Scout Porter is screwed. Not literally, of course. Literally, she’s a twenty-six-year-old virgin, thanks to a relationship so disastrous she swore off love and sex for good. Metaphorically, she’s screwed because the entire office of BuzzCorp, the sex toy start-up where she’s head engineer, just found out. Scout needs her team to stay focused on their upcoming launch, not her lack of a sex life, so she finds the simplest solution: lose her V-card—and fast—then get back to business as usual.
Enter Hudson Bailey, the nerdy and charming software developer hired to build the app for Scout’s latest creation. The only problem is, he’s as inexperienced with sex toys as she is with sex. Fortunately, he’s all too eager to learn, and they agree that one very educational, totally professional hook-up will solve both of their problems. All for research, obviously.
But their little experiment yields unexpected results—chemistry so off the charts Scout starts to think she might actually want more than just a one-time fling. When their budding relationship is threatened by the return of Scout’s notorious ex, both Scout and Hudson will have to decide if they’ve reached their climax as a couple, or if they’re willing to risk everything for a chance at true love.
Release Date: Feb 17, 2026
Heat Level: Erotic
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
This book reminded me of the erotic contemporary romances that I loved in the mid-2010s. So good.
We have some excellent tropes, too. A virgin MC, a female main character to be precise, but she’s not untutored or ignorant of sex or what makes her happy. She’s Scout Porter, sex toy engineer, ex-rocket scientist, and determined to never let personal relationships mix with her professional life ever again. She’s a genius who has always put her education and expanding knowledge at the forefront, since childhood, and graduating from school early exposed her to a world of people who wanted to take advantage of her.
She’s learned a lot since then. Even figured out what makes her tick. So why does the contracted freelancer, Hudson, with his people-pleasing, happy-go-lucky attitude and his sunshine smile keep intruding on her private pleasure time? Even more concerning, Hudson wants her help in understanding sex toys. He’s got no experience with them, and since he’s designing software for their latest release, he needs to learn from someone. Why not her?
Why not? A million reasons why this is a bad idea, but that’s never stopped us in Romancelandia before, and it doesn’t now. Scout, after valiantly attempting to convince herself of the million reasons not to tangle herself up in Hudson’s education, finally agrees, if he’ll help her with her pesky virgin problem. What ensues is a slow romance burn filled with epic sexual shenanigans.
This book is HOT. Like callbacks to my Anne Calhoun. For current contemporary romance readers, if you enjoy the Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy books, this might be your vibe as well. With some light kink involved, there was no way I could put this one down. The story has plenty of character development mixed in with the spice, and I was pleasantly satisfied with the ending.
Overall, if you would like something that ups the spice without sacrificing a good story, I recommend this one. Eager to see if this is a standalone or if there are more books with other characters from this world in the future.
~ Landra
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