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Playing the Field #4
Trick Play
It’s been two years since we met, two months since we broke up, and two days since we last hooked up.
Zeke
I’m known as the playboy of the NFL, promiscuous because of how many people—friends, strangers, fans—I’m photographed kissing for attention. Never mind the fact that my pictures help raise money for charities and distract the media vultures from other athletes’ personal lives. No one sees the good I do, how I help people by sacrificing my personal life. No one, that is, except Micah, the man who captured my heart nearly two years ago.
Since accidentally creating a queer and allies group for NFL players and partners and declaring an intent to overturn the league’s new invasive rule regarding players’ dating lives, it’s time to prove I’m not the irresponsible playboy everything thinks I am, but the only person I know to turn to is the one who suggested we break up and only be friends with benefits.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to convince Micah to give our relationship another shot. Maybe recreating my image will be just the thing to prove to him that I’m ready to settle down—with him.
Micah
My life is a mess.
I hate my day job, can’t tell anyone about my night job, and I fell for a playboy. Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I even tried to date the aforementioned playboy, and when we ultimately broke up, it wasn’t even his fault—it was mine.
I couldn’t admit why I spent my nights out instead of in bed beside him. If I did tell, he’d leave for good. So, much to my heart’s dismay, I convinced Zeke that we could break up but remain hooking up without feelings. I keep telling myself that I’d rather have him like this than lose him entirely. That I’m satisfied with our arrangement—but I’m not. I want to be with him, and I know he wants to be with me, but we’re stuck, unmoving, because I can’t be completely honest with him.
Between a job I should love but hate, a job I should hate but love, and the man who holds my heart in his hands, I’m running ragged.
Something has to give.
A playboy quarterback
A hopeless romantic
And the second chance they deserve
Trick Play is an MM second-chance romance set in Ajay Daniel’s Playing the Field series. Though it is book four in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
Zeke
I’m known as the playboy of the NFL, promiscuous because of how many people—friends, strangers, fans—I’m photographed kissing for attention. Never mind the fact that my pictures help raise money for charities and distract the media vultures from other athletes’ personal lives. No one sees the good I do, how I help people by sacrificing my personal life. No one, that is, except Micah, the man who captured my heart nearly two years ago.
Since accidentally creating a queer and allies group for NFL players and partners and declaring an intent to overturn the league’s new invasive rule regarding players’ dating lives, it’s time to prove I’m not the irresponsible playboy everything thinks I am, but the only person I know to turn to is the one who suggested we break up and only be friends with benefits.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to convince Micah to give our relationship another shot. Maybe recreating my image will be just the thing to prove to him that I’m ready to settle down—with him.
Micah
My life is a mess.
I hate my day job, can’t tell anyone about my night job, and I fell for a playboy. Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I even tried to date the aforementioned playboy, and when we ultimately broke up, it wasn’t even his fault—it was mine.
I couldn’t admit why I spent my nights out instead of in bed beside him. If I did tell, he’d leave for good. So, much to my heart’s dismay, I convinced Zeke that we could break up but remain hooking up without feelings. I keep telling myself that I’d rather have him like this than lose him entirely. That I’m satisfied with our arrangement—but I’m not. I want to be with him, and I know he wants to be with me, but we’re stuck, unmoving, because I can’t be completely honest with him.
Between a job I should love but hate, a job I should hate but love, and the man who holds my heart in his hands, I’m running ragged.
Something has to give.
A playboy quarterback
A hopeless romantic
And the second chance they deserve
Trick Play is an MM second-chance romance set in Ajay Daniel’s Playing the Field series. Though it is book four in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
351 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2025
50 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Ajay Daniel
7 books67 followersAjay enjoys writing romance stories (with a sprinkle of steam, smutt, spice, or whatever word tickles your fancy) where the main characters fall in love. Sometimes the main characters are opposite genders, and sometimes they're the same. Sometimes there are two, and sometimes there are more. Ajay doesn't discriminate because, between consenting adults, love is love. It doesn't need a fancy definition or strict guidelines of what should and shouldn't be, and who is anyone to judge? When the characters appear and offer their story, taking over the author's thoughts be it day, night, during the work day, driving, or trying to accomplish chores around the house . . . Well, Ajay is just going to write it for them.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Did Not Finish
July 4, 2025Dnf 26% (7/3/25) I probably could have managed to keep reading but there are so many other books on my TBR. I just wasn’t enjoying the timelines and unclear writing.
