Shipping Orders: Valentine's Inc. Cruises Book 2, Ashe Winters

An unrelenting crush and a subtle fascination collide when a coincidence brings the awkwardly insecure Reign on a collision course with the commanding Adonis, Chase.  Neither is on the cruise to find love, but love is never predictable and when their fling becomes more, it's fear that might keep them from keeping what they've found.

It was hard not to be a little in love with all of Reign's insecurities and I wasn't surprised when Chase crashed hard for him.  But while I eventually found those quirks endearing, I was a bit frustrated with how much Reign held himself back.  Sexually he ended up giving Chase everything that was inside him, but in the quieter moments I was hoping for him to be a bit more verbal and relaxed.  That just wasn't him I suppose, and when we ended the story I was pretty shocked that the glimpse we got of him through Chase's epilogue showed us a much more solid presence.  I wished we had gotten to see more of that than just their bedroom chemistry.

I was a bit more disappointed with Chase though.  There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way.  It could have been the many, many mentions of how he just couldn't keep Reign, the slightly dismissive way he thought about his interactions with Reign versus Reign's coworker, or maybe just an overall feeling of disconnect between me and his character.  I just wasn't as drawn to him.

This story focused a ton on their sexual compatibility and while we saw some more tender and "foundation-shaking" realizations during those encounters, there was a bit of depth that I was missing.  Even the reveals of pasts and fears didn't feel as momentous as I thought they would.  Keeping the angst relatively low and forgoing a huge separation/reunion bit pleased me to no end however, and it made the ending much more satisfying for me.  I would really have enjoyed a bit more of a balance between the bedroom and character evolution, but aside from that I enjoyed this story.

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A happy ever after is not in the cards for me. But a short fling aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic might just be exactly what I need. 

When my friends suggest I take a much-needed vacation on their Valentine’s Inc. hosted cruise, I leap at the chance. I don’t have a lot of expectations for this matchmaking singles cruise—I’m certainly not looking for a future Mr. Chase Kelton. 

What I’m not prepared for is walking into my assigned suite to find a man passed out on the first day. I recognize the shy barista immediately. He’s been serving me my morning fix for a year and driving me crazy with the hard shell he keeps locked around himself. I want to break it. I know there’s an entirely different man beneath it that I’m itching to reveal.

Reign is the proverbial fish out of water, and when I discover the real reason he’s on this cruise, I see an opportunity I can’t resist. He needs a companion to show him the ropes—I can do that and so much more.