Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

This was super sweet and fun. It had a great
mix of a low- angst sweet romance, past trauma, and a bit of action. It held my attention through most of it, and all the doggy bits were cute (actual dogs).

Loved the dynamic between the MCs, with the smaller MC feeling safe enough to boss his big, beefy, himbo firefighter around in bed. And said himbo golden retriever was an absolute sweetheart. I love an uncomplicated bisexual awakening.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Firefighter
Awful ex
Dog dad
Fake relationship
Sexual awakening
Jock/nerd
Golden retriever
Himbo firefighter
Only one bed
Redhead MC
Strangers to friends to lovers
Size difference

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Dog rescued from burning building (not injured)
Alcohol consumption
Domestic abuse (past, manipulation, physical, gaslighting, isolation — between MC and ex)
Explicit sexual content
Mention of multiple injuries — minor characters

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: Evil ex comes back and is evil, but no real OM drama.
Breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles
Main characters’ age: 28 and 33
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 271
Happy ending: Yes


Most people run away from burning buildings, not into them. But I’m not most people. Also, I’m kind of a dumbass.

I’d rather be friends and suffer pining after him than not have him at all.

“Please listen to me as your bisexual elder.” “You’re like… six years younger than me,” I point out. She scowls at me. “Yeah, but I’m really, really bisexual, so shut up and listen.

I was a total jackass for not realizing he had feelings for me earlier and then fucking with those feelings by pretending to be his boyfriend in front of his family. But I was even more of a dummy not to realize that I wasn’t faking anything at all, not from the moment we met.