COMING APART AT THE SEAMS – Jenna Sutton
A Riley O'Brien and Company Romance – Book 2
Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0-425-27996-0
ASIN: B00U5KNVW4
December 2015
Contemporary Romance

San Francisco – The Present

Nick Priest bides his time at the Riley O'Brien Company's annual holiday party. His friend Quinn and he had played on the same football team at university. Since then, he, Quinn, and Quinn's younger brother Cal, have become best friends. Quinn has used Nick's fame, and his famous and gorgeous face, and his equally eye-catching body developed as wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans, in the company's advertisements. Not speaking parts, though, as Quinn and Cal know Nick has a very bad stutter. Nick seldom speaks publicly, and he is only slightly wordier among people he trusts. While he has earned fame and wealth, his achievement didn't change his father's opinion, who equated Nick's stutter with low intelligence.

When Quinn learns Nick has left the Titans, he knows of Nick's interest in history and offers him a job at the company's charitable foundation to help develop a museum of the history of the company, the largest manufacturer of jeans in the country. Quinn's sister would be his boss, which plays right into Nick's game plan. He wants to win back the regard of the only woman he has every loved, his best friend, Teagan O'Brien. The last time they were together, Nick fouled up and lost Teagan. Now he intends to win her back.

Teagan O'Brien can't help but love Nick. He was her best friend, but then sex happened. Afterward she ended up without Nick and with a broken heart instead. Her body feels his very presence, but she won't endanger herself by encouraging him. She develops a plan to force him out of the company and away from her.

After the annual holiday party, the story slips back four years to when Teagan and Nick were in Boston and establishes how important this bond was to both parties and how their estrangement has affected them. Certainly Teagan has reason for her unwillingness to trust Nick. However, gradually, as the story reverts back to the present, this past reveals the mitigating circumstances and misunderstandings that plague both Nick and Teagan.

This story's action moves around the wedding plans for Quinn and Amelia from ALL THE RIGHT PLACES, the first book in this series. While situations involving Quinn in the first book are mentioned, COMING APART AT THE SEAMS remains a stand-alone story. The third story, HANGING BY A THREAD, will be released in June 2016.

Robin Lee