Sugar is sweet, but so is revenge …

All Lara Cavallo wants to do is make her bakery business, Cavallo’s Cups & Cakes, a success, and be able to stop accepting alimony from her rotten, cheating ex-husband. But first she needs to find her clothes and escape the strange hotel room she wakes up in before she embarrasses herself any further in front the owner of that gorgeous naked keister she spots through the bathroom door. She needs to keep her mind on her cupcakes. She doesn’t have time for beefcake, no matter how enticing.

Cupcakes are sweet, and so is Lara…

All Gage Tomlinson wants is to find a way to help his single-mom sister pay the hospital bills for his six-year-old nephew, badly injured in a hit and run accident. Working construction during the day and as the owner of the exotic male dance troupe BeefCake, Inc. by night doesn’t leave much time for indulgence. Too bad the sweetest thing he’s seen in ages passes out on him and then takes off before he even gets a nibble. He’s got a sweet tooth, and only Lara’s “cupcakes” will satisfy him.

But when cupcake finally meets beefcake, it’s hot enough to melt the buttercream right off the cake.

Ingredients:

Lara Cavallo, a baker who’s just starting out after a divorce,

Gage Tomlinson, a stripper who’s been around the block and needs money for his nephew’s surgery,

Cara and Bryan, two best friends who mean well,

And Jeff, the ex husband who doesn’t.

Mix them all together at the social event of the season and you get one sexy batch of dancing “cupcakes”!

I stumbled across this one totally by accident and couldn’t resist giving it a try. I mean, come on it stars a male stripper! But of course there is so much more to Gage than the fact that he takes his clothes off for a living … although that isn’t anything to sniff at. But he’s also hard-working, smart, funny, and giving. He’s got a load of responsibilities on his wide, strong shoulders and he’s doing his best to keep moving forward. Then he meets Lara, only to have her run out on him, a new experience for the gorgeous Gage. Of course he can’t resist seeing more of her.

Lara is coming out of a bad relationship and has always been the good girl. Waking up in bed with a man she can’t remember is very much out of character. But when she finally meets the man with the tempting behind she doesn’t resist for long. He ex-husband tore her down and left her feeling like she’s no match for the oh-so-tempting Gage but he’s go the patience and is willing to make her believe.

It’s fun watching these two try to figure out if they want to get involved and how they can rearrange their lives to make room for a relationship. There isn’t a ton of drama – most of it centers on their complicated lives and Lara’s lack of confidence than about any real trouble. Of course there is a little bit around the way they met plus what Gage does for a living, not the easiest thing for a good girl to accept, but it is handled with that perfect mixture of warmth and sizzle. I’m definitely going to pick up the next in the series, Beefcake and Mistakes, and I hope to see more from Fennell in the future.