Ruby O’Brien, NFL publicist extraordinaire, lives her life by three simple rules: #1 – Never date a client. #2 – Never sleep with a client. #3 – Never fall in love with a client. The problem is, she never counted on Alec LeBrun. Alec, the cocky and talented tight end of the Savannah Bootleggers, repeatedly asks Ruby for a date, and no one’s more shocked than Ruby when she finally says yes. Less … Ruby when she finally says yes. Less than twenty four hours later, however, he’s engaged to someone else. Lesson learned. Two months later, Alec’s single again, acting like a publicity nightmare and requiring up-close supervision. Now Ruby has to help Alec fix his bad boy reputation, even as she protects her heart.
Alec watched Ruby from afar for months, long before circumstances got him engaged to his lying ex. Now he’s free to pursue the only woman he’s ever truly wanted. Ruby’s smart, gorgeous, and super-professional, and he wants her with a hunger he’s never experienced before. Too bad Ruby thinks he’s still pining for another woman. Now he has to prove her wrong. Jeopardizing their careers isn’t part of the plan, but he also refuses to play by her rules—not when doing so means losing the woman he loves.
Can Alex convince Ruby that, sometimes, scoring in love means risking it all? And will Ruby accept that she’s not second best, but the only woman Alec wants? For a lifetime.
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4.5 Stars for Deep Inside, Book 3 in the Going Deep Series. This may be book 3 but it can certainly be read as a stand-alone and this is Ruby and Alex’s story.
What happens when a NFL publicist who lives by some very strick rules crosses that line and ends up mixing business with pleasure……
Ruby’s number one rule is don’t get involved with the football players you are representing, the problem is she has crushed on Alex, tight end of the Savannah Bootleggers for ever and every time he asks her out it gets just a little bit harder to turn him down, her only saving grace is he is engaged to someone else and that is definitely a line she will not cross, but what will happen when she finds out he is no longer engaged and what will happen when one of the coaches catches them in a hot and steamy kiss in the locker room, how will she spin this story…….
I love this series and I love this couple who are both strong, they know what they want and in the end will do what they need to so they can be together, two characters who are passionate about their careers as well as their relationships make this the perfect love story. Looking forward to more from Virna DePaul and this series of stand-alones.
Harmless fun leads to risky business as Alex and Ruby break all the rules of love. Deep Inside is as smart as it is sexy. Ruby has her head on straight and her heart locked away, until temptation steps up to the line in the form of a smart alecky playboy with the best of intentions, but a knack for finding himself in sticky situations. Whether on the field or off the clock and dealing with the real world, Ms. DePaul keeps readers guessing and hearts racing as she heads right into a touchdown.
The Going Deep Box Set tells the stories of 4 professional football players from the Savannah Bootleggers football team: Down Deep, Royally Deep, Deep Inside and Deep Desire, but each can be read as a standalone novel.
Down Deep is the story of Heath and Camille meeting ten years after a humiliating incident in high school when Heath (a star football player) and his father mistake Camille for a boy and humiliate her. Heath is now a star NFL player when he runs into Camille (a single mom) a professional photographer trying to land a permanent position with his team. Camille’s father used to coach Heath when he was a young boy and he idolized her father and never forgot the impact he had on his life. Camille is still trying to recover from the loss of her father, who was both mother and father to her when she was growing up following her mother’s death. This story had it all, really, really hot scenes between the two of them, the pain of overcoming very difficult childhoods and the resulting emotional scars, the one man who gave them both wonderful memories, very funny scenes of the players at a child’s birthday party, and Heath and Camille’s struggle to overcome their collective obstacles and allow love to grow and heal each other. It was wonderful!
