Hot, sexy, men clad in leather...floggers, pain sluts, submission...what more can you ask for? Okay then, more. A Dom who is understated, but sizzles... interesting relationships that build.

A fairly short, but lovely story about how a Dom who is looking to find a new sub connects with a sub, who never realised he had everything he dreamt of right under his nose the whole time. Would love to read more about Chase and Derek to be honest. ( )

Finding Mr. Right, or in a submissive's world "Master" Right, can be a task and a half. Like with any couple intending to form a long-lasting relationship, the match has to be right in and out of bed. But the extra dimension of trust is more vital for a D/s couple and can be a challenge to achieve. You can start with physical attraction and work your way up (like Chase and his ex-lover did), or you can experiment and hope you run into him one day (Derek's strategy). At the beginning of this book, both these strategies have failed, and Chase and Derek are in a lot of trouble. They are great friends, and the solution is staring them in the face, but they haven't got a clue.

Chase is a Dom, and he wants nothing more than for his best friend Derek to submit to him. Initially, he sees this more as a playful opportunity, and will not admit to himself there is a lot more depth to his feelings. He is still trying to deal with his ex-lover and collared sub breaking up with him, except his "dealing" strategy is to ignore the issue and tell himself he has moved on. Not a chance. When he runs into the guy at the leather convention he is livid, and Derek knows he'll have to find true closure before he's ready for the next relationship, but Chase is clueless. Once he finally gets it, it's still hard, but at least now there is hope!

Derek is a sub, and a masochist, and will play with anyone who is interesting or has something new to offer. The leather convention is a dream of his, and he has great plans. The fact that Chase and he slept together is an issue, since he asked for them to stay vanilla, and ever since then there's an odd awkwardness between them. Derek refuses to be "the rebound guy" and has no idea how much he has hurt Chase by submitting to strangers but not to him. It takes Derek quite a while to work things out, and he does it by playing with quite a few men at the convention. This makes for a very hot story, but the mental process taking place in his brain, and the halting conversations he has with Chase are fascinating.

The transition from admitting he is physically attracted to Derek to realizing he loves him, is hard for Chase. On the other side, the trust Derek needs to have in knowing that he can submit to Chase and not get his heart broken is considerable. The fact they are great friends and neither wants to risk that by doing something they might regret, complicates things. The process Chase and Derek go through to solve this conundrum is somewhat circuitous, but very hot.

If you like complicated D/s relationships where both partners need to figure out not just their place in the relationship, but how committed they want to be, if you enjoy reading about a range of toys and play scenes set at a leather convention, and if you're looking for a read that offers as much heat as food for thought, then you will probably like this novella. I have to say, I enjoyed it a lot!



NOTE: This book was provided by Riptide Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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