Paul’s been called many things—graduate student, humanities tutor, jock-hater, even broke—but “forgiving” isn’t one of them. When the new women’s softball coach at Calapooya college specifically requests Paul to tutor his athletes, Paul’s forced to put aside his strict “no athletes” policy for the sake of his paycheck.
Enter Trevor Gardiner, former Major League Baseball player and Paul’s high school boyfriend. Yeah, that one—the guy who sacrificed Paul for the safety of his closet and his future career. But Trevor’s come out and retired from baseball, and now he’s looking for forgiveness and a second chance.
There’s no earthly reason Paul should give him one, but he keeps letting the man state his case. And touch him. And take him sailing. The waters are far from smooth, though, and Paul says awful things to Trevor he isn’t sure he means. Now Paul has to decide: apologize and forgive Trevor for everything, or chalk it up as revenge and move on.
Paul is a tutor and is pretty upset when he gets called to the office of the new girls’ softball coach. He DOES NOT tutor jocks – even female ones! He heads over to tell the coach this fact and he finds that the new coach is his old boyfriend from high school. Well, Paul considered Trevor his boyfriend as they were constantly fooling around in Paul’s car. But Trevor? Not so much. Then, when they were caught in a possibly compromising position, Trevor serves Paul up on a platter and saves himself and his future. Or so he thought.
Trevor knew that he wanted to be a baseball player and possibly make it into the major leagues one day. He couldn’t do that if he was out and proud so he hid himself in a closet until he just couldn’t stand it any longer. He now works for Calapooya College and he wants Paul back. He knows that he’s the only man he will ever truly love, but he also knows that he fucked up royally nine years earlier.
Paul is all about the NO! No I will not tutor jocks. No I will not forgive Trevor. No I will not let myself be lulled into giving Trevor a second chance. Well, and then the yes…Yes, I will lie to myself and say that I’m completely over Trevor. Paul is a headstrong guy and when Trevor puts himself out there looking to rekindle their relationship and to seek forgiveness, Paul doesn’t want to give that forgiveness. But Trevor is in earnest and soon Paul’s thinking that maybe he should rethink things himself.
This was a fun book. Paul was in Tenino’s book, Frat Boy and Toppy, and I did not like him AT ALL. I thought he was mouthy and opinionated, brash…but the one thing he wasn’t was forgettable. When I saw that Tenino has written his story I couldn’t wait to read it.
Paul is still mouthy and brash and headstrong but we get to see what was behind his jock issues and he had a reason to be the way he was. When Trevor betrayed him his senior year he was devastated and understandably so. I felt horrible for him and could understand his hesitancy to forgive Trevor out of fear. Paul works his thoughts out with friends and of course it can’t be about him so he gives hypothetical examples. lol I’m pretty sure he knew he wasn’t fooling his friends at all.
Trevor, I think, had been having a pretty tough life when it came to being gay. He had to be pretty far in the closet and he just wasn’t happy. Even playing baseball didn’t do it for him and he knew that what he needed was Paul. I loved that he had the fortitude to come back and seek Paul out. It took guts and I had to admire him for it. Paul wasn’t an easy sell by any means but Trevor was persistent.
In the end we got a sweet, sexy, fun, funny, touching reunion story that I loved reading. If you read Frat Boy and Toppy, or even if you didn’t this is definitely worth reading.
Rating: 4 out of 5
I liked this one although I do with we had a little more time with the heroes working out their past without sex…but I like this author's voice
This is definitely on my to-read list!
Mandi – Yes, it's true. Working out past issues with sex isn't ideal but it worked for me in this story. I think because we got so much thought from Paul it made up for a lot, IMHO.
Chris – It's good!