Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
If you like bad boys who fall first, determined women who fight for what they want, lots of dirty talk, and quirky weird small towns… this one’s for you!


Carter Shaw isn’t a man anyone would mistake for a nice guy. He has always been intense, up for anything and fearless—on the football field, when wearing his badge, and in the bedroom.


But he never confuses pleasure for love. His unstable upbringing was more than enough to scare him off commitments for good.


Until he meets Lacey Andrews.


A true do-gooder, Lacey is the only woman to ever make Carter wish he was a better man.


It’s probably a good thing his friend and partner fell in love with her first.


Even when Garrett dies in the line of duty, Carter knows he can’t give Lacey everything she wants and needs. Until she shows up on his doorstep in nothing but a trench coat and blue lingerie. Now there may be a few things he can offer...


Losing her fiancé has only proven how short life is and Lacey doesn’t want to miss another moment of happiness. Carter is her best friend and she knows he’s the only one who can make her feel alive again. But she wants to be a part of more than his bedroom. And as stubborn as Carter is, he clearly hasn’t met a woman who’s madly in love before.
Until now.

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 4, 2022

102 people are currently reading
241 people want to read

About the author

Erin Nicholas

152 books3,803 followers
Erin Nicholas is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun.

She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).


You can find Erin on the web at www.ErinNicholas.com, on Instagram at ErinNicholasBooks, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholas... and on BookBub at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/erin-...

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
246 (55%)
4 stars
121 (27%)
3 stars
59 (13%)
2 stars
13 (2%)
1 star
4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Marie.
5,123 reviews52 followers
May 7, 2023
All worked up into a romantic lather?

Phew! We knew Carter had baggage and a few issues with commitment but even Carter doesn't understand just how deep his issues and insecurities run and how much baggage he is juggling. My heart hurts for the man Carter is, for the fears he has and for his love for Lacey. He is the heart of Bad, he is a man that everyone relies on every day but he doubts his value and his judgements. He doesn't see a man people stay for, fight for and love...until Lacey does....

I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
Profile Image for Tammy Moldovan.
1,974 reviews27 followers
August 8, 2022
Untangling emotions to get to the love center

