The Lockdown Mann
Necessary Roughness #2
by Riley Hart
Blurb:
Desmond
I was sixteen years old when I met Oakley Manning during a family beach vacation. He was funny, gorgeous, as obsessed with football as I was, and hurting after his mom abandoned him.
For two weeks, we were inseparable. Oakley made me feel complete, settling something inside me.
Then one night, I kissed him…and he kissed me back.
When he walked away afterward, I pretended it hurt less than it did. It’s a lesson that’s stuck with me—the people I want never choose me back.
Oakley
Everything about what I shared with Desmond Jackson was perfect.
Then, on the last morning of our trip, my ex-girlfriend-slash-best friend dropped a bomb: “I’m pregnant.” For the sake of the baby, we decided to make it work.
Eleven years later, Serena and I are still best friends, but our relationship is over, though we haven’t told anyone. Between her mom’s recent diagnosis and our daughter, we aren’t ready for more complications.
Enter Des, recently traded to L.A.’s second pro football team—my team being the first. Now he’s always in my periphery, infuriating and needling me…and still capable of making my pulse race. Our chemistry is as combustive as ever. Des worships my body in ways I’ve never experienced, but he doesn’t believe in forever, and I can’t do casual.
We compete at everything, but he doesn’t know he’s already won my heart. I just hope it’s a prize he wants…and that my world won’t implode if I have him.
The Lockdown Mann is a second-chance romance between two professional football players, with a complicated history and an even more complicated present. Expect banter, anonymous online messaging, and heart. There is no cheating in this book.
Buy Link:
Available in KU
*****
Review:
Oh goodness, these two need to have an honest conversation, with both themselves and each other. I love how their connection when they were kids is still there all those years later. The easy way they fall into it once they get out of their own way. I get why they’ve been prickly since then – Des was hurt at the way things played out, unsure how he should react when he comes face to face with Oakley again, and doesn’t play it well so Oakley just goes with it.
And my heart does go out to Des. How he struggles with the way his heart has been broken in the past, making him feel like he’s not worthy of a relationship. He takes that into this new dynamic with Oakley, reacting when communicating would benefit them both. Because poor Oakley is so torn, trying to do the right thing by so many people – Des, Serena, his daughter, his in-laws, pretty much everyone but himself. Which means that both of them are doing everything they can to protect themselves, without realizing what they could have together if they were just honest.
Hart delivers a story that is steamy but it also has so much heart to it. Once they get out of their own way, Oakley and Des together are fantastic, all competitive fun and smart remarks. It’s mixed with a good amount of heat as they lean into their attraction, letting Oakley explore this new side of himself. And it’s so satisfying to be there as they figure out a way to get their happy ever after together.
*****
Author Info:
Riley Hart’s love of all things romance shines brightly in everything she writes. Her primary focus is Male/Male romance but under various pen names, her prose has touched practically every part of the spectrum of love and relationships. The common theme that ties them all together is stories told from the heart.
A hopeless romantic herself, Riley is a lover of character-driven plots, many with flawed and relatable characters. She strives to create stories that readers can not only fall in love with, but also see themselves in. Real characters and real love blended together equal the ultimate Riley Hart experience.
When Riley isn’t creating her next story, you can find her reading, traveling, or dreaming about reading or traveling, and spending time with her two perfectly snarky kids, and one swoon-inducing husband.
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