Fighter's Best Friend - Crown MMA Romance #2 - by A. Rivers

ABOUT THE BOOK

He’s my best friend. Emotionally unavailable. Falling in love with him is the worst idea ever but try telling that to my heart.

As a doctor who aced her way through medical school, I should be too smart to fall for Gabe Mendoza, a man who’s married to his MMA career.

For years, I’ve patched his wounds and cheered him on, but I’m tired of hoping he’ll wake up and see what’s right in front of him. I’m ready to find someone who will put me first.

The last thing I expect is for Gabe to scare off my dates and tell me all the dirty things he wants to do to me. He asks for a chance, but with the fight of his life on the horizon, his attention is divided, and I’m scared that when push comes to shove, I’ll be left alone and heartbroken.

Can I trust Gabe enough to fight for our happily ever after? Or was our end written before it even began?

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EXCERPT

“Hey, beautiful,” Devon says, wrapping one arm around Sydney.

My eyes narrow, and I shoot a glare over her head. The guys know better than to touch her around me. She’s off-limits. But that doesn’t stop Devon from trying to rile me up.

“Hi, Dev.” She smiles up at him but doesn’t relax into his body the way she does mine, and satisfaction fists in my gut. Maybe it’s masochistic to notice these things, but I can’t help it. She’s my addiction. And if I can’t touch her the way I want, then the second best thing is to hold onto that special place she carved out for me in her heart when we were kids. I’ve never come close to losing it before, and I don’t intend to now.

“I hear you’ve been looking for a man,” Devon says, his attention fully on Sydney.

I want to wring his neck, but it’s not exactly his fault he’s goading me so much. As far as he and Jase know, I’m protective of Sydney because she’s my friend. Like a sister. They don’t realize I freak the fuck out when anyone lays their hand on her or flirts with her because she’s mine. At least, in my head she is. In reality, she’d probably laugh her ass off if I said as much.

Okay, she wouldn’t. She’s too nice for that. But she knows I can’t give her what she wants, and based on how she reacted the other day, she wouldn’t hesitate to remind me of that.

“Just starting the search,” she replies, her tone tense. She doesn’t know how I feel about her, but she senses that her love life makes me a little crazy and probably doesn’t want to antagonize me when we’re smoothing things over. “I’ve been on a couple of dates but haven’t met anyone I want to go on a second one with yet.”

Covering my mouth, I try to hide my relief. Based on her expression, I fail.

“It’s a pity Gabe outlawed every guy at the gym, or you’d have plenty to choose from.”

Devon seriously has a death wish.

Sydney laughs. “That doesn’t bother me. Dating someone from the gym could get messy if it went wrong. I’m best to keep my romantic life separate from my friends until I meet someone I can see a future with.”

“Smart move,” Lena says. “Plenty of options online, anyway. No need to go fishing in the gym’s pool.”

I take Sydney’s hand, give it a squeeze, and swallow past the boulder in my throat. “You’ll find the right guy. He’s out there, and once he finds you, he won’t let go.”

“Aww.” Her expression softens, and emotion shines in her eyes. “Thank you.”

Releasing her hand, I set mine firmly on my lap before I do something stupid like raise her palm to my lips and kiss it.

“No problem. It’s what you deserve.”

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COMING SOON

Releasing June 24

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A. Rivers writes romance with strong heroes and heroines who kick butt and take names. She loves MMA fighters, cops, military men, bodyguards, and the protective guy next door who isn’t afraid to fight the odds for love.

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 This is my first book by this author and this is book 2 in a series of three books about very famous MMA fighters who work out of one gym and are friends. This book easily stands alone but I really loved it so much that I am planning on reading the first book as well.

The stars in this book is Gabe and Sydney. They are besties from high school and they have never even kissed. Until Gabe starts breaking plans and being late for friend dates and she decides to distance herself from him and join some dating sites.

Gabe starts to realize what she means to him but he is also preparing for a big fight and so its hard for him to prioritize Syd and her needs over his training schedule. 

This was a wonderful story I LOVED Syd and Gabe both. They are really great people who have very busy lives. She is a doctor and he is a famous MMA fighter. They have been besties for many years but now they are ready to have a mature relationship and Gabe has to decide how to balance all his priorities. Syd has to learn how to make him see that all she wants is to be number one in his heart and hear what is important to her.

It was a wonderful best friends to lovers story and I found the MMA aspect fascinating. I typically don't read fighter/MMA stories but I really enjoyed this one. I loved the plot, characters and felt it was a really fun story and I really liked the main characters.