Author: Annabeth Albert
Series: Out of Uniform #3
Pages: 320
Never fall for your best friend…
Pushing thirty, with his reenlistment looming, decorated navy sniper Maddox Horvat is taking a long look at what he really wants in life. And what he wants is Ben Tovey. It isn’t smart, falling for his best friend and fellow SEAL, but ten years with Ben has forged a bond so intimate Maddox can’t ignore it. He needs Ben by his side forever—heart and soul.
Ben admits he likes what he’s seen—his friend’s full lower lip and the perfect muscles of his ass have proved distracting more than once. But Ben’s still reeling from a relationship gone to hell, and he’s not about to screw up his friendship with Maddox, too.
Until their next mission throws Ben and Maddox closer together than ever before, with only each other to depend on.
Now, in the lonely, desperate hours awaiting rescue, the real challenge—confronting themselves, their future and their desires—begins. Man to man, friend to friend, lover to lover.
Since I read this was Ben’s and Maddox’s story I knew I was going to love it! The author teased the complicated friendship between them in the previous book and it made me drool. I haven’t been disappointed. Not at all.
Ben and Maddox are best friends and roommates, but nothing more (even though everyone teases them about that). Ben is kind of a sex addict and Mad is more the romantic kind of guy. They both prefer men and they like each other a lot. But it seems both of them are incapable of expressing their feelings… One day they stage a weird threesome, which makes their friendship crumble. What was meant as a way to relieve the sexual tension between them, became something worse. In order to save their friendship, Ben has the “greatest” idea ever: date Maddox!!
That is an emotional trainwreck if I have ever seen one! But even before that, I already had a lump in my throat. With this saga we have never got SEAL action, but in this book we get to follow them into a rescue mission in a dangerous jungle. Ben and Maddox have a little accident and both are injured. Ben’s journey to save his dear friend has been hard to read. They knew there were many emotions unpoken between them and both of them felt there wasn’t going to be a chance to tell them. And yet they remain silent… Bullheaded idiots!! I had such a mix of feelings during those first chapters in the jungle. That part broke me. And I love it for that!
Taking into account this is Romance, we already knew that no one was going to die. But the near-death experience didn’t resolve their issues, so Ben decided to take action and start dating Maddox. It was meant as an experiment to see how well they fit together. As readers, we already knew that wasn’t going to end well. They are awesome friends, but they had so much fear of failure… I knew the other shoe was going to drop sooner or later and it was going to be sad and messy. I wasn’t wrong. In the “friends to lover” books, when the main couple has a fight and they break up, the lose so much more than the romantic relationship. Once again, I could barely hold the tears…
I didn’t know which one to support. I was so mad at both of them. I just wanted Ben and Maddox to talk (really talk!!) and fix everything. They have been friends for 12 years!! They should be able to sit down and be honest by now!! The time they weren’t in speaking terms was torture for them, their friends and me!! I couldn’t wait to the make up part, which was weird (as it should be), but sweet. I have said several times that I do not like the endings with rings, just because many times they don’t feel natural. I must admit I didn’t mind it at all with this couple.
The adult parts of this book are also very well handle. I really enjoyed them, because I was very invested in their realtionship. Their encounters are sweet, naughty and hot. The sex scenes are not just “word counts” as in other books.
This is the third book of the saga and it’s quickly becoming one of my favourites in its genre. Next book is Dustin’s story, the brother of Dylan. I thought that character was straight, so no idea what I am going to find.
Myshelf 