Loving your best friend is hard . . . especially when he’s marrying someone else.
On the surface, Steve Campbell seems to have it all: a beautiful home, a snazzy car, and a dream job as one of the country’s top 3-D optics researchers. But underneath, he’s restless and dissatisfied, tired of empty encounters with leggy lab assistants and endless evenings alone.
A chance meeting with a handsome escort lifts Steve’s spirits and opens his eyes to his long-repressed attraction to men—and his love for his best friend and business partner, Connor Morrison.
Connor might’ve loved Steve like that once, but now it’s too late for their happily ever after; Connor’s about to ask his boyfriend to marry him. Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn about yourself, and maybe Steve can find a happy ending on his own.
Steve Campbell made a huge mistake. He wanted his best friend Connor to be happy so he bought him a rentboy for his birthday (for that story read Priceless). Now Steve did a good thing but he basically shot himself in the foot on that one. He’s just now figuring out that he is actually in love with Connor and while Connor and Wes (former rentboy) are incredibly happy, he’s completely miserable. Steve tries to make himself feel better by going to have a drink and trying to pick up women, but none seem interested and frankly he’s not all that into it either.
Enter male escort. Dylan happens to be meeting someone at the hotel where Steve is hanging out. They talk and Dylan gives Steve a few pointers about his style of dressing. Steve likes Dylan and invites him to dinner – even though he knows he’s paying by the hour for Dylan’s companionship. Eventually Dylan takes Steve to a tailor and stylist who make him look and feel 10 years younger. Dylan also helps Steve to realize that he’s bisexual and that there’s not a problem with that. The problem is that as nice as Dylan is, he’s still a paid escort and Steve is still in love with Connor.
Matters come to a head when Connor asks Steve to be his best man when he and Wes eventually get married. Steve is despondent but realizes that his chance with Connor has passed and that he has to move on.
This was an interesting story. It’s not a romance but more of a coming into your own type of story. The whole short story was about self awareness, self-esteem and confidence – along with the emotional upheaval of having to understand that you will never have the person you love but that person is so happy, it’s ok.
Oh how I wish that this had been a love story. It would’ve had to have been significantly longer, but I would have loved seeing Steve work through his emotions, come into his own and move on with another man. I really liked Dylan, the paid escort in this story, even though we didn’t get to know him at all. He seemed to be comfortable in his own skin and though a minor character really played a major part in Steve seeing the light of day in his own life. I almost felt bad about for Dylan at the end of the book as he had served his purpose and was let go. I’m just a big softy. lol
In the end it was a good story with a satisfying ending.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Hmm. Not sure about this one. At all.