...Bookfanatic

I've been reading L. A. Witt again...specifically 'Cover Up'  which is Nate'and Lucas's story. We first met Nate and Lucas in 'Pounding Skin' book #2 in Ms Witts' 'Skin Deep Inc.' series.

Nate and Lucas meet for the first time when Nate goes to Skin Deep at the urging of his friend Jon because he wants to cover the tiger tattoo on his arm that matches the one his now ex-husband has. According to Jon if you need a tattoo covered Lucas is the artist to see. What neither man anticipated was the intense reaction that Nate would have to the incredibly sexy but nearly 10 years younger tattoo artist.

Things heat up fairly quickly between these two men but hey, it's just a friends with benefits thing...sex for fun...no strings attached. Nate's still working on getting out of a marriage that ended badly, Lucas has ridden that merry-go-round twice already and has no interest in taking another ride, so nothing serious right?...well, it isn't until it is.

I've been looking forward to this one every since I was introduced to Nate in 'Pounding Skin' when he walked in and found his husband in their bed with another man...because damn, he seemed like such a nice guy and no one deserves that...no one, so I really, really wanted to see Nate get a better ending to his story. I was more than a little happy to learn that his story was next and while I did enjoy it. It turned out that I was also a little disappointed as well. This could have been so much more than it was.

Nate's story wasn't just about finding love it was about dealing with losing it as well. Learning to let go and move on. Saying good-bye to the future you thought you were going to have an finding something new...something better and while it was about those things there were times that the potential of this got lost in the sex...sure, I admit it was pretty steamy stuff. Ms Witt writes some hella' hot sex when you get right down to it, but for me this was a case of sometimes less is more. I would have loved just a little less when it came to the sex and a little more when it came to the character and relationship development especially towards the end. 

Nate and Lucas made for an incredibly likable and sexy pairing when it came time to address their issues...because let's face it every could has a point where there are things that need to be worked out and Nate and Lucas are no exception to this. That moment for me felt to rushed to quickly and readily resolved. I wasn't looking for a big dramatic filled with angst event but it just seemed like their issues and in particular Nate's weren't something that could be resolved in less than a day. 

Overall though this was still an enjoyable read with some really good moments in it and as always I loved getting a peek at what was going on with Matt and Jon from 'Pounding Skin' and I really enjoyed seeing more of Colin and Daniel from 'Back Piece'.  Although each of these books have the ability to be read as a stand alone story for myself I found it to be a far more enjoyable reading experience for having read the previous stories but I admit I'm a bit of a dork when it comes to knowing the full background of secondary characters who turn up to add a bit of color to a story.

I have to wonder though if this isn't the end of the road for this series since we've been introduced to at least one of the MCs for each book in the previous one. In the first book 'Back Piece' we got Colin and Daniel's story and were introduced to Matt. Then in 'Pounding Skin' we met Nate as Jon's best friend and Lucas as the newest employee of 'Skin Deep Inc' but in 'Cover Up' we've been given no likely candidates for another story but rest assured if there is one I'll be watching for them and if not well then one can only wonder what this author has planned for us next and if you're also wondering what happened to Nate's tattoo...well, you'll just have to read the book to find out.

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An ARC of 'Cover Up' was graciously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.