The Rule Book: A Novel (The Los Angeles Sharks duology)

Some exes are best left in the past. Unfortunately for Nora Mackenzie, hers just became her entire future.

As a brand-new sports agent desperate to prove herself, Nora needs her first client to be a slam dunk. What she gets instead is Derek Pender — NFL tight end, undeniable heartthrob, and the college ex she ghosted without so much as a goodbye text. Now he holds her career in his very capable, very attractive hands, and he hasn't forgotten a single thing about how she left.

Derek isn't the easygoing guy Nora once knew. He's sharper now, more guarded, and absolutely brimming with ideas for making her professional life as complicated as possible. His rules for their working relationship are ridiculous. His smirk whenever she follows them is even worse. And the way her heart stutters every time they're alone together? Completely unacceptable.

The plan is simple: survive the contract, repair her reputation, and under no circumstances fall for Derek Pender again. But the more time they spend together — negotiating, bickering, accidentally laughing — the more Nora suspects that the rules she's set for herself are the ones she most wants to break.

This contemporary sports romance from New York Times bestselling author Sarah Adams delivers all the wit, warmth, and slow-burn tension of a second-chance love story where the hardest opponent either of them faces turns out to be their own stubborn heart. Once you start, finishing is non-negotiable.