Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Short Story
Josh and Dan have been best friends since childhood. In just a few days, Dan will be marrying the gorgeous Rachel and Josh is his best man. Dan has always been the outgoing one who compensated for Josh’s shyness and it was Dan’s good looks that effortlessly attracted all of the girls.
After Dan’s bachelor party, Josh senses Dan’s reluctance to get married. Josh doesn’t understand, as everyone is jealous that he has Rachel.
An unexpected kiss and an unexpected longing lead them to having sex and Josh learns his best friend is gay. Feeling betrayed, confused, and guilty, Josh now has to face Rachel as he develops his own feelings for Dan.
Josh and Dan is the second short story in the First Time Series. They are both stand alone books with completely different characters and stories. Their connection, as the author describes, is the, “moment, hot, sexy, males decide to cross the line into the world of man love.”
We quickly learn that Josh and Dan have been the best of friends for years. We do not see any of that and we are just in present day. The story moves fast, really fast. Dan sort of maneuvers the whole thing and after giving Josh the best blow job of his life, puts a condom on Josh, hands him lube, and says, “Rub some on your cock, stick it in my ass.” And just like that, I’ve-never-been interested-in-men-before-Josh does exactly that. There is alcohol involved and raging hangovers the next day, but the guys did not appear drunk on page.
Any emotional connection is not leaping out at us just yet as Josh wakes freaking out and Dan is relaxed and flippant. Dan thinks waking up with his best friend is completely natural as he is in love with Josh and has no empathy really for Josh’s conflicted feelings. He comes off as a bit self centered and thinking of only his needs. After a confrontation, Dan takes off and Rachel calls Josh looking for Dan. Remember Rachel, the fiancée? As Josh is trying to get a grip on his feelings, all he can think of is how hot Rachel is. This further makes it difficult to see Josh and Dan as a real couple. But, it was easy to see that something is definitely up with Rachel and Dan’s relationship and all just may not be as it seems.
The whole story takes place in less than a week, with the majority of the story spanning about two days time. It is clear that Dan has feelings for Josh, but he just won’t let Josh think about anything. Every time Josh tells Dan that his life ultimately will not be with a man, Dan entices him with sex and Josh’s thoughts are that it feels good and he will deal with his emotions later. The sex scenes are well written and it is hard to quantify why these types of scenes work well with some characters and not others. Here, I had a hard time connecting to the speed of their physical relationship and quick, major life decisions given the circumstances.
The story ends [spoiler]with a marriage of convenience, and except for the knowledge of the extreme inner circle, living the life of a lie. [/spoiler] It was just not the most productive or settling ending for me. Everything about this story initially called to me. The intriguing blurb, the friends to lovers aspect, the excerpt I read, and my enjoyment of the author’s style in the first story in this series. I did not connect as well with Josh and Dan, their emotions, or the rapid pace of their relationship. While they had a strong basis of friendship, a life time relationhip was just too much to be worked out in a few days. I am still a fan of this series as I thoroughly enjoyed the first story and I like the whole concept that the author is going for. While some of the pace and plot did not work the best for me this time, I will continue to look for the First Time Series.