The second book is Royally Deep and tells the tale of Bella (a princess) and Kyle (an NFL football player) who meet when Bella and her bodyguard catch one of Kyle’s football games on her visit to the United States. Bella hides her true identity wanting to experience being a regular person. The attraction between Kyle and Bella is instantaneous and all-consuming and leads to sizzling encounters. Kyle learns who she is, and feels betrayed and angry. Bella returns to her country, miserable because her future will never be with Kyle. Kyle travels to Bella’s homeland when given the opportunity to represent his team and attend a charity event. They see one another at the charity ball and their physical attraction propels them together where Bella asks Kyle to take her away with him. They hide from her family and the press but are soon discovered. Bella’s mother deliberately misleads her daughter into thinking Kyle was behind their discovery in an attempt to break them apart, and Bella and Kyle each return to their homes. Like the other books I have read by Ms. DePaul, this one is filled with extremely hot and sexy love scenes, desires of the protagonists for one another, lots of heart, and the compelling need for the love they see reflected in each other. This book was magical: what woman hasn’t harbored a secret desire to be a princess, or to be chased to ground by a star football player in his prime who won’t let her go!
The third book, Deep Inside, is about the team’s tight end and reputed skirt chaser, Alec, who repeatedly tries to convince Ruby, the team’s very professional, by-the-book publicist, to go on a date with him. Ruby, who is head-over-heels for Alec but too fearful of damaging her career by breaking the non-dating the players rule, finally relents, much to her surprise, and they have a night to remember forever! Then things get complicated when Alec suddenly has a fiancé! Not to give away too much more of the twists and turns, Alec breaks up with his fiancé, but Ruby thinks he still loves his ex, and fights against the feelings she has for Alec. As one of the signature touches I look for from this author, she gives flesh and heart to Alec’s life by showing the reader his difficult childhood and his residual scars. This story, like the others in this series, are a lovely combination of heat, heart, angst, characters deeply in love, and subtle witticisms. You won’t put the book down until the very last page!
The fourth and final book in this series, Deep Desire is about the relationship between Gabe (a newly traded player with a serious shoulder injury that puts his playing future in question) and Zoe (his new athletic trainer). Gabe does not want a female trainer because he is very serious about recovering so he can show his old team they should never have traded him. Zoe sees right through Gabe and finds a man who is truly compassionate and caring but fearful of being limited by his injury. She knows she must protect her heart from Gabe which becomes extremely challenging because they live together! And just in case you thought this was some fluff piece from Ms. DePaul, you are made well aware of the scars left by Zoe’s father.
These four books are among my favorites. As talented as Ms. DePaul is in really knowing how to heat up a room and steam the windows, she is equally facile at showing true and abiding love, heart-felt emotions, situations so funny that your belly hurts from laughing, and relationships so complex that no one escapes without deep, emotional wounds! The series is the total package – not too much technical football information, or subjects so depressing you can’t find your way out. These stories have just the right mix of sex, banter, attraction, chemistry, sex (did I already mention that), love and angst to keep you reading late into the night!
This is the first time I have read this author and it won’t be my last. This is the third story in the Going Deep series about the Savannah Bootleggers football team. It can be read as a standalone.
Ruby O’Brien is a publicist. She works for O’Brien PR firm, her father Phil’s company. Ruby has been exposed to and loved football all her life growing up as the daughter of a PR great. Ruby was given the job as publicist for the Savannah Bootleggers’ football team. She loves her job even though there are days it’s very trying with the antics of some of the men on the team. One in particular, Alec LeBrun. Ruby has had a crush on Alec from the first time she met him and who wouldn’t. He’s handsome, charming and he is the best at his game. The only problem is Ruby can’t get involved with any member of the organization. She would lose her job and her reputation. But sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants.
Alec LeBrun has had a tough time in life, being raised by a single mother, but with her love and support he succeeded in his dream of playing pro football. He has a reputation as a lady’s man, womanizer that recently just went through a scandal with a breakup, engagement and then breaking that engagement all within two months. Alec is private and wanted to keep this mess to himself and out of the public. He knows he has been out of control and knows he has to get it under control. He just needs Ruby. It was love at first sight for Alec. Ruby is smart, professional, gorgeous and he wants her. He has wanted her longer than she even realizes. He was after her for months to go out with him. Then one night she relents and it’s a night that neither can forget. Ruby realizes there is more to Alec then she ever realized.
I am going to leave it right there. There is a lot that goes down between Ruby and Alec and there are hurdles. There are meddling ex-girlfriends, difficult bosses, demanding father’s and a love that touches both of them. Alec has a lot to prove and he has got to make Ruby believe that his feelings are real.
This was a quick and easy read. No angst. It’s sweet, sexy and oh so good. I liked it so much, I went back and bought books one and two in the series.