Undercover Heat by Sylvie Kaye

Friends with ‘benefits.’ Lori is so tired of ending up with the wrong guy that she takes up Nate’s suggestion. However, Undercover Heat shows that not everything is what it seems in this no strings attached offer.

Lori Roberts often mistakes lust for love. A booty call might be just what she needs to keep her sexually satisfied until she finds Mr. Right. When her best friend since childhood, Nate Greene, offers to give her just what she needs, Lori accepts without hesitation. With no steady job or girlfriend, he definitely wasn't commitment material. It was the perfect solution... ...until a mysterious summons jerks Nate from her bed and sends him running for the gun in his car. Lori suspects Mr. Right Now may be more than he appears. Can their friendship survive the lust and the secrets or will Lori lose more than her sexual frustration?

Lori Roberts is at her wits end. She has stopped dating for a while because she keeps ending up with duds she falls for too fast while they are just out for sex. Now even her own ‘toys’ are not meeting her needs and she is thinking about finding a guy for just sex. While waiting for Mr. Right to come along, she doesn’t see why she can’t take ‘Mr. Right Now.’ And when one of her best friends, Nate, offers to stand in, it sounds like the perfect solution to her frustrating problem.

Marla, both Lori and Nate’s other best friend, tells her Nate has had a thing for Lori since puberty. Marla goes so far to claim that his poor job record is to keep women from attaching themselves to him. All Lori knows is that he agreed to a sex only, no attachment affair. And boy, is it a hot affair. But he gets a call and leaves as soon as they are done the first time. Days pass and they hook up again, but she finds a gun in his car! Next time he rushes off to ‘help a friend.’ Even if this is an affair, he is still her friend, and she is concerned.

And then he is asking all sorts of questions about Marla’s fiancé. Between Nate’s strange behavior, not having seen his new place before, and the gun, Lori is worried. After some snooping, she can’t find the gun that he claimed was his friend’s, but not sure she feels any better with how hot things have gotten between them. Now Marla shows up saying that her fiancé wants her to leave the country, and Lori starts to wonder if Nate knows more than he lets show.

Undercover Heat is defiantly a spicy quick read. This was a bit more explicated than I first expected, but didn’t come across negatively. The fact that Nate has had a crush on Lori since high school gives Undercover Heat has a relationship feel from the beginning no matter how much Lori fights it (silly girl should know better). The idea of Nate not having a serious girlfriend because he has always liked Lori I can buy; his not keeping a decent or long-term job hoping to keep girls away so he is available for Lori is not believable and simply silly of Marla to suggest. Lori already had problems getting emotionally involved too quickly with other guys and she has been friends with Nate for most her life. So I can’t imagine that she really thinks she can have a carefree affair with him (and she was already showing signs of becoming attached before they actually get around to the physical part).

For all that Undercover Heat is a short story, it still had several realistic parts. I liked that Lori snooped through Nate’s car and apartment; women will do this, especially friends worried about others. I liked that he let her because if you hide too much it just calls more attention to you and loved that she didn’t find anything on him (good undercover is going to keep clean if they want to stay that way). The fiancé doesn’t seem too bright telling Marla where and when to meet him, but most criminals aren’t really (or our jails would not be full). Undercover Heat is mostly a sexy story, but the background features are good and support it well.