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Martin Warner takes an internship at a VA (Veteran) Physysical Therapy center in order to further his career to become a certified physical therapist. He’s also been taking care of his aunt who has been diagnosed with dementia and financially it’s been difficult. He can’t turn down the offer of the internship even if it means having to leave his aunt for extended periods of time.

Taggart Coulson is a marine who has suffered quite the injury when he is attacked while on tour. His name has been put on the list for prosthetic and when the chances comes he finds one of the requirements of the program is to complete PT. He doesn’t take the news well and even worse when he comes face to face with Martin.

Martin and Taggart don’t have the best track record. After all, Taggart made Martin’s high school life a living hell. It doesn’t help that Taggart believes he has something to prove. Martin is a professional and doesn’t want to poke the bear with a stick. During their PT time together the two come to an agreement and become more comfortable with each other.

I enjoyed the reading. There were a few portions of the book that made my heart hurt and my eyes burn and there were also one or two portions of the book that I thought the scene or terminology was too crass/insensitive and well the hate fuck that happened was uncomfortable. In particular scene I did cry (so have tissues at the ready). Barring that though, it was an easy read and I didn’t want to put it down.

I liked getting to know Martin, Aunt Janey, and Taggart. Getting a different perspective on military culture was interesting too (I don’t think I hear enough of the idioms/phrases). I really felt for Martin and his situation and gave him props for standing up to his deadbeat dad, taking the reins in concerns to his aunt’s care and trying to truly do right by her. The family dynamic between Martin and Aunt Janey was nice and a tad bittersweet.

The relationship between Martin and Taggart was unique in its own way. Taggart was pretty volatile at the start and Martin handled it well enough considering Taggart and Martin had some bad history. The relationship between them did feel like it moved too quickly but sleeping with the enemy bareback seemed like a good way to settle bad blood. The unprotected sex made me squeamish but the characters were fine with it so…yeah…

The ending was cute and the dynamic between Martin and Taggart is more relaxed than it was at the start. This is my first book by these two authors and I will definitely be giving the other books in the series a read.

An ARC copy was provided to me in exchange for an honest and unbias review.