Bradford “Tully” Tolliver has everything—money, a great car, a beautiful condo, and a promising career as one of Portland’s hottest young lawyers. Sure, he puts in long hours and has no social life to speak of, but who needs romance when corporations pay top dollar for his expertise? He hesitates when a colleague asks if her cousin can live with him, but the arrangement will last less than a year, and then the cousin—Sage Filling—will return to his tiny hometown.
But Sage is handsome and intriguing, and his cooking makes Tully swoon. Sage has obligations back home, though, and Tully has offers he might not refuse from a persistent—and very wealthy—ex. Since Tully and Sage each have a full plate, can they make room for a side of love?
This was a lovely and light read.
I am going to muddle this review up so I will try to keep it short.
Told from the POV of Bradford “Tully” Tolliver, we meet he successful lawyer as he is having drinks with his best friend Carrie who needs to ask him for a favor. Tully thinks it’s something more complicated than Carrie needing a place for her cousin Sage to stay since Carrie’s wife Leah and Sage don’t get along. Tully’s life is monetarily rich but it’s also pretty damn lonely so Tully agrees with a bit of liquid courage to offer Sage a place to stay while he’s in town.
I have to say how much I adored these two. I know the blurb reads as “city boy/country boy” and while it does have that element, make no mistake about how smart Sage is. His job may not be as glamorous or financially gainful as Tully’s but in many ways it’s much more rewarding. Sage is a cook, a chef really though not formally trained and I loved the hell out of the man.
You see, Tully and Sage are the same age in this story and while they are different, it’s those difference that pull them together rather them push them apart. I liked watching Tully open up as Sage starts to talk about food and then really open up when Sage starts to cook for him. Sage is able to share his passion of creating with food with Tully and Tully is able to have a selfish passion which he hasn’t before. Tully’s world revolves around his work and making something of himself after being cut off from his family and Sage enters his world showing him what family can be and that it’s not all about money.
The story was a bit slow to start off with but once these two got through the first kiss and finally on to the second, the pace picked up and I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed watching Tully and Sage become friends while being roommates. Tully never takes advantage of his wealth nor position of being a host to Sage and Sage never takes advantage of Tully’s kindness to let him stay. These two have an open communication between them that becomes a slow burn romance that both men want but are afraid to reach out and grab knowing their time together is limited. I wasn’t expecting Sage to have a secret back in his small hometown of Hair Shaker but it fit into the story and gave Sage more character development outside being an amazing self taught chef.
I was hoping the story would end the way it did and I was happy that these two got a beautiful yet quiet HEA they deserved.
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