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After a week filled with nonstop work, André Ellison heads to the club to blow off some steam. One night off is the perfect distraction from the project that’s about to make his career—or tank it completely. A few drinks in and he leaves with a smoking-hot stranger for some scorching, burn-the-sheets-up sex.
Marcus Thompson is going places, so he can’t think of a bigger waste of time than being put on loan to a two-bit firm to prepare some small-time report. The last thing he wants—or needs—is his impeccably dressed, hot-as-hell one-night stand as his boss.
As they work side by side, their attraction grows to a fever pitch, but there will be no kissing, no touching and absolutely no sex until the project is over—if they can wait that long.
Review:
André is an intelligent, low conflict, sexy romance between two ambitious Black men that I thoroughly enjoyed. Andre Ellison goes out one night to unwind after a difficult work week and meets Marcus Thompson, with whom he shares an explosive one night stand.
What neither men guess is that their lives are about to be critically intertwined. André’s former employer asks him to submit a proposal for an important project, and offer him an intern to help him get the job done. Andre accepts, knowing this move could be good for his career but the intern turns out to be none other than Marcus, the man he spent that incredible one-night-stand with. Thought they are attracted to one another, they agree to keep things friendly in order to not jeopardize the project, which serves up tension after tension as the two men spend more time together.
Ellis writes the evolution of Andre and Marcus’s relationship with care and authenticity. While the pining was evident and the attraction undeniable, it was a pleasure to watch the two men navigate their way from lust and attraction to professional collaboration, friendship and finally, love. The conflict was real, but not contrived, including family issues that come into play. But they work their way through those in a way that felt honest and true.
Ellis also addresses microaggressions and the real world implication of race in workplace dynamics. This couldn’t come at a better time, when racial inequality is on everyone’s mind. She doesn’t shy away from examining the way white privilege negatively impacts the lives of black men, but she does so in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the story. I really appreciate when romances at least acknowledge the real challenges of existing in this world and Ellis makes space for this.
Andre works on so many levels – as friends-to-lovers, workplace romance, one-night-stand that turns into more. But at it’s heart, it is an honest, authentic and generous depiction of two people navigating real obstacles that many face in their lives on the way to reaching their happily ever after.
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