He knows they were friends

He knows they were enemies

But were they ever lovers?

Aboriginal footballer and rising superstar Sean Hiller wakes up in hospital missing the last two years of his life. The first thing he sees is the good-for-nothing white boy he hates—his teammate, Jack Reaver. And the last thing he remembers is an altercation with Jack in the locker room.

Jack must’ve put him here. Except Jack didn’t cause his accident because he’s now Sean’s best friend and roommate. Jack will be taking Sean home to care for him while he recovers. Sean can’t believe it. Letting Jack back in means confronting what happened between them when they were seventeen and Sean can’t do that.

But when he discovers Jack strung out in their kitchen at 2am, Sean takes care of him in a way he’d never dreamed possible. And Jack refuses to tell him exactly what that means. As Sean stares down the prospect of being medically retired at twenty-seven, the pain of not knowing who they are to each other hurts him more than the loss of his career.

He knows they could’ve been friends, could’ve been more. He knows they became enemies instead. But were they ever lovers?

“You don't look at me like a hook-up.”

“How do I look at you?”

“I don't know. But it's not like that.”

Chris McLachlan can't stop thinking about the cool guy he met at a rooftop bar. So when he crashes into him at his favourite coffee shop a year later, he asks him out immediately. He's bewildered when he gets turned down cold—he's a decent looking billionaire, is this guy for real? Sure, Chris has a sexual problem, but this guy doesn't know that.

After his messy break-up, Joaquin Nord never wants to date again. Riddled with feelings of betrayal, shame and depression, he's content to keep to himself and avoid all things George and Finn—his ex and the rookie he married a month after they broke up—for the rest of his life. He's definitely not going to date the weird guy who keeps rocking up at his coffee place.

But when Joq is subjected to yet another installment of the Gay Football Soap Opera that is George and Finn in the media, he decides to give Chris a shot. Losing himself in a hot one night stand is just the ticket he needs to move on.

But from the first night, it feels like more than a hook-up. For Chris, it's the first time he's slept with someone he wants to see again. For Joq, it's far too intimate.

Joq won't do another relationship. And Chris can't because he's sexually dysfunctional. It makes no sense for them to keep hooking up.

And yet, they do, repeatedly, both of them waiting for the other shoe to drop…

Until Joq realises he can't do better, but can Chris?

The follow-up to His Boyfriend's Rookie and Because He's My Guy, You Could Do Better brings Joq some much needed closure and a sweet HEA.