I love books by Elle Keaton and Feinted Love is a good start to her new series. The story has a bit of a second chance feel along with a bit of enemies-to-lovers and many pretty funny moments.

Arnie and Tobias had a drunken hookup at a party when Arnie was still in high school. The party came to an abrupt halt and Arnie never saw Tobias again – until seven years later when Tobias comes into the coffee shop where Arnie works.

Arnie blames that night, and his hookup with Tobias, for everything that’s gone wrong since that night. He’s under-employed and now he wants to get revenge on Tobias. What Arnie doesn’t know is that Tobias never forgot that night be he lacks the confidence to tell Arnie that.

Feinted Love is a bit of a different story for Elle. It’s somewhat light-hearted in places and I have to admit that I didn’t like it as much as I like her romantic suspense books but I still enjoyed reading it. I loved the prologue but then it took me a few chapters to really settle into the story. Once I did, I really enjoyed it. She threw a couple of twists in there that I didn’t really see coming. I enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Charley and Duff. I’m looking forward to reading Duff’s story in The Heart Heist coming in March 2021. I also hope that Charley will get his story.

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From Arnie’s POV

Tobias Barrington is so damn handsome. If I could’ve dreamed up a man just for myself, Tobias would’ve been my special order; he is everything I crave, and he has extra toppings. Thick black hair that curls up at the ends as it grows longer, pale skin—this close I can see a faded scar at one corner of his luscious lips. And blue eyes, the kind that are almost green but not quite, eyes I could lose myself in.

Tobias’s eyebrows draw together. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nod, stepping back and out of his grasp. “Yeah, sorry, I just got off work.” I gesture behind myself. “I was in the pit today, uh, washing dishes; it was really hot in there.” Anything to get Tobias to ignore my awkward daydreaming. Although telling him I’ve been washing dishes at my just-over-minimum-wage job doesn’t make me feel much better.

“Oh, I bet, it’s hot today.” Tobias smiles.

If I’d thought I was in dangerous territory a minute ago, now my internal alarm bells are clanging so loudly I’m pretty sure I can actually hear them. Tobias’s smile is brilliant.

“Can I buy you a drink? I bet you’re dehydrated. And I kind of owe you one,” he says quietly.

Tobias has a dimple in one cheek. Fuck.

“A drink?” I echo. What does he owe me a drink for?

Tobias’s smile widens further. I don’t know what to do. The dimple is distracting me.

“Yeeesss, a drink, a liquid, something to hydrate you.” He chuckles. “The Madison Pub’s patio is open. So is the Blue’s. You could probably use a little time outdoors; you said it was hot in there today.”

Someone bumps into me as they move around the two of us to enter the coffee shop. I have the dual realization that we’re blocking the door and that no way should I have a drink with Tobias. Except I want to.

Why am I thinking about passing up this opportunity? I can have one drink. It’s probably a really bad idea—I’m not prepared—but I’m going to do it anyway. After all, he said he owed it to me.

“Um, I have to get up early,” I babble.

Really, Arnie? Get up early? This is why I hardly ever got into trouble when I was a kid: I learned early on that I could not lie.

Tobias checks his watch, a silver Rolex with an indigo face. “It’s only three thirty. But if you can’t, that’s okay. Maybe another time?”

Is it my imagination that Tobias seems disappointed?

“I, um, have an appointment,” I fib. “I can’t stay for long. And I stink,” I blurt out. An appointment? All I could think of was an appointment? “An interview, I mean.” I hope, anyway, someday to have an interview.

Tobias had started to turn away, but at my words he turns back. “We can sit on the patio, and you smell fine to me.”

I look around for Charley Hunter. The last few times I’ve seen Tobias he’s been with that absolute tool of a friend, or whatever he is.

“Where’s your friend?” I ask. “The skinny blond with the terrible sense of humor?”

Tobias chuckles again. I nearly die. Still, I manage to scowl and narrow my eyes.

“I’ll have a drink with you, but not if he’s going to show up.” I look around as if Charley might be hiding behind Tobias or maybe in the shrubbery.

“Charley has an event tonight. He’s busy getting ready.”

“Is he planning his own funeral? That’s an event I’d attend.”

“If you come have a drink with me, I’ll tell you.”

How could I resist?