexy as hell My only problem, I’m a SUCKER for a bad boy and damn if his dominant attitude isn’t skin tingling. And now he sleeps on a bed only a few feet from mine! One game day with him and my life changes forever. Will I be able to make it through this semester with my GPA and dignity intact?…

LIEV: a mountain man, curvy woman short and sweet instalove romance (Mountain Man Animal Rescue Book 5)


Kate Tilney - 2021
    

Draft Day


Toya King - 2016
    A successful college football career means I’m about to sign with the NFL―and I have all the women I want. When Deja shows up at my football practice, I’m shocked at the changes in her. When we were in foster care as kids, I always protected her, and she needs me more than ever. I’m determined to take care of her―but will I be forced to choose between her and my career? Deja Tyler was the only real bright spot in my life growing up. Maybe I don’t deserve to be in his life anymore, but turning to him when I hit rock bottom is the only choice that makes sense. I can’t help wanting more from him than friendship. He has the brightest future imaginable, and if I’m not careful, I could drag him down with me. He’s like a beacon lighting my way to a better path… if I can find the strength to follow it. But will he be waiting for me when I get there? Draft Day is a steamy standalone interracial football sports romance novel. It's only recommended for audiences 18+. No cheating. No cliffhangers. Guaranteed HEA.

STRIPPED (The Slate Brothers, Book Three)


Harper James - 2017
    Each One A Football Star. Each One Sexy, Rough And Completely Untamed. A standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA I can’t believe I want to f**k a football star. I’m so not that girl. I’ve always been a nerdy loner, my head in a book. And that’s how I prefer it… But Tyson Slate is different, and for some reason he keeps teasing me, toying with me, touching me and making me melt. I try to resist him but he’s so undeniably sexy, with muscles that I want to run my fingers over and gray-blue eyes. I try to pretend to be calm when Tyson is near, not wanting him to see how he’s flustered me with his words and his looks and that hard stare. I can’t understand why he seems to want me, out of all the hot girls lining up to be with him. But maybe it’s because I’m different, because I don’t come from his world. Maybe that’s why he can be himself around me, let his walls down for just a little while, and then…touch me. God, the way he touches me. The way he looks at me. I’m falling for him and he’s only going to trample my heart. But Tyson Slate always gets exactly what he wants. And he wants me. Hard. Deep. Stripped of my defenses. And he won’t stop until he gets it…

Bringing It Home (The King Brothers Book 2)


Teagan Kade - 2020
    Hot. King of campus. I had it all.Until a fastball to the head took my memories away.The last few months? Poof. Gone. I can’t remember a thing.Now I can barely get out of bed let alone fill it.Which is why my father’s hired me a pretty little tutor to put me back together.But Humpty Dumpty I am not.I’m in no mood to play… even if I have been imagining how deep I’d have to go to hit her sweet spot.Cautious, calculating and all kinds of smart, she’s not my usual MO.She has an actual brain for one thing, a body that’s spent far too long in hiding.It’s clear she wants more than a run around the bases.Definitely clear she knows more than she’s letting on.But if she thinks she’s getting close to this bad boy, she’s wrong.You’d need a battering ram to break into my heart.Strap in, folks, the bases are loaded and it’s about to get very hot in Crestfall. Bringing It Home is a full length, standalone bad boy romance with plenty of steam. There’s no cheating, no cliffhangers and a breathless, guaranteed HEA. Don’t miss out!

Worth the Risk


Karen Monroe - 2020
    She’s not a plain-Jane, but she’s also not a partier. When her roommates coerce her into attending a frat party, she can think of a million other things she’d rather do…like maybe wash her hair, or floss her teeth really hard. Fortunately for Cassi, the night’s not a total waste. She winds up meeting the star quarterback for the team...and that’s just the beginning of the night.Griffin Mackenzie knows a good thing when he sees it. Years of spotting his targets on the football field have given him good instincts. His life has been blessed with riches…on and off the field. Girls? Plu-eeze! He only needs to wiggle his finger to get one. He’s at the party because he’s the designated driver. Someone has to keep the yahoos on his team in-line. He’d been expecting to be bored. He never expected to meet someone like Cassi!Can two people who shouldn’t have anything in common survive the pitfalls of new love…especially if that love includes YouTube fame, trending on Twitter, and a crazy stalker? Find out if Cassi and Griff are…Worth The Risk!Author’s note:This is a spicy sports romance. American football, bad language, and the actual sport of football features prominently in the story.

King Me


Terri E. Laine - 2021
    Tall, Dark, and Handsome takes pity on me,I’m helpless not to become his prey.What are men like him made of?Everything that should make me run.Yet, before my life no longer belongs to me,I want to enjoy the ride.I can only pray my heart will be intact when it’s over.HimI’ve got one mission.To have the man that fathered me, King Me as his.I deserve the billions as much as my legitimate brothers do.But I’m thrown off that pursuit by a pint-sized woman who saves lives as a career.By contrast, my job during many combat missions has been to take them.We are too different.Yet, she’s a beautiful distraction I can't seem to give up.I’ve made the mistake of falling in love before.I won’t do it again.So when I’m forced to choose between becoming a King and saving her life—The choice is simple.

The Black Sheep Master Builder's Fake Marraige


Lucy McConnell - 2021
    Cash's grandfather left him the family home but he can't take possession of it unless he has a family of his own. He places an ad in the local classifieds and is shocked when Maggie shows up at his door.She was the one that got away.But not this time.He'll do everything he can to win her trust back and be the man she deserves. But will it be enough to make up for shattering her heart? Or will the two of them say goodbye just as fast as they said I do?Find out in this sweet romance, today.

Boss's Accidental Baby: A Billionaire Small Town Second Chance Romance (Secret Love)


Nikki Bloom - 2021
    

Raising the Bar: A Curvy Woman Office Romance


C.L. Cruz - 2021
    

Me and the Sweet Snowstorm (Sweet, Small Town Romantic Comedy in Good Grief, Idaho, Book 4)


Jessie Gussman - 2021
    You can’t go viral talking about your pet turtle.Well, maybe some people can, but that’s not how I became a highly paid influencer.I was happy to use my influence to help my grandmother, Agnes, save her assisted care facility. I thought I was going to hate being out in the wilderness for days on end…bugs and bears and no internet or sushi bars.To my surprise, I kind of…liked it.To my further surprise, I found myself wanting to linger around our tour guide, Bain. He’s a rugged, outdoorsy type – not the kind of guy I’ve ever found attractive. But he was so good at what he did – just tough and rugged and unafraid of anything. Who doesn’t find confidence and competence in a man attractive?Regardless, while I am going back out to Idaho to attend a wedding, and some small part of me wants to see Bain again, the bigger, more sophisticated part of me knows that there will never be anything between us unless of course, The Snowstorm of the Century happens to occur while I’m there and we take a snowmobile ride, get lost, find our way to a remote cabin and ride out the storm in blissful (or not so blissful) seclusion.But, come on, what are the odds of that happening?BainPretty good, it turns out.Back east, I’ve heard they call those late spring snows “sugar snows” because of the maple syrup and such. For me, here in Idaho, I just call it what it is: perfect timing for me and my sweet snowstorm.Books in the Sweet, Small Town Romantic Comedy in Good Grief, Idaho series:1. Me and the Cute Catastrophe2. Me and the Tidy Tornado3. Me and the Helpful Hurricane4. Me and the Sweet Snowstorm5. Me and the Dreamy Doomsday