3.5 stars
Safe
No cheating
DUAL VIRGIN!! *happy dance!!!*
Unwanted OW attention (the hero hates attention from other women, the only woman he ever wanted, literally, is the heroine. Actually, his history is when he first was in his early teens, the wind blows and it turned him or maybe a pretty girl on TV, then it wasn't women, but making his life successful that turned him on, and then Harley. So I LOVE LOVE that Harley is the ONLY woman he saw in real life that turned him on, and really was his sexual awakening) LOVE THAT SO MUCH!!
Unwanted OM attention (heroine hated and was disgusted by it)
H Dylan, late 20's, CEO of several companies, multimillionaire
h, Harley, I would guess early 20's, worked at the H's company, was fired due to a misunderstanding he quickly remedied.
Lots of drama and angst (far too much for my taste).
Several days of separation twice, first time for a few days when he dumped her after taking her virginity (I hated every bit of that exchange), then a second time when they cleared the air, he needed to leave to take care of business, she knew and was worried about him knowing he put himself in danger to avenge her.
HEA
Push away from H, several times, the worst is when it was after they first had sex, he knew she was a virgin when he breached it, but she has no idea he was her first too. She says something that triggered him and he pushed her away, dumping her and leaving her alone, broken hearted. I HATE THAT TROPE!! He broke her heart, and should have been more sensitive to her vulnerable state, rather than wallow in his 'woe is me, my past haunts me 'BS. He left her that way for days, and went to seek therapy to be better for her, instead of going to her to remedy his fuck up! *sigh of frustration*
That didn't kill the story, but their first sex scene was just boring, he kisses her, takes her into the room and sticks his dick into her, no foreplay, then after they finish, she takes a shower and he tells her to pack her things and leave. It was the 'I am pushing you away to protect you from me' trope I hate *heavy eye roll* Not a hero I root for in this first half of the book.
There is crossing over with the Riders Biker Club in this book which was cool.
Earlier in the book, he gives her a necklace with a tracker, but doesn't follow it, so.....why did he put it on her if he can't be bothered? He says its because he is obsessed, wanting her but also couldn't have her, but he didn't bother checking it, that is how she got kidnapped. He let one of his guards to track her instead. He is not the obsessed alpha I wished him to be. If he had a tracker on her, his eyes should be glued to his phone. So that was disappointing.
Speaking of phones, there is a plot hole, her cousin Lillian filed a missing report on her, but never thought to blow up her phone with texts and voice mails? Harley would have known she had nothing to do with it, but Lillian never bothered to call her? And Harley didn't have a single call or message from her? It seems like this part of the story was rushed and an after thought. Just a little knit pick.
Dylan gets his head out of his ass and grovels a bit. He does feel bad and takes responsibility for pushing Harley away hurting her, which then got her kidnapped and beaten. She rescued herself (again, this tracker thing was for naught) so no thanks to our 'hero', she made it to the bikers club, and THEY took care of her. It should have been Dylan.
He tells her he lost his virginity to her that night (now that part perked me up, I love it when the virgin hero tells the heroine that she is his one and only!! That put a smile on my face and made me warm up to him). After a clear conversation with no misunderstandings or ambiguity, she understood the word 'animal' triggered him, so she forgives him and I wish she made him grovel longer, but she did make it a point to tell him how much he hurt her and how she won't forgive him , but then the air was cleared they were horny for each other and became a strong couple. I still hate the hero that pushes away the heroine for her own good by breaking her heart, especially after they shared a special moment that only happens once in their lives, but I LOVE and LIVE for dual virgin romances, that I understand they can't all be alphas that chase after the heroine. I would rather Dylan not be this woe is me hero, but it is DV and so he is all hers, mind, BODY, heart and soul, as much as she is all his, no other woman knows him intimately, and no other man knows her that way, and there is so much swoon in that fact alone. So since one true love/DV saved it for me, the rest of the book was a good read, more events unfolded, but the love of our couple is now strong (until the tail end which was a bit wobbly and could have been omitted or written differently). After he took care of her kidnappers he is all in and in the epilogue I love his reaction to when she tells him she is pregnant. There is something so swoon worthy about a father to be, wanting to shout on the rooftop with happiness that the love of his life is having his baby!
Now, for the part I could have done without and it is at the tail end when there is a new secretary flirting with Dylan and he is oblivious. Harley is distraught and cried out if he is fucking her. *sigh* I can attribute that to hormones, but, if their love is strong and this new (now fired) secretary told the heroine she is getting friendly with her husband, I would have loved it if she laughed in her face. That would show us that she has 100 percent trust that Dylan has only eyes for her, but instead, if she thinks her husband is capable of cheating, there is no trust there, so the strength I saw in this couple, weakened. I don't know why it was ruined like that, and all for one last bit of unnecessary drama. It was quickly remedied and it could be just her hormones, plus I liked that he reminded her that she is his one and only and always will be (I love when our main characters, especially the hero reminds his woman he is all his in all ways). This was a roller coaster of being perked up by a good scene, to then be disappointed by the next one.
I love my dual virgin romance, but there was WAY too much OW drama all throughout the book. I do like unwanted OW drama to show how much the hero is disgusted by other women flirting, it shows us he only has eyes for our heroine, but there is a limit and it was far too much OW flirting. The pushing away at the beginning also left me feeling denuded of an alpha hero, and I just did not care for it, it made him unlikable, but he did make up for it in the end. When I warmed up to their relationship, I felt a pang of disappointment with this last remark from her. There was too much unnecessary drama for my taste.
I won't be rereading this book but it's ok, as long as CM Steele writes safe dual virgin romances, I will keep reading them!