Patrick Mason travels to Bristol to spend the summer with his brother, Ben. He’s cat sitting for the first two weeks while Ben goes on holiday. But Ben neglected to tell him he wouldn’t be doing it alone. Will Adams—Ben’s mate and Patrick’s long-time crush—is staying in Ben’s guest room while he waits to move into his new house after a breakup.
Against his better judgment, Patrick convinces Will that a little no-strings fun is just what they need. Patrick doesn’t want to get involved with a guy on the rebound, and Will isn’t interested in starting something serious with a student. But Patrick’s never been good at separating sex from feelings, and this time is no exception. As their weeks together draw to a close, they need to decide if they have something worth pursuing or if it’s really just a casual thing.
I understand casual sex, friends with benefits, fuck buddies. I get it. What I don’t get is starting a “relationship” like that with someone, actually sitting down to discuss it, agree to it, when you already have feelings for the other person. Why would you do that to yourself? No matter how things end up, there will always be hard times. But that’s what Patrick does. The blurb says it all. This casual thing that he’s started with Will is not so casual after a while, and feelings get hurt. There’s all this angst and sorrow, and I was screaming at Patrick because, what did he expect? But then I was screaming at Will because, dude, what is your problem? I had angst coming out of my pores!
It’s really a cute story though. It was fun and light, despite the angst. I guess light because it’s a novella and the pain ends quickly enough. Still, while it’s not insta-love, it’s quick. I did really appreciate the way the author ends the story. Not an HEA, but HFN. Again, because HEA in a novella would be hard pressed for me to believe unless the characters were an established couple already. So, it was alright. If you need something quick and a little to a lot angsty, pick it up. I really liked the characters, even though they were really dumb sometimes. :)