by: Lilo Moore
Series: European City Breaks
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Romantic Comedy
Release Date: August 31, 2023
Publisher: LM Books
Two best friends, a tipsy Oktoberfest dare and one kiss that could change everything.
It’s been fifteen years since big-shot marketing manager Fi first met her bi best friend Max. Living on different continents has had its challenges, but she’s determined that their friendship will be as strong as ever when she arrives in Munich for an Oktoberfest reunion with their study abroad friends. There’s no one she loves like her Max, even if he has finally grown up a bit and now runs a microbrewery.
But instead of lazy conversations and comfortable day-drinking, as they’d always done when they were younger, the reunion is a slightly desperate meeting of disillusioned millennials escaping real life – until Fi’s jetlagged, drunken rant about being a woman working in beer marketing goes viral and they’re roped into a bad-taste beerfest challenge. As she and Max and their friends from the international dorm tackle fairground stunts, physical challenges and bad karaoke, the one dare that changes everything is the simplest: kiss your teammate.
Now she can’t stop thinking about him in a very more-than-friends kind of way. When kissing leads to more and she discovers that her screwball best friend can talk dirty and light the sheets on fire in the bedroom, she can’t help seeing the years of their friendship in a new – and terrifying – light.
As the challenge progresses with thrill rides, pretzels, lots of lederhosen and a little public nudity, the dares are actually fun, when Fi completes them on her own terms. But the truth questions present the biggest danger to her future. What happens to her precious friendship – and her big promotion – when she admits to herself just how much Max means to her?
A spicy romcom with a bit of snark and a lot of swoon, for fans of Helen Hoang and Christina Lauren.
He got back to work on the chain holding his bodice closed. ‘I’m sure I… knew how to do this properly, last time I wore this,’ he said, his voice high.
‘Here, you’ve got it…’ With halting hands, I unwound the chain from his finger and worked it through the hook on one side. ‘You’re a bit… tangled.’
Abandoning my attempt to escape my own faux-leather wardrobe malfunction, I helped him untie his bonds, gradually loosening the bodice as each hook came free. The ribbon was next and, when I’d unwound that from all of the fastenings, I peered at the hook-and-eye closing the top of the bodice.
My fingers brushed the skin of his chest, just above the blouse. The scent of him tickled my nostrils – and my belly, somehow. I made the mistake of glancing up and noticed how close he was, his gaze fixed on me.
I cleared my thick throat. ‘Do you still use Dark Temptation?’ I teased, giving him a sniff for show. I knew he didn’t. The scent of the cheap deodorant would probably allow me to literally travel back in time, I’d used it myself on so many occasions after a night out.
‘No,’ he said with an inarticulate cough. ‘Are you finished?’
‘Nearly,’ I said with a nod. Back to the task at hand. I managed the hook-and-eye and dragged the zip down, trying not to stare at his bare stomach, but wow, the ridges and hollows and that flat bit that made me think about what came next.
He shrugged out of the bodice with some difficulty because… those shoulders. The band tattooed on his forearm caught my eye and I stared at the little clench of muscle there, even though I’d sat with him when he got that first tattoo, screaming like a baby, and seen it a million times since.
It was an out-of-body experience, like he wasn’t Max, but he clearly was Max, even though I was so turned on, I was probably wasting electricity.
He whipped the cropped blouse over his head, flashing me armpits and a belly button and a normal person would have been completely turned off by that. I was obviously not normal.
‘Turn around,’ he said and I whirled without questioning him.
‘Here, you’ve got it…’ With halting hands, I unwound the chain from his finger and worked it through the hook on one side. ‘You’re a bit… tangled.’
Abandoning my attempt to escape my own faux-leather wardrobe malfunction, I helped him untie his bonds, gradually loosening the bodice as each hook came free. The ribbon was next and, when I’d unwound that from all of the fastenings, I peered at the hook-and-eye closing the top of the bodice.
My fingers brushed the skin of his chest, just above the blouse. The scent of him tickled my nostrils – and my belly, somehow. I made the mistake of glancing up and noticed how close he was, his gaze fixed on me.
I cleared my thick throat. ‘Do you still use Dark Temptation?’ I teased, giving him a sniff for show. I knew he didn’t. The scent of the cheap deodorant would probably allow me to literally travel back in time, I’d used it myself on so many occasions after a night out.
‘No,’ he said with an inarticulate cough. ‘Are you finished?’
‘Nearly,’ I said with a nod. Back to the task at hand. I managed the hook-and-eye and dragged the zip down, trying not to stare at his bare stomach, but wow, the ridges and hollows and that flat bit that made me think about what came next.
He shrugged out of the bodice with some difficulty because… those shoulders. The band tattooed on his forearm caught my eye and I stared at the little clench of muscle there, even though I’d sat with him when he got that first tattoo, screaming like a baby, and seen it a million times since.
It was an out-of-body experience, like he wasn’t Max, but he clearly was Max, even though I was so turned on, I was probably wasting electricity.
He whipped the cropped blouse over his head, flashing me armpits and a belly button and a normal person would have been completely turned off by that. I was obviously not normal.
‘Turn around,’ he said and I whirled without questioning him.
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Lilo Moore is the steamy romantic comedy pen name of travel romance author Leonie Mack. She lives among vineyards in Germany, creating fictional worlds and counting down to her next trip.
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This sounds like a story that I would really enjoy. Added to my TBR. I will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteContemporary Romance/Romantic Comedy - this genre makes for a great read!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it.