Offside and Overwhelmed - A Marriage-in-Crisis Romance of Workplace Tension and Forced Proximity, and the Promise They Couldn't Keep

"Your file is a lie." Benjamin Holloway had fooled the press, the manager, and the club physio about the injury quietly ending his career. Then a woman he had never met walked into the changing room and called him on it in four words. Every match was a shop window. So Benjamin played through a hamstring that felt like someone had threaded a cable through the muscle and pulled it tight. He hid the truth from everyone. He touched the secret ticket in his kitbag before every single game, like a prayer he couldn't explain. The Premier League didn't sign strikers who broke down — so he lied, and he lied well. Delphine Rowe saw straight through him. Hollowford Athletic's new physio had clocked every favoured step, every skipped stretch, every half-second hesitation before he dared to accelerate. She had twenty-four hours before the old physio found out she'd pulled his file. And she would not back down. "I'm not trying to catch you out," she told him. "I'm trying to keep you healthy. You're not healthy." What starts as a war of wills becomes something neither of them can afford. Forced together through treatment sessions and stolen cups of coffee, Benjamin and Delphine each carry a wound the other can read too clearly — and a quiet promise to themselves that they are terrified to break. Then a rumour cuts deep. A leak exposes everything. A rival's confession threatens the fragile thing they have built. And the one truth that could finally free them might cost them both the careers they have bled for. Benjamin has spent his whole life hiding the ticket in his bag. Now he has to decide whether some things are worth more than the next goal — and whether he is brave enough to let Delphine see all of him. Offside and Overwhelmed by Lewis G. Northcote is an emotional, slow-burn sports romance about forced proximity, workplace tension, a hidden injury, two fiercely guarded hearts, healing, and a love that asks two stubborn people to finally stop pretending. Perfect for readers who love sports romance, forced-proximity and slow-burn tropes, grumpy heroes with secrets, emotional second chances, and the swoony, high-stakes heart of The Deal and the Windy City series. A standalone romance with a hard-earned happy ending.