June 17, 2025
I didn't realize when I started this book that I'd previously read the 3rd installment and didn't particularly enjoy it. Even reading about Hendrix and Gin in this book didn't ring any bells for me.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book I loved the "Bunny" endearment, it was different than the normal "baby" or "sweetie." I liked Micah and the way his character was written. Zeke was a pretty strong MC that was totally devoted to Micah even while just being FwB. They were cute together and I was happily reading away totally entranced by the two MC's waiting for their secrets to be revealed, only to be completely disappointed by the second half of this book.
To start this book really needed dates to smooth out the "then" vs "now" timeline. I was finding it hard to decipher when events were happening in the past and how long between chapters it had been in the present.
The premise of Zeke kissing literally everyone got old really fast and to be honest was one of the stupidest plot lines I've ever read. He's kissing hundreds of people every time he goes anywhere with a crowd, leaving the people he's with to stand by and wait while he takes selfies and kisses person after person after person. One of my biggest issues with this plot folds into my biggest issue with the book: Zeke is seemingly so famous that a photo dump on his Instagram of something he's constantly doing would change the news cycle, to help other players from being exposed, but he's not a big enough star that people are investigating why he's repeatedly seen with the same man for 2+ years, a man that is so original and unique that there's no way he wouldn't have stood out in every photo set.
The whole concept that Micah's secret life wouldn't have already been exposed was ridiculous. Zeke and Micah had spent hundreds of days together; were at events together, traveled together, lunches, dinners, the zoo, the amusement park, Micah was featured prominently in tons of the Instagram kiss photos, and no one was looking into who he was until they officially started dating? He's a Super Bowl winning Quarterback and somehow the press is not interested in him at all, it makes no sense. Paparazzi would've been obsessed with him and Micah, there would've been fans hunting and searching to figure out who the man was that was such an important part of Zeke's life. I mean at one point they're caught making out before a date by someone taking pictures and the only thing he does is post them kissing on his Instagram and that's the end of that. Gael his fake date, is the one who in the end outs Micah to the press, but there's no way trash magazines wouldn't have been paying people for the videos and photos of a Super Bowl winning Quarterback making out with a man in the street. It would've been no more than two or three pictures of the two of them kissing to be included in an Instagram post before people were wondering who Micah was and easily finding out. His agent wasn't questioning it, no PR people, no publicist from the team, not one person had any clue.
Micah's job lie went on way too long. 85% through the book and Zeke still has no clue that Micah is dancing at night. Zeke's over the top reaction to Frankie working at Mischief was silly. He knew the club wasn't seedy, he knew the owner had a good rep, was at Mischief and saw how serious they were taking the care for their dancers and had been to other strip clubs the guy owned but his immediate first thought was that Frankie was in danger and needed help. I know it was probably written to enforce Micah's worry about Zeke hating him for being a stripper, but it was way over the top. Micah knew Zeke enjoyed watching him dance, he knew he'd previously had no issue watching him dance on teammates and Frankie at the club but was afraid Zeke would reject him when he found out.
The last 10% of the book was the worst part. They get together and then it's a rush job to shove in that the press finds out about Micah, Gael is evil, Ben is threatening Zeke because Dream is making up lies at the club, the NFL fraternizing rule isn't changed but Oh! a coach and a player are together. It was way too much shoved right into the last two chapters.
