Publisher: Avon (April 25th, 2017)
Series: Games People Play, 2
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Security expert Matthias Clarke hunts down people who don’t want to be found. His latest prey: the sole survivor of a massacre that killed his brother years ago. Kayla Roy claimed she was a victim of the carnage. Then she disappeared. Matthias thinks Kayla may have actually been the killer—and he wants justice.
Kayla Roy never stays in one place too long and never lets a man get too close. But keeping Matthias at arm’s length may be impossible. Dark and enigmatic, Matthias draws Kayla in from the start. She knows nothing about his connection to her dark past, or his thirst for vengeance. She only knows their attraction feels overpowering—and very dangerous.
Matthias’s suspicions about the sensual Kayla clash with his instinct to protect her, especially when he realizes her life is in danger. But Kayla’s not looking for a savior—especially one who seems hell-bent on tempting her down a lethal path.
Kayla Roy never stays in one place too long and never lets a man get too close. But keeping Matthias at arm’s length may be impossible. Dark and enigmatic, Matthias draws Kayla in from the start. She knows nothing about his connection to her dark past, or his thirst for vengeance. She only knows their attraction feels overpowering—and very dangerous.
Matthias’s suspicions about the sensual Kayla clash with his instinct to protect her, especially when he realizes her life is in danger. But Kayla’s not looking for a savior—especially one who seems hell-bent on tempting her down a lethal path.
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More Info:
Reviews of Dimon's Previous Books:
Everything You Need to Know
Mercy (#1)
Chain of Command (#1)
Stranded
My Review:
Years ago, Kayla was the sole survivor of a triple murder, and ever since she’s been on the run, trying to start over, trying to escape the past – and the questions. After all, how could she have been in the house at the time and not heard anything? How come this unknown killer so viciously slaughtered her three roommates (Two men on the lacrosse team at that, the other a woman) and then left her alone to find the carnage? It just doesn’t add up, and so many put her on the top of the suspect list, even though there was never any proof to bring charges against her. Charges or not, the looks and the whispers and the questions remained. And just when she thinks she’s managed to start her life over again and get away from it all, someone finds her again and the questions start anew.
Matthias owns a security firm, and he’s done quite a lot over the years. But when his mother, who abandoned him as a baby and never looked back, suddenly reappears in his life demanding that he look for a woman, things get complicated quickly. He finds out from her that one of the men killed all those years ago was his half-brother. She is convinced that Kayla was the murderer and is determined to have revenge on her dead son. Matthias, not caring one bit about his mother, agrees to the unofficial job because he feels the need to bring justice to a brother he never knew. The moment he finds Kayla, he knows that she couldn’t have murdered the three co-eds – but clearly she knows something, and he has to get her to confide in him. But the lines start to blur from the very beginning, as his attraction to her battles his job to break open her past once again and learn all her secrets. Kayla doesn’t know about his ties to this mystery, about his brother, and Matthias knows that not telling her, especially when things start to heat up between them, is going to come back and bite him in the ass. But there’s a stalker coming after her, trying to silence her once and for all, and he must focus on keeping her safe while solving this murder-mystery. Dealing with the fallout from lying to her will have to wait until the smoke clears. Will she forgive him for his unintentional hand in the newest twist?
The Enforcer is a great romantic suspense, and the mystery definitely kept me guessing, until that moment when it all starts to fall into place. Even so, things weren’t over yet, and there was still another twist and more heart-pounding action before all the issues could finally be settled and left in the past where it belongs, where it can’t hurt anyone else.
Instead, he pointed a finger at Garrett and turned to Wren. “Tell me why you keep him around.”
That seemed to wake Wren up. “You’ve tried to steal him away not once but twice to be your right-hand man at Quint, so you know very well why Garrett is here.”
Matthias’s gaze switched to Garrett. “You told him about that?”
“I use your offer as blackmail to get my way in this office all the time,” Garrett said. “Which reminds me, I’m thinking another raise is in order.”
Wren never broke eye contact with Matthias. “Let’s stay on topic.
I also loved the dry humor, sarcasm, and fun scenes here. The interaction between Matthias and his friends – especially Garrett, the smart ass – kept me smiling and turning the pages, giving a good balance to the suspense/mystery going on.
“You’re not great at dealing with humans, are you?”
Not especially.” Matthias didn’t see that as a particularly helpful skill anyway. Strategy and fighting would be much easier to implement without the human factor, but he tended not to mention that because it freaked people out.
Matthias is a fun hero. He's not a people-person, at all, and he's a bit awkward, in an alpha-take-charge way.
I’m still angry with you.” She was but it decreased the more she sat there with him.
“Then I’ll wait until later to ask.”
She did love his tenacity . . . and his timing. “You think I’m just going to cool down and forget why you’re really in town?”
“I get the sense you remember everything.” And he didn’t sound too happy about that.
“Very true.”
“Then I’ll just hope you remember how good that kiss was.” She almost lifted her hand to touch a finger to her lips. Tightening her muscles, she stopped herself just in time.
“Don’t you think a lot of yourself?”
“I was actually giving you all the credit.”
Charmer. “You’re trouble.”
“Probably true.”
And she was just about out of self-control. “Eat your pie.”
And the delicious tension between Kayla and Matthias was fantastically done, adding another layer of enjoyment to this book. The romance is good, the sex as well, though a bit on the mild side, heat level wise – not fade to black, but not explicit or overly long, either --- still, I can’t complain. Kayla and Matthias match up so well, sparring and sparking throughout the entire book.
“How dangerous are you?” She used her free hand to touch the back of his. Feeling the strength that contrasted so sharply with their current position.
“To you?” He hummed and it vibrated through her. “I’m not.”
“To other people?” She knew the answer, but for some reason she wanted to hear it. To see if he’d tell the truth.
“Very.”
“That’s oddly comforting.”
I haven’t read book 1, but I’ll definitely be going back to fix that (ha – pun intended, as it’s called “The Fixer”). I’m also looking forward to the rest of this series, and meeting the other 3 men in this group of old friends who shared a mentor years ago. This was my first time reading Dimon’s M/F titles (I’ve read 2 of her M/M and liked them) but now that I know what I’ve been missing out on, I’m sticking around for more.
4 STARS!
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I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss.
*Note: The quotes used belong to HelenKay Dimon; TBQ's Book Palace does not claim them. Any mistakes or typos in the quotes are my own fault.
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If you want to read more quotes that I highlighted, check out my Twitter!
By the way, book 1 is currently $1.99, if you're interested in starting from the beginning! And yes, I totally one-clicked myself. 😀
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!
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