Belle Aurora
Contemporary Romance
Published in 2015
H/h - Matt Quinn/Mia Bridgeton
Setting: Present time.
Read in July, 2015.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Hmmm, let’s see. An escort/gigolo book... I’m sold!
About Last Night... is my first try in Belle Aurora’s writing. I did like what I read but there are things that bugged me throughout the story. I’d always consider reading about a gigolo hero because they’ve been my favorite for a long time. But I also want a story and HEA, just not meaningless p*rn, which, seeing their profession, is a big possibility. This why I’m selective about what I read. Have to say I’m glad that I read this book but it could’ve been better IMO.
The story talks about Matt Quinn, who has been working as an escort for about 5 yrs. now. He doesn’t really have anyone else on the family-side but his mother, whom he had not seen in a long time due to issues that are revealed at the end of the story. His only friend and family has been Harry Bridgeton, who is also the person that brought him into this profession. Matt has had very little education, and eventually, he began resenting the small, underpaid jobs that he’d get. So when Harry came to him with the proposition of making more money than he can even imagine in a month, Matt jumped in. I mean he’s tall, gorgeous to look at, and he’d get free ‘dates’ almost every day and get paid for having sex. Should be any man’s dream! It didn’t take long for Matt to start working for DFT (never caught the full name of the site).
About Last Night... is my first try in Belle Aurora’s writing. I did like what I read but there are things that bugged me throughout the story. I’d always consider reading about a gigolo hero because they’ve been my favorite for a long time. But I also want a story and HEA, just not meaningless p*rn, which, seeing their profession, is a big possibility. This why I’m selective about what I read. Have to say I’m glad that I read this book but it could’ve been better IMO.
The story talks about Matt Quinn, who has been working as an escort for about 5 yrs. now. He doesn’t really have anyone else on the family-side but his mother, whom he had not seen in a long time due to issues that are revealed at the end of the story. His only friend and family has been Harry Bridgeton, who is also the person that brought him into this profession. Matt has had very little education, and eventually, he began resenting the small, underpaid jobs that he’d get. So when Harry came to him with the proposition of making more money than he can even imagine in a month, Matt jumped in. I mean he’s tall, gorgeous to look at, and he’d get free ‘dates’ almost every day and get paid for having sex. Should be any man’s dream! It didn’t take long for Matt to start working for DFT (never caught the full name of the site).
Fast
forward 5 yrs., Matt likes what he does. His was, what I assumed, was
the BFE or boy friend experience-type service. By now, he has earned
more money than he can spend, has quite a few regular clients that he
services, rarely taking on a new one. So when this email comes to him
from this shy, reticent girl who wants to explore the world of pleasure,
he can’t help but be curious about the sender ‘Maya’. They begin
exchanging funny emails to each-other and their online relationship
turns pretty soon something like... friendship. Something Matt doesn’t
ever do with a client. Any kinda familiarity beyond the obvious is a big
no-no. Maya is shy and a virgin, which is what initially knocked Matt’s
socks off. That she wants him to be the ONE to help discard her v-card
intrigues and humbles him at the same time.
Soon emails turn to
texting, and one day, when they feel they’ve grown quite close, Matt
asks if he can call her. It seemed by then Maya has lost her initial
inhibition, so she even makes a date when she wants to ‘meet’ him. Matt
is only happy to oblige, because she had, so far, been either politely
declining his requests for a meeting or just avoiding the big question.
Matt wanted to stop communicating but he liked talking to her so much
that he’s now adamant of helping her as a friend would. Or so he thinks
that’s what he was doing. He even makes sure that she doesn’t book
anyone else but him for the job. No way any other guys of here taking
Maya’s virginity but him!
What Matt had no idea was that it was
Mia, Harry’s younger sister, all along. Matt hasn’t seen Mia in the past
couple of years. He had never been close to her anyway, so he knows her
through basically whatever Harry had told him about her. But Mia has
seen Matt a few times and hadn’t been able to forget him. Granted that
the one time he came to her room by mistake and talked to her, he was
more or less stoned but the words he said to her stuck with Mia all
these years. She was a shy and awkward chubby girl in her early 20s who
loved only loved to read. She was also a good student but men have never
been her forte. Matt Quinn seemed like the epitome of manly beauty she
would’ve liked to have fallen in love with, but Mia knew Matt would
never remember her. Which was correct of course.
