Riley Long

. .

A childhood pact changed everything.

I loved my life. Sleeping around. No commitments. But my mother kept prying into my love life, wanting to see me happily settled down.

The remedy seemed to magically reveal itself when I stumbled onto Travis, my childhood best friend, on a dating app. When we were in elementary school, we promised to marry each other if we were still single at thirty.

Reconnecting, I proposed we give the pact a real shot. To my surprise, Travis agrees. Somewhere in the midst of planning our wedding, the unthinkable happens. Our feelings for each other become… real.

As the day of our fake marriage grows near, how do I tell Travis I want the real thing and for him to be mine forever?

Title: Kicking it with my Best Friend
Author: Riley Long
Length: 40k
Series: Out and Kickin’, Book 3
Genre: Contemporary.
Tropes: Childhood friends to lovers, marriage pact, player/virgin, opposites attract, slow burn

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“Doesn’t it seem like a good idea? Don’t you think it would solve most of our problems?”

I shook my head and laughed. As outrageous as it seemed, the idea was taking root in my mind. I didn’t hate it. “Problems?”

“Yeah. We’re both single, you’re thirty already and I’m about to turn thirty, and we both have families that won’t stop meddling in our love lives and pestering us to settle down with someone. We agree that living alone can be lonely. Besides, we like each other. We’re friends. Hell, you know my past better than anyone. And, if we move in together, we can both save a ton of money on bills—which will help you with that park ranger salary you mentioned. Plus, we promised.”

He had good points. I was tired of coming home to a dark house every night, and I acutely missed having Parker in my life. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it?

I took a deep breath. “Well… I’d hate to let younger me down. But what if we start all this and decide we hate each other?”

“We won’t. It’ll be so easy, like we never spent any time apart. But if we hate each other, it’s not like we can’t back out. Wedding planning takes a while. We can cancel it. Or get divorced or whatever, if we have to.”

“What about money? Weddings cost money. Are you going to talk your parents into paying?”

He laughed. “I do okay working at the agency. I can pay for it. I can cover the wedding and the honeymoon.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Honeymoon?” When I said it, my voice came out sounding a little choked, heat flooding my gut and groin. I didn’t hate the idea of a honeymoon with Parker, even if it meant… well, I’d think of that later. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

He nodded. “Hell yeah, I’m sure.”

“You always were impulsive.”

“This isn’t impulsive. This is decades in the making,” he protested.

Book 3 which can be a stand alone. And while this book was fun, it was the weakest for me, so far.

I loved the premise. The one guy in the friend group who loves hooking up and one night stands, reconnects with his childhood friend-who happens to be a virgin. Oh. And they made that silly little “if we are still single at 30 we’ll marry each other” pact.

(We’ll ignore the fact that same sex marriage wasn’t legal then, mmmkay?)

Instead of rediscovering each other first, they pretty much immediately decide to get married. As friends. When one of them loves to hook up. And no long engagement either.

So, ya, it was a fun story, but so much of it was wedding planning, convincing their friends that they were seriously getting married and not communicating with each other. DUH! I guess what I was missing was the romance. And it could have been there. There was some, but just not enough. And the most romantic, completely swoony thing happened near the end. While it was awesome where it was, I wish there was more leading up to it.

Fun, quick read with a HEA.

3 pieces of eye candy

Riley Long is an author of gay romances novels spanning many genres from contemporary to paranormal. They live a quiet life in Virginia, with their husband, son, and two very silly pit bulls.

They spend their 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.

They like things with silly acronyms.

Riley can tell you two different stories about getting covered in dairy products for a hug.

Connect with Riley:
https://www.facebook.com/WriterRileyLong
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1097122257097073
https://www.instagram.com/writerrileylong/
https://sendfox.com/writerrileylonga Rafflecopter giveaway

. .

I’ve been out and proud for years, happily living my truth. Never did I imagine I would be asked to step back into the closet.

Until that night at the club.

After one too many cocktails, I ended up in a bathroom stall enjoying a hot and steamy tryst with a super sexy guy named Nate. We exchanged numbers and indulged in some spicy sexting.

But when I asked him to meet up again, he ghosted me.

I tried distracting myself by acting as a friend’s plus one to a wedding. Who do I see standing next to the groom, looking like a snack? Nate. He claims no one knows he’s gay and asks me to be discreet. Still, my years of hiding are behind me. Can I help him find the strength to come out to his family and friends? Or will his reservations be too big an obstacle to overcome?

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

Goodreads

I’d tried, I swear to God I had tried. I’d tried to tear my eyes away from Theo the entire time I was standing behind my brother, listening to him vow to love his new wife for the rest of his life. I’d tried to ignore the throb in my groin and the deep ache in my chest as I watched Theo shift in his seat and steal glances at me while Marcus and Christa swore to support each other forever, even while my traitorous gaze kept darting to him. I’d even tried to pretend that Sadie Stewart hadn’t brought Nate to the wedding at all, despite the fact that he was standing at the open bar ordering a drink when I’d finished my portion of the second photo shoot of the day and started toward the reception tent. God help me, I really had tried.

Instead, I’d caught a look at Theo as he passed the bartender an empty glass and accepted a full one. I’d watched as he’d followed Sadie to their table and even went so far as going to the bar to order my own drink. When I’d gotten there, I’d caught a whiff of what must have been Theo’s aftershave because it smelled exactly like he had that night, the night we’d met in Ember. The night I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forget, seared in my memory forever.

My stomach had twisted and turned, caught between longing and panic when I caught the scent of him, and I hadn’t been able to stop myself from storming over to his table and demanding that we have a talk.

That’s when Sadie had popped up from her table, assuming I meant to talk to her. “Of course. Is everything okay?”

I blinked twice at her. “No. I mean, yes everything’s okay. Sorry, I meant Theo.” I gestured with my beer bottle at him.

This seemed like a nice quick read in a cute series. I haven’t read this author’s works before, but the covers to this series were cute, so had to. 🙂

The book is fairly low angst, with one of the MCs being fully out of the closet, and the other having had a pretty shi!tty father being in the closet. They hook up in a bar, some sexting later, then radio silence by Nate. Some angst ridden days by Nate, until he could find his way out of the closet.

Theo’s friends, who I am guessing will be featured in upcoming books in the series were all great. They harassed and teased each other like good friends.

It was a quick read, with little angst, and a happily together couple at the end, with some seriously sexy times. 😉

3.5 pieces of eye candy

Riley Long is an author of gay romances novels spanning many genres from contemporary to paranormal. They live a quiet life in Virginia, with their husband, son, and two very silly pit bulls.

They spend their 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.

They like things with silly acronyms.

Riley can tell you two different stories about getting covered in dairy products for a hug.