The book was also just structured really bizarrely. There'd be a topic brought up in conversation and then it would be pages later before the explanation happened. For example, at the dog charity event, Gin brings up to the guys "remember no one is adopting pets today, this isn't an adoption event." Instead of immediately explaining to the reader why this is, pages go by, different topics are brought up and then finally we circle back to the reason why this isn't an adoption event; people will adopt under pressure and then return the pet. This happened constantly where something would happen that needed an explanation and then it'd be pages before we were given an answer.
Finally, a few stupid issues that were just bothering me; the nicknames, they were used too frequently and changed mid conversation, and it was kind of taking me out of the story to remember who I was reading about when one paragraph referred to one guy by three names. Also, Micah's hair would've been completely fried with all the dying he was doing, stylist or not changing his hair so often would've been terrible. Jess, Zeke's agent was rude, the way she talks to Zeke was dismissive, it didn't come off quirky or cute and pushing him and Gael together when Zeke was obviously not into it was annoying.
I'll be more careful in the future, I don't think this author is for me.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book I loved the "Bunny" endearment, it was different than the normal "baby" or "sweetie." I liked Micah and the way his character was written. Zeke was a pretty strong MC that was totally devoted to Micah even while just being FwB. They were cute together and I was happily reading away totally entranced by the two MC's waiting for their secrets to be revealed, only to be completely disappointed by the second half of this book.
To start this book really needed dates to smooth out the "then" vs "now" timeline. I was finding it hard to decipher when events were happening in the past and how long between chapters it had been in the present.
The premise of Zeke kissing literally everyone got old really fast and to be honest was one of the stupidest plot lines I've ever read. He's kissing hundreds of people every time he goes anywhere with a crowd, leaving the people he's with to stand by and wait while he takes selfies and kisses person after person after person. One of my biggest issues with this plot folds into my biggest issue with the book: Zeke is seemingly so famous that a photo dump on his Instagram of something he's constantly doing would change the news cycle, to help other players from being exposed, but he's not a big enough star that people are investigating why he's repeatedly seen with the same man for 2+ years, a man that is so original and unique that there's no way he wouldn't have stood out in every photo set.
The whole concept that Micah's secret life wouldn't have already been exposed was ridiculous. Zeke and Micah had spent hundreds of days together; were at events together, traveled together, lunches, dinners, the zoo, the amusement park, Micah was featured prominently in tons of the Instagram kiss photos, and no one was looking into who he was until they officially started dating? He's a Super Bowl winning Quarterback and somehow the press is not interested in him at all, it makes no sense. Paparazzi would've been obsessed with him and Micah, there would've been fans hunting and searching to figure out who the man was that was such an important part of Zeke's life. I mean at one point they're caught making out before a date by someone taking pictures and the only thing he does is post them kissing on his Instagram and that's the end of that. Gael his fake date, is the one who in the end outs Micah to the press, but there's no way trash magazines wouldn't have been paying people for the videos and photos of a Super Bowl winning Quarterback making out with a man in the street. It would've been no more than two or three pictures of the two of them kissing to be included in an Instagram post before people were wondering who Micah was and easily finding out. His agent wasn't questioning it, no PR people, no publicist from the team, not one person had any clue.
Micah's job lie went on way too long. 85% through the book and Zeke still has no clue that Micah is dancing at night. Zeke's over the top reaction to Frankie working at Mischief was silly. He knew the club wasn't seedy, he knew the owner had a good rep, was at Mischief and saw how serious they were taking the care for their dancers and had been to other strip clubs the guy owned but his immediate first thought was that Frankie was in danger and needed help. I know it was probably written to enforce Micah's worry about Zeke hating him for being a stripper, but it was way over the top. Micah knew Zeke enjoyed watching him dance, he knew he'd previously had no issue watching him dance on teammates and Frankie at the club but was afraid Zeke would reject him when he found out.
The last 10% of the book was the worst part. They get together and then it's a rush job to shove in that the press finds out about Micah, Gael is evil, Ben is threatening Zeke because Dream is making up lies at the club, the NFL fraternizing rule isn't changed but Oh! a coach and a player are together. It was way too much shoved right into the last two chapters.