Due to an
overbearing mother and overprotective elder brother, Mia had pretty much
been sheltered all her life. Then, she made a target and decided to
take control of whatever of her life she could. She lost quite a bit of
weight, got a degree with good grades and now looking for a job. But
Matt Quinn has completely dominated her imagination all these years. She
had a crush and now a plan of her own. Now that she feels much
confident about herself, she’s going to lose her virginity… to the Quinn
of DFT! Oh Mia had known about what Matt’s profession for a while now,
thanks to an accidental eavesdropping of Harry and him chatting over
phone. It doesn’t bother her all that much, so she decides to contact
with him under a false name, though ‘Mia’ and ‘Maya’... Well, I thought they sounded too close for Maya to be a false name.
What Mia didn’t think was that she
and Matt would *actually* build up such a great companionship in such a
short time. She’s overwhelmed to finally know the
Matt Quinn as he is; not the smooth gigolo but the person inside she
only hoped to glimpse. And the more she did, the more she became
addicted. Mia began a job too, a good one and would chat about anything
and everything with Matt at the end of the day when they’re both at
home, relaxing. Soon, she’s also looking forward to the day when she’d
meet him and do the deed, or so to speak. Matt tries to gently initiate
her into sex thru their phone conversation, to break the ice if you can
say that. It goes good, leaving Mia totally feeling the need see her
‘plans’ come to fruition ASAP!
When the time comes, they both
become overwhelmed by their own feelings. Mia is, of course, struck
again by how handsome Matt is and how he makes her heart beat fast while
Matt, who has been daydreaming about this day can’t but wonder at his
good luck. That the woman he couldn’t keep thinking about all these
weeks is not only charming and funny but beautiful as well. Her shyness
and virginity are 2 things that call out to Matt and he’s adamant of
making her first time a special one. When they finally get down to the
‘business’ you can only guess; things go quite well, with Mia in seventh
heaven with her first experience, while Matt feeling something in him
shifting irrevocably for this woman. He knew they have no future, but
what if...? When Mia leaves, they hope to see each-other and experience the same bliss all over again.
But it wasn’t until the
next day that the disaster strikes. Harry calls up Matt early morning
as usual to meet on their regular joint to grab breakfast. Matt wouldn’t
have known what surprise is waiting for him there. Neither does Mia.
Matt is gobsmacked when Harry reintroduces his sister as Mia, who is no
one other than Matt’s ‘Maya’! Mia, on the other hand, is worried sick;
what if Matt divulges their relationship? What would be Harry’s reaction
for that matter? Nothing good, she can tell that much. But Harry
remains blissfully oblivious of the glares that Matt keeps sending her
way, while shame and a reluctant excitement to see him again flush Mia
all over. Of course Mia would’ve had to tell Matt the truth but this is
definitely not how she planned to reveal her identity. She wanted to do
it on her own time, when she was feeling ready. But now there’s nothing
to be done about it but to come clean and hope that when Harry finds out, he
doesn’t ditch them both for crossing a line that shouldn’t have been
crossed.
Though Matt is angry, he can’t stay angry for long. He
knows he’d broken an unspoken code between old friends. He’d slept with
Harry’s sister even if he had no idea it was her. Worst was, he didn’t
even regret sleeping with Mia and the fact that she’s Harry’s sister
doesn’t change a thing. He still cares for her as he’d not done for a
woman like ever, he still considers her his only female friend... and
he’d still screw her senseless if she’s willing. Which Mia is, 100%.
Think it’s time I list a few things that bugged me throughout the story:
1.
Harry used to be an escort and as I mentioned, he’s the one brought
Matt into this. That was one thing I didn’t like about their friendship
even if Matt feels gratitude, thinking Harry saved him from poverty. The
whole thing sounded rather shady to me.
2. The way he and
Harry would talk about escorting all through the story sounded like it’s
another 9-5 job everyone does, which it decidedly is not. I couldn’t
believe their cavalier attitude about it, calling it ‘dating’ if anyone
asked anything. I know its fiction, even then it sounded odd every time I
read one of their conversations about escorting.
3. I have no
particular problem with a shy, virgin heroine like many other out
there, doesn’t matter if she’s 17 or 27. But Mia was characterized and
treated throughout the story more like a 16yrs. old rather than her own
age. Sometimes, from her dialogues and behavior I couldn’t even believe
that she’s 27! I’m not saying I didn’t like her but had a hard time
connecting with her.