This book is a second chance, best friend’s ex, taboo relationship, messy and beautiful romance. The story has a lot of tangled up relationships, scabbed over scars, and deep seated fears which makes it a bit of an emotional roller coaster of a read. But it’s so good in all its gritty swoony glory. Carter is a police officer in Bad, LA. Believing he is not good enough for a relationship, he limits himself to short flings and one night stands. His best friend, Garrett, was killed in the line of duty 10 months ago. A few months prior to his death they had a falling out about Lacey, the woman Garrett was dating, but they were both in love with, and that Carter was unwilling to share. Now Lacey has come looking for him wanting him to be in a relationship with her. This is where things, especially emotions get tangled, messy and raw. There was a lot of growth for the characters, especially Carter. Carter and Lacey’s HEA journey is filled with all the emotions, the connections and the love plus there are sweet moments, painful pasts, steamy scenes, hard truths, and some chuckles. 4.5 stars.
1,668 reviews41 followers
October 18, 2022
Bad Behavior is the 7th book in the author’s Bad Boys series and like all the rest it can certainly be read as a standalone. The biggest difference between this book and the others in the series is the author finally includes most of the previous characters as couples in some small way. Jackson and Annabelle who were the focus of the previous book and Nolan who will be the male lead in the final book appear fairly regularly in this story. Which I know doesn’t mean much if you haven’t read their book. It's described as a 2nd Chance bad boy good girl trope but to be honest with you I'm not sure Lacey Andrews is really such a good girl? She certainly isn't sexually inhibited and has a few kinks.
Our male protagonist in this story is Carter, a cop in the imaginary bayou town of Bad La. Carter has been a minor character in most of the earlier books in this series. What I’ve gleaned from them is that Carter is a good guy. He’s a natural born protector as demonstrated by his job as a cop. He’s been a devoted and loyal friend to the other characters in this series. It’s also been clear from his earliest appearance that he’s allergic to relationships. He’s strictly a “Hit it and Quit it” kind of guy. He’s a decent enough guy that he’s made it clear to the many women he’s slept with that he’s not interested in anything more than a good time for both. It's not his fault that he's so handsome, such a good lover and nice guy that they hope for more.
From the start of this book we learn why Carter doesn’t do relationships and honestly I find his reasoning laughable. It seems Carter’s father has been an abject failure at relationships. He’s been married and divorced four times and had countless other relationships fail. So Carter has convinced himself he’s not relationship material. To me the idea that we are forced to repeat the sins of our fathers, to mirror their shortcomings as if its genetically programmed into our DNA, is just dumb and I think most people would agree. So it is difficult for me not think Carter is an idiot. Then there’s the other reason Carter can’t fall in love with a woman, Lacey Andrews. Carter has been in love with Lacey since he and Garrett his late police partner and BFF approached her at a wedding. The reason she became Garrett’s girlfriend and later fiancée and not Carter’s was because he pushed her in that direction because of his belief he couldn’t be the boyfriend she needed.
Then there’s Lacey. Perhaps the books title Bad Behavior refers to her because Lacey throughout the book reveals she doesn’t have many if any sexual inhibitions. In love with two men and wants them both at the same time. Check. Enjoys the idea that someone might see her nude sunbathing, Check. Gets excited by the idea of being handcuffed during sex. Check. Lacey had drunkenly admitted to Garrett on more than one occasion with his prodding that her deepest, darkest fantasy was a threesome with him and their BFF Carter. Garrett is totally on board and tries to set it up as a birthday surprise for Lacey. If the whole threesome thing wasn’t enough to make me feel uncomfortable, there’s the fact that good old Garrett had been sharing his and Lacey’s sex life with Carter, what her favorite positions were, what really turned her on. It would seem Garrett had been preparing both Lacey and Carter to have a long term ménage a trois. But not only didn’t Carter tell Garrett he didn’t want to hear about his and Lacey’s sex life, he spends time listening to the sounds Lacey made while having sex with Garrett in their bedroom while he slept on their couch. Yuk! To his credit Carter squashed Garrett’s plan for a threesome because he wasn’t willing to share Lacey. It was one thing to know that she and Garrett were having sex. It was another to actually witness it even if it allowed him to have her too.
A year after Garrett’s funeral Lacey shows up in Bad with every intention of seducing Carter after not seeing or talking to him for a year. Not even looking at him during Garrett’s funeral. She says it’s because she saw Carter and Garrett as two parts of a whole, so it was too painful to see Carter after Garrett’s death. But now she shows up on Carter’s doorstep (actually his neighbors) because she’s decided being with Carter will help her feel like she’s still has a piece of Garrett and it will just make her feel something, feel alive and not so lonely. She’s already lost one of the men she loved, she doesn’t want to lose both of them. I mean how could Carter refuse her after that explanation? Honestly after a while I became completely confused about both Lacey’s and Carter’s underlying motivations for being together or not. Carter spends most of the story convincing himself that by himself he's not enough for Lacey even when he's decided he can't let her go. He needs someone else to give her what he can’t even if it means sharing her sexually. Lacey wants to be with Carter but it felt like she would have preferred to be with both men as part of a threesome if Garrett hadn’t been killed. So would she ever truly be happy with just Carter or is she just settling?
I like sex in my romances a lot but I’ve never been a fan of stories that include threesomes or harems or reverse harems where the participants are supposed to not only be lovers but be in love. Like Carter the idea of being able and happy to share someone you love with another person just doesn’t work for me. Although it never happens in this story its clear that Lacey wanted it to which made it difficult for me to fully embrace her character as I normally do a female lead. Lacey’s motivations for coming to Carter seemed to change on a dime. Carter’s emotional baggage caused by his father’s relationships seemed endless. His idea that he couldn’t be in a relationship without another man to fill in for his perceived shortcomings, just no. In the end 3 stars was really the best I could give this one.
Profile Image for Darcy.
14.4k reviews543 followers
September 29, 2022
What made this one interesting was the history that Carter and Lacey had, along with their missing friend. The two of them had so many unresolved issues, Garrett among them. What didn't help was that Garrett was no longer around to question. Instead the two of them had to question/figure things out on their own, including what their feelings were past and present. By the end of the book they figured out what they wanted and what was important to them.
41 reviews
June 15, 2024
Bad Cop learns a few life lessons

One of the quirkiness reconnection stories you'll read. Lacey in lingerie and a trench coat decides to just surprise her hot cop, former almost throup!e friend, and best friend to her deceased fiance. Oh, and said fiance is also Carter's (aka almost throuple hot cop) best friend and former police partner. Confused yet?? The men met Lacey at a wedding reception and it was instance connections for them all. First it was hanging out and dinners, but Carter's inability to be emotionally vulnerable made him move on. Back home to Bad and away from the partner friendship he had with Garrett on the police force in Baton Rouge. They'd grown up in Bad together and were cops together, knew each other well. And Carter new Garrett could give Lacey the family life she needed. That they both wanted and deserved. Carter visited monthly, stayed with them even. Hed fallen for Lacey too but they were dating in Baton Rouge and he was living in Bad, by choice. They flirted but never took it over the top. Then on her birthday, Garrett invited Carter to fulfill her birthday wish. Join them fully in a relationship, share her and be what each other needed. He wasn't in love with Garrett, but he did love him, cared about him and knew Lacey loved him too. Standing in their bedroom, with his best friend watching him make out with his girlfriend slammed carter in the chest. It overwhelmed him with more emotions than he'd expected or wanted. He didn't deal in emotions. He had a history of examples of failed emotional connections. Carter bolted that night and two weeks later his chance for redemption, resolution, apologies, and making it right again was gone. The next time he saw Lacey was Garrett's funeral, he couldn't comfort her, hold her or let her comfort him. They'd both lost so much and grief was crippling. Ten months the later, Lacey shows up in blue lingerie determined to get back the only other man she knew loved her. Carter was willing to give her the sex, he's not an idiot. He knows he can't say no. But he believes he's still not enough for her to be fully happy. Good thing he has great friends in Bad who know him well enough to see through the bullshit, and honest enough to call him out.

