The Dom Who Came In From the Cold (Masters and Mercenaries: Reloaded 5) by Lexi Blake-review tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 21, 2023
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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REVIEW:THE DOM WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is the fifth instalment in Lexi Blake’s contemporary, adult MASTERS AND MERCENARIES: RELOADED erotic, BDSM, romantic suspense series-a spin off from the author’s Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten, which in turn is a spin off from the author’s Masters and Mercenaries series. This is former CIA agent Kyle Hawthorne, and IT specialist MaeBe (Mae Beatrice) Vaughn’s story line. THE DOM WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order as there is an ongoing premise throughout as well as references to previous events and interconnected characters. Kyle and MaeBe’s story line has been building since book one of the Reloaded spin off.
NOTE: If you have not read the previous instalments, there may be spoilers in my review. Some of the events of THE DOM WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD cross over with NO TIME TO LIE #4.
Told from third person perspective using present day and memories from the past THE DOM WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD follows in the wake of Kyle Hawthorne’s return from the dead. Years earlier, CIA operative Kyle Hawthorne had fallen in love with fellow CIA agent Julia Ennis, but soon discovered Julia had turned to the dark side, taking Kyle along for the ride. Upon his ‘escape’ from Julia, and his return to his extended family at McKay-Taggart Security and his mother Grace Taggart, Kyle would find himself falling for IT Specialist MaeBe Vaughn but Kyle’s past refused to let go, and our hero faked his death to protect the woman he loved. Fast forward eighteen months, and Kyle would, once again, come face to face with MaeBe Vaughn, the woman whose heart he destroyed in an effort to save her. Working for McKay-Taggart brought Kyle up close and personal with MaeBe but Kyle’s demons have returned gunning for everyone that Kyle has ever loved. What ensues is the acrimonious but rebuilding relationship between Kyle and MaeBe, and the potential fall-out as Julia Ennis sets her sights on our story line hero, killing anyone who stands in her way of reclaiming the man she lost.
The relationship between Kyle and MaeBe is a second chance relationship but a relationship destroyed by secrets and lies, issues of trust, and Kyle faking his death in an effort to protect MaeBe Vaughn. Having remained hiding in plain sight, Kyle had been in contact with family back home but MaeBe was kept out of the loop to protect her from future harm. Kyle’s return brought trepidation, more issues of trust, and the enemy only minutes behind, and with it, MaeBe’s life would once again hang in the balance. MaeBe is a submissive in the bedroom, but in the real world, MaeBe refuses to bend to the man she still loved. The $ex scenes are intimate erotic and intense with some scenes of spanking and bondage.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Big Tag and Charlotte, Sean and Grace Taggart; operatives Taylor Cline and Drake Radcliff, Deke Murphy and Maddie Hall, Hutch and Noelle, Adam Miles, Jake, Boomer and Yasmin, as well as the return of Julie Ennis, and newcomer CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) Joseph Caulder who will lead the new teams in MASTERS AND MERCENARIES: NEW RECRUITS September 2023.
THE DOM WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is another complex, detailed, exhaustive and meticulous storyline that wraps up this particular arc of the Masters and Mercenaries series, as well as the introduction to the next generation of operatives and spies-children of the couples we have met in the original and previous series. The premise is thorough, elaborate and intriguing; the characters are numerous, charismatic, determined and dynamic; the romance is passionate but struggles in the face of betrayal and loss. Lexi Blake pulls the reader into another wonderful, exciting and amazing series-you don’t want to pass by.
Previous Reviews and Reading Order
Submission Impossible
The Dom Identity
The Man From Sanctum
No Time To Lie
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
“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.”
NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance and urban fantasy that she found the stories of her heart. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem.