4. How come Matt couldn’t figure out it
was Mia when every time Harry called her by her pet name ‘Minnie’? Mia’s
email address was minniemouse something. His brain should’ve pinged
when he met her accompanying Harry. Instead, Matt thought Mia was dating
Harry and got pissed. :/
5. I love my gigolo heroes. Seeing
their profession, I take any OW scenes in stride, even if I don’t like
reading them. At least I try my best to... There were a lot of scenes
here with Matt and his clients. I think at least with 8 women, starting
with a background of each. WHY would I wanna know what Matt’s clients do
or anything about their life? I don’t freakin’ care to know about those
women. I’m sure Mia wouldn’t either.
6. I also don’t wanna feel that the H is too much into his profession, which is kind of a
deal-breaker. Then it becomes difficult for me to believe in his
feelings for the h. More than half the book, Matt’s ruminations will
tell you that he loves his profession, loves sex, loves women... loves
sex with women who are his clients. He’s easy with sex, and at one point he even told Mia since he craved
the affection that his mother never showed him, sex has been his outlet
since his early teens basically wherever he could find it. So what was
he, a sex addict? I have no idea and TBH, I didn’t like it either.
7. Then
there was the fact that he had sex with every one of those above
mentioned women while having this online, texting relationship with Mia.
It shouldn’t bother me, but it did because he’d f*ck his clients
thinking of Mia. He even thought he’s going nuts to imagine a faceless
woman while having sex with one of his regulars. Of course it was,
because this wasn’t either fair to Mia, nor to these women. Then when it
became clear that Mia wants to have sex, it became daydreaming of what
he’s going to do to her, then he’d apply to same on his clients thinking
of Mia. OMG, please NO!
8. I never saw Matt bumping with a
client in the story out of the bedroom. How was it even possible? I
mean, a part of his job was to go on ‘dates’ with them or did he live on
another planet? I could see this creating a problem for Matt and Mia’s
relationship... but it didn’t.
9. Where did Mia get the money
to spend on Matt and her date when she had just
gotten a job? As far as I could get, time with Matt wasn’t exactly
cheap, and if I recall well she booked him thru DFT, so it wasn’t a free
of charge thing, was it? The whole info was vague.
10. From
everything, I could only assume that Mia and her mother never knew that
Harry used to be a gigolo throughout college, which he left after an
‘incident’ right when Matt became one himself. After Mia and Matt found
each-other out, I kept waiting for this to be revealed. At least to Mia,
maybe by Matt? Oddly enough, it was never revealed. Even when Harry
finally found out what his best friend and his sister were up to. When
the story ends, Mia is still in shadows about Harry’s past and his
involvement in Matt’s coming into the business. It didn’t seem right to
me. She was a grown woman and had fallen in love with an escort. She
needed to know, and I wanted to see her handling this news like a grown
woman.
Things would definitely be revealed in Harry’s story, as I
know there’s going to be one in the future but IMO, Mia should’ve been
aware of already. But I’ll wait to find out.
I also will give it
to Matt that the moment he realized that he wants Mia to be much more
than just a friend-with-benefit, he up and leaves his profession. His
heart wasn’t in it anymore, definitely not after Mia. I think, after
knowing Mia, it became glaringly obvious just how much sex became a
chore for him; a ‘job’, instead of something he should’ve done on his
own time and terms, enjoying thoroughly. I can’t recall well but I think
he didn’t sleep with anyone after he slept with Mia, so that gets him
many brownie points from me.
When they finally acknowledged
their feelings, it was a very sweet moment. I liked when Matt wasn’t a
gigolo anymore, but just a regular boyfriend of a regular girl, with HOT
moves in bed as bonus. ;) Loved their banters and thought they clicked
rather well despite my early doubts. Matt was funny and caring, which
made me think he just needed someone right to shower his attentions
with. Those last couple of chapters actually saved the book for me.
Prior to that, I wasn’t even sure it’s gonna make 3+ stars (ref: the
LIST). But after finishing, I’m gladly rating it a 4.
Honestly,
can’t wait to read Harry’s book, not after whatever was hinted at about
his own doomed love-story with a client. Bring it on!
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