Building Heat

by K. Sterling

Things are about to get very hot in an apartment building in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. 12C- Avery McKannery is one of New York City’s most powerful and ruthless lawyers. Professionally, he’s unstoppable and intimidating, destroying everyone in his path. Privately, Avery has issues. Serious issues. And absolutely no personal life beyond silently lusting after the guy next door. 12B- Mason Whitfield has an impressive career in publishing, wrote an incredible book that no one’s read and lives for music. After a humiliating and devastating breakup, he’s avoided dating. Secretly, he’s been casually stalking the ridiculously hot lawyer in 12C. Mason whistled as he skipped up the steps and nodded to the doorman as he entered the lobby. He saw the elevator doors closing and for some reason, he ran for them instead of waiting two minutes for the elevator to return. He grabbed one of the doors and pushed just before they closed and they slid open. Mason smiled as he stepped forward and froze when his eyes met 12C’s. Mason stepped forward and 12C remained still as the doors closed behind Mason, instead of stepping back and giving him room. Once again, they were chest to chest, Mason’s t-shirt brushed against the buttons of 12C’s shirt as he inhaled and Mason let his head fall to the side as he searched 12C’s eyes. Mason saw 12C’s eyes flick to his lips and they were plunged into heat as the elevator went up. There was a groan, Mason wasn't sure who started it but it passed through both of them as his hands closed around 12C’s face and their lips collided. Mason felt his body moving forward, backing 12C against the wall as his tongue traced 12C’s lower lip. 12C gasped and his hands clutched at Mason’s shirt, pulling him closer. Mason’s tongue surged into 12C’s mouth and twirled around his tongue. Mason moaned as he tasted cherries and beer, his tongue swept deep and greedy into 12C’s mouth, searching for more. 12C’s hand burned through Mason’s clothes as it slid down his back. Mason’s eyes flared as he felt 12C’s hand close around his ass and pull him hard against his very large erection. Mason growled in approval as he rocked his hips against 12C. He felt 12C’s other hand slide into his hair as their hearts pounded savagely against each other’s chests. Mason let his fingertips glide down 12C’s neck and chest before he fisted his hands in 12C’s shirt as he angled his head and sucked on 12C’s tongue. The bing of the elevator had their heads snapping up as the doors slid open. Stunned and breathless, Mason stepped back and looked around. What just happened? Mason blinked as he looked back at 12C. There was no help there as Mason met 12C’s glazed expression. They both moved silently into the hall and turned toward their doors. Autopilot kicked in and they walked side by side until Mason reached his door and pulled his keys from his pocket. He fumbled at the lock as 12C continued on to his door. Once he was in his apartment, Mason looked around, disoriented and painfully aroused. “What the hell was that?” Mason whispered as he pressed his hand to his chest, trying to get his breathing to settle. His brows pulled together as he looked in the direction of 12C. “Why am I here and not over there?” He asked as he tried to string his thoughts together and make something coherent happen. There was no doubting 12C’s interest after that. "Go over there!" Mason’s brain and throbbing cock urged. He nodded as he looked down at his clothes. Zeppelin t-shirt, jeans and leather flip flops. He wasn’t sure if he should change before he went over.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Erotica, Erotic Romance, LGBT

173 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2015

About the author

Author of the popular Nannies of New York and Boys of Lake Cliff book series, K Sterling has self-published dozens of books. K. is known for fast-paced romantic thrillers and touching gay romcoms. There might be goosebumps and some gore but there’s always true love and lots of laughter.

Reviews

[~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avery has OCD for one chapter. He cleans with bleach nonstop, buys six of everything, doesn't put anything in drawers, and won't use his kitchen because MESS. That's pretty intense, no?

Yet as soon as he meets Mason, he's fine, and his OCD is never mentioned again.

There's no slow burn or relationship development; it's all Insta Love, and we're going to get married and adopt two baby girls from China (I'm quoting).

There's no real plot. The editing is atrocious; so many mistakes.

Only highlights: lots of sex (although I started skimming the scenes after a while as I was not invested in the characters) and a HEA.

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

K. Sterling writes some interesting stories with endearing characters. The only complaint I have is that she really needs an editor. She doesn't do well using commas, there are quite a few spelling errors sprinkled throughout her books, and enough word swapping to convince me it's caused by simple ignorance. "Confidant" in lieu of "confident", for instance (Waiting for Mr. Ashwell). Or someone feeling their curiosity "peak" instead of having their curiosity "piqued" (Hide and Keep). And one should "defuse" a bomb, not "diffuse" a bomb ( Hide and Keep). Different words, completely different meanings.

