She built everything she has. He's about to make her wonder if it was worth it.
Adriana Vega is a trans woman who rebuilt her soccer career from scratch. Four years with Las Brasas, a game remade from the ground up, a place in the world she earned without anyone's permission. She is not looking for more. She is especially not looking at the new striker.
Marco Delgado came to Portland for the soccer. Las Brasas is a serious club, the league is real, and if he keeps his head down and does the work, the rest will sort itself out.
It doesn't sort itself out.
On the field they are extraordinary together. Off it, something is building that neither of them knows how to name. When a tryout offer from a conventional league lands in Marco's inbox and he says nothing, not to the team and not to Adriana, the silence costs more than he expected.
Because Adriana has rebuilt her whole life here. Watching someone weigh it quietly, from a distance, while accepting everything she gave them is not something she can absorb.
He knows what he did wrong. The question is whether he can say what it cost her, specifically, in a way that is honest enough to matter.
A rivals to lovers transgender sports romance about field chemistry, the weight of other people's expectations, and two people learning to want something without apologizing for it.
Clean romance. First in the Las Brasas Romance series.
Genre: Gay Romance
Adriana Vega is a trans woman who rebuilt her soccer career from scratch. Four years with Las Brasas, a game remade from the ground up, a place in the world she earned without anyone's permission. She is not looking for more. She is especially not looking at the new striker.
Marco Delgado came to Portland for the soccer. Las Brasas is a serious club, the league is real, and if he keeps his head down and does the work, the rest will sort itself out.
It doesn't sort itself out.
On the field they are extraordinary together. Off it, something is building that neither of them knows how to name. When a tryout offer from a conventional league lands in Marco's inbox and he says nothing, not to the team and not to Adriana, the silence costs more than he expected.
Because Adriana has rebuilt her whole life here. Watching someone weigh it quietly, from a distance, while accepting everything she gave them is not something she can absorb.
He knows what he did wrong. The question is whether he can say what it cost her, specifically, in a way that is honest enough to matter.
A rivals to lovers transgender sports romance about field chemistry, the weight of other people's expectations, and two people learning to want something without apologizing for it.
Clean romance. First in the Las Brasas Romance series.
Genre: Gay Romance
Used availability for Ash Mercer's The First Touch