Negotiating LoveRating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Steve spends his days and nights working as a SWAT Team Hostage Negotiator on the Las Vegas Strip. He is always in control at work. The few nights he has spent with super wealthy casino owner, Allistair, allow him to give up control and indulge in his kinks that he can’t seem to satisfy with anyone else. But their evenings together only happen if Steve visits the casino and Allistair sends his guards for Steve.

Allistair lives a secluded life in his penthouse apartment. He has tried letting lovers in, but everyone only sees his money. Now, he dominates men for the night and moves on, until Steve. Steve is different than the others as he’s self sufficient, definitely not after Allistair’s money, and craves Allistair’s dominance as they explore their mutual interests.

Allistair has decided that he wants more with Steve and possibly a chance at love. But their worlds of an officer and an entitled billionaire are so far apart and they strive to find a balance. Allistair also needs to be kept safe because there are those people that would do anything for some of Allistair’s riches.

Morticia Knight’s writing can put you in the comfort zone and Negotiating Love is another example of that. Her characters always offer something interesting. This book is the fifth book in the Sin City Uniforms series. We met Steve in the previous book, Held Hostage, and some of the scenes from that book are shown from a different viewpoint here. While it could work as a standalone, there are enough connections that you may want to have at least read that book in the series to best enjoy this one.

When we first meet Allistair, he is safely ensconced in his penthouse with his camera trained on Steve in the casino. Their earlier meetings are briefly described and they were sexual encounters and nothing further. Allistair at first presents as a ruthless and dominant businessman, but under the surface he is lonely, needy, and looking for love.

Steve is Allistair’s opposite in almost every way. He likes being dominated in the bedroom and has specific kinks that also arouse Allistair. Their dynamic was interesting as it was a bit of a stereotypical role reversal, but it didn’t all work for me. For as much as Allistair controlled their sexual encounters, he did not come across as being in a prime dominant role anywhere else. He was constantly falling apart outside of the bedroom and it was Steve who was constantly in control. While this could have been set up as an interesting character development involving role reversal, it didn’t quite get presented that way and Allistair wasn’t overly convincing in his role as a dominant. And, given how their relationship was described, their encounters were fairly tame.

The other books in the series dealt more with the crazy that goes on at the Las Vegas Strip and this book was more character driven, which was a nice change for the series. Their relationship was easy. They met under interesting circumstances, but then just decided to have a relationship and all of the external factors that could have added tension or angst didn’t. Of course this series is built upon the crazy so crazy does have to come calling, but even that was handled easily.

I keep coming back to this series as the books are easy to pick up and get into quickly. If you have been following and enjoying this series, it’s a welcome addition to it, there are glimpses of many of the previous characters, and it keeps the pace and flow of the series intact.

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