I think there's a word for that. And I think it's covered in most basic English classes. Or maybe not, given the state of education today. (The word is malapropism. Thanks, sraxe!)

Sterling also uses periods at the end of quoted dialogue before "he/she said" instead of a comma, which can get confusing for the reader. Not to mention the ever pervasive "its/it's" confusion. That one is probably small to most people, but it's one of my biggest writing pet peeves.

Anyway, the editing wouldn't be restricted to fixing spelling errors ("eery"? Building Heat), but would also have to address Sterling's tendency to put way too many sex scenes in her books. There's only so much I can take before I want to know what's going on with the actual story.

She has potential, and her stories are good. With a little work, they could be great.

[Duck · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were just too many hurdles to overcome in this one. The biphobic character started the book off on the wrong foot for me and it never recovered.

Rather than have the couple learn about each other over a bit of time, they sit down and have a conversation that outlines their life stories. Then it's INSTALOVE! Ding! Ding! Ding!



Sure they have lived next to each other and seen each other in passing but they have not spent time together before. And no I don't believe you can get to know someone because you see them in the elevator everyday.

One of the MCs has OCD issues. I don't believe OCD issues are that easily dealt with. Either they are actually as severe as they supposedly are and they remain a problem, or they were not all that severe to begin with. Love does not cure OCD. To be fair the book does not make the claim that it does. It's more that when we first meet Avery, he has serious issues (as stated in the blurb) and as the story progressed I did not feel like the story stayed completely true to that initial character.

I've read two other books by this author (Hide and Keep, Courage in Love) and I loved both of them. I'm going to write this one off as a speedbump since I have every intention of buying whatever the author writes next.

[Leaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a cute, sweet, fluffy and sexy read. I thought Avery and Mason were perfect for each other, they were very sweet together and really sexy and hot. I love a good insta-lust/love book. Sometimes I just want that certain book to take me away and this one did. It had some slight angst but more fluff than angst. I guess I'm good with these type of books because I met my husband and four months later we were married and have been married for 29 years, so things can happen fast it's not always fiction;-)

[Ivana · Rating 5 out of 5]

AVERY FOR PRESIDENT!

This books brought me the warm and fuzzies hard. It was sexy, sweet and I felt like I was there with them during their ups and downs. This author has a way of really drawing me in and I couldn't recommend her enough.

This romance started long before the 2 MC's meet for the first time and once they do, it's intense..in the best way. Avery is such a complex character but for me he was the glue in the relationship. The sexy, sweet, funny glue that kept it all together. Sigh.

This book will be a reread for when I need to remind myself why I love this genre so much. I can escape within their stories.

Highly recommended!

[Charo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow . Wonderful. 5 stars

Wow! Wonderful. 5 stars . This is a hot, steamy , sexy , tender love story. The characters as well as the storyline were well developed. I highly recommend.
Charo

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for sweet, sexy and steamy...that's exactly what I got with "Building Heat". Loved it!!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of two neighbours, who for two years have lusted after each other but neither have the nerve to approach the other and then one meeting in a lift and boom!!!!

Mason has come out of a long term relationship and has left him with some baggage. Avery is a hot-shot lawyer and top of his field, but in private he is lonely, never having had a relationship and suffers with OCD.....just don't touch his bathroom! After their first explosive kiss, they quickly become involved and it was wonderful to see Avery discover there is more to life than work! Mason struggles with the green eyed demon and it could potentially be the shoe that drops after all the "perfect' they've have so quickly settled into.

I enjoyed the flow of the story, easy and sweet with a little family drama and a bit of a blip. Lots of hawt and smexy times, warm humour and tender moments. Side characters rounded the story out nicely, loved Marla!! It ended on a contented HFN, but the epilogue finished it off with princess castles, turrets and unicorns, just wonderfully fluffy *sigh*

[Jenn C · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars...YUMMY - although yes there is quite a bit of really hot sex (no surprise there) but there was also a nice up and down storey of these two people getting along in life dealing with each other's problems. Never did the angst feel contrived or unreal, it felt as if it was just a part of every day living.

[Amanda Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read as still adore this book ❤️❤️❤️

[Sayo Juma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sizzling

Loved the characters and story line. The sex scenes.....amazing!!! I want more K.Sterling. this is my second read from this author and I am sold!

[Zuzu]

I'm not rating because I ended up skimming a lot of it. I usually love K. Sterling's books but this one just didn't do it for me.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because I can't give minus stars.


Read hide and keep instead. It's brilliant.

[Kristin Grella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!

Another great book by K. Sterling. I absolutely loved Mason and Avery and I didn't want their story to end. Loved it!!

[Rachel Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this needed an editor or two because I feel like this story could have been shortened by 50% or more, and still have the same effect. Lots of long, rambling paragraphs and I just think it was too much.

Also, heads up for a major case of insta-love (which I am all for when there is a possible explanation for it i.e. vampires/werewolves/shifters, but not when it's a real world type of story), where they basically love each other after the first kiss, and all they've done is pass each other in the elevator for 2 years.

I think this story had potential but I would have preferred to see more consistency with the problems that each character had - especially Avery with his OCD that was there and then gone and then back again.

[Secretly Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked both characters here: OCD Avery and loving Mason. They have a sexually and emotionally intense relationship that I enjoyed. However, Mason's issue came to a head too close to book's end to have the resolution I wanted. Also, this book was in desperate need of a copy editor/proofreader with lots of typos (expect instead of except for instance) and missing words. Most of these happen towards book's end so likely it was rushed into production. Still, a decent read, especially since it's "free" on KU.

[Rebecca Franklin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story fell short for me. The editing was not the best. There were spots where I had to read it twice to realize that it was supposed to be Mason we were talking about. There was also no real drama. I feel the author did a good job of explaining why things moved so fast but Avery's issues ended up not really being an issue and he didn't get any help for his problems. It was too vague on exactly what helped Mason, so that felt rushed. I give this story 2 stars and would recommend reading one of her other stories first.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sex sex and more sex!

First couple of chapters I thought is this a romance or erotica book? Well it's a lot of sex and little plot. Now it was hot, steamy, and knees hitting the floor good, however I found myself wanting more of a story and bam, the tides changed the author gave me my wish, we got a few scary moments, some wisdom thrown in, tense apologies, tears etc...Wow! A very good ending.

[Trine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow this book was badly edited. Normally i dont care about stuff like that but it kinda ruined the book for me. I am glad that i read pushing reset before this one because I dont think i would have read anything other after this. So im not giving up on this author. The story was good, the sex scenes was okay but as I said there could have been a lot more editing. Im giving it 3 stars because after all is said and done, the story was good.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say this because the previous 2 K. Sterling books I've read have been amazing. This was just okay. There was just so much sex that eventually I started skimming. I couldn't reconcile Avery's personality with that of being a top multi-million dollar lawyer in New York and Mason got on my nerves by making future plans one minute and then being paranoid the next. I don't know. I just couldn't get the story or the characters to mesh.

[Michele Notaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet story

This was a very sweet love story. I just loved the characters and I could really feel their connection and love for one another. The supporting characters were also awesome. I am quickly becoming a fan of K. Sterling. All her books are character based and the love, sex and story really draw you in. So far once I start one of her books I can't seem to put it down.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that's a love story

A love story of 2 people who have their share of 'normal people' issues (break up anxiety, OCD) meeting, getting to know one another and falling in love - with little angst - my kind of story.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I just loved this booked. A great read and I look forward to reading more form this author. Just the right amount of relationship growing pains, nothing outrages and quickly resolved.

[Tausha Lynn Rucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

This book was fantastic. The characters were well built and the issues they dealt with were real. This book made me laugh out loud and made me want to smack them a few times.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again lost in the story I found a new favorite author... Love Mason and Avery

[Candice · Rating 1 out of 5]

There really was no story and 90% of the book was sex scenes. The only reason I even finished it was I hate to dnf books.

[Lucretia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book the characters were lovable, forgiving and strong.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Writer + A Lawyer = A Merger?

I liked the characters and the plot.
I understood the need for a therapist.
The OCD came much less frequently than I expected.

Love a HEA!

[Denise Koopman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good but it was also heart breaking as well. I guess all books can not be a bed of roses. Loved this one.

[Char Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Read!

Loved Avery and Mason from the start. Great chemistry between them. They were hot together. Can't wait to read more from this author.