Flipped

By Olivia Brynn

Carter Hope would do just about anything for his best friend. When Mario gets the bright idea to buy a POS house together to flip, Carter swears he’s out of his mind.

Unfortunately, Mario Gutierrez is hard to resist. After one weird conversation at a bar, and one meaningful look across their empty beer bottles, Carter isn’t sure he’s not the one flipping for his friend.

They’re both tops, so to make this work, one will have to give in and roll over. Carter will have to come to terms with his past before he can look to a future with his best friend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Mountain Books
• Release date: Nov 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9780985708283

Olivia Brynn

Olivia Brynn is the very saucy alter ego of romance author Alanna Coca. Olivia was the one who lured Alanna into trouble as a child. She also would have been the one to get her mouth washed out with soap. Since controlling Olivia wasn’t as easy as she thought, Alanna decided to set her alter ego free with Olivia’s first book, For a Price, a story about one woman’s journey to sell her virginity. Other books followed, earning five-star reviews and bestselling status. Alanna realized what fun Olivia had writing sexy romances without censor. Olivia writes contemporary erotic romance near a window where the view of the Rocky Mountains beckons her to run naked through the tall foothill grasses. Except when it snows.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Maybe we should split up.

Carter Hope wiped the tears from his eyes and looked across the table. He’d been talking with his best friend, Mario Gutierrez, for almost two hours. People filled the club wall-to-wall, but the only attention the couple had received so far was when their laughter overpowered the music.

Carter wouldn’t often laugh himself to tears, but Mario had that effect on him. They’d been friends since their first year of college, and that sense of humor was what drew Carter to the lanky brunet. Mario had the ability to crack Carter’s usually stoic facade like no other human on earth.

You’re afraid no one will approach you when you’ve got a big, sexy stud sitting next to you, huh? Carter stuck his chest out in mock arrogance.

Take a look around, Hope.

Carter rolled his eyes. He hated being called by his last name, and Mario knew it. If it wasn’t also a girl’s name, he wouldn’t mind. Don’t call me—

Carter-Farter then. Look around.

Okay, that nickname was worse, but rather than regress to elementary school name-calling, he did as Mario asked. Plenty of attractive men gyrated on the dance floor. The cute one they’d both called dibs on when they’d walked in tonight was now using an older man’s Armani-suited frame as a stripper pole. Everyone seemed to be having a great time flirting and watching the dancers. The guys surrounding the dance floor laughed with one another, letting their gazes skim the area.

What?

Keep looking, genius. See that ten-foot cushion around our table?

Mario was right. They’d been given a wide berth. For all the flirting going on in the club, not one gaze would meet his. I don’t get it. Didn’t you use your winning cologne tonight? Carter looked over his shoulder, only to find the other tables occupied by couples and threesomes mingling and, in some cases, singing along with the dance tunes.

"Don’t try to blame it on my cologne. Look at us. We’ve been here for hours, but we haven’t been socializing. Two young guys on the prowl, and we haven’t even flirted with the dancers or fought over the hottie out there, who’s already found himself a sugar daddy. Hell, I wouldn’t even approach us. We’re too busy sitting here talking to each other like an old married couple." He took another drink.

You’ve been talking. I’ve been listening.

I’ve got better stories. Mario shrugged.

And I can’t get a word in edgewise. Carter rubbed his hand down his T-shirt, continuing his new assessment of the club. Meat market was too generous a term for this place. This wasn’t a club for couples; everyone here was out looking for some action, Carter and Mario included. They’d picked this particular bar for that very reason. You’re right. We should split up.

Yeah.

He made no move to leave the table, and neither did Mario. To tell the truth, Carter no longer felt like flirting with a bunch of strangers in the hopes of taking one home. He’d be happy just spending time with his best friend and making it an early night. Carter sipped his beer and watched the hottie and his newest dance partner. The twink did his best bump and grind, but the poor thing had no coordination; he flailed his arms in all directions, making him look like a rag doll in the wind. So cutie pie can’t dance. Too bad.

Mario reached across the table to nudge Carter’s elbow. I’ll never forget the time you tried to teach Elaine how to moonwalk.

Carter sprayed out his mouthful of beer before he laughed it back through his nose, the picture of their friend Elaine’s wavering attempt at the dance move clear in his mind, though it had been four years ago. Oh God, that was funny. I never knew anyone could fall on her ass so many times in a row.

"And then she backed over the

Reviews for Flipped

[serenayates · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a story that is as much about friendship and trust as it is about a developing relationship. Even though Mario and Carter are best friends, the issues they encounter when they decide to take things further are not easy to solve. They discover that ‘trust’ does not equal ‘trust’, and that compromise can be more difficult than it sounds.

Carter is a landscape foreman by day and a house-improver over the weekend. He has some real issues – in the form of an idiotic ex who made him suffer through anal sex, totally ruining the experience for him. It will take a lot more than wanting to make things work with Mario – Carter will need to scrape together every ounce of trust he has if he wants to give his friend what they both want. And when he does – they are both surprised with the result.

Mario is a top as well. While he wants a deeper relationship with Carter than he currently has, and takes the first step, he is also more scared of the long-term implications. Not that he lets those fears stop him. He worries a lot about losing his best friend – and it scares him enough to consider forgetting the physical aspect of their relationship. It takes Carter to make him see that their friendship and love comes first – the lust is just a bonus.

These two guys are great together. I enjoyed their interactions, their banter and the way they egged each other on just as much as I loved their increasing intimacy and tenderness. If you like ‘friends to lovers’ stories, and enjoy a tale of two tops working things out (mostly between the sheets) you may like this story.