First Down, Final Prayer: She believed her body was a temple. He worshiped it with his mouth wide open.

by C.L. Cossette

She’s saving herself for the right reason.
He stopped believing there was one.

Joelle Johnson doesn’t believe in perfection—but she does believe in waiting. Raised by two progressive pastors, she’s saving her body for the day it feels like a choice made in peace—not shame.

Micah Stewart lost his faith the day he lost his parents. Now he’s Marigold State’s wide receiver, running routes he doesn’t care about and drinking tea in a coffee shop where a girl with a worn Bible keeps looking at him like she sees what’s left.

She wants to be touched without disappearing.
He wants to believe in something again—maybe her.

When longing turns holy, they’ll have to
What if desire is its own kind of devotion?

A slow-burn, emotionally tangled romance about grief, faith, shame, and the way one kiss can feel like a prayer answered out loud.

166 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2026

About the author

C.L. Cossette has been devouring books since she could first hold one, and now she's finally writing the kind she’s always loved—stories that make you cry, kick your feet, squeal with joy, and maybe even blush a little. She’s thrilled to be creating stories that speak to the heart and linger in the soul. She lives with her husband and their very good boy, Bo, who insists on being involved in the writing process. When she’s not typing furiously or swooning over fictional men, she’s probably daydreaming about her next plot twist.