5 Smooches!
Synopsis
Bennett had the world in the palm of his hands when he was sixteen, then he allowed his dick to do the thinking for him.
That one night changed his life, giving him a child that would forever alter the course of his life, and an ex that was a crazy nut case on the best of days.
With the help of his parents, he went into the Navy, becoming the SEAL that he always wanted to be. However, with that came a price.
A price he wasn’t willing to pay anymore once his little girl started to realize why he wasn’t there. So he came home and joined the local SWAT team, starting his life anew, just his daughter and him.
Then he meets the cute little physician’s assistant that looks down at him like one would an annoying fly, and he finally realizes just what he’s been missing.
Something that takes his mind off of the challenge of everyday life. Someone that dares him to be a better father and police officer.
And Lennox is one hell of a motivator.
Their relationship starts off rocky as the two of them circle each other like opponents ready to do combat rather than two civil adults. Every day brings a new battle for the two of them to overcome, and before they realize it, they’ll be fighting for each other instead of against each other.
Because there’s one woman who doesn’t want either one of them to be happy…especially not together.
Review
This book is the sixth in Lani Lynn Vale’s best-selling Code 11-KPD SWAT series, and it focuses on Bennett Alvarez, SWAT Team member, police officer, resident at the Free compound (from the Freebirds series) and single dad to daughter, Reagan Rose. Lennox Jane, the heroine, is a physician’s assistant, daughter of two renowned doctors and the repeated victim of a long-time stalker.
“I’m not some little girl that needs his directions. I’m a grown woman who has opinions and makes her own decisions.”
Lennox, a physician’s assistant, is fiercely independent. Strictly a friends with benefits kind of girl, she does not do relationships, and she most certainly does not do them with controlling, domineering men. Within minutes of meeting him – while he’s in the ER for some stitches – Lennox determines controlling is probably Bennett’s middle name seeing as it’s his most prominent personality trait. Oh, she readily admits that he is undeniably hot, but she’s not going there. She’s BTDT with the controlling boyfriends, she’s got the t-shirt and is using it as a dust rag. What she’s not doing is going down that road again.
“I loved the little girl to death, even when she was being a turd…”
Bennett is definitely attracted to Lennox. He’s intrigued, there’s something different about this woman, but he doesn’t quite understand it. He immediately dismisses it, though, deeming her to be too high maintenance. He’s got enough to deal with in the demanding female department with his handful of a daughter, eight-year-old Reagan, whom this single dad has full custody of and is raising alone.
“I fucking love you…”
The more they see each other, though, the harder it becomes to ignore the pull between them. Unable to deny this crackling attraction any longer, Nox and Bennett give in, thus beginning a sizzling friends-with-benefits relationship. The more time they spend together, the better they get to know each other and the deeper each one falls, until neither can pretend that there isn’t something much deeper than FWB going on here.
Unbeknownst to them, they share a common bond in an evil enemy. Corinne. To Bennett, she is his high school ex-girlfriend, his first love and the mother of Reagan who has no role in his daughter’s life at all. To Lennox, she is a former college classmate. A mentally unstable, former classmate who has held a grudge against her for years, one that started in college with constant harassment and vicious physical attacks. A crazy person that has been stalking her and wreaking all kinds of havoc in Lennox’s life for years in an insane reign of terror designed to exact her twisted retribution upon Lennox.
“No sane person would think that something like this would work.”
It is no secret by now to followers of Red Cheeks Reads that I am a die-hard Lani Lynn Vale fan. I make no apologies for this or for my love of this author’s work. It always but always brings me pleasure to read one of her books, and they never, ever disappoint me. Lani’s sense of humor, the type of alpha heroes she writes and as well as the smart, sarcastic and witty woman she creates all add up to a surefire hit for me. What can I say? She always checks off all my boxes!
The mark of any author is the way they personalize their books, leaving little marks of themselves that make their work unique and special. Ms. Vale has done this with incredible success, and I have no doubt that those hysterical little quotes that kick off each chapter of every single one of Lani Lynn Vale’s 19 books have a cult following. For me, they are as eagerly anticipated as the story itself, and they are absolutely one of the best parts of any of her books. Pure awesomeness, uniquely Vale and, without question, her signature. I often find myself thinking of her whenever I see a funny t-shirt, bumper sticker, coffee mug or eCard.