The book was also just structured really bizarrely. There'd be a topic brought up in conversation and then it would be pages later before the explanation happened. For example, at the dog charity event, Gin brings up to the guys "remember no one is adopting pets today, this isn't an adoption event." Instead of immediately explaining to the reader why this is, pages go by, different topics are brought up and then finally we circle back to the reason why this isn't an adoption event; people will adopt under pressure and then return the pet. This happened constantly where something would happen that needed an explanation and then it'd be pages before we were given an answer.
Finally, a few stupid issues that were just bothering me; the nicknames, they were used too frequently and changed mid conversation, and it was kind of taking me out of the story to remember who I was reading about when one paragraph referred to one guy by three names. Also, Micah's hair would've been completely fried with all the dying he was doing, stylist or not changing his hair so often would've been terrible. Jess, Zeke's agent was rude, the way she talks to Zeke was dismissive, it didn't come off quirky or cute and pushing him and Gael together when Zeke was obviously not into it was annoying.
I'll be more careful in the future, I don't think this author is for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2025
okay so it's like 1am, but i couldn't stop reading. like i really wanted to finish the book, which is why i'm rating this book higher than i probably should? idk i mean, i rate on vibes and i liked the characters. like zeke and micah were so cute and sweet and hot together. their chemistry was off the charts! and i’m just a sucker for some angst, which was guaranteed with all the damn pining lol i was rooting for them and just wanted to see them get their HEA. but i also can't rate it any higher because micah's "secret" and the reveal just fell flat for me. like i love the premise of their going from fuck buddies to lovers to FWB, but at the same time, the whole reason micah broke up with zeke just didn't work (for me).
maybe it was the way the whole "now" and "then" storytelling. honestly, some of the flashbacks just didn’t add to the story at all. they seemed unnecessary. and others were redundant. like frankie! we already knew who he was. we knew that zeke enjoyed watching frankie and micah dancing, so we didn’t need the flashback of zeke meeting frankie and watching them. or the same for micah giving one of zeke’s teammates a lap dance. we already knew that he’d done it and that zeke had enjoyed watching it. like either give us the flashback OR the information, but we didn’t need both because it just dragged the story down. and at times it actually pulled me out. like i'd be really into what was going on and the next chapter would be a flashback instead of continuing with what was happening.
other things that just didn't work for me:
- david. seriously, wtf
- gael. why?!
- tahegin telling zeke he wasn't a leader. like bruh, i thought y'all were besties??? it seemed so out of place
but to counter that, some things i loved were:
- hendrix and tahegin!!! i really enjoyed their book and i’m a sucker for cameos so i adored that they were side characters in this one
- zeke and chris’s friendship. And i really hope chris gets a book (either in this series or not) because i’m so rooting for him and leo. also because i hope we get to see more of the dancers (and the bodyguards) at mischief
anywho, yeah, those are my ramblings after finishing lol
maybe it was the way the whole "now" and "then" storytelling. honestly, some of the flashbacks just didn’t add to the story at all. they seemed unnecessary. and others were redundant. like frankie! we already knew who he was. we knew that zeke enjoyed watching frankie and micah dancing, so we didn’t need the flashback of zeke meeting frankie and watching them. or the same for micah giving one of zeke’s teammates a lap dance. we already knew that he’d done it and that zeke had enjoyed watching it. like either give us the flashback OR the information, but we didn’t need both because it just dragged the story down. and at times it actually pulled me out. like i'd be really into what was going on and the next chapter would be a flashback instead of continuing with what was happening.
other things that just didn't work for me:
- david. seriously, wtf
- gael. why?!
- tahegin telling zeke he wasn't a leader. like bruh, i thought y'all were besties??? it seemed so out of place
but to counter that, some things i loved were:
- hendrix and tahegin!!! i really enjoyed their book and i’m a sucker for cameos so i adored that they were side characters in this one
- zeke and chris’s friendship. And i really hope chris gets a book (either in this series or not) because i’m so rooting for him and leo. also because i hope we get to see more of the dancers (and the bodyguards) at mischief
anywho, yeah, those are my ramblings after finishing lol
December 23, 2025
it was interesting enough to read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
https://ladiikeiii.wordpress.com/2025...
