Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter by R. Cooper
To help out his sister, Scott moved to the small town of Montgomery, where there isn’t much to do and no one for him to date. Well, there’s one other openly gay man in town—Henry ‘Cole’ Porter, a widower who runs the school library, but after one drunken night together, Cole has kept his distance. Scott is used to that. He spends a lot of time working out to look good, and from the slow way he talks and the frat house atmosphere at the fire station where he works, it’s easy to assume he’s stupid. Most people are happy to admire his body and assume that’s all he wants from them, and deep down, Scott is too afraid to try asking for more.
Which is why sweet, romantic Scott has been secretly pining after Cole for months when some of the town’s nosier residents decide Cole has been single long enough. They have a plan to throw every successful, smart, professional gay man in a thirty-mile radius Cole’s way, whether he likes it or not. Their list of candidates doesn’t include Scott, and Scott’s insecurities prevent him from stepping forward—even when it seems as though Cole is asking him to.
Cole is everything Scott isn’t; highly educated, stylish, with refined tastes. He’s also stubborn and sarcastic, and not nearly as smart about the workings of his own heart as people might think. It might take a lot of the wrong men for him to realize the right one has been in front of him all along.
Review
Scott is younger and shy. He is very good looking and thus people see him as shallow and not bright even though he is clearly kind and smart.
Cole is a widower and funny. He is older and more established and people think he is too smart for Scott.
However, Scott and Cole are very attuned. I love those moments in the book where Cooper manages to show us just how right these two are for each other.
Cole has to see Scott and Scott needs to value himself more but they get there. As with most of Cooper's books lack of communication is a huge issue (quit it!) and the story needs to be longer after the couple really connects.
There is a weird aside in this book with all the straight women matchmaking and basically objectifying the gay men in town which is very meta to the Male/Male Romance dynamics that is worth a look as well.
