Sandy M’s review of Wicked Pleasure (Bound Hearts, Book 9) by Lora Leigh
Contemporary Erotic Romance released by St. Martin’s Griffin 13 May 08

I always have the time of my life when I’m reading a Lora Leigh book.  I keep saying I love alpha heroes and heroes can’t get any more alpha than the way Ms. Leigh writes them.  And the hero of this book, Cameron Falladay, is also as tortured as they come, trying to keep his secrets from those he loves so they won’t be hurt too or won’t look at him differently, love him differently, and then leave him to founder around on his own, lost to them and to himself.  As a bonus, I got two tortured men in this book, Cam has a twin brother.  Need I say I couldn’t put this book down until every last word was read?  You betcha.  I’m a Lora Leigh fangirl to the core.

Cam and his brother Chase have known Jaci since childhood.  Cole always protected her from the bullies around their small hometown, the men who wouldn’t leave the pretty little girl alone.  Even when she was a child, she loved Cam and that love grew just as Jaci did.  But the pivotal moment between them was when she was 13 and she finds Cam parked in the north forty of her father’s ranch downing whiskey to drown the pain she knows he’s feeling.  She begs him to wait for her, and it’s not until so many years later that they both realize how important that moment is.

Even though Cam goes into the Special Forces and is gone a lot, he still watches out for her when he’s home and Chase picks up the duty in between time.  It’s when Jaci is finally old enough that Cam gives in to his need and his desire, takes her home with him, but things aren’t to be when she finds out the rumors are true.  Cam and his brother share their women.  That’s not something she bargained for, and having her walk out leaving him in sexual torment is not what Cam bargained for.   Jaci is the only woman for him, so he waits.

Jaci also waits.  It’s seven years before they meet up again and now the woman in Jaci is ready for the sensual delights she left behind before.  She’s still hesitant about Chase being involved, but although her heart belongs to Cam, her body still hums with pleasure when both men love her for all they’re worth.  In between all this, Jaci is still trying to rebuild her reputation after a run-in with a government official and his wife.  The whole sordid affair took Jaci by surprise and all she wants is peace after five years of lies and defamation.

Cam has his secrets as well and no matter how she tries, she can’t get him to open up, viewing his secret different than her own when he accuses of her holding out on him.  And Jaci is right. Cam’s secrets have ruled his life, how he lives, how he reacts to people, even his brother.  It’s also the reason he can’t make love to her without sharing her with Chase.  His control is tenuous at best and he needs the buffer.  He realizes he needs to make changes to keep Jaci by his side — he’s not about to let her go again after finding her after so many years —  but his scars run too deep for the kind of changes Jaci needs.

Of course, besides all the alphaness on the pages in this book is the sex.  Mylordgoodnessgraciousohmyheavens!  I realize a lot of the loves scenes may be over the top for some folks, but I get lost in them.  They’re sexy, sensual, lusty, dominant, and possessive and if it weren’t for the story in between, I’d be skipping ahead just to get to the next one.  Cam is one of Ms. Leigh’s best heroes in the loving/control/possessive department.  Chase is not far behind.

And that brings me to the one disappointment I had in the book, but I’m hoping it might be taken care of in the next book, Only Pleasure, which I hope is Chase’s story.  A check of her website doesn’t give any info on the book right now, so I’m left with a lot of hoping.  But when Chase finally discovers Cam’s secret of what happened when they were teenagers, he, of course, blames himself because he didn’t protect his baby brother and his anger ignites big time because Cam didn’t trust him enough to share his agony with him, and they come to blows.  Which I realize is what men to do.  But after that I wanted a little more.  These men are brothers, and although the words are never said between them, you know they love each other, they’re the only family they have left.  I felt more emotion should have happened between them, especially after everything they’d been through and everything the reader had been through with them.  So with Chase we’re sort of left hanging and that’s why I’m hopeful Only Pleasure will feature him and his story next.

But that isn’t nearly enough to stifle the pleasure I got from this book.  I wish that I’ve read more in this series, only one other so far, “Surrender” in the Ties That Bind anthology with Jaid Black, the first book in the series, which was just an okay story for me.  I reviewed it here a few months ago.  There’s been just a few years between the books and it shows how Ms. Leigh has grown as a storyteller.  She’s become one of my all-time favorites and I anxiously anticipate every book of hers that comes along.

Grade: A

Summary:

Jaci Wright has been running from the Falladay twins, Chase and Cam, for seven years now. Fears of the desires they arouse in her, and the knowledge of the relationship they wanted with her, spurred her to run, to find a life that kept her traveling the globe and out of their reach.

But now life has come full circle. A new job has placed Jaci in the Sinclair mansion with Chase and Cam. And they’re tired of waiting. It’s hard enough to face accepting a relationship with two men rather than just one, but gossip and the tattered tales of juicy secrets fill the society she now moves within. Can Jaci face the world knowing she’s a lover to both men, or will her hesitancy and her fears destroy her chance of happiness forever?

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series: