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Delighted Reader

A BookLikes companion site for DelightedReader.com where a dream is just a page away. Romance sub-genre's covered: Paranormal, Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Sci-Fi, and more.

The Men with the Golden Cuffs - Lexi Blake I was introduced to Lexi Blake when Shayla Black and Lexi Blake worked on a book series about virgin’s and the men who love them. Interesting concept. I had read Shayla Black’s books a few times but had never heard of Lexi Blake before. Her first book in the series, The Dom Who Loved Me, left me a little upset with the hero of the book. I felt at one point he used the heroine and the heroine just let him do it. Some unforgivable things were said in my mind, but in the this book, Sean and Grace are married and having a baby soon, so I guess it all worked out.

Moving on to the second book, we see Jacob (Jake) and Adam again. In the first book they went undercover as a gay couple. Actually they aren’t gay at all. They are the two halves of a whole man in their words. They love each other but aren’t in love. In fact, they are looking for the one woman who will complete them. One woman who they can love, dominate and share.

Adam is a little metro sexual. He is organized, loves clothes, wears a suit most times and generally takes care of the people he loves. His family has disinherited him thinking he is gay after he is discharged from the Army. He never seemed to be good enough for them.

Jake doesn’t think much of himself other than the muscle of the couple. He protects, but thinks no one really loves him. While he has a family, they never settled in one place. Jake and Adam meet at basic training and have inseparable since. When the two men are caught in an affair with a woman they thought they loved, they are discharged even though they are commandos in the Army.

A band of men and one woman come together to form company called McKay-Taggert. They take on cases that no one else will. Ian Taggert brings on his brother Sean (who has now left after the first book) and Sean’s two men, Adam and Jake. Adam is the computer hacker while Jake is more the physical guy. All of the men working for McKay-Taggert are Doms. Ian also owns a BDSM club that most are certified to be a Dom at. Adam, while an alpha, doesn’t want to spend three weeks of his life in Ian’s program to be certified to Dom at the club.

When Serena Brooks comes in looking for help with a stalker, Adam is instantly attracted to her, but Jake is more cautious. Having been burned, Jake doesn’t want to get involved, especially with a client. But Adam works quietly on both of them to realized they have something here. To top it off, Serena is an erotic romance author of ménage and BDSM books under a pen name, Amber Rose.

As the stalker starts upping his game, the three start tangling in the throws of lust when the guys do something I found utterly unforgivable. I can’t say what without spoiling the story, just I don’t know if I could have forgiven them. Serena is ultimately hurt so bad by this. And I felt the two men knew this and played upon what they knew about her to ease what they felt was betrayal.

There are some interesting side characters, Bridget and Chris. Bridget and Chris are also erotic romance authors who back up Serena so absolutely, I wish I had friends like them. Chris is male, gay and a sub even though they don’t go too deep into that. He is Serena’s gay husband as they explain in the book. Bridget is a loud mouth, tell you like it is. They had hearts of gold and stood my Serena through everything.

I had two favorite quotes in the book that had me laughing as I can imagine saying the same things about some of my favorite authors.

"She wanted to watch a fire play scene. She’d read a book by Cherise Sinclair with a fire play scene, and it had sparked her imagination."

I too adore Cherise Sinclair and the fire play scene was awesome.

Then there is this one:

"Leah, who was called Officer Nelson from her badge, gave Serena a smile. “Of course. Right this way.” As they walked off, she leaned over, and Jacob could barely hear her words. “I heard you’re a writer. That’s so cool. Hey, do you happen to know Melissa Schroeder? I love her books. What do you write?”"

Melissa Schroeder! Yes, this author knows my favorite authors and worked them in to the story.

Then there is the part that made me a little sad. See Serena writes about love, romance and the thing she fantasizes about: having two men love her with one being the total Dom. Fantasies don’t have to be reality, but they can be as well. So I loved this quote from the book.

"Her fantasies were harmless. Why was she being punished for them? Why would any woman be punished for them?"

If there hadn’t been the big betrayal in the story, it would have been a fabulous story. Unfortunately, that part really made me mad. The sexy scenes were awesome. The action was done beautifully. I felt the emotions of each character come rolling through the story as they all hurt, felt lust and then love for each other. A good addition to the Masters and Mercenaries series.