Monica O'Malley (who we saw get her revenge on Skyler's brother Wes who cheated on her in “Can't Help Falling In Love”) is an interior designer who develops a bit of a crush on Wes's brother fire chief Ban Kimball while preparing a bid to redo their fire station. A vivacious free spirit, Monica first tries to get Ben to notice her by spending a bit too much time taking measurements in his office and consulting on color schemes while wearing sexy clothes, but when that doesn't seem to be working she figures maybe he wants someone more conservative and starts dressing like a Southern Baptist politician's wife to see if that will impress him.
Ben on the other hand has been drooling over Monica since she first walked into his office, but is torn, not just over keeping it professional, but feeling inadequate as a stuffy conventional guy, especially compared to his brother Wes who broke up with not all that long ago. The attraction between these two is hot despite themselves, and when Ben lets go they make out in his car, go skinnydipping and start a bbq fire all in one night. Monica tries to protect Ben by leaving him out of it when the police are called, but ends up feeling like a tramp (despite having not slept with a guy in well over a year as far as I can tell). Will Ben stick up for her? Can they realize just how right they are for each other as who they normally are?
This book works really well for me --- the only thing that drove me crazy was that I kept picturing Monica as black/biracial and trying to hunt down clues as to why I was picturing this – I might be right (I hope so!) despite her Irish last name as her appearance is never really described although there are a few comments about tawny skin (sounds pretty vague to me) and straightening her hair...Anyway, we could use more people of color in romance so I'm going to keep pretending that she is! Wendy Etherington has a real talent for writing some hot chemistry between her hero/heroines and that really made the book, although the humor was fun too! This book definitely left me happy.
