A Player to Be Named Later by hmonster4 and TheHeartOfLife

Official Description:

Love is a combination of quantum physics, molecular attraction, & timing, right? Two people, brought together by fluke or divine intervention sticking true to the old cliché–you have to play 1 day at a time. A FGB novella by theheartoflife & hmonster4

On hmonster4′s profile:

On TheHeartofLife’s profile:

I love the opening to A Player to be Named Later. It’s an article that Emmett wrote for the newspaper he works for and in it, he reminisces about a baseball memory with his “granda”. He quotes Bull Durham in that article – you can’t get much better than that.

His first meeting with Rosalie isn’t exactly what had been planned. His co-worker, Garrett (also Rosalie’s BFF and roommate), set them up. She is being hit on in the bar and all Emmett sees is a lady who needs a helping hand. Well….Rosalie is no damsel in distress:

Emmett expected her to say something more, to offer to buy him a drink or even say thanks, but she was too focused on her phone, her thumbs flying across the screen.

“Can I help you?” She asked, never looking up.

“A thank you would be nice, if not polite,” he said, using the same look he used on his nan when he got caught trying to sneak cookies before dinner. He wished he could lean in closer and take another breath, desperate to know if the woman really did use lemon verbena soap or if it was just his imagination. Then he would snatch the phone away and tell her she was being rude. Old habits die hard.

“Sorry,” the blonde said, slipping her phone into her bag. “I’m meeting friends and they just arrived. If you’ll excuse me.” She didn’t make eye contact, just pulled her coat and free from the bar stool and draped a bright red scarf over her arm. It fluttered behind her as she walked briskly across the room.

“Well if that wasn’t…charming,” he mumbled, leaning up against the bar. He’d done a good deed, and the woman had been a total bitch. Guess her nan hadn’t been such a stickler for manners.

So, they do meet officially and sparks fly. Emmett does a little wooing by sending her her scarf with some speciality cookies. He makes an impression. Their banter is lovely and I feel like I’m watching a tennis match……a really good tennis match.

“Emmett?” She grimaced at the sheer stupidity of her response and pressed her palm against her forehead, her eyes going skyward. “Uh, it’s Rosalie.”

“Well, hello, Rose. You sound surprised that I answered my own phone,” Emmett replied, that ever-present hint of laughter in his voice.

“Oh, we’re going to start things out this way?” Rosalie shot back, trying to sound less amused than she was.

There was a soft rustle on the other end of the line and Rosalie wondered what he was doing, if he was reading the newspaper or a magazine. She wondered what he’d had for breakfast, what he’d been doing all day. “What way is that?”

“With you making fun of me.”

“I wasn’t making fun of you,” he said. Another rustle. “I was teasing you. There’s a big difference.”

“It seems like a slippery slope to me,” she hummed, unconvinced.
“A slippery slope?”

“What, you’re going to make fun of my phrase choices too?”

“Tease,” he clarified with a laugh.

She huffed. “Remind me why I called you again.”

“You tell me,” he shot back, his tone curious.

There is one other thing that makes this couple perfect for each other: they have been exchanging messages on a post secret type blog and don’t know it. Their alter egos are Mac and Lily. Emmett and Rosalie are becoming closer and closer – I can’t wait until the blog thing is revealed!

If you are an Emmett fan, you will love this story. If you are ride or die Edward and Bella, still give it a shot. Broaden your horizons!

To quote the amazing xtothey, I’m a ride or die Edward and Bella gal. With that being said, I can’t resist the genius of hmonster4 or The Heart of Life. After all, they are the collab that brought us Down and Across, which is one of my favorite stories.

I really love this Emmett and can’t believe how much I like this Rosalie. And together, they’re well-matched.

One moment. Sometimes that was all it took to change a course of a day, a week, a relationship, even a life.

Rosalie was familiar with the phenomenon. She’d seen it happen to Garrett and Kate, had experienced it with Edward when they’d collided in the most literal sense. It was that one moment, the instantaneous something where it felt like the universe snapped its fingers and suddenly you were on a different path, standing somewhere completely new.

Sometimes, though, it wasn’t just one moment. Sometimes it was a series of events that gently nudged two people in a new direction. It was subtle, measured – a chain of phone calls or emails, coffee dates and secret smiles across tabletops, laughter and conversation that never seemed to end. It wasn’t a bang, but a whisper: Just wait. You’ll see it soon.

She’d always expected the lightning bolt; it was all she knew. But what was happening between her and Emmett had been revealed to her slowly. The moments they’d shared leading up to their first date were seemingly innocuous alone, but weighted and full of meaning when layered one on top of the other. They had been setting the foundation for what was growing between them now, and she realized that she’d needed it to be this way. A slow, careful bloom that gave her solid ground to stand on, that assured her that this was real.

She hadn’t known just how good slow could be until him.

I love the humor and can’t wait for them to figure out that they’ve been writing to each other. Give A Player to Be Named Later a chance–you won’t be sorry that you did!

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