Fair Territory

For six summers, Eli Navarro and Dez Hartley have been the loudest argument in the Northern Pines League.

Eli is the heart of Harlow Falls, a hometown manager with a short fuse, a long memory, and a ballpark that holds everything he loves. Dez Hartley ran the rival Ashby Mills team like a laboratory and once filed one perfectly legal protest that cost Harlow Falls the championship on the final out. The town hasn't forgiven him, and neither has Eli.

Then Ashby folds, the league reshuffles, and the community trust that owns the Lanterns hires Dez as general manager, making him the one man with the power to overrule Eli. Worse, housing is tight, and the only place to put him is the apartment across the landing from Eli's, above the concession stand. The walls are thin and so is Eli's patience.

But rain tarps don't haul themselves, and neither of them can ignore the way the other is secretly kind: Eli sneaking free clinics for local kids, Dez quietly fixing the problems nobody else notices. Their sparring turns into late-night talks in an empty dugout, and one kiss turns into a secret neither can afford. A conduct clause forbids it. A developer circling the town wants an excuse to buy the team. And the one person who could bring them down is watching from the front row.

Eli has always said what he feels. Dez has never said anything he couldn't prove. To keep this love, one of them will have to learn to be loud, and the other to be brave.

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Secret Relationship, Workplace Romance, Forbidden Romance, Sports Romance, Small Town, M/M Romance