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From USA Today Bestselling Author Gianni Holmes comes a new heartfelt, steamy, forbidden, teacher-student romance.
Abe Cooper is a triple threat.
He’s my best friend’s father.
He’s the football coach at my high school.
And he’s a married man
His marriage is on the rocks and he could lose his job for the way he looks at me.
I could lose my only friend in the world.
I know I should stay away instead of flirting with him.
But all the cons don’t outweigh how I feel when I’m with him.
When my home situation gets worse, Abe is there for me. But what we do under his roof when everyone’s asleep makes me feel guilty.
Now his daughter, my closest friend, knows he’s stepping outside his marriage and she’s hellbent to find out who I am.
How long can we keep us a secret and how dare we be happy together when it might hurt the ones we love?
Title: Class Act
Authors: Gianni Holmes
Length: 100K+
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary.
Tropes: Teacher-student, age gap, best friend’s father, hurt comfort, size difference.
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions
Goodreads
Emery paused the television. “Abe.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have allowed him to use my first name after all. The way the syllable whispered from his lips sent a shiver down my spine.
I swallowed hard but didn’t respond.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Talk about what?”
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard.”
I frowned. “Heard what?”
“You and your wife arguing. I’m sorry she said those awful things to you.”
My face burned, and I glanced away. “Stay out of it.”
“I’m just trying to—”
“It’s none of your business, Emery. Drop it.”
Emery lowered his legs to the floor and got to his feet, letting the remote fall from his hand to the couch. “I’m sorry. I’ll just go.” His voice was full of hurt, and my chest ached for me to do something about it. To make him smile again.
Let him go, Abe.
I jumped up and grabbed Emery’s wrist. He jerked to a stop, but he kept his head turned away from me. He tried to tug his hand out of my grip, but I held on.
“I’m leaving you alone like you wanted, Abe.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “When did I ever say that?”
Seconds ticked by in silence. I moved closer to him, placed a trembling hand on his angular hip, and turned him to face me. His chest rose and fell, like he was struggling against his emotions.
“Do you want me to stay or not?” he asked.
Dammit, why was he so damn pretty?
“Let me go, Abe.”
“Do you really want me to?” He nodded, so I dropped his hand.
Emery rubbed his wrist. “Do you care about what I want?”
My nostrils flared. “What do you want?”
“To hug you.”
Before I could move, Emery wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face to my chest.
Push him away.
I raised my arms, but as if they had a mind of their own, they embraced him, one settling at his lower back and the other at his hip. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. Why was he made to fit me so well if he could never be mine?
“Emery,” I said softly. “I don’t know if I’m thinking straight.”
“What do you mean?” he whispered back.
“You heard it yourself. My marriage is in shambles, and I can’t be sure if this thing is merely a reaction rather than something real.”
Emery grabbed the back of my head and pulled it down, then captured my lips with his. Stunned, I stood stock still. Emery’s mouth moved over mine, and desire unleashed in my belly. With a groan, I pressed him closer to me and gripped his hip more tightly.
I ventured out of my comfort zone to review this book. I don’t do cheating…I know a lot of people don’t like to read it. But having been through it, I know how much it absolutely sucks to be the one cheated on. But I was intrigued otherwise, so I gave it an open minded chance. (Make sure you read the afterword from the author…made me feel so much better about the fact that I don’t like to read it, since the author has been through a similar situation.)
I’m not sure if I could have picked it up if it wasn’t obvious from the blurb that Abe was having problems in his marriage. And he was having lots of problems. I couldn’t blame him for wanting a divorce (that did not make the cheating okay, of course). He struggled to hide his feelings about Emery from himself, but the fact that Emery needed as much help as he did made it impossible for Abe to turn away from him. (Side note: Emery’s father…I would have dearly loved to see him get more than he did, but he still got a little of what he deserved. The car…that po’ed me almost as much as the other stuff. What a POS!)
ANYWAY, what I loved about Emery was his self confidence in himself. Most men his age in high school would not go out for cheerleading, wearing a skirt, being out. He couldn’t really hide it, but nevertheless, he was a courageous man. In many ways, he learned that from his father, because to live under that roof and come out alive, he had to be courageous. He also wasn’t afraid to show his vulnerable side to Abe, even if he didn’t share everything he should have. His best friend, after the initial shock, ended up being very positive about their relationship. The ex-wife, not so much, but who could blame her…and she was kinder than most people would have been in that circumstance.
This really was a love story, and as gut wrenching as it was personally, it was very well written, and kept it at a slow simmer for a while before the heat exploded. That was necessary for this story to have worked. I will admit that I had to read this in spurts, because some of it was tough for me to read. But still well written, and a good story about what felt like a real life situation.
4 pieces of eye candy
Gianni Holmes is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary MM romance. She’s a former teacher of Spanish Language and Latin American literature who resides in the Caribbean. Gianni has a love for superheroes, a fear of horror movies, and an obsession with old TV sitcoms.
Connect with Gianni:
Website
https://www.gianniholmesauthor.com
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Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17910852.Gianni_Holmes 
