Curveball (Philadelphia Patriots Book 4) by V.K. Sykes

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Taylor Page has never wanted anything but a career in major league baseball. Through talent and guts, she’s finally landed a position as Assistant General Manager of the Philadelphia Patriots. But she wants the ultimate prize—General Manager. The only problem is that most men in baseball still don’t take a woman exec seriously, especially a thirty-year old blonde with no on-field experience. She needs to do something big to convince her bosses she has what it takes to run a team.

Veteran Pittsburgh outfielder Ryan Locke’s career is in jeopardy when a suddenly unreliable throwing arm comes on top of rehab from a major injury. He’s had a solid run but he’s not a star with a mega-contract. A single parent with a troubled daughter and an alcoholic mother to provide for, retirement is out of the question. Ryan’s best hope is for a trade to an American League team as a designated hitter, allowing him several more years of play.

When Taylor needs to find a replacement for an injured first baseman, she comes up with an innovative but risky idea: convince her boss to make a trade for Ryan Locke, and then convince the still talented slugger to play first base for the Patriots. With Ryan dead-set against that plan and both their careers on the line, neither Taylor nor Ryan can afford the explosive physical attraction between them. But despite Taylor’s best efforts to resist Ryan’s campaign of seduction, she’s not sure she’s got to willpower to keep from playing along.

Why do you need to read this book? This was a great story of a strong woman holding her own in a man’s world. I loved the character of Taylor!

Curveball can be purchased at Amazon

Excerpt:

While Ryan paid the bill for their drinks, Taylor slipped out into the hallway, too jittery to wait in the lounge. And though it was unlikely that anyone from the party downstairs would come up and stumble across them, she loathed risking even the slightest chance.

The part of her brain not completely swamped by the need to be in Ryan’s arms was knocking hard on the inside of her skull, telling her to run, not walk to the nearest elevator and flee the hotel.  But with all the will in the world, she couldn’t.  As she watched Ryan through the glass doors of the bar, taking in his easy and unconscious masculine grace as he exchanged a few words with the waitress, she knew she wanted him as much as she’d ever wanted anything in life—including her job with the Patriots.  Nothing had ever come close to that before, and the idea that a potential relationship with Ryan did come that close filled her with reckless exhilaration.

It also scared the pants off of her. Well, her panties were definitely coming off tonight, but not as the result of fear.

She retreated down the hallway and lurked by the door leading to the stairwell.  Taylor knew she was acting like a crazy person, but since Ryan’s room was only two floors down there was no point in risking an elevator run-in with someone they knew.  She wished she wasn’t such a coward, but just saying yes to this and then actually following through was using up her current store of courage, and then some.

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$109.99 (as of June 19, 2025 17:29 GMT -07:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)