Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Velvet Cuffs
SERIES: Kink Awakenings
AUTHOR: Charley Descoteaux
PUBLISHER: CeeTwo Publishing
LENGTH: 162 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2021
BLURB:
Josh Keller never thought he would host a wedding reception—his kink club is a place where he tends bar and chains willing men to the padded wall in his private room. He also never thought he’d see the love of his life again. When both happen on the same day his life will never be the same.
Pax Dupont never stopped loving Josh, not when they fought and broke up and not during the fifteen years they spent a thousand miles apart. Coming face-to-face with the man he left behind is a surprise, but learning Josh is part owner of the club intrigues Pax enough to share his own love of silk, lace, and domination.
Will Josh and Pax put past hurts behind them and admit their feelings still run hot, or will Pax’s desire to dominate Josh break them up for good?
Warnings: this book contains sexually explicit scenes, a brief scene of violence and a hero in peril, mentions of past abuse of a child, grief over the death of siblings, a man who loves the feel of silk and lace, and one who thought he understood his own kinky nature.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the third book in this series, and as such there are many spoilers for the previous books. This in no way detracts from this story which can be read as a standalone, although I recommend reading at least the previous book before reading this one.
Josh Keller is everyone’s favorite bartender/chef/caretaker at his kink club, Curious Sustenance. He’s also a metal artist and blacksmith. Lately he’s been spending even more time at the club – sleeping there even. He’s not been done any scenes lately either, so he’s been sleeping alone. But this day, he’s helping with a reception for Wes, Amy’s (another of the club owners) de facto brother, and Eoin’s (another club member) wedding. He’s not really in a party mood, and he’s even less so when he hears his name called by the last person he ever expected to see in his club – Pax Dupont. He literally has not seen Pax since their terrible break up after high school 16 years later. He’s completely blindsided, and while he recovers initially enough to respond, he avoids Pax for the rest of the party. When Pax shows up later though, Josh is once again speechless and they resolve nothing.
Other members and owner of the club are curious about Josh because he plays things very close to the vest. He doesn’t seem to need to really work outside of his ownership of the club and no one really knows much about this past or his personal life, so when they witness this interaction, it piques their interest. When a serendipitous meeting between a club owner’s husband and Pax occurs at a work function, there is definitely some prying going on to see if there is any more info to be gleaned. But really nothing much is shared, so the two men, Pax and Josh, remain a bit mysterious.
Pax realizes he still needs to make amends with Josh, so he tries again by going out to Josh’s family home. What he finds is a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. They do talk some and resolve a few things and Josh agrees to donate some items to Pax’s latest fundraiser in support of the clinic that he runs. Pax had escaped their small town and gone to California for college and grad school and returned to Portland to run a clinic that helps those with addiction and mental health issues. He’s dedicated to his job and he’s good at it.
As the fundraiser gets closer, Pax and Josh are able to get past their original animosity. They have a long shared history – and not all of it good. But they are learning to communicate again as adults. The night of the fundraiser though, they do actually connect again. Pax is curious about kink and Josh is willing to talk to him about it and share a bit of his reasons for owning the club. When they end up leaving together, it’s the beginning of possibilities, but it’s far from what Josh was expecting. The way he interacts with Pax has him questioning everything about who he thought he was. Luckily he’s got good friends who can help him sort out what it is he might want and need.
Pax and Josh begin spending more time together and are learning about each other as men rather than the teenagers they were when their relationship crashed and burned. They each accept their part of the responsibility for not making things work when they were 18. But then Pax’s work puts him in danger and Josh is terrified that he will once again lose his chance at making a life with Pax. This part of the story is hard to read, especially because sadly we have seen this played out with varying and sometimes horrific and lethal results 🙁 But in this case, what Pax goes through only strengthens their resolve to be together, despite the potential obstacles.
Each book in this series involved different characters with varying issues and I feel like each book has been stronger than the previous one. In the first story, Ross and Amy were both dealing with body image issues. In the second, Wes was dealing with PTSD and his time in the military as well as survivor’s guilt. In this book, Josh and Pax are both dealing with their mutual past and the lives they are now leading and trying to figure out if somehow they can mesh those lives after all the years apart. They each are carrying a lot of grief, pain and guilt around. