Full Time

"She was hired to replace me."

Ines Bergström has survived seventeen years of brutal tackles, failing cartilage, and the relentless pressure of carrying a national team on her shoulders. At thirty-four, the legendary captain wants only one thing: a final chance to win the World Cup before her body—or the federation—decides her career is over.

Then she is ordered to mentor Delphine Marchetti.

Twenty-one, fearless, and explosively talented, Delphine is everything Ines used to be—and everything she is terrified of becoming obsolete beside. The federation calls Delphine the future. The press calls her Ines's natural successor. Ines sees the woman being prepared to inherit her position, her armband, and the only life she has ever known.

Delphine has spent years dreaming of playing beside her childhood hero. She never imagined arriving as the threat everyone expects Ines to resent. Hiding her uncertainty behind swagger and sharp-edged confidence, she is determined to prove that she belongs on the roster for more than her potential—or the record fee paid to bring her there.

Forced into adjoining lockers, shared hotel rooms, and private training sessions, resentment slowly gives way to reluctant trust. Every early-morning drill reveals another crack in their defenses. Every touch lasts a fraction too long. And as the season drives them toward World Cup selection, the line between rivalry, mentorship, and desire becomes impossible to hold.

But Ines cannot separate loving Delphine from the terror of being replaced by her. Delphine refuses to become someone's shame—or accept a future built on the disappearance of the woman who taught her how to claim it. With injuries mounting, the press watching, and only one captain's armband between them, can they choose each other without sacrificing everything they have spent their lives becoming?