. .
An indecent proposal leads to a future neither guy expected.
Fen is broken but does his best to hide the cracks. His life-changing condition might have stolen his first love—ballet, but he’s kind to old ladies, good at his job, and his mum loves him, even if his famous father refuses to acknowledge he exists.
Ripley’s a top flight barrister who’s used to winning. Mostly by fair means, occasionally not. He’s horrified when he learns his manipulative mother has sent family possessions to an auction house. On his way to retrieve them, he encounters Fen.
Cold, rain-soaked and hungry, struggling with his crutch and auction acquisitions, Fen just wants to get home. What he doesn’t want is to be drenched by a car and minutes later, confronted by the bad-tempered driver demanding he hand over his purchases. Hell no!
Ripley gets back his belongings but finds he wants more. Blue-eyed Fen has sparked something to life. Even as his barrister’s brain screams at him to be careful, he makes Fen an outrageous offer. Sleep with me for money. Fen should say no. Yet as he weighs his options, he realises turning Ripley down could be the biggest regret of his life.
In a tale where the pieces don’t always fit, can two imperfect men mend what’s broken in each other?
Warning
Main character with a life-limiting illness. Suicide of a character before story starts. Brief mention of rape and suicide of a man not in the story.
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions
This story started with a short. Although it isn’t necessary to read the short, it’s still worth the short time it takes.
This book starts a few years after the short. And really, I liked that there was a lot of time between. The whole “omg my new boss was my hookup last night” thing gets old. (FTR, Ripley is not Fen’s boss)
Fen hasn’t had the easiest time. And while he could very easily throw a pity party for himself for several reasons, he doesn’t. He isn’t overly sunshiney though either. No compensating for him. Mostly he just wants to do his job and live his life for as long as he can. He does seem to have a black cloud that follows him though.
Ripley is a grouch. Cranky, short tempered, he finds no joy in life really. He’s been dealt a few bad cards in life as well. Ripley and Fen almost can’t be more different, not even including the age difference. But they are drawn to each other, as much as they both fight it.
But then, an offer Fen can’t refuse. Especially after being accused of something he didn’t do.
With an agreement between them, they both play their roles well. Both still keeping secrets. Both protecting themselves for different reasons.
Fen has a bit of the humor you can expect from Barbara Elsborg (Jonty anyone?) but it doesn’t go overboard. The more humor he brings, the more comfortable he is with Ripley.
There are a couple of stories running through the romance. None of them were rushed or forced, although one of them was pretty obvious, They all came to satisfying conclusions as well. No forgotten plot points here. It made for quite a long book, but it didn’t drag at all and was easy to read.
It sounds like I am skirting the edges but I just don’t want to give away anything. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering each piece of this story as it came up and my hope is that you do the same.
4 pieces of eye candy