Men of Smithfield: Seth and David (Men of Smithfield #2), L.B. Gregg

A nice story about two total opposites who manage to find common ground and each other.

-Review by Cindi

Seth shows up for his weekly massage appointment. He is in a hurry and the massage therapist is late.  He is in a bad mood when in walks David Cooke, a substitute for Seth's regular therapist.  At first glance, David looks like a wild, strangely dressed hippy with odd clothes, body piercings and a toe ring.  From the moment David puts his hands on Seth though, David's appearance means nothing.  David quickly gets aroused and suffice it to say that Seth does something about it (alone, I must add).  :)  David is a professional and when he realizes what David has done, he angrily throws him out.  Their next meeting does not go much better.  Seth takes his six-year-old niece, Molly, out to dinner and David is their server.  While David is very friendly to the little girl, he makes his opinion of Seth known.

This begins Seth and David's unusual relationship.  The men are as different as night and day.  David is easy-going and friendly.  He dresses in what Seth considers an odd way.  He has tattoos and body piercings. Seth, on the other hand, is a professional.  He is stiff and comes across as unfriendly and cold. He is blunt to the point of being rude.  In other words, he is not a likable guy.  It was easy for me to dislike him immediately.  David, I loved.

Seth got custody of his twin sister's daughter after the death of her mother a few months prior.  With the death of his sister came the end of his long-term relationship with Quinn, who wanted nothing to detract from the attention (and money) he received from Seth, meaning a six-year-old girl named Molly.  Seth has tried to raise Molly in the best way he knows how but it boils down to the fact that Seth knows absolutely nothing about raising a six-year-old girl.  Molly's best friend is Katie, another girl her age.  There is a bit of going back and forth on who Katie really is.... David's sister?  His daughter?  This is answered later in the book.

Quinn makes several appearances throughout the story but his reasons are unknown until the end.  There are blackmail attempts, a kidnapping, threats from Molly's biological father and a cast of unusual secondary characters that make the story complete.  

It took awhile for me to warm up to Seth.  He is very rude to David... often.  He's judgmental, harsh and jumps to conclusions about David without knowing anything about him as a person.  The more time Seth and David spend together, the more that Seth realizes that David is not at all as he appears.  It was interesting to watch as Seth realizes that his little world would never be the same again, all because of David Cooke.  

This is a nice, quick read.  The love story is written well.  There are a couple of things that had me shaking my head (David on the massage table for one) but everything comes together well in the end.  I love opposites attract stories and these two men are definitely opposites.

Overall, a nice story and a good addition to the Men of Smithfield series.  

Note that this is book 2 in the series but each story can be read as a stand-alone.

This book was provided by Net Galley in exchange for a fair and honest review.