Authors Carly Phillips and Erika Wilde have teamed up again to co-author a new series – Book Boyfriend. Their first team effort was the wildly successful Dirty Sexy series that was based on three sexy brothers who (surprise!) have lots of dirty sex. There’s a lot more to their stories – of course – but Dirty Sexy is definitely a fitting title. The series was so popular that a fourth, long-lost twin brother was discovered in order to squeak out a fourth, unplanned book. You know you’ve got avid fans when they demand more and are perfectly happy to accept an outlandish plot trope in order to get it, and I was riding the Phillips/Wilde bandwagon with the rest of them.

Big Shot bodes well for the success of their next endeavor. It’s an entertaining, uncomplicated and super sexy romance where the little sister and her brother’s best friend lust after each other for years until they now reach their breaking point. ‘Dirty’ and ‘sexy’ might not be found in this series title, but they’re apt adjectives for Big Shot too.

Wes Sinclair is a successful high-end realtor who’s had the hots for his best friend’s little sister, Natalie Prescott, for years. Her brother isn’t just his best friend – he’s also his business partner, which makes things particularly complicated. Wes wants to safeguard his relationship with Natalie’s brother so he has never acted on his desire for her even though he senses that she feels the same. The sexual tension between them is palpable, and Natalie is willing to take the leap despite what her brother might think, but Wes has adhered a permanent “Do Not Touch” stamp to her forehead.

Two years ago, Natalie applied to work at Wes and her brother’s real estate firm, but Wes refused to hire her. He used the excuse that they shouldn’t mix business with family, but he was actually scared he’d walk around with a permanent hard on if she were around the office. Natalie knew Wes was the reason she wasn’t hired but believed it was based on a lack of confidence in her abilities as a realtor. She was hurt by the rejection and secured a job with a competitor and committed herself to proving Wes wrong, and she’s recently had some considerable successes and even managed to steal a few sales directly from Wes, whom she cheekily calls “Mr. Big Shot.”

Wes is extremely competitive and starts getting annoyed that the younger, inexperienced Natalie is giving him a run for his money and that she’s smugly rubbing her victories in his face. Their relationship has evolved from friends to frenemies who purposely and continually trying to needle each other, and the friction has made their attraction grow exponentially. They’re wickedly entertaining as they spar through verbal jabs while trying to ignore their sizzling chemistry and the resulting unwelcome, explicit sexual fantasies that pop into their heads at random and inappropriate moments.

After a Natalie steals a particularly ego-crushing sale, Wes is smarting and challenges her to a bet to see who can get the next one. If Natalie wins, she finally gets the job at Wes’s firm. If Wes wins, Natalie is at his beck and call for two weeks – she has to do whatever he says. He swears that there’ll be no sexual demands in his becks and calls, but he’s certainly not fooling anyone, especially the reader. It might not be a surprise where this bet might lead Natalie and Wes, but their journey has a few twists, lots of comedic moments and a wealth of erotic interludes.

The banter between Wes and Natalie is witty and entertaining and serves as the perfect foreplay. Ms. Wilde and Ms. Phillips build the sexual tension to a fever pitch and don’t hold back when Wes and Natalie begin their sexual relationship. This book is definitely better read at home – you might not want to open it up on the airplane where your seatmate might glance over and read a particularly heated moment.

“What I ought to do is bend you over and thoroughly spank your ass…”

While it’s fairly easy to predict how Big Shot’s story will play out, it’s a romping good time that will make you smile, laugh and probably blush. Ms. Wilde and Ms. Phillips make a great team, and – hopefully – they’ve planned for Book Boyfriend to be a sufficiently long series or they might have to utilize another eccentric romance plot to keep readers satisfied. Of course, I have a feeling readers will happily accept whatever they dish out to get another installment in their sensual romantic comedies.

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