I lived Carter in all the previous booms and was not expecting this to be his story. He's so. All in his head all the time over thinking without feeling. Confident in his physical abilities on the job and bedroom. I love most when he turns to Nolan for help and how one of his football buddies has to "play along for the good of the team" so Carter can see he IS enough. Lacey stays strong and resolute in believing in their love. She won't give up until she gets it all. And Carter first all words with Garrett are tear worthy.

Great read and now I'm ready for Nolan's story. He's earned it!!
Profile Image for Anna-Marie Buchner.
928 reviews7 followers
June 22, 2024
I was disappointed with Carter's book. I liked Carter in the other books but didn't like his book. Sorry. Lacey was not my cup of tea. I realize Carter was using Garrett as a barrier because of his emotion inability to allow anyone in for fear of them leaving. Like what always happened with his Dad. Carter has some serious abandonment issues. Lacey on the other hand was engaged to Garrett but did she love him more then she loved Carter. Couldn't tell. I think she just wanted them both. So basically leading them both on. When she showed up in Bad at Carter's I got the feeling she was there so he would make her feel alive again. Garrett dying and Carter leaving left her empty. She claimed she loved Carter but that's not what I was feeling. Yes Carter loved her but felt he couldn't be what she needed. I think he should have let her decide. But then again my assessment of Lacey was not flattering.
Well at least there is one more book and it's Nolan and I'm soooooooo curious how in the world he and Randi hook up. LOL
497 reviews2 followers
October 26, 2022
Best Friends to Lovers

Carter, Lacey and Garett were best friends since they met. Now Garett is gone, but Carter is afraid of committing himself to Lacey. When she pushes Carter to start the next chapter of their life together, Carter is hard pressed to agree. Even if he wants to. Nice (almost) ménage au trois while still maintaining a true couple romance.
1,347 reviews5 followers
November 8, 2022
Carter shared the woman he loved with his best friend until his friend died.

I would recommend this book and series for mature reader's that enjoy stories that are a combination of being funny, steamy, and romantic.
Profile Image for Tami Schafer.
655 reviews12 followers
June 10, 2023
hope when they all wrap up there’s a extra story with Everyone in it

I am truly loving the stories, The friendship , laughter,love ,the working out the problem. True love does take work and I love that these show that
835 reviews7 followers
August 29, 2022
This is another awesome story set in Bad that you won’t want to put down. A fast paced story that has all the feels. Highly addictive & recommended.
Profile Image for Callie.
247 reviews
March 21, 2023
It was an ok book, follows the others and is very predictable.
Profile Image for MN Book Lady.
2,274 reviews5 followers
October 21, 2022
I am loving all these Bad boys, but are there going to be any left for the rest of us?

Carter is one of Bad’s police officers and had never really dated seriously. Only to find out, he’s been in love with someone for a while, he just thought it wasn’t right for them to be together. Lacey has other thoughts so she accidentally shows up at the wrong house looking for him only to have Carter show up on a breaking and entering call.

And things are explosive between Carter and Lacey. But she’s his best friend's former fiancé (who has died in the line of duty) and Carter thinks he’s never seen a functioning relationship with all his dad’s been through. But one pregnancy scare later and Carter is proposing and figuring out how to have what Lacey, Carter, and Garret had so it would be easier on him.

Carter and Lacey get their happy ending in this stand-alone book in a series.

Poor Nolan gets sucked into the drama near the end. It always seems like he’s the guy women turn to and I can’t wait for his story. And I loved that Carter didn’t see all the good relationships in his life that were very functional and healthy. Coach Karr is an amazing person and I love that he’s still coaching his boys after all this time, and how he helped Carter was so touching!
2,740 reviews127 followers
August 27, 2022
Carter Shaw knows he’s not the marrying kind, so he’s just never gotten serious with anyone. Except Lacey Andrews owns his heart.

Erin Nicholas’s Bad Behavior is part of the Bad Boys of the Bayou series, and is a hot, heartbreaking, sometimes funny story about someone who’s afraid he doesn’t know how to love and a woman who’s brave enough to show him that isn’t true.
Profile Image for J Lundsten.
965 reviews39 followers
August 14, 2022
Carter and Lacey are soooooo hot!

Friends turned Lovers is one of my favorite tropes but this is so much more! Lots of emotions here as Carter and Lacey deal with grief, past baggage and their all consuming love. So, so good!

I really love this series!! Bad boys are the best!
Profile Image for Luisa Baudino.
457 reviews3 followers
September 2, 2022
I knew Carter needed someone up to the task of having ruined him for all serious relationships and I really liked his relationship with Lacey! I also liked her persistence in going after what she wanted, i.e. Carter and she was super sweet too.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.