Close to Perfect is close to something for me, but it isn’t perfect. What I’d call it is perfectly by-the-numbers. Hot real estate mogul as hero, check. Heroine who’s hired to bodyguard said hero and is promptly told she’ll move in with him, no problem. H/h have hot, lustful thoughts from the minute they meet and act on them despite their professional relationship, sure. It’s all here.

Josh Wyatt was just voted the most delectable hunk in the Florida Keys after being caught bathing in the nude. He’s hot and wealthy, and that’s all the women of the Keys need, apparently, for them to chase after him in droves. If that’s not bad enough, he’s being stalked by the paparazzi who can’t wait to get another hot shot of the hotshot. What’s a poor guy to do? According to his lawyer he needs to hire a bodyguard – someone who’ll protect him from the photographers and the women who’ll use this as an opportunity to trump up some kind of civil suit against Josh. Enter Tess Franklin.

Tess Franklin is an ex-cop trying to make a name for herself working for her father’s security firm. When, against her father’s wishes, she takes the initiative to seek out Josh as a client, Tess gets more then she bargained for. Josh Wyatt is even more attractive in person than he is in the naked photos in the paper, and Tess is instantly drawn to all that hotness. Against her better judgment (such as it is) she agrees to pose as Josh’s girlfriend and live at his home while protecting him.

Now I understand that light contemporary romances require a certain suspension of belief, but the fact that Josh has a hard-on the whole time he’s interviewing Tess and then proceeds to kiss her during that same interview was a bit more than I could take. Add in the fact that Tess more than returns his interest and immediately participates – “she suckled him without pause, as if she had been born for this and him. Her heat and response thickened his cock, making him bold as he drew her closer so that he could deepen the kiss. Again, she responded,” – and you’ll get why I was more then a little perturbed.

I accept meeting cute and that good people can have inappropriate reactions, but when it gets to this level of inappropriate in a job interview, then I’ve lost respect for these people, especially when they are the hero and heroine of the novel. Not much to root for if the two main characters are ones who act in ways that are unbelievable and ridiculous. I could almost get past Josh’s behavior, not because he’s the hero, but because he’s the one being approached by Tess. But she’s supposed to be a contemporary, professional woman looking for a job and I’m supposed to like her. Neither seems to be the case.

The writing here is without major flaws, and once they get past the initial set-up Josh and Tess do settle down into a more or less normal relationship. They have some great sex and real conversations. Several of the supporting characters were appealing, including Tess’s dad and his poker gang, and Josh’s secretary. I liked it well enough, but nothing really excited me (once I was past my initial annoyance. That makes for a book that falls in the C range. One of the blurbs on the back cover say this is a “light sexy romp” that fans of Lori Foster will enjoy. If this describes what you like, then you may find more to enjoy here then I did.