Timing After Overtime

She is the general manager. He is her star point guard. Falling for each other could turn an investigation into something far more personal.

Mallory Hull knows exactly how dangerous blurred lines can become.

She runs City of Champions with facts, discipline and enough professional distance to survive an industry where every decision is questioned twice when it comes from her.

Tim Manning should be easy to keep on the other side of that line.

He is one of the most important players on her roster.

He is a veteran point guard who can read a room almost as quickly as he reads a defence.

And he is her best friend's brother.

Unfortunately, wanting him has never cared much about what is sensible.

Then restricted community funds become the centre of an internal foundation investigation.

Nearly seven hundred thousand pounds may have been routed through services connected to the club's performance technology programme, and Tim's public role in the foundation puts his name dangerously close to the story.

An old integrity clause makes everything worse.

Mallory and Tim are required to serve together on the independent response process.

Suddenly, the woman determined to maintain clean professional boundaries and the man who has wanted her for years are sharing meetings, travel, public scrutiny and decisions neither can make alone.

The investigation takes them from community basketball courts to vendor records, board confrontations and a storm that leaves them stranded with only one hotel room.

But forced proximity is not the real danger.

Trust is.

Tim sees the cost behind Mallory's control.

Mallory discovers that Tim is far more than the charming athlete she has spent years keeping at a safe distance.

And when attraction finally becomes impossible to dismiss, neither of them is willing to let crisis, career pressure or professional power make the decision for them.

They want each other.

The harder question is whether they can choose each other without asking the other person to sacrifice the life they worked for.

By the time the investigation reaches its conclusion, Mallory and Tim are no longer pretending their connection is temporary. Tim knows he loves her. Mallory chooses the relationship without promising a future she is not ready to guarantee, and together they begin building something based on honesty, consent and choosing each other one day at a time. Their relationship continues into the next book rather than closing with a final series HEA.

Timing After Overtime is a high heat contemporary basketball romance featuring a general manager heroine, star point guard hero, best friend's brother, forbidden workplace attraction, he falls first, forced proximity, one hotel room, media pressure, professional scandal, slow-burn tension and a continuing couple whose relationship develops across the City of Champions series.

Book One of City of Champions. Mallory and Tim choose each other, but their careers and relationship will be tested again in Book Two, One More Fourth Quarter.