Slick's Reviews > The Au Pair Affair

I truly enjoyed The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey; it had the perfect amount of longing and the slow burn was necessary for this age gap, close proximity, work place romance. That said, had there not been a third act break-up especially the way it played out this book would have been 5 stars. This couple overcame some big obstacles to be together and the insensitivity of the break-up was not needed and IMHO ruined the flow of their relationship and the story. Yes, I get why Ms. Bailey wrote it in as the heroine had something to prove to herself, but I think it could have been handled better.
Burgess, a 37 year old single hockey player dad hires Tallulah, a 26 year old quirky marine biologist going to grad school to help with his 12 year old daughter whom he has custody of during the week. His ex-wife has the weekends along with her fiancé. His best friend and her best friend recently got engaged and he hires her without meeting her trusting their judgment. Tallulah has some baggage and after seeing a clip of Burgess in a brawl as he is an enforcer on his team she has second thoughts about taking the job but eventually decides to do it.
I absolutely loved the way Tallulah came in and kind of took over Burgess’s life and made it better with his daughter Lissa and with his younger teammates. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind despite being a bit afraid of him at the start and she had very insightful advice and best of all he listened to her. He might not always agree with her but he was such a smitten kitten he did listen, he took it to heart, and he implemented it and was amazed. Burgess on the other hand offered to help Tallulah overcome her fear of doing new things brought on by the trauma she endured by being by her side while she did them. He knew she needed to know she was safe and he aimed to protect her from everything and everyone.
While I wish the last third of this book had been written differently, I still enjoyed this story very much. The characters were wonderful and well developed, I loved the secondary characters as much as the main characters, and the heat between these two was sizzling off the page even before they finally got together.
The Au Pair Affair was a wonderful romance from Tessa Bailey and I highly recommend it.