Lieutenant Tyler "Bud" Morrison is scoping out a seedy club when he sets eyes on Claire. She looks like a princess and she's completely out of her element in the wild danceclub. When she's abandoned by her friend and accosted by leering male revelers, he swoops in and plays the gallant knight to her fair damsel and takes her home. Expecting to give her a handshake and a nice-knowing-ya on her doorstep, he's stunned to hear her invite him inside......for coffee.
Claire Parks is free of the leukemia that has ravaged her body for nearly a decade. She's finally able to shake off her father's suffocating but well meaning strictures and is going to live a little. In case she hasn't told you, she's fine. The handsome stranger named Bud comes to her rescue and as he drives her home, she works up the courage to ask him inside......for coffee.
They don't have any coffee, but they do spend the weekend together in naked splendor, where they engage in some seriously kinky iambic pentameter sex. After the course of the 48 hours, their idyllic weekend is busted when Claire's father comes to see her and when he sees Bud, instead of being upset and appalled, he's frankly grateful and relieved. Her father reveals to Bud how he has been terrified of leaving his girl alone in the big, bad world and he hopes he can leave her in his capable hands. His fears transfer to Bud and suddenly he's treating Claire with kid gloves. Claire is fine and refuses to live in another suffocating parent/child relationship, especially now that she's a healthy adult. Just when she's got Bud back where she wants him, the danger surrounding her friend, Suzanne, spills over into her life. The brutal torture/murder of a friend spurs Bud into protective mode and without thinking of her feelings, stashes her away, determined to protect her from a desperate man who is out to protect his secrets.
This was a great book. There was hardly any time wasted on stupid ditherings between the hero and the heroine and they right away acknowledged that they loved each other. Whether or not they can live together is a different story however and I thought it was cute. Now that Claire has experienced hard, screaming sex, she wants more of it. (sheesh, who wouldn't) Unfortunately once Bud realizes that she used to be sick as a child, he treats her like porcelain and she's not liking it. When she comes to his office dressed for seduction, Bud's half hearted protestations wane in the face of her aggressive advances and it's really funny. I really liked Claire and her ability to embrace life and I thought Bud's attempts to be a gentleman was a hoot. We get some glimpses into John and Suzanne's HEA and I liked how they are still evolving as a couple.
This was a very amusing, sexy and exciting sequel to Midnight Man. Well, it's not exactly a sequel. Apparently, the events in Midnight Run are coinciding with the events in Midnight Man and Midnight Run also sets up the story for Midnight Angel, so the three stories definitely need to be read in order or you are going to get confused. There isn't as much outside drama in this book as was in the first book, it mostly runs on self inflicted angst. There was a lot more humour in this one though as opposed to John and Suzanne's story but Bud is no less a man than John was. In fact, he's much more forceful in bed than John was. He's a little more commanding and dominant, too. Delicious. I can't wait to read Midnight Angel. Enjoy!