New Release: The Dom Who Came in from the Cold by Lexi Blake + Review & Excerpt!

 

Time and space had done nothing to change his feelings for MaeBe.

The Dom Who Came In From The Cold by Lexi Blake is now live!

Kyle Hawthorne will do anything to protect MaeBe in this exciting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake. USA Today bestselling author Lexi Blake.

Kyle Hawthorne once believed his future would be a job in the private sector—a simple, normal life. Fate had other plans and he wound up in the military. Some newly discovered talents caught the eye of the CIA, and in no time he was working with a covert team. He found himself in a relationship with fellow operative, Julia—until she turned out to be the enemy. When her betrayal was uncovered, things got bloody and Kyle returned home broken, searching for a chance to walk the road not taken.

MaeBe Vaughan has never been interested in normal. Her happy place is a dark corner of the Internet, where she disrupts all the bad guys. She has a great circle of friends and a full life. She doesn’t need a man. Until Kyle Hawthorne walked into her life. He’s all wrong for her. Surly. Damaged. His uncle is her boss. But she couldn’t help getting close to him. When his past threatened her safety, Kyle walked out without saying good-bye.

Kyle will do anything to keep MaeBe safe. He faked his death, hid in the middle of nowhere, and watched over her from afar. But when Julia resurfaces, he knows that to protect MaeBe, he’ll have to get close. So close that if they manage to survive, he will never let her go.

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Audible: Coming Soon

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Review:

4 stars

****

 This was a really good book. The Dom Who Came in from the Cold is the long awaited book for Kyle and Maebe, and book five in the Masters & Mercenaries: Reloaded series. After seeing the couple's relationship unfold behind the scenes in the previous books in the series, I was eager to see them resolve all of their issues. Maebe and Kyle's relationship was a slow burn, friends to brief- lovers one up until this point. Kyle had to recover mentally from having to kill his ex-fiancé, Julia, when she turned out to be a secret double agent and part of the Consortium. He slowly gets over that and falls for Maebe, who patiently has waited for him to be ready to begin a relationship with her. When it seems like it is finally their time to get together for good, Julia pops back up, surprisingly having faked her death, to threaten their happiness and their lives. In order to protect Maebe from his psycho ex, Kyle fakes his death. This is where this book begins. After the previous books, Kyle is away in hiding after faking his death, which is known by his family, but is not openly spoken about, especially with Maebe. She knew in her heart that he wasn't dead. But the fact that he left her, which she has parental abandonment issues from her past already, and did it because of Julia, has left her heartbroken, insecure, bitter and revengeful. Not knowing if Kyle would ever return, Maebe has trained to be as physically powerful as her computer skills are, knowing that she would seek revenge on Julia when she got the chance. Now Kyle is back and he wants to make things up to Maebe, even though Julia is still a threat. But neither of them are the same people they were before. Kyle has to learn to trust that Maebe is not some helpless damsel that he can hide away until Julia is dealt with. Maebe has a lot of forgiving to do for Kyle's treatment of her. And Julia is back, threatening their happiness and safety, as well as the safety of their families and friends. Together, Kyle and Maebe weather the storm together, coming out stronger and in love with a future that makes it all worth it.

I really enjoyed Kyle and Maebe's story. I was so eager to see how their present unfolded, that I didn't find the flashback scenes necessary. Still, I loved them together. Quirky, sweet Maebe was such a great heroine, with the perfect amount of toughness to her. I was glad she didn't push Kyle away for too long . He was humble, willing to admit his mistakes and willing to take anything he could get from her, just wanting her forgiveness and for her to be happy. I was very happy that they worked everything out and put the past behind him. This book has the series' trademark adventure, suspense, romance and heat, which makes it one of my favorites.

Overall, I was happy for Kyle and Maebe's problems to be resolved and for them to finally get the HEA they deserve. I don't know if this is last book in the series, because I know there is a time jump coming and we will get the next generation's books. If so, I am sad to see this series end as I very much enjoyed it. But I am also so excited for the future books set in the McKay-Taggart world and I can't wait to see what Ms. Blake comes up with next!

Excerpt

“Do you think he’s going to kill you? I know the man seems scary but he’s not. The key with Big Tag is to give as good as you get. Like fight his sarcasm with sarcasm. When he asks how my broom ride in was, I smile and ask him if he rode in on the back of a brontosaurus from his age. I know that sounds harsh, but it made him laugh, and now we’re cool. I spent the first couple of weeks terrified by him, thinking he was this big bully, but he’s actually the sweetest guy.” The words had been said with a slightly husky feminine tone, and when he turned, sure enough there was a woman. A young woman who looked like she’d walked off the pages of a goth comic book. She was petite, a good foot shorter than him, with two purple pig tails, and she liked black. She had on a black miniskirt with sparkly suspenders over a black button-up. Dark green leggings and combat boots completed the look. She was absolutely nothing like the two types of women he’d been surrounded by the last decade of his life. Military women who kept things neat and clean and practical, or the sophisticated crowd he’d run in when he’d been a spy. Women who were polished and thought out every single word they said and action made. The first he would have nodded and made some simple conversation with. The second he would spend some time figuring out to ensure they weren’t here to spy on him. He had absolutely no idea what to do with the woman in front of him. “Uh, I don’t think he’s going to kill me.” She was weirdly fascinating. And just plain weird. She had a messenger bag over her shoulder, and the wide strap was decorated with a bunch of buttons, one which proclaimed her the Mistress of Code. She seemed to like code and the color green since she had a big button with the words I Always Play Green and some weird figure on it. “Confident. I like it. Are you a client or a new hire?” She gasped as she seemed to think of something. “Or a new vendor? Because if you are trying to sell the big guy anything that’s not a lemon tart, he might kill you. We should rethink this.” It was her smile that did it. A small uptick of lips that let him know she was fucking with him and probably fucked with every guy in her life. Not in a “I’m looking to screw you over, take your secrets, and then probably murder you on the way out the door” way he’d gotten used to. In the “I don’t take life too seriously” way. Like the women he’d been friends with in college. The ones he’d been comfortable with in another lifetime. In the life he’d had before he’d so brutally destroyed everything around him. He should walk away from this woman. He was toxic, and his world for so long had been blood and secrets and death. She wouldn’t even know how to walk in his world. She also wasn’t his type. The last thing he needed was even a casual flirtation. “I’m the new guy.” He held out a hand. “Name’s Kyle Hawthorne. I’m starting in the bodyguard unit today.” She was completely harmless. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to the cute goth chick while he was here. He wouldn’t be here forever. He was giving this two months tops. That should be enough time to satisfy his family and the higher-ups at the CIA that he wasn’t going to do something dangerous. And then he would go do something dangerous. She reached out, that smile turning into something truly glorious. Her black-tinged lips spread and showed even white teeth, but it was the way that smile lit up her eyes that made him pause. “MaeBe.” Oh, she was playing with fire because for the first time in months he felt his groin tighten as he took her hand in his and felt an actual fucking spark that probably wasn’t static electricity. He couldn’t help the way his own lips curled up, and the words that flowed out of his mouth could have come from his twenty-year-old self. “Maybe? I would say that’s a little presumptuous of you, but I think I’ll go with it.”

 

 

Meet Lexi

New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings. Find out more about Lexi on her website, follow her on Twitter, like her on her Facebook page, or friend her on her Facebook profile.

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