My Ex's Football Rival Wants Me
Russell James called me plain. He said I didn't have what it took to drive a man crazy, then crawled back into bed with the supermodel he'd been hiding from me. I found out the hard way, with my own eyes and what little dignity I had left. By then, he'd already signed his professional football contract, become a rising star, and decided I was no longer in his league.
A year later, my life is falling apart. My mother's surgery is unaffordable. My younger brother's hockey dreams are slipping away. My final semester fees are overdue.
Then my half-sister offers me a deal.
Seduce a powerful fashion executive at an elite Madrid nightclub and help secure her place in Europe's most prestigious fashion show. In return, my family's problems disappear.
I say yes.
I spend the night with the man she described.
By morning, I discover I've slept with the wrong man.
"Connor?" he repeats, amused. "My name's Andre."
Andre Fernandez.
Real Numancia de Madrid's golden boy. Europe's most sought-after footballer. Forty-eight million followers. A €150 million market value.
And the biggest rival of the ex-boyfriend who shattered my heart.
Before I can process what happened, Andre finds me. He clears my family's debts and makes one impossible demand:
"Be my girlfriend."
I say no.
Andre Fernandez clearly isn't used to hearing that word.
When paparazzi catch us kissing at a high-profile party, the internet explodes. To save Andre's reputation, his PR team pushes us into a fake relationship complete with staged appearances, rehearsed interviews, and public displays of affection.
None of it is supposed to be real.
Except the longer we pretend, the harder it becomes to remember where the performance ends.
Russell sees the photographs and is annoyed at his rival's proximity to me.
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Chapter: Chapter 20: Andre is a WomanizerAndre's POV"Sir, the internet is in chaos and they are calling you a womanizer after last night's kiss."I sat up in bed so fast the sheets came with me. "What?"That was Victor Salazar, my PR manager, calling at 7:15 in the morning. Victor did not exist before nine unless something had gone public and his definition of "gone public" was limited to things that threatened money, reputation, or both."There are photographs from the gala," he continued, his voice carrying the clipped urgency of a man who had already been awake for hours. "You kissing an unidentified woman, along with a video from the red carpet that has gone viral. Both pieces of content are trending nationally and gaining international traction. I just got off a call with your agent."I was still half asleep, still thinking about the kiss, about Carmen's mouth on mine, about the way she had gripped my shoulder like I was the only thing keeping her upright. The words "womanizer" and "viral" were fighting for space in my
Última actualización: 2026-06-12
Chapter: Chapter 19: She UpgradedRussell James was eating lunch in the Merseyside FC canteen when Gareth slid into the seat across from him with his phone face-up on the table and a grin that immediately told Russell he was about to see something he didn't want to see."Have you seen this?"Russell glanced at the screen and stopped chewing. The photograph loaded in full resolution and his brain identified the woman before it processed anything else about the image. Andre Fernandez's back to the camera, broad shoulders in a dark suit, and pressed against the wall in front of him, her hand gripping the fabric at his shoulder, her face visible over his shoulder with her eyes closed and her lips parted, was Carmen.Carmen Lopez. His Carmen. The girl he had dated for two years. The girl he had left standing in a hallway in Liverpool after saying things he still couldn't think about without his stomach turning."Mental, right?" Gareth said through a mouthful of pasta, completely unaware that he had just detonated a bomb at
Última actualización: 2026-06-12
Chapter: 18: The Internet is WatchingCarmen's POVSeventeen notifications were waiting on my phone when I opened my eyes at 6:47 on a Sunday morning, which was fourteen more than I had ever received in a single night and that immediately told me something had gone very wrong or very public or both.I blinked at the screen. Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, three missed calls from numbers I didn't recognise, two from Antonia, one from Mateo, one from mum. My stomach tightened before I even opened anything because that combination of people trying to reach me at the same time had never happened before and could not mean anything good.I opened Instagram first and the first thing I saw was my own face staring back at me from a gossip account with 3.2 million followers.The photograph was clear and sharp and intimate and undeniable. Andre's back to the camera, broad shoulders in the dark suit, my hand gripping the fabric at his shoulder, his hand on my waist pulling me close, my face visible over his shoulder with my eyes closed
Última actualización: 2026-06-12
Chapter: 17: Kiss me, CarmenCarmen's POVThe eye contact across the room had lasted maybe two seconds and it had rattled me so badly that I was now standing on a terrace in the cool night air trying to remember how breathing worked.One second I was sitting at my table with my wine, minding my own business, pretending to be a normal person at a normal party. The next second I looked up and Andre Fernandez was looking directly at me from across the room and every nerve in my body fired at once. I looked away first because looking at him felt like staring into the sun and I was not equipped for the damage that kind of sustained eye contact would do to my decision-making.After that I spent an hour pretending he didn't exist while being aware of his exact position at every moment, which was exhausting and pointless and made me feel like a woman slowly losing a war she had started with herself. When that sponsor put his hand on mine and leaned in to tell me about his company's architecture division, I could feel And
Última actualización: 2026-06-12
Chapter: 16: The Lady on the Red CarpetAndre's POVDiego was in the middle of telling me about a new restaurant in Malasaña when I lost the ability to hear him, or anyone else, or anything at all, because Carmen had just stepped onto the red carpet twenty metres away in a butter yellow dress that made the rest of the evening irrelevant.I was standing outside the venue with Diego, Alejandro, and Jadon, drink in hand, mid-conversation about something I would never remember. She appeared at the far end of the carpet and my mouth stopped working. It just stopped, mid-word. I literally felt cold water being poured on my skin. My drink stayed raised halfway to my mouth because my arm had forgotten it was holding anything.She was walking slowly, chin up, shoulders back, the dress moving fluidly with her body, making every photographer on that carpet lean forward. The butter yellow glowed warm against her skin under the venue lights, and her hair was pinned up in a way that showed her neck and her jawline and I wanted to put my
Última actualización: 2026-06-11
Chapter: 15: The Butter Yellow DressCarmen's POV"Carmen! Carmen! Carmen! Pick up the phone! Oh my God!"That was the voicemail Antonia left at 8:47am on a Thursday, which was alarming because Antonia before ten in the morning was like a cat in water, miserable and hostile and not to be approached. Whatever had happened was big enough to override her biological clock.I called her back."The Meridian Gala!" she screamed before I could say hello. "One of my styling clients just pulled an invite for me. Plus one. Saturday night. Carmen, do you understand what this means?""Good morning to you too.""This is the fashion and media industry event of the season. Every photographer in Madrid will be there. Designers, editors, stylists, press. And there is a red carpet. A red carpet, Carmen!""That's great for you.""That's great for us. Because you are coming with me and you are wearing the butter yellow dress."The butter yellow dress was Antonia's masterpiece. Three months she had spent on it, cutting and re-cutting the patt
Última actualización: 2026-06-11
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