By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Heather Long

When did we become the adults? When did we become the ones who had to make the hard calls? One by one, we’ve all left our teenage years behind. College brought new challenges even as Bound Hearts brought us more.

Whether we’re making music, love, war, games, or trouble, we’ve found a good balance. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Together, we know we can do anything.

We’ve learned that even being apart doesn’t mean we aren’t together.

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls. School, careers, new hobbies, friends in need, and family demands are hitting us from every angle. We’re going to need each other more than ever.

Archie, Coop, Ian, Jake, and I are a team. We’re constantly figuring it out and sometimes, we fight. We also make up.

And we’ll have each other’s backs, today, tomorrow, and into the future.

NOTE:
This is a reverse harem and the author suggests you always read the forward in her books. Contains some bullying elements, mature situations, violence, and is recommended for 17+. This is the eleventh in a series and the story will continue through future books.

Once again if you haven’t read the other books in the series STOP, go back and start at the beginning.

This book starts pretty much where the last one ended. It’s the beginning of their third year at NYU. It’s been a busy two weeks and Frankie wants some alone time with Coop. He’s volunteering at a center in Flushing so it’s a bit of a commute, but Frankie doesn’t mind taking the subway to meet up with him to travel back home together. This was so much fun and I loved the phone conversation with Hank.

Jake’s taken up playing hockey and he’s pretty good at it. He loves that Frankie comes to watch even his practices and I loved seeing the after of this one.

Frankie and Rachel always get me laughing and when Frankie models for her it’s so much fun. Rachel drops a bit of a bomb, but dang if Frankie doesn’t counter it like a pro.

I think the interactions with Jeremy and Miss Abigail are hysterical, but she’s a puppy after all and does need to have manners.

Ian and Frankie have some new things to think about with their music and it’s both fun and exciting for them. School however is the priority right now.

The person everyone is concerned about is Archie. He’s buried himself in projects and working long hours. It’s his way of dealing with Grandpa Ted’s death, but he’s isolating himself. I really loved the way Frankie stepped in.

Now all that’s just a touch of the beginning of this book. This relationship is always sizzling and full of fun innuendos.

It’s taken me a while to decide on my favorite scene, but I think when everyone gets sick after Halloween night takes the prize here. I love how they take such good care of each other.

Two days after Halloween, I woke up with more than a sore throat and Jake propped his head up on his hand as he gazed down at me. Bless him, he didn’t say anything until I said, “I think I’m sick.”

It came out so hoarse and rough, he smiled gently and pressed his lips to my forehead. “We know. You’ve been flush for two days, Baby Girl.”

I groaned, closing my eyes and putting a hand up to my face. My head hurt, my throat hurt. Even my muscles hurt. When I tried to sit up, Jake wrapped an arm around me and tugged me up against the pillows.

He nodded over to the nightstand next to the bed and I could have cried. Cold meds sat there with a tumbler on the warming plate. I’d bet anything there was hot tea in there.

“Ian or Coop?”

“Both of them, but Coop was up here earlier and he noticed how hot you were running.” There wasn’t an ounce of reproach in his voice. I cradled the tumbler and then took a sip of the tea. “Archie sounded a little rough this morning, so Jeremy banished him to his own room for a few hours.”

I grimaced.

“Bubba’s got a stuffed nose but otherwise he seems fine and Coop’s got the constitution of an ox, so he’ll be swapping out with me after he gets back from work later.”

“Jake,” I protested but he just shook his head at me.

“Nope. You’ve got a cold and a fever. You’re the worst off. It’s not our first rodeo.”

“And if you get sick?” Misery might love company but I didn’t want them sick. I told them I wasn’t and then they were all sleeping in here anyway.

“Then we get sick. I’ve never been afraid of your cooties.”

That just made me giggle. Unfortunately, that giggle turned into a cough. I covered my mouth and grimaced. Reaching past me, Jake got the meds out and held them over to me. I took them. The tea was amazing, but my throat felt like I’d swallowed crushed glass and I swore my pulse thumped in my head.

