Fair Territory

He was the best catcher his league had seen in a decade, until a teammate outed him and the sport quietly closed its doors. Rafe Delgado has spent five years making peace with a life away from the game. Then a tiny river-town team in Ohio offers him one last shot: manage the Marrow Falls Lamplighters and win the job for good.

There's one problem. Graham Whitcomb.

Graham has been the Lamplighters' pitching coach for nine years. He knows every player's arm, every kid in the bleachers, and every regular at his mother's diner. Everyone assumes the manager's job is his. Graham is steady, generous, beloved, and has never told a single person in town the truth about himself.

Owner Dot Pruitt has decided the two men will co-manage one season, and the better record wins. She has also added a rule: staff can't get involved with each other, because the team's biggest sponsor demands a clean image and a fair contest.

Rafe wants to win. Graham needs to win. And somewhere between the late-night film sessions, the bullpen arguments, and one rain delay neither of them can forget, they stop wanting to beat each other.

Falling for a rival is dangerous enough. Falling for him in a town where only one of them is out, with a job on the line and a sponsor watching, might cost them everything.

Fair Territory is a slow-burn, high-heat, small-town romance about second chances, the cost of hiding, and the courage it takes to be seen. It has a guaranteed happily ever after.

Tropes: Rivals to Lovers, Forbidden Romance, Workplace Romance, Sports Romance, Slow Burn, Small Town, Coming Out, M/M Romance