A Matter Among Men by Destiny Blaine
Siren Publishing
Contemporary
Short Story, M/F, Spanking
Review by Hibiscus

Jack Dawson is solid cowboy. He's built for a woman's indefinite pleasure but only one cowgirl has his attention. His body indicates he can deliver on any woman's fantasy but Darlene knows Dawson's type. They have tall hats, big ideas and of course, they possess the grandest of them all. She's not easily impressed until she comes face to face with a man who plans to ruin her for another cowboy.

Jack and Darlene know one another from a past life but hard time and a harder past have changed them both. When Jack shows up on Darlene's ranch, he makes few bones about it. He's there to claim the woman he's supposed to have, the land that belongs to him, and the life he's placed on hold for far too long. And when he does—he'll make sure he has a damn good time doing it.

♥ ♥ ♥

I enjoyed reading this story by Ms. Blaine.  She had everything from young love, loss of family and friends, grief and denial, to sex, betrayal and love renewed. Throw in an arranged marriage and secrets on neighboring ranches and I couldn't put the book down until I finished it.  It had so many twists and kept me guessing throughout the story.

There are five major characters in the story. I loved Darlene. She was a sweet 16 year-old who had to take over the running of the ranch when her parents died. Now that she has grown, she handles her older sister Kimbrell, who I felt was very easy and loved messing with the ranch hands. I liked how Darlene teased Stan, Kimbrell's current friend, and made Kimbrell mad at her antics. Stan's brother, Finn, is Darlene's boyfriend. I did not care for the characters of Stan, Finn, or Kimbrell. I found them very hard to like no matter what they did in the story. Even Kimbrell's keeping in touch with Jack made me angry that she did not share this information with Darlene.  Jack Dawson was easy to like. He had tall, dark, handsome and wounded down pat. I loved when he made Darlene come to him. He made me want to do whatever he asked.

The sex in the book is riveting and very detailed, especially the scenes with Darlene and Jack. I could see that their first joining was very intense and a long time coming. I kept pulling for the two of them the entire story, even before I knew the details of their lives.

With characters I like, a good storyline, and lots of hot sex, "A Matter Among Men" has everything I look for in a good erotic romance.