Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Links:  Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel

When Aaron Costa realizes he needs some help renovating his parents’ lake house over the summer, he decides it would be a great way to spend some bonding time with his college-aged son, Julian.  Although this would be Julian’s first real job, the money is enough incentive to get him there, along with his best friend and roommate Malachi.  Aaron is a little wary as he finds Malachi incredibly attractive, but figures this is a great way to get some time with his son.

Spending long days together working with Malachi proves to be an incredible temptation for Aaron. Especially when it is clear that Malachi shares the attraction and wants Aaron just as badly.  But Aaron isn’t out to Julian and knows getting involved with his son’s best friend is a bad idea.  Yet the attraction between Aaron and Malachi is incredibly strong and neither man can deny himself for long.  As the summer continues, what started as a hot hookup begins to turn into more between the two men.  But as much as the men have grown to care for one another, the secrets they are keeping and their uncertain future may be more than their fledgling relationship can handle.

Despite the complications between Aaron and Julian, this story is doesn’t have much angst and is instead light, sweet, and super sexy.  Aaron and Malachi are incredibly likable guys.  They are hard working, caring, romantic, and sweet.  Both men value responsibility and have strong work ethics.  They are just both such good, solid people, it is hard to say a bad word about either of them. So despite the fact that we can sort of see the train wreck coming with all the secrecy about their relationship, I never really felt like either of them were bad guys.  We see clearly the attraction the men have to each other and they are both wracked with guilt knowing that they have the hots for their son’s roommate/best friends’ dad. Getting involved is not something they take lightly, but as readers we can see so clearly the pull that draws them together.  I think the authors do a great job making us understand and sympathize with the two men, and make it easy for us to want them to be together and happy.

But these guys aren’t all sweet and romantic (though they are both).  They are also incredibly sexy together and we do not skimp on the heat here.   When Malachi and Aaron get together is it sexy and dirty and intense and you can just feel that magnetic pull they have toward one another.

My only small issue here is that we spend a lot of time setting up how good Malachi and Aaron are and how much they struggle with this decision.  And at the same time we see Julian as irresponsible and misbehaving.  Our heroes are just SO good, so perfect, as to almost be unreal.  I am not sure if this was intentional by the authors to help us support their somewhat questionable decision to get involved without talking to Julian, or whether it was just they way they created the characters.  But I did a times feel like these men were almost superhuman in their perfection.

I did appreciate that once things finally come to light it isn’t all a super quick fix.  Despite the fact that we love Aaron and Malachi, and that we are annoyed with Julian for being a slacker, we can still sympathize with Julian.  This is a hard situation, one that any child would have trouble with.  And I liked seeing Aaron recognize the importance of his relationship with his son, even over his lover, and make a commitment to making sure he is solid with Julian.  So I think the ultimate conflict is handled well.

But as I said, most of this story is just sweet, sexy fun. It is a book that was easy to read and very enjoyable.  Aaron and Malachi are so great together, romantic, and super sexy, and I couldn’t help but root for them.  So I liked this one a lot, and definitely recommend it.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.