Sharing Their Trophy

By Julie Piper

Max Peralta has always dreamed of a career in the spotlights of the NFL, a dream that was once completely unobtainable. Now a full-ride athletic scholarship to University of Michigan has bought him a way in. The fast-paced life of a famed wide receiver on the illustrious Michigan Wolverines suits him just fine. But then there's a new girl in the picture, and she's living in his house. How can he get her to see who he really is, instead of who he's been pretending to be? 

 

Romeo Quinn's life was abundantly charmed by money and good looks until the day he decided to break with his parents' wishes and pursue football instead of law school. Two thousand miles away from his family home in Northern California, Romeo's made a name for himself as the starting quarterback of the Wolverines, and his star is only rising higher. Then something arrives to take his eye away from the prize—Charlie, his gorgeous new roommate. After first impressions go sour, Romeo faces an uphill battle. Suddenly, he must question himself and his lofty aspirations closer than ever if he wants a chance to win her heart.

 

Charlie is a junior at Michigan State, majoring in physiology, and sick of living on campus. The empty bedroom in a three-person condo near her job downtown looks absolutely perfect, even after she's told her two roommates are a couple of university boys. That is until she finds out exactly who they are. Max Peralta and Romeo Quinn live with all the style and grace of feral animals. The inside of their messy condo gives no hint as to their level of stardom on the turf at Michigan Stadium. And to top it all off, Charlie can't stand their attitudes! But she's no quitter, and she quickly discovers that there might be more to these cocky, arrogant, devastatingly sexy football heartthrobs than meets the eye. Can she get them to pull their act together at home—and ignore the growing desires of her body?

 

This story is a full-length MFM romance. No cheating and no cliffhanger. HEA guaranteed.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Piper
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215306444

Book preview

CHAPTER 2

Romeo

Max and I looked at each other. She hadn’t exactly slammed the door, but somehow, the decisive click of the knob had an attitude.

Ice queen is pretty generous, dude, he said, half grinning. I’d go with ice empress, maybe. Ice goddess. Ice ruler of the universe.

Nah. I chuckled. Now you’re just being dramatic. She’s too boring for any of that. I could already tell this girl had some kind of stick up her ass, and she might be a total pain to share a house with if she didn’t lighten up. She was the kind of chick who could bring down a whole party with her petty drama.

Then again, she was right that the place smelled like shit. But it wasn’t because, as she had implied, the two of us were unhygienic barbarians. One thing I learned real quick about being the linchpin of a star collegiate football team is that class and practice became your life. There wasn’t much time left over for stuff like housekeeping. Coach didn’t care if we lived in a literal pigsty, as long as we brought home the wins.

I’d decided if Max wasn’t bothered, neither was I. The last thing I wanted or needed was to get caught nagging my teammate about cleaning his room, like I was his freaking mom or something. The guys would never let me live it down. Besides, leaving things as they were took a ton of pressure off me. We were in it together.

Still, I felt a little bad. Charlie had a pretty face and a tight figure, and that was really all that was required for me to want to make a decent impression. She was tough now, but experience had taught me how to loosen up a girl like her.

Max swept a bunch of random crap off one of the couches and tossed himself down, stretching practically from arm to arm. He gave me a look. Think we can last the whole year with her? I’m not sure.

I shrugged. We can handle her, bro. She’s just uptight. No big deal. My tone was as confident and cavalier as ever, but secretly I kind of wondered if all that was really true. The usual foolproof charms hadn’t seemed to affect her in the slightest; in fact, she’d gotten more pissed the thicker we laid it on. A little voice in the back of my head suggested Charlie might require a different approach.

Problem was, I leaned heavily on the charming asshole type. If she expected me to be anyone else for her, she was going to be severely disappointed. I hadn’t held onto my place at the top of collegiate stardom by being sweet.

You’re right. Max grinned, bringing me out of my thoughts. You know who else was uptight? My last ‘serious’ hookup. He laughed. That stopped being a thing after a couple choice frat parties. Who knew library science majors can also minor in keg stands?

You’re crazy, dude. I laughed it off. Her GPA’s probably ruined now.

Who cares? She had a damn good time running it into the gutter. I made sure of that.

I shook my head. Max was a killer on the field, but he could be crass and thoughtless everywhere else. He’d broken more hearts than anyone I knew, and as far as I could tell, felt no remorse. As soon as a girl proved difficult, or as soon as he lost interest, Max was onto the next conquest. And there was never any shortage.

It was impressive, I’ll admit. I had my fair share of playing more than football, but even I couldn’t match Max’s prowess with women. He just had a way of saying exactly the right thing at the perfect moment that made them fall into his arms. Then he’d get what he wanted and send her on her way. A gentleman, Max Peralta was not—not by a long shot.

At least he made no secret out of his values. Everyone knew that going with Max was asking to become a face in the crowd. I’d certainly lost track of the women he brought out or met up with. Always at a party or someone else’s house, though. They never came to our place, for reasons that were now becoming more than obvious.

Maybe we ought to pick up a little. For real. I made the suggestion super nonchalantly like the thought had crossed my mind that moment, and not a second before. The look of thinly-veiled disgust on Charlie’s face refused to leave my mind. The fact that I wanted to impress her so badly right off the bat should have sent up some serious red flags. Uncharted territory, for