I'm the coach's daughter, watching from the shadows as my father's best friend and star player wins the World Series for his team. Trick Lowry is twice my age and a bonafide celebrity, and I love him with my entire heart.

It's the kind of secret, off-limits crush that feeds wild fantasies and reckless ideas—like sneaking into his hotel room while he's celebrating, just to have a little slice of him to myself before I have to return to college. I innocently surround myself with his smell, thinking he doesn’t have to know.

But when he finds me there, wearing nothing but his jersey, I get more than I bargained for. Because baseball’s most valuable player? He has hidden feelings of his own that have grown all season long, and now they’ve reached a fevered, possessive peak.

He wants me, too. And not just for a single night of celebration. He wants it all.

Chloe Maine