“You hungry at all?”

I shook my head, I kind of just wanted to go back to sleep. “I have to call my dad.”

“I’ll do it if you want.”

“And I have to call Eddie.”

“I can do that too.”

Sniffling, I took another swallow of the tea and then put it back on the warming plate before I turned to snuggle into Jake. He chuckled, stroking my hair.

“Hot,” I grumbled.

“Yes, you are, in more ways than one.” He nuzzled a kiss to my head. “Go to sleep, Baby Girl. I’m going to get a damp cloth. Hopefully the meds will work and we’ll get that fever down.”

I hated being sick.

He slipped out of the bed, but came back with the cold wash cloth, after he tucked it around my neck and let me cuddle right up to him, I was out.

The next time I woke up, Jake was still there. He had a book open on the Kindle and he was reading. He scooted out to go grab food for me and more hot tea while I went to the bathroom. I stood under a tepid shower when he came back up, but I was already swaying from the headache before I was totally done.

Skipping clothes altogether, I just crawled back into bed. There was soup, meds, more tea and water and then a Jake to snuggle before I went back to sleep.

The whole weekend passed with only brief moments of being awake enough to take meds and eat. My fever finally broke sometime on Sunday morning. Ian was there and he picked me up and carried my nasty, sweaty self right into the shower.

Thankfully, he was an old hand at washing my hair. They all were. Jake was waiting when we were done and they toweled me off and combed out the tangles before I got to be in fresh pajamas.

They’d even changed out the bedsheets. Jake also looked a little flushed and Ian told him to get in the bed and handed him the same meds I was taking. Archie definitely had the cold so he came up to join us, leaving Coop and Ian to run all over the place, but I could actually help.

What a shitty weekend.

Well, not so shitty I guessed because by Monday, I was mostly better except for feeling like a snot factory. Coop had finally taken a turn and he was definitely rough. Archie was already bouncing back, and Jake’s fever broke.

So far, Ian was the only one who’d escaped unscathed, but we skipped classes to look after everyone else. Thankfully, none of us managed to get Jeremy sick. Which was definitely a win.

“Hey,” Coop said in a raspy voice. He was the last of us still sick. Jake, like me, had a mild cough and a stuffy nose but he’d felt a hell of a lot better after the fever passed. Archie seemed to have dodged all of that.

Coop, though, he got all the cooties. “Hey,” I greeted him, his forehead was definitely damp and his hair sticky. “How are you doing?”

“I feel like ass,” he complained and I chuckled. “I recognize that feeling.”

“Your cooties had some kick.” The half-echo of my earlier thought made me smile even more. He shoved himself up and I twisted to get him water. If he had to drink tea, he would, but he wasn’t a fan.

“Well, maybe next time, we skip making out while I’m sick.”

He gave it a beat like he was considering it, then shook his head. “Nah. Totally worth it.”

“You’re terrible.”

“But you love me.”

Not even a question. I leaned in and when he lowered the water bottle, I nuzzled a kiss to his stubbly cheek. “I love you even when you’re gross,” I promised him.

“Good.” He made a face. “Cause I’m pretty sure I’m offending myself.”
Heather Long. Legacy and Lovers (Kindle Locations 1748-1794).

Thanksgiving is quite the occasion with all the families. It was fun and their was a lot of handling the question of their plans for the future with Frankie.

A surprise event had me tearing up. Frankie and the guys really show how much they’ve grown here and I don’t think it could have been handled better.

Archie’s grief also takes a turn and with Frankie and surprisingly Eddie it gets better for all of them.

A big plus in this one is the happy cliffhanger, it was absolutely perfect!

As much as I don’t want this series to end, I know the next book is the last. I can’t wait for their HEA.

5 Contented Purrs for Heather!

Heather Long

USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas in the summertime.

From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories–her characters drive the books.

When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.