Merit (Treasure State Wildcats)

About this book

Maverick Houston is the star of the Treasure State Wildcats, a celebrated campus playboy, and—to his neighbor—an absolute nightmare. For over a decade, they have traded insults and harbored a mutual, fiery hatred, trapped by the reality that their parents are best friends living on the same block. Maverick is arrogant, blunt, and entirely too handsome, making him the bane of her existence. Everything changes during a devastating family dinner when Maverick’s mother reveals she is dying and makes a simple, heartfelt request for them to set aside their past. Driven by a rare moment of empathy for the man who loves his mother so fiercely, she agrees to a fake-dating arrangement. What begins as a strategic, performative ruse to bring peace to a grieving family quickly spirals. As they navigate the blurred lines of their sham relationship, the wall between enemies and lovers begins to crumble. This enemies-to-lovers sports romance explores how a fragile lie can spark an undeniable connection, forcing them to confront the feelings they’ve spent years trying to suppress. Will this temporary arrangement ruin her life, or will it finally reveal the one thing she never expected to find in her childhood nemesis?