People fall in love with their best friends all the time. But for me, the circumstances of this unrequited attraction are even more agonizing.
I am gay.
My best friend, Sawyer, is not.
Since we were fifteen, I’ve harbored this torturous crush. Now, as we both enter our thirties, it seems time to resign myself to the fact that nothing is going to come of it. Ever.
Or so I thought…
One night, a bottle of gin and a little uncharacteristic self-pity were all the inspiration I needed to launch into a ramble about being alone because I’m bad at everything – even kissing. Determined to prove me wrong, Sawyer decided to shut me up with a kiss.
I know he meant for it to be innocent.
Turns out it was anything but.
Sparks flew as we unlocked a side of Sawyer he never knew existed. Now, more than anything, he wants me by his side forever. But this realization comes with its own set of obstacles. Can we learn to lean on each other as we build a future together? Or will the stresses of our day to day lives tear us apart? 
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Ricky tapped on my open door with his fingertips and leaned against the door frame. “You were out late.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Crashed at Sawyer’s place. You know how it is.”
“Do it?”
I shot him an unamused look. “Yeah. You do.”
“You sure you didn’t…” He made a crude gesture with his fist and his index finger. Before I could say anything, he held up his hands in defense and laughed. “I know, I know. Just friends, right?”
“Right.” I sounded more uncertain that convincing though and Ricky picked up on it and latched on like a cat on catnip.
“Oh my God, what happened? Please tell me you finally fucked that man.”
I snorted. “I didn’t—” But my throat tightened and I had to stop to clear it. “It was just a blow job. Which I’m sure he regrets.”
“Why would he regret it?”
I gestured to myself. “You honestly think we’re in the same league?”
“Stop it. You were a football player and still have the body for it, except you’re also in grad school and that automatically makes you the smartest person in this room. And he looks like a fucking sculpture of man and makes eyes at you like you’re the only human in the world and the sun shines from your ass. You’re perfect and you deserve someone who cares about you like that.”
“Just because you didn’t go to grad school doesn’t mean you’re stupid.”
He pushed himself to standing. “I am not the point here. Focus on the blow job. Tell me everything.”
“Fine, fine.” I shooed him out of my room. “At least let’s sit in the living room, though, and not stand in my damn doorway.”
Ricky took a seat in his favorite spot, the overstuffed leather recliner, and patted the arms the way he did when he was excited about something. “Okay. Spill.”
This was a sweet, sexy friends to lovers story that I mostly enjoyed.
Axel and Sawyer are total opposites. Axel, poor, raised by a single mom who loved him with everything she had. Sawyer is the son of 2 lawyers who grew up with a cook and housekeepers and anything he wanted. When Axel moved to a new town he and Sawyer just clicked.
Now they are nearing 30, Axel is in grad school, he is out and proud but doesn’t date much and works at a bookstore. Sawyer is a lawyer in a prestigious firm hoping to make partner in 5 years like his father, he is straight and his mother is always trying to set him up “with a nice girl”. But those two have that best friend chemistry that is hard to find.
The premise that got them to kiss the first time was a little contrived, but it got the job done. They very quickly fell into a relationship after the first morning after freak out.
Sawyer seemed to be just fine with the fact that he was suddenly in a real relationship with his best friend. Even though he had never been with a man before. You’d think he had plenty of experience.
The story was far from perfect (see above about falling into a relationship with little issue), as well as Sawyer recovering from a family issue quickly and the continuity issue of he has an older brother, he’s an only child, he has an order brother, he’s an only child. Seriously, how did that not get caught it beta reads or edits?
Fluffy beach read that doesn’t take a lot of mind power at all, but it’s not bad.
3 pieces of eye candy
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Riley Long is a wife and mother living a quiet life in Virginia, with her husband, son, and one goofy pit bull. She passes her evenings writing, reading, and watching bad television (or not so bad television). For fun, Riley participates in NaNoWriMo, GISH, and reads with her book club, the BAMFs. She likes things with silly acronyms. The craziest thing Riley has ever done involves whipped cream and hugs. Riley writes sweet and sexy romance, with a special place in her heart for hipsters and musicians.
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