Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Jacki James

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Age Gap (14 Years), Daddy/boy (very mild), Romance, Series

Length: 175 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Blurb –

Having a meltdown in the local hardware store isn’t the best way to find the man of your dreams. Or is it?

Brennan Taylor is at the end of his rope, and the busted pipe under his kitchen sink was the last straw. He knows nothing about plumbing, or any of the other things his father says a grown man should know, but lucky for him he is about to lose it in front of the perfect man to help him.

Ryder Davis didn’t go to the hardware store intending to play hero. He went after a new faucet for his bathroom. But when he saw the angel in the plumbing aisle, it was obvious Brennan needed someone to step in and fix things for him. No problem, saving a beautiful man in distress was something Ryder was happy to do.

Fixing Brennan’s plumbing turns into fixing his employment situation, and then right on to fixing his single status. But will Brennan’s determination to be the kind of man he thinks he is supposed to be keep him from being the boy a Daddy like Ryder needs?

Review –

Ryder starts off hot and heavy. Brennan, who’s clueless when it comes to home repairs, is having a private meltdown in the plumbing section of a hardware store. There’s a massive leak under the kitchen sink in the house he shares with his roommate, Keegan. Keegan is out of town so he’s no help. Not that he would be helpful if he was in town. He’s just as clueless as Brennan. Ryder, who owns a construction company, just happens to be in the right place at the right time. He offers to go and fix the pipe. As a thank you, Brennan offers to fix him dinner.

All that was really nice. What happened after dinner, however, was hot. They wasted no time before they were in Brennan’s bedroom.

I loved all that.

Ryder left and that was that. Well, until Brennan and Keegan showed up at a bar where Brennan wanted to apply for a job. That bar just happened to be the one owned by Ryder’s friend, the same bar he meets his other friends for beers at least once a week.

Brennan’s desperate for a job. After a messy breakup from his controlling ex, Patrick, he moved in with Keegan because no way in hell was he going back to live with his horrible parents.

I absolutely despised his parents. That didn’t change when they kinda/sorta/not really made good later.

When Ryder sees Brennan at the bar, his first thought is basically, “Oh, hell no. He won’t be working here.” So, what does Ryder do? He offers Brennan a job. It’s a real job, not one he made up on the fly because he was jealous of the thought of his one-time fuck buddy hooking up with somebody at the bar. Ryder really does need help running his business. At the moment it’s just him and Desi, his only employee, and he needs somebody to handle scheduling, answering phones, that type of thing. He’s lost a lot of potential clients because he can’t always stop what he’s doing to take calls. Brennan agrees and he more than excedes Ryder’s expectations. Business is running smoothly, and for the first time since he started his company, Ryder’s able to just focus on the work, not billing or scheduling.

All that was nice. What wasn’t? Everything between these two dragged on for way too long, in my opinion. They worked together, with Brennan’s office being in Ryder’s home, so they saw each other every day. Little things did gradually change, like Brennan fixing Ryder’s lunches and other minor things that made Ryder’s day a little better. Ryder also did all he could to make sure Brennan was taken care of (just not that way).

“You better do something to lock that boy in, Ryder. He is sweet, and he is pretty. If you think he’ll stay single long, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“He works for me, Owen. That’s all. There’s nothing to lock in.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that until someone comes along and gives him the world, the way you want to. Because they will.”

Ryder is a Daddy, but the reader really only knows that early on because the author said so. Granted, Brennan knew nothing about Daddy/boy lifestyles so it had to be a gradual thing as far as Ryder sharing that part of himself. If the reader’s paying attention, they will see other things slowly moving in that direction – Ryder wanting to take care of Brennan, his going out of his way to ensure all his needs (work related) are met. Things finally come to a head when Brennan gets caught up in an uncomfortable situation and needs help. I wouldn’t say he needed rescuing, but that’s exactly what Ryder did.

This is when they started coming together as a couple. And I love how it happened. I only wish it wouldn’t have taken so long to get there.

I adored Ryder, even if he was a bit of a stubborn butt when it came to admitting that he wanted to be with Brennan. I liked Brennan a lot. He never claimed to be anything he wasn’t, and when he had questions, he asked. When it came to the Daddy/boy aspect of his and Ryder’s relationship, he asked Ryder or even Travis, the boy of another of Ryder’s Daddy friends. I’m curious to read how Travis and his Daddy got together. Maybe I’ll read their story soon. I really loved Travis.

The sex was written well, though it took a while to go from their first time to their second. Even so, once they got going, it was pretty hot.

Overall, a nice romance. I’ve read this author a lot and have always enjoyed her books. I look forward to reading about the rest of the guys in Ryder’s little ‘Thursday Night Daddy’s Club’ – Keegan’s words, not mine. I’m also hoping to see Keegan (Mr. Straight Boy who thought Brennan calling Ryder was hot, and who thought Owen was hot) realize he’s not quite as straight as he thinks he is. 😉

There’s a 14 year age difference between Ryder (who’s 38) and Brennan (24), so you know I loved that.

I look forward to reading the others in the series.