***Spoilers here and there***
I’ll give this book a four star read. Due to the fact the book switch between ‘then’ and ‘now’ . I didn’t like that at all I prefer the “now” whereas the ‘then” could’ve started fully in the beginning.
Besides that Gael and her manager should’ve known better. I had a feeling “they” wanted Zeke for themselves. Especially when Gael they put the phone between Zeke and Micah when they kissed and that community event that was going on.
To top that off David now he was just a horrible individual it’s a wonder he didn’t get replaced. Especially with him harassing not technically but saying inappropriate things towards Micah and others . Epically Micah since he had a hard-on for him baaaaddd!!
I love Zeke and Micah relationship and that what bother David the most that man hated those football players - athletics from the time he learn who Micah was friends with.
I love how Benjamin the owner of Mischief came forward about the club and who Micah was as a person and not no s** worker etc. like come on now. Gael was jealous of that relationship that Zeke had with Micah.
Then top it off Dream Lordy that man was just rude and mean towards others in that club. To lie on Zeke about how he treated Micah, other dancers and customers was crazy. All because he said he (Zeke) didn’t want dances from him (Dream) anymore. Micah telling him (Dream) to leave his man alone. Which I can agree to because hello that is his (Micah) man. He not up for grabs (money) wise no more.
Not only that I didn’t know that Ben the owner of Mischief was in a poly-relationship interesting. Plus those other characters not Gin an Rix but the other players. I’ve heard them from others books has to be from this series and others…
https://ladiikeiii.wordpress.com/2025...
***Spoilers here and there***
I’ll give this book a four star read. Due to the fact the book switch between ‘then’ and ‘now’ . I didn’t like that at all I prefer the “now” whereas the ‘then” could’ve started fully in the beginning.
Besides that Gael and her manager should’ve known better. I had a feeling “they” wanted Zeke for themselves. Especially when Gael they put the phone between Zeke and Micah when they kissed and that community event that was going on.
To top that off David now he was just a horrible individual it’s a wonder he didn’t get replaced. Especially with him harassing not technically but saying inappropriate things towards Micah and others . Epically Micah since he had a hard-on for him baaaaddd!!
I love Zeke and Micah relationship and that what bother David the most that man hated those football players - athletics from the time he learn who Micah was friends with.
I love how Benjamin the owner of Mischief came forward about the club and who Micah was as a person and not no s** worker etc. like come on now. Gael was jealous of that relationship that Zeke had with Micah.
Then top it off Dream Lordy that man was just rude and mean towards others in that club. To lie on Zeke about how he treated Micah, other dancers and customers was crazy. All because he said he (Zeke) didn’t want dances from him (Dream) anymore. Micah telling him (Dream) to leave his man alone. Which I can agree to because hello that is his (Micah) man. He not up for grabs (money) wise no more.
Not only that I didn’t know that Ben the owner of Mischief was in a poly-relationship interesting. Plus those other characters not Gin an Rix but the other players. I’ve heard them from others books has to be from this series and others…
April 4, 2026
Slightly better than just ok. Micah was not my favorite character in past books so neither he nor Zeke really drew me in initially. Also I typically don’t care for books that jump back and forth in time. That said the time jumping kept me glued to the page because I wanted to learn how Zeke discovered “the secret.” And the characters love for each other was well written. Good enough that I’ll read the next one when it comes out.
July 4, 2025
Nah
It's not a bad story, but from guys are not for me.
Sorry. 😔 😔
🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈
It's not a bad story, but from guys are not for me.
Sorry. 😔 😔
🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈
November 10, 2025
Too many flashbacks
I found the Then and Now back and forth distracting. I enjoyed the plot but think it would have been better told linearly.
I found the Then and Now back and forth distracting. I enjoyed the plot but think it would have been better told linearly.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews