His Risk to Take by Tessa Bailey

His Risk to Take by Tessa Bailey

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’Hanlan’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?

While going through and thinning out some of the many (MANY) free downloads on my Kindle, I opened this book and read the first few paragraphs, then a few more, and pretty soon I was sucked into the fairly fast-paced and very sexy story that Tessa Bailey had penned.  While the latter half let me down, this book was a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. 

Troy is with a couple of fellow NYPD cops, his mentors in fact, at a local watering hole when in walks Ruby and Troy is interested.  Very interested.  He is pretty open with his appreciation of both Ruby and his need to be in total control of any sexy-times they might have—and he figures they will have plenty of them. 

Ruby is a born hustler who has a distaste for cops and can’t believe the hottie she sees in the bar got past her cop radar.  She ends up going home with him and leaving him before he wakes up the next day.  This begins a back-and-forth between the two which keeps tensions high without getting frustrating and then the coincidences begin. 

Troy’s case hinges on one person who is the father of Ruby’s best friend.  Ruby decides that she can “help” Troy and gets fairly deep into TSTL territory only to be saved by Troy whom she then kicks out of her life.  He decides to be stubborn—she secretly likes it but refuses to show it.  She believes he gives up on her and gets ticked.  Oops, he hasn’t really given up on her—Happy Ever After commences. 

Great opening, weak ending.  I’m not unhappy I stuck with it but I have no desire to read others in the series.

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Men in Uniform

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