The Trade by Kata Čuić

What’s a woman to do when she’s faced with the impossible decision to give an old flame a second chance?
Shore up her defenses to ward off his charms, of course.
Once upon a time, Merrick Jovanovitch was my everything. I fell fast and hard and forever. Then, I pushed him away. The end.
He’s suddenly back in my life, the newest addition to my fresh-start city’s football team. When I’m blackmailed by a vicious wife of one of Merrick’s teammates to help the team land a reality TV series, I don’t have the option to run from my problems this time. The secret I’ve been keeping from Merrick for three long years needs to stay where it belongs—in the past. With pressure mounting on my unsteady shoulders, I need a release valve to keep juggling all these very fragile plates.

Enter jagoff42. Yeah. That’s…an online handle from a language-learning app.
I know it sounds bananas but hear me out. My internet pen pal is the only man for this job because he’s a third-party bystander with no skin in the game. I don’t have to worry about him getting hurt or spilling my deepest, darkest secrets to anyone. Because we’ve never actually met.
No, I don’t know his real name.
No, I don’t know if he’s a creepy old dude.
No, I don’t know if he lives in his mother’s basement.
He’s only ever told me that he’s close. So, yeah. He’s probably creepy.