He proposes a "friends with benefits" situation and she eventually decides not to deny herself the benefit of their sexual attraction. They have incredible chemistry, get along well, and are compatible in so many ways...except their stance on relationships. Their arrangement is fun, exciting, sexually satisfying, but also confusing. He can read her and understands her more than anyone. He is kind, thoughtful, and attentive. As she finds herself unable to stop herself from falling, he gives major mixed signals. He likes to talk to her, hang out with her and of course ravish her. But he is fiercely private about his personal life, personal space, and does not take her out in public. He has secrets and demons that have shaped how he lives his life, but he will not share them.

As things continue to get more complicated, he only succeeds in her confusing her more. One minute he is taking her with him on location and the next minute keeping her a dirty little secret. Ellie has always been the outspoken, independent minded, tough woman, but Braydon turns her into someone needy and weak that she does not like. There is a lot of push and pull. They take one step forward and two steps back. She has to take a stand at times and force him to see the situation for what it is. But they go back and forth about what they need, want, and what they are willing to give. Their relationship varies from sex buddies, friends, and practical strangers with them having issues being on the same page. Even though the parameters were set from the beginning, they were not easy to stick with or follow. 

Braydon was such an enigma. He was always the charismatic, charming, flirty, bad boy who was also a good friend and fun to be around. He and Ellie had such a powerful connection. I liked him with Ellie when he was acting naturally and took care of her, but sometimes wanted to smack him when he would retreat and put his walls back up. And he could change from intensely interested to distant and secretive quickly. I could not blame Ellie for being totally confused, heart broken, and needing to step back from him.  But eventually his secrets are revealed and we see under his guard to what haunted him and kept him from moving on.

Ellie was intelligent, controlled, and driven. She has always been fun, feisty, and a good friend and support to Emmy and Ben and even Braydon when he would let her. But Braydon had a way of stripping her down and making her vulnerable, insecure, and upset. She knew what she wanted but was not allowed to have it, and it just made her feel worse than when she had no male prospects. Sometimes she had to go into self preservation mode just because it was all too much.

Together they had real potential. But it all comes down to being able to truly open up, let the other person in, and be willing to go for all for nothing. 

I loved seeing more with their best friends Ben and Emmy (Working It and Craving Him). They have come a long way since their tumultuous beginning. They also shared some of the same issues Braydon and Ellie did with the male model careers, supermodels, groupies, and distance. But Braydon's issues also ran a bit deeper and it would take time to scratch the surface to get down to his inner layers. And Ellie was not going to settle for halfway. She had seen Emmy get the full love story, and she wanted that for herself too. I enjoyed their group dynamic as well throughout the story.

It was fun, sexy, frustrating, tense, mysterious, romantic, and sweet. It was told in Ellie's point of view with an epilogue from Braydon. So Braydon's secrets were his until he finally shared them with Ellie and all of us. This engaging series has interesting, likable characters with depth and  plenty of angst, drama, and secrets. I really enjoyed this installment  and  seeing how it all turned out with all of them. This one could easily be read as a stand-alone, but part of the fun was knowing Ben and Emmy's background and all of their shared history as well. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.