After devouring Master of the Mountain, I was eager to read the sequel and find out more about Logan’s charismatic brother, Jake. His avoidance of commitment is legendary in the small town of Bear Flat and he’s dated most of the available women, using his infamous “One night only” rule. He’s never really noticed tomboy Kallie before, until she comes to his attention in a bar fight.
Kallie stood in front, one scruffy sprite, boots planted, guarding the territory. Looked rather like Toto trying to defend Dorothy from all comers.
Kallie and her cousins are going into business with Jake & Logan, running hiking trails for tourists that stay at Jake’s Serenity Lodge. However, these tourists often have a different ‘lifestyle’ (yeah, you can guess what kind) and Kallie finds herself invited there, to get an appreciation of what to expect from them.
She realized she was wringing her hands and shoved them in the front pockets of her jeans. There. Look casual. She swallowed hard. Hey, I see people manacled to log walls all the time. You bet. It’s a popular sport in Bear Flat. Gonna replace fishing soon.
My initial enthusiasm waned a little when Jake and Kallie launched almost immediately into D/S play. He’s an experienced Dom, and he usually selects his subs from clubs far away from Bear Flat, but he’s tempted by Kallie and keen to initiate her into his lifestyle.
His sky blue eyes darkened as if storm clouds had rolled in. “We’re playing together only this one time. Only tonight.”
It helps that she’s lusted after him for months, even though she’s nothing like his usual blonde bimbo choice of partner.
A weight lifted from her shoulders, knowing that he’d seen all of her and had liked what he saw. There could be no compliment more potent than that huge erection in his jeans. All for her.
Kallie makes a great female lead. Tough and strong, she’s spent her formative years with three male cousins and has suppressed any feminine traits. Jake is surprised – and delighted by her.
Damn, she was sweet. Tough little Kallie. According to her family and friends, she’d been the terror of the high school, trying to outmacho her big cousins and every other male also. But here? She was all woman.
Coping with Jake’s one-night-rule is not so easy for Kallie when she runs into him the morning after.
Jake saw her. His gait hitched, and the laughter faded from his face. He said, “Morning, Kallie,” his voice as polite as if she were… a tourist. As if he’d never kissed her or been inside her or sucked on her breasts. Obviously he’d meant that “one night only.” The bastard.
I would have liked a little more getting-to-know-each other before they launched into play, but thankfully it didn’t take long before their characters started to develop – and Jake breaks his rule and asks her for another night of play.
I want him. But could she take the inevitable end? Her feelings had already taken a blow from only one night. How many could she survive before she fell? “I need to think about it.”
Kallie and Jake each have a multitude of unresolved issues and I loved the way Cherise Sinclair uncovered them, a little at a time.
He’d work on this insecurity of hers more in the future – no, he wouldn’t. No ties. What the hell was he thinking?
By the time Kallie drops her ILY bomb, I was glued to the pages.
She rose on one elbow, trying to see his face in the darkness. Her voice came out strained. “Guess that wasn’t what you wanted to hear.”
He cleared his throat. “No. That’s unexpected.” Everything in him wished to reassure her and ease the strain he heard in her voice. At the same time, he wanted – needed – to grab his pack and head down the mountain. To get away.
My earlier doubts about this story were swept away. I felt for Kallie and longed for her to find happiness with Jake.
Jake had gone out of town, huh? He didn’t think it was adequate to dump her, but he had to flee the territory too, like she’d turn into some deranged stalker. Like she couldn’t take a hint – well, hardly a hint, more like Get Lost, Kallie.
There’s more to this than just Kallie and Jake being unsure about each other. Her three over-protective cousins are determined to keep them apart – and they discover there’s a serial killer in town, murdering young dark-haired women. Girls like Kallie. And she might be the next victim.
This developed into another 5-star read from Cherise Sinclair, one of the best and hottest erotic writers I’ve found.
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