The Striker's Terms: A Slow Burn Fake Dating Soccer Romance

London Vipers Trilogy · Book OneTHE STRIKER'S TERMSSome arrangements have terms. Some don't survive them.Jax Thorne hears everything.The London Vipers' most gifted striker doesn't just face forty journalists - he feels the fluorescent lights hum above them, the weight of expectation before a single question is asked. When six unfiltered words cost the club its biggest sponsor on live television, his talent is no longer enough.He needs control.Elena Bishop builds it.The club's image strategist doesn't panic. She drafts contracts. She builds systems. She offers one solution: a structured, time-bound fake relationship designed to stabilize a reputation spiraling toward disaster.On paper, it's simple.Public appearances. Measurable outcomes. Clear emotional boundaries.Elena has a metric for everything.Except what happens when Jax's noise-filled world becomes the only place her own mind feels quiet.He has spent twenty-three years masking a brain that runs too fast and speaks too honestly. At thirty-one, she has spent her career engineering frameworks to survive a world not designed for her patterns of thinking.The contract was supposed to manage perception.It was never meant to dismantle performance.But the closer they get to controlling the narrative, the harder it becomes to remember which parts of themselves are real - and which parts were designed to survive.The Striker's Terms is a slow-burn, fake-dating sports romance set in the high-pressure world of British professional football. Featuring an older woman/younger man reverse age gap, neurodivergent (AuDHD/Autism) protagonists, inverted Grumpy x Sunshine dynamics, workplace tension, and a love story built on precision instead of spectacle.For readers who want their romance to earn it.

Pagina's: 300, Paperback, Callan Rho