Octagon Kings Series by Finn Archer

Each book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Dario Reyes has never lost a fight he cared about. Nineteen and two. A welterweight record built on nine years of iron discipline — and on a secret that would cost him every single one of those wins if it ever got out. When his training camp collapses ten weeks before the biggest fight of his career, the only gym that will take him is Redemption MMA... moreEach book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Dario Reyes has never lost a fight he cared about. Nineteen and two. A welterweight record built on nine years of iron discipline — and on a secret that would cost him every single one of those wins if it ever got out. When his training camp collapses ten weeks before the biggest fight of his career, the only gym that will take him is Redemption MMA. Run by Joaquin Solano — the sport's first openly gay champion, Dario's direct competitor for the same title shot, and the one person who reads the performance on day one. They hate each other from the first session. Enemies to lovers, forced proximity: two men who know exactly how to hurt each other, training for the privilege of doing it in front of millions, while something neither of them planned accumulates in the hours between. Then Dario has a panic attack in the locker room and the only person who finds him is Joaquin — who sits down on the concrete floor and doesn't say a word until Dario can breathe again. The sport that taught them both to hurt people becomes the space where they learn to be careful with each other. But the fight card hasn't changed. In eight weeks, they will stand across an octagon from each other. The feelings are not in anyone's game plan. Can either of them survive what comes after? less

Each book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Tomás Vega does not need anything from anyone. That is the design. Four years as Redemption MMA's head S&C coach — four years of being the man everyone leans on, the man who adjusts the load and stays late and remembers every birthday. Nobody asks how he is. That is not the job... moreEach book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Tomás Vega does not need anything from anyone. That is the design. Four years as Redemption MMA's head S&C coach — four years of being the man everyone leans on, the man who adjusts the load and stays late and remembers every birthday. Nobody asks how he is. That is not the job. Then Cormac Finneran arrives from Cork with a reputation for walking away from things, and within a week he has done what nobody at Redemption has managed in four years: he has clocked that Tomás is not fine. Three years ago Tomás was outed as a weapon during a contract dispute. He stayed. He fixed everything. He always fixes everything. He has not been in a relationship since. His self-sufficiency is a wall of warmth — relentless, genuine, one-directional — that keeps everyone at exactly the distance he needs. Cormac, who has confused being needed with being loved more times than he can count, recognizes the shape of what Tomás is doing. He keeps showing up anyway. Uninvited. With bad jokes. Refusing to be managed. Two men who know exactly what love costs and have decided, separately, that the math doesn't work. One of them is going to have to go first. What happens when the steadiest man in the gym finally runs out of ways to be fine? less

Each book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Rowan Park told Felix Drummond he was interested. Directly. Without performance. Felix said no — professionally, respectfully, with complete dignity. Rowan said okay, meant it, and went back to training. That was not how Felix expected it to go. The pursuer who accepts the rejection is not a story Felix knows how to handle. He is used to people ignoring his no... moreEach book in this series features a different couple and a complete happily ever after. Rowan Park told Felix Drummond he was interested. Directly. Without performance. Felix said no — professionally, respectfully, with complete dignity. Rowan said okay, meant it, and went back to training. That was not how Felix expected it to go. The pursuer who accepts the rejection is not a story Felix knows how to handle. He is used to people ignoring his no. He is not used to someone absorbing it with grace and continuing to exist nearby with the same quiet steadiness — not reaching, just present. Eighteen months of managed distance feels different when the other person stops trying. Felix is behind the camera. That is the job. It is also, he is starting to understand, the life. He has told other people's stories for years to avoid telling his own. Rowan has spent his entire career being underestimated — too small, too quiet, too calm to register as a threat. In the cage he is precise, pitiless, technically brilliant. He has watched two teammates step into the light and the gym survive it. He is running out of reasons to stay invisible. When Rowan's title run generates national attention and Felix is the one telling his story, the distance between the camera and the subject gets very small. Rowan already said what he needed to say. He is waiting. Can Felix put the camera down long enough to be in the story? less