Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Jacki James

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Best Friend’s Brother, Daddy/boy, Romance, Series

Length: 377 pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

This review has a few spoilers from Controlled Burn, book 1 in the series.

Blurb –

If there is one thing club owner Jesse Harris knows, it’s that his best friend’s little brother Andy Ward is totally off limits. Too bad the sexy firefighter would be the perfect boy for him.

Jesse had long given up on finding a boy that fit into his life. Instead, he satisfied his need to take care of others by creating a safe space at his club for Daddies and boys alike to find each other. And that’s enough for him, at least that’s what he keeps telling himself.

And it was, until his best friend’s little brother showed up, looking hot as sin, and desperately needing a Daddy with a firm hand. Now he’s trying his best to think of Andy as Victor’s kid brother, not as the perfect boy for him.

Andy’s job means he is physically strong, but he’s still a boy, and when he becomes the target of a serial arsonist, all Jesse’s protective instinct kink in. He’ll protect what’s his come hell or high water, and make no mistake about it, Andy is his, even if he doesn’t know it yet.

Will these two men find the happiness they both deserve, or will it all go up in smoke?

Smoke Screen is the second book in the Station 69 series about the brave men who fight fires, rescue puppies, and fall in love in the fictional town of Vesper, Texas.

Review –

This one, I enjoyed. Controlled Burn dragged during the first half and was almost a DNF. Smoke Screen didn’t drag at all, and I was into it from the very beginning.

Unlike Caleb and Keith, Andy and Jesse have chemistry from the first page.

Andy is a rookie firefighter for Station 69. He’s well liked, and he’s more than proven himself, being one of the guys who rescued Keith when he fell through the floor of an abandoned building. He’s smart, and he loves his job.

Jesse co-owns a gay bar with his best friend Victor, Andy’s older brother. Once a month the club hosts Daddy/boy night. Keith and Caleb actually came together during one of the Daddy/boy events. Now Andy is going as well, though Jesse doesn’t know at first if he’s just showing up for drinks with his colleagues and friends or if he’s actually a boy looking for a Daddy. Jesse is a Daddy through and through, and he’s very interested in his best friend’s kid brother. The problem? Andy is his best friend’s kid brother.

The three men go on a camping trip, with Jesse and Andy not so privately ogling each other when Victor’s not paying attention. When he is around, Jesse goes out of his way to remind himself that Andy is Jesse’s ‘kid’ brother and off-limits. He makes sure that Andy is aware of that as well, regardless of how much he’d been staring at Andy in his tight boxer briefs. 😉

In the days following the camping trip, Andy tries to be friendly with Jesse but Jesse goes back to just being Vic’s friend. A couple of incidents, one involving a little violence against one of Andy’s friends, bring everything to a head. Jesse knows he wants Andy, and he knows Andy wants him. So, what does Jesse do?

Exactly what he should have!

He talks it over with Victor before making any kind of move on his brother. You know how refreshing that was? There was no sneaking around, no hiding, no worrying about Victor accidentally finding out at the worst possible time. And, better? Vic was totally okay with it. He loved Jesse as a brother and he trusted him to take care of Andy.

The taking care of Andy thing ended up happening quicker than expected. The serial arsonist they’ve been investigating hits way too close to home by setting Andy’s car on fire while he’s inside his house with Caleb and another friend. Jesse, being the good Daddy that he is, rushes to the scene and takes his almost boy away from it, vowing to protect him.

Another thing I loved was how they didn’t drag things out when it came to each other. They both made their feelings known early on after the car incident, and they acted on them. They were good together.

Back to Victor. While I liked him okay, he was way too ‘bossy big brother’ when it came to Andy. After their parents died in an accident, Victor left their home state of New Jersey for Vesper, Texas when Jesse contacted him about buying the bar from his dad. He jumped on the chance, but ended up pretty much abandoning his little brother who was mourning the loss of his parents. He’d actually been in the car during the accident that killed their mother and father. This had Andy going a bit wild, with way too much money for his own good. He did some really crazy stuff, including financing his and his so-called friends’ experiences. Only after he could’ve killed himself during one of this stunts did something click in Victor’s brain and he went back home and forced Andy to come back to Texas with him.

I totally, 100% understood that. What got me, however, was that when Andy changed, Victor didn’t see it. He only saw the reckless young man who had to be dragged across the country after one of his dangerous stunts. He didn’t see the Andy of the here and now, the well rounded, responsible man. Andy literally saved lives for a living, but even then, Victor saw him only doing it for the adrenaline rush of it all. He was convinced that Andy would get bored at the fire department and move on to something else. He’d done that before. Only this time, when Victor actually wants him to leave his job, Andy’s happy and content.

Thankfully, Jesse’s there to help Andy set Victor straight.

I loved these two guys together. They had the perfect Daddy/boy relationship without it being overkill for the reader. I enjoyed seeing the characters from the first book, and I’m still eager to find out who the arsonist is, though I kind of have an idea. I’ll pop back on here and make a note of it if I’m correct.*

Overall, this is a really good book. I almost abandoned the series after the first book, and that would’ve been a shame because Smoke Screen turned out to be an enjoyable read. The only thing I wasn’t a big fan of was the nickname Jesse gave Andy – Slugger. I understand where the name came from, but Slugger is more of a kid nickname than an adult, even if that adult is a boy. It just seemed a bit silly.

I’ll be jumping right into Hot Zone, book 3. Older man and younger man? Yes, please. 😉

*I was correct in who the arsonist was, though I wasn’t sure of the how and why until it was revealed.