The Winning Play (Playing for Keeps #2)
Lauren Lacey
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
4.67
· Steam/Spice level: 4 of 5
Explicit open door [?]
· 3 ratings · 508 pages · Published: 20 Jan 2026
Sebastian Boom was born into a life of legacy and expectation, raised to chase perfection on and off the basketball court. Lottie Daniels grew up fighting for peace in a world that never handed her anything easily. He thrives on order. She moves through chaos. They shouldn’t fit, but somehow, they do.
What starts as a lust-filled friendship turns into something neither of them can escape. He becomes her calm when life spins out of control, and she’s the spark that reminds him what it means to feel alive. But calm doesn’t mean safe, and sparks have a way of burning when the past refuses to stay buried.
From late-night talks and basketball games to choices that leave scars and years spent apart, their connection refuses to break no matter how hard they try to fight it. It’s as if the world keeps playing games with their desires, giving them an inch and then taking it away over and over again.
In the end, they learn that the real game isn’t played under the lights. It’s fought in the heart, where love can wound as easily as it heals.
The Winning Play is a story of passion and pain, control and surrender, and finding the one person who makes every risk, every fall, and every victory worth it. This raw, emotional, and unforgettable story reminds us that peace is possible after chaos, that healing is the truest victory, and that sometimes the greatest win of all is learning you were the prize from the very beginning.
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Tagged as:
- vengeance 1
- sports 1
- african-american 1
- angst 1
- class difference 1
- friends to lovers 1
- friends with benefits 1
- hurt/comfort 1
- other man/woman 1
- love triangle 1
- cheating 1
- second chances 1
- secret relationship 1
- slow burn 1
- tortured heroine 1
- alpha male 1
- athlete hero 1
- dark romance 1
- forbidden love 1
- Add topics
- content warnings
- mental trauma 1
- misogyny 1
- slut shaming 1
- terminal illness 1
- torture of mcs 1
- abuse 1
- past abuse 1
- past child abuse 1
- death / grief 1
- rape 1
- past sexual abuse 1
romance tags
The 'Playing for Keeps' series
4.55 · 10 ratings
mental-trauma · explicit-open-door · length-long · death · tortured heroine · african-american · slow burn · athletes · past-child-abuse · sports · angst · abuse · graphic-violence · child-sexual-abuse · second chances · secret-relationship · past-child-neglect · torture-mcs · past-abuse · terminal-illness
Playing for Keeps reading order and complete book list ❯
