Falling Wasn’t in the Contract: A British Football Star, His PR Strategist, and Six Weeks of Pretending: 1

Noah Vale has six weeks to save his career. Ava Mercer has one rule: never become part of the story.An eleven-second video makes Crownmere FC's star striker look like a violent liability. Noah could clear his name by identifying the woman he protected-but he refuses. With his season and a £48 million sponsorship at risk, crisis PR strategist Ava offers a solution neither of them likes: give the press a romance more irresistible than the scandal.Six weeks. Staged dates. Carefully managed headlines. Strict boundaries when the cameras are gone. Absolutely no real feelings.But the man behind Noah's public charm is patient, protective and far harder to resist than Ava planned. Staged appearances turn into private laughter, shared meals and an ordinary life that feels dangerously real. Soon their carefully scripted chemistry becomes something neither contract can contain.When their confidential agreement leaks, Ava's career is threatened just as pretending becomes impossible. To keep what they have found, they must choose each other when no strategy can make the risk disappear.For readers who love: - fake dating- a protective football star who falls first- a career-driven PR strategist- forced proximity, sharp banter, private tenderness and emotional vulnerability- dual POV, medium-heat open-door romance and a complete happily-ever-afterFalling Wasn't in the Contract is Book One in the Crownmere FC Romances and can be read as a complete standalone.