This review is from 2013 and is kept here for reference. Titles, prices and availability may have changed.
Tessa Bailey
Book ArchiveContemporaryEroticaMolten
The greater the risk, the hotter the reward…
Homicide cop Troy Bennett had a reputation on the Chicago PD for being fearless and in control—until the night his daredevil partner is killed during a raid. From that moment on, he swears he’ll never again be responsible for the loss of a loved one. To escape his demons, Troy transfers to the NYPD, bringing him up close and personal with Ruby Elliott, a beautiful, street-savvy pool hustler.
Reckless and stubbornly independent, Ruby embodies everything Troy’s avoiding, but when she walks into O’Hanlon’s Pub and blows his carefully laid plans to hell, Troy knows he has to have her—risks be damned. But there’s a connection between Ruby’s shadowed past and a case Troy’s working involving a notorious Brooklyn felon, throwing her safety into jeopardy. Confronted with his biggest fear, will Troy push Ruby away to keep her safe or fight to keep her in his arms where she belongs?
I fell hard in love with Tessa Bailey’s first book, Protecting What’s His, and I couldn’t wait to get started on the second in the series. Though there’s nothing in the books that crosses over from one to the next, both are centered around a badass law man protecting his woman. I liked His Risk to Take, but I felt like there could have been so much more to the sexual chemistry of the characters. After reading PWH, I know it’s possible; I just wish there was more to this story to draw me into liking it more. It’s still a solid 4 out of 5 stars and I recommend it to anyone who likes a man with a dirty mouth that takes over in the bedroom. [April 2013]