Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter

Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R. Cooper

Scott Yun moved to Montgomery to help his sister take care of her kids, but it’s an extremely small town, and one of the few single gay guys is extremely cute, but also a widower.

So Scott goes to work at the firehouse, helps to care for his niece and nephew, and spends his free time running and working out. After all, what else is there to do?

The women in town have decided that Cole should start dating again, but apparently Scott isn’t in the running as far as they’re concerned.

Kathy wasn’t really listening to him. She never did. “You’ve got that body and your sweet face— and that booty, let’s be real. But Cole went to college, hon, a lot of college. And he lived in the city.” Scott had gone to college and had lived in the city, but Kathy didn’t allow him to argue.“He didn’t share a dumpy apartment, he lived in style in the city. And he’s been abroad.” She gestured wildly. “He’s a librarian, Scotty! He listens to opera and he reads through the bestseller lists. Yes, he loves an occasional bow tie, and his shoes are fancy, but you aren’t the kind of big, brawny thing he needs to sweep him off his feet, or pin him to the wall….” She trailed off with a dreamy sigh.

That was one of the few problems I had with the story. Kathy was so utterly horrible she didn’t even feel like a real person.

However, she probably is based on someone just that awful.

Luckily, Cole may be cranky, but he’s also lovely.

“I’m more interested in someone’s excitement over something they have just discovered, than someone’s smug, pompous insistence that there is a right and a wrong way to learn to love something.”

This story is told entirely from Scott’s POV, which means that although it might be obvious to the reader what is happening, Scott is so conditioned to believe that guys are interested in him for a one-night-stand, but never anything more, that even if he wants to date Cole, he can’t see why Cole would be interested in him.

Scott’s sister makes it clear that this is a long-standing issue.

“You dumbface.” Angie snorted like a furious but soft-hearted bull. “Are you telling me you think he could do better? Did he tell you that?” Scott shook his head before steam came out of her ears. She was still pretty pissed though. “Holy shit, I am going to fucking murder your exes.”

“They’re not really exes,” Scott pointed out, because she couldn’t blame them for not acting like boyfriends when they hadn’t been boyfriends.

“Yes, I know. Hence this problem.”

I really liked Angie. She may have issues of her own to deal with, but she still takes the time to listen to him–and to understand him.

This was a sweet story that was actually deeper than it seemed on the face, since a lot of it was Scott learning to value himself–and the issue of allies that aren’t really allies.
Rating: 7.5/10

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