The series about these two complicated characters continues in the same vein as book 1 in that it takes us back and forth between what is happening now and what happened then. Ms. Hayward feeds us tricky little tidbits to mislead and confuse and to keep us from figuring things out too quickly. Jack and Ethan have decided to be in a committed “relationship” and Ethan has agreed to move in with Jack. But, there are so many things going on with these guys, eggshells that must be walked upon, especially where Ethan is concerned, that make it feel like he is a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.

Here, Jack is working to find a serial killer dubbed the “Judge.” He’s lent out undercover as himself (not as super agent Jack), where he ends up working with Adam Quinn, someone with whom he shares a bit of a past. There is a lot of miscommunication, for lack of a better word, where this is concerned. In the now, it is hinted that Jack cheated with Adam after he and Ethan committed, but rest assured, all is worked out as we are shown the rest of the story. Now, as Jack struggles to solve the mystery, it seems Ethan is more involved than Jack would like, but as Jack made Ethan promise to never get involved in his work again, he keeps things to himself and attempts to take care of things his own way.

I really don’t want to give anything more away here, so I’ll just say that we get to see more mystery, more excitement and a few oh no, and omg moments. But we also get some of the whys behind Ethan and his actions, the struggles he faces with his “job” and getting out of it, along with his fears and insecurities. And, we also get to see him learn it is possible to be more of the Ethan that Jack sees, getting more than he believed he deserved, and learning to fully trust in someone and let go. No matter what these guys go through, they never fail to feel like they are exactly what the other needs, a perfect fit and yin to his yang. There are certain things many have been longing to see in this story (if you’ve read this far, you know what I mean), and I was thrilled to see they were finally achieved and so worth the wait. Many questions are answered, mostly about Ethan and his childhood, sugar babies, his scars, his need to wear socks at all times, etc. But, Jack does quite a bit of growing here as well.

When this story ended, I felt a major sense of contentment and could easily be happy with this being the end, although I would always be thrilled to see more of these guys. Thankfully, there is still more to come. This really picked up in the last 3/4 of the story, and it ends with a somewhat ominous held breath. Just enough to make you wonder what is in store for these guys now, and given all of the new information we (and they) have learned about both of them, it looks like things will get even more interesting when things pick up. Highly recommend this series!