The Wrath of Eli by Lily Zante

Elias:
Nobody expects me to win.
I’m the kid with nothing, from nowhere. I don’t have a nickname, or a ring entrance tune.
But I have a killer instinct.
I know how to survive, because growing up, I had to.
So when I get a chance to fight Colin ‘The Tank’ Garrison, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, I pounce on it.
Doesn’t matter that it was fluke.
I’m in the fight, and I have a shot at the title.
But then she appears, the journalist from the local paper. Looking out of place in the grime of the boxing gym, with her manicured nails and perfect hair.
I despise her on sight.
I don’t need someone like her snooping around the edges of my life, prying into the past I’m trying to erase.
But the journalist wants the story.
And I want the belt.
And against the odds, she finds a way to my heart.

Harper:
Elias Cardoza wasn’t my type.
I prefer men in smart business suits, not men covered in sweat.
But I wasn’t prepared for his sculpted physique to stop me in my tracks.
I wasn’t prepared for his simmering anger and steely mood to pique my interest.
He hates me being here, and he doesn’t even try to hide it.
If looks could kill, I would have been dead the first moment he set eyes on me.
But he’s forced to let me in, and when I probe deeper, I find his scars hidden beneath the debris of his life.
There are things he tries to hide.
Nightmares that stalk him.
The past he’d rather forget.
My heart bleeds when I discover them.
Eli wants the belt.
And I want the story.
And along the way, we stumbled and found one another.