REVIEWED by Donna
AUTHOR: K.M. Mahoney
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 13,303 Words
BLURB:
Take two men who think the best years of their lives are behind them. Throw in one raging attraction, and stir liberally. Giving in to a mutual case of lust could be the best idea either one ever had.
Daniel Haversohn is stuck in a rut, and he knows it. The kids are grown and gone, he’s years past being ‘over the hill’, and the only excitement he gets these days comes from the occasional argument with a supplier. Owning a bar keeps him busy enough, but each night he has to go home to a cold and lonely house. Enter Joe Masterson.
Joe has known Daniel for longer than he cares to remember, but the military was his life. Now, after twenty-five years of active service, he’s a free man again. And he hates it. When Joe goes to his favourite bar to drown his sorrows, Daniel sees him moping and offers him a job. Tending bar is definitely a downward career move, but Joe is just bored enough to take it. The problem? Leaving the army behind must have knocked something loose in his libido, because he can’t stop staring at his boss’ arse. Now Joe has to decide if he can throw aside a lifetime of training for one moment of passion. And, just maybe, something deeper.
REVIEW:
Daniel and Joe have known each other for around twenty years. They’re the sort of friends that may only see each other once a year but they always catch up again eventually. They first met a few months after Daniel opened his sports bar, while Daniel was still married to a woman. It’s now been years since his wife passed away and Daniel most assuredly knows that he’s gay.
Joe has just retired after serving twenty-five years in the army, most of that time spent living beneath the cloak of DADT. He’s never had an actual relationship and even now tends to hide his sexual preferences from people in his life. But retirement has left Joe absolutely bored and when Daniel rashly offers him a job he finds himself pulling beers at the bar.
From the beginning both men have found the other attractive but neither ever considered making a move on the other. However working together in close proximity finally creates a situation for the men to act on their attraction.
The awkwardness between these two older men is actually cute and entirely believable. Neither of them is really comfortable being in a real relationship considering their combined dating history is basically zilch. But they’re so comfortable as friends it allows them to laugh through any embarrassing moments.
The only thing that confused me slightly was the way Daniel first makes a move on Joe. We know that Joe thinks Daniel is straight and somehow I assumed Daniel also thinks Joe is straight. It’s not like Joe has told anyone otherwise or dated anyone that Daniel could have known about. Possibly I missed something there but I don’t think grinding your friend up against some shelving is the best way to discover their sexual preferences.
The sexual content of this story is limited to oral (what a professional way to phrase that) but honestly, at such a short length, there wasn’t really time for more. I didn’t feel as though the lack of any further sex scenes was detrimental to the story.
Overall, this was an enjoyable short story, perfect for when you have a spare hour and don’t wish to leave a book half read.
BUY LINKS:
I like the idea of older characters and i’ll be putting this on my buy list, thanks!
You’re welcome, Suze. Thanks for reading my review 🙂