Guarding the Secret: A Sweet Rivals to Lovers YA Football Romance, (Paperback)

Two rivals. One secret. A love that could cost them everything under the Friday night lights.

Noah Price lives in a town where football is a religion and the star quarterback is expected to be a saint. His future, his family's business, and his entire identity rest on a D1 scholarship that feels more fragile every week. The last thing he needs is a distraction. Especially not Maya Torres, the rival school's head cheerleader and the girl he is supposed to hate.

Maya has spent years trapped in a football dynasty she wants nothing to do with. To her town she is a Torres first and a girl second. Her plan is to escape quietly, study hard, and keep her love of classic novels hidden until she can leave it all behind. Working with Noah on the fall festival is supposed to be a punishment. Instead, it becomes the first place she can breathe.

In stolen conversations, hidden diners, and long walks by the river, they find something neither expected. Noah sees the real Maya, not the last name she carries. Maya sees the boy beneath the golden reputation, the one cracking under pressure no one else can see. Their secret alliance grows into something undeniable, but one leaked photo threatens to destroy everything they have built.

He is fighting for his family's survival. She is fighting to escape hers. Falling for each other is the one thing that could ruin them both.

In a town where loyalty is everything and rivalry runs generations deep, they must choose. The teams they were born to lead or the future they are brave enough to imagine together.

Perfect for fans of forbidden romance, small town rivalries, and heart pounding slow burn tension.