Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Kicking It With the Billionaire
SERIES: Out and Kickin’
AUTHOR: Riley Long
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 133 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 8, 2024
BLURB:
One grew up pinching pennies. The other with a silver spoon in his mouth. Can they find a way to meet in the middle?
Bennett has spent his life scraping to get by. When he learns his mom has cancer, he hustles to find a trial treatment she’s eligible for to get her the care she deserves thanks to a charitable foundation.
It’s at the grant awards dinner when Bennett locks eyes with Dex, a strikingly handsome older man. Their attraction is immediate. Their chemistry electric. In the following days, they can’t bear to be apart.
It doesn’t take long for Bennett to discover Dex is harboring a huge secret. When he finds out that Dex is the benefactor of the charitable foundation, will he be able to look past Dex’s riches and see him for the man he truly is? Or will Bennett be too blinded by his own pride to allow himself to be seen as a charity case?
REVIEW:
Note: This is the fourth in the series and does have some spoilers for the first three books. It can be read as a standalone.
Bennett Cantrell has a lot on him. He is content with his apprenticeship program, but his mother has been diagnosed with cancer. She doesn’t have insurance and needs expensive treatment. Bennett decides to apply for a grant from a local NP to help with her treatment. Miraculously the grant comes through. Before he tells his family he attends an event for all the grant recipients. He rents a suit, but he feels like a fish out of water.
Dexter Thompson is a billionaire who is used to people only being interested in his money rather than him. His company is a major donor to the NP that Bennett has applied to for the grant. When he sees Bennett at the gala, he recognizes him as one of the grant recipients. He’s intrigued and he wants to put Bennett at ease when he looks like a deer in headlights. They spend the evening together and at the end, Bennett gives him his number.
Dex is so happy that he’s met someone who seems to like him without the draw of his fortune. He texts Bennett and they agree to go out to a baseball game. Afterwards Bennett invites Dex hom 🙂 They continue to spend time together and Bennett introduces Dex to his friends. He keeps saying he’s a numbers cruncher and doesn’t share with Dex the full extent of his wealth. You know this won’t end well 😉
This is a rich man/poor man trope book that puts Dex and Bennett together from opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Their meeting and connection is well written. I liked both characters and because the story is told from alternating POVs so I felt like I knew them. There is nothing earthshattering in this story and I enjoyed their growing romance. My issue is that the ending felt really rushed and I missed really seeing them build their relationship. I would have liked more time with them before the rush to the finish 🙂 Likeable characters – just wished I got to see more of their romance.
RATING: 
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