For best friends Jake and Nate the question isn't how they ended up in bed together but how they stay there.
Aggressive, physical, and brave, Jake Owens is a small town football hero turned big city cop who passes his time with meaningless encounters believing he can’t have who he really wants: Nate Richardson, his best friend since before forever. Thoughtful, quiet, and kind, Nate is a brilliant doctor who has always known who he is and has never been able to shake his crush on loyal, courageous, straight Jake.
After a passionate night together, Nate realizes Jake isn’t as straight as he assumed, but he worries that what they shared was a fluke, a result of too much closeness for too long. For Jake, the question isn’t how they ended up in bed together because he has always known that Nate holds his heart, it’s how he’ll convince Nate that he wants and needs to stay there.
I looked over at the body next to me—long legs, flat stomach, smooth chest—and closed my eyes, wondering how the fuck I got here. Not literally, of course, because “here” is the bed in my hotel room. I know damn well how I got here. But “here” as in how did I get to a place where I want—no, where I need to touch another man; to feel that stomach, that chest under my fingers and those long legs wrapped around me. And not just any man—Nate. My best friend since the day I was born. And that I mean literally.
Our mothers had grown up together in a small Southern town. Next door to each other, in fact. My mom was the fifth child in her family—four older brothers. Nate’s mom was third in a family of eight, also the only girl. Both wanting to get away from…
The story begins in spring, 2006 and spans ten months. Throughout the story, there are flashbacks to earlier years.
Cameo Appearances:
Emotionally laden romance with excellent alternating dual first-person narration that I devoured. Its cloying sweetness and perfection hit my romance sweet-tooth perfectly. ... I'm a sucker for the friends to lovers romance trope and I got that here but without a lot of angst that usually happens for the previously "straight" lead. Jake's total acceptance of his love for Nate had a simplicity that is rarely found in gay-for-you books and I ate it with a spoon! This book is emotionally intense where every sex scene is steeped in the men's grandiose feelings for each other and I loved this huge romantic relationship....I loved how this romance was told as well as the huge, idealistic relationship between two nearly perfect men.
I highly recommend the book and the narration
I have listened to this audio more than once, and never grow tired of listening to it.
Where He Ends and I Begin is part of Cardeno C.'s Home series. And, yes, I absolutely adore Jake and Nate's story. It's arguably the best in the series. I say arguably because I've read them all and each time I finish I think that book is my favorite. But seriously, this friends to lovers story is so very precious and enthralling, readers feel as if they know the characters, experience each character's joy and fear. It's truly a captivating story from beginning to end.