Going Public

Lin’s plotty second Jade Harbour Capital romance (after Hard Sell) skillfully mixes business with pleasure. Elvin Goh, personal assistant to private equity company Jade Harbour’s operating partner, Ray Chao, can anticipate Ray’s needs before Ray even knows what they are. Elvin, who is demisexual—he needs an emotional connection to feel sexual desire—harbors a crush on Ray, but his working-class background makes him an outsider to his boss’s luxurious lifestyle and only adds to their power imbalance. When the men take a business trip to pay an unannounced visit to investigate a paper mill Jade Harbour may take public, they end up sharing a room—and a bed—and the line between personal and professional blurs. The business intrigue gets as much play as the simmering romantic tension, and a surprise audit at the paper mill reveals drug trafficking and connections to the Greek mob. Now Ray’s firm ethical beliefs may put both Jade Harbor and his relationship with Elvin at risk. The characters are well developed, with Elvin’s close-knit family contrasting Ray’s estrangement from his own, and the story takes some fascinating twists. Readers will find it easy to care about these endearing lovers. (Apr.)