Title: Negotiating Love (Sin City Uniforms: Book Five)
Author: Morticia Knight
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 198 Pages
At a Glance: A power play dynamic between two powerful men – it’s a scorcher!
Reviewed By: Carrie
Blurb: Can the kinky billionaire owner of the Dark Fantasy resort casino capture the heart of a muscled SWAT officer with a secret fetish?
SWAT Team Hostage Negotiator Steve wonders why he can’t stay away from the spoiled, rich Allistair, owner of Dark Fantasy Resort Casino. They have mutual kinks—ones Steve can’t find with other lovers—but there’s something else about the emotionally detached, beautiful man that calls to him.
Billionaire Allistair stays alone in his luxury penthouse apartment at the top of Dark Fantasy, terrified of the real world and of opening himself up to genuine emotions. He takes lover after lover, all of them allowing him to do whatever he wants to their bodies, in the hopes that they can scam something from him.
One night is all he ever shares with a plaything—he knows they only want the money and luxury he can offer them and nothing more. But the down to earth Steve is different. They share the same kinks and are explosive when together. But could the muscled law officer ever want more than the lust-filled encounters that have become such an addiction?
As they grow closer, they discover they also have to find a balance between Steve’s everyday world and Allistair’s entitled world before they can truly find an ever after. They also have to make sure Allistair stays safe. Filthy rich playboys are too tempting to those who seek the ultimate payday—and who aren’t afraid of hurting someone to get it.
Review: Steve is a hardnosed SWAT negotiator whose job is killing him from the inside out. He’s heavy into BDSM, the release he gets from being a submissive the only thing that keeps him going some days when the hostage situations go bad.
Allistair lives in his penthouse – a jail of his own making – his wealth and own insecurities keeping him prisoner. He craves a real connection with a partner, and Steve is the only sub he has ever done a scene with more than once. He knows they could connect outside the playroom, if only he could muster the confidence to approach Steve as a man instead of just a Dom.
I enjoyed this book, didn’t love it but enjoyed it. Steve and Allistair together are a very kinky couple, and the sex is hot. I just needed more characterization to go around the scenes. I enjoy Morticia Knight’s writing and usually she hits it spot-on with her characters, but this one just felt a little one dimensional to me. It’s a great and easy read. The little nuggets we get to see of these men – like Allistair lacing a corset around Steve for the first time – were beautifully written, and it’s these glimpses that keep you reading to the HEA. Though I think the storyline of the relationship between Allistair and his brother (our antagonist in the story) would have been a little more believable if it were fleshed out more.
Negotiating Love follows Held Hostage, and is the fourth book in the Sin City Uniforms series. The books do overlap somewhat, but you do not need to read them in any kind of order, as each story is individual. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting an interesting power dynamic between two men who really can’t get enough of each other.
You can buy Negotiating Love here:
