Riskier Business releases 1/5
Synopsis:
One more game. And this time, there are no rules…
After a life of pool hustling and living on the wrong side of the law, Ruby Elliott is living on the straight and narrow with sexy-as-all-hell NYPD detective, Troy Bennett. Now the only trouble Ruby has with the law is the naughty kind, pinned against the wall by Troy’s strict and spectacularly hard body. Obeying his every command. Both of them losing themselves in a lust that borders on obsession…
But then her father returns with an offer she can’t refuse: one last hustle in exchange for information. Information she’d die to have. As the pieces and the players of the game reveal themselves, Troy feels the fine edges of his control slipping—control he can’t channel without hurting Ruby. The stakes are high, and the risk higher. Because losing this final game could cost more than Ruby’s heart…it might cost her life.
My review:
Risker Business is the first novella in author Tessa Bailey’s new Crossing the Line Series as well as story number 5.5 in her Line of Duty Series and serves as both an intro to the new series as well as the tie-in to the Line of Duty series. I’m a huge Tessa fan and I was so excited to begin a new series of hers and was equally excited to read up on some of my favorite characters, Ruby and Troy. Well, I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: Tessa just gets better and better with each book she writes. This story was fantastic and tied many characters together in a way that was surprising as well as amazing. Really, really well done!
Reformed pool hustler Ruby Elliott has turned a new, and legal, leaf thanks in part to her NYPD detective boyfriend, Troy Bennett. She’s given up her hustler ways for a legitimate business making custom pool cues and loves every minute of it. But the saying “waiting for the other shoe to drop” seems to be lurking. Suddenly the life Ruby has built with Troy is at the risk of being ruined when her father reappears from her past and makes her an offer for information she just can’t turn down. Information on her mother. The mother who abandoned her when she was a child. The mother she always wanted to find.
Now Ruby finds herself stuck between a rock and a hard place and knows that no matter what choice she makes, someone will get hurt. Will it be Troy? Will it be her? Or the mother she has never known…
The path Ruby’s father sets her on will lead her to more than one truth and will leave Ruby questioning everything, and everyone, she’s ever held close.
When I started reading this story, I was immediately excited to get reacquainted with Ruby and Troy and see what has been happening in their lives. Ruby is every bit as amazing as I remembered and has really grown as a character. Troy is just as alpha and delicious and I love how protective he has become over Ruby and her safety. It’s all-consuming and overwhelming in the absolute best way possible and it’s one of his character traits I love most. That protectiveness comes into handy when Ruby’s dead-beat dad shows up and threatens to ruin everything for them. I was a nervous wreck that Ruby would lose Troy while trying to learn the truth about her mother. I sure as hell knew Troy wasn’t going to let Ruby walk into her old lifestyle with a smile and a “see you when you get home, dear.”. I knew deep down that Troy wouldn’t give up on her, but there were a few tense moments and I recommend having some tissues handy. But don’t you worry…Tessa always gives us a fabulous ending!
As I read more, my excitement grew, not only just for this particular story and what was transpiring with Troy and Ruby, but for the bridge Tessa built into her next series with this novella. On top of more than a few “whoa” moments, she gave a look into her next series and seeing how the Line of Duty gang ties into the Crossing the Line Series is simply amazing. I was blown away with the storyline Tessa wove between characters and made me appreciate her talents as an author even more than I already did.
For all you Tessa Bailey fans out there, I know you will love this story as much as I did and I cannot WAIT to begin the journey into the Crossing the Line world! Thank you, Tessa, for yet another hot, sexy, emotional, and kick ass story!
Five Loves
Book links:
About the author:
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.
Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband of seven years and three-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.