Mouthguards & Mannies

A widowed rugby captain. His best friend's little brother. One chaotic puppy. And a house that hasn't felt like home in three years.

Fox

I've spent three years keeping everything together. My daughter, my career, my late wife's memory. I don't need help, and I definitely don't need Maverick's younger brother moving into my guest suite with his lavender hand cream and his quiet way of making my five-year-old laugh harder than she has since her mom died. Jamie Miller was supposed to be temporary. A favor for a favor. Room and board in exchange for watching Elaine while my sister's away. But he's braiding my daughter's hair, and he's making me feel things I swore I'd never feel again. The last person I loved that much was taken from me by a drunk driver. I'm not sure I can survive it twice.

Jamie

I was supposed to be finishing my thesis. Instead, I'm living in a stone-and-cedar mansion with a stoic, stupidly gorgeous rugby star who won't look me in the eye, a five-year-old who has already decided I'm her newest bestie, and an eight-pound Cavapoo puppy who is on a quest to personally destroy every pair of shoes I own. Fox Thorne is grieving, guarded, and completely off-limits. He's also my brother’s best friend, which means if I mess this up, I lose more than a place to live. But every time he lets his guard down, every time he laughs, every time his daughter calls me Jamie-man and reaches for my hand, I fall a little further into a life I never planned on wanting this badly.