Delivered Fast

3.5This the third book in the Portland Heat series which can all be read as stand-alones. This one deals with Chris, the oldest 35 year old in the world! With his ex, Randy, he owns People's Cup, which has two locations and each stays in their corner of Portland. Along comes Lance, the most up-beat, optimistic, perfect whole package. He's the new bakery delivery guy. He's taking over from his cousin Vic from [b:Baked Fresh 23450161 Baked Fresh (Portland Heat, #2) Annabeth Albert https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416339868s/23450161.jpg 43012647]. He's a full time, perfect-GPA-college student, loving brother, good son, popular friend, good dancer, sizzling hot and ... inexplicably all gaga over Chris. Chris who's maybe 13 years older than him but is obsessed with reminding Lance of how young he is. Chris who is miserable & bitter over where his life and choices have led him, including his ex. Chris who's been stewing for two years having his most meaningful relationships with the fish in his apartment. So yeah ... attractive.I did warm up to Chris later and saw how he, even if reluctantly at first, does provide an oasis of calm for Lance and takes care of him in ways that are perhaps lacking in Lance's hectic life. What I didn't get was what was Lance's original attraction. Perhaps the difficulty came from the fact that the book is told from Chris' POV and perhaps he doesn't sell himself very well being as he is quite self effacing to the point that taking his picture is a feat for Lance. I think he's a bearded, tattooed, tall, red-head which would normally push all my buttons but I had to really close read to get that. Maybe we needed a couple of chapters from Lance's POV.In the end a nice and believable romance develops between these two and I was ready to say yes to Lance way before Chris. As a matter of fact I wanted to smack Chris and shake him out of his self-sacrificing, I'm-too-old, not-good-enough-for-you nonsense. The final resolution and the epilogue worked nicely for me. All in all a nice low angst way to spend a couple of hours. Mostly for Lance. He is the perfect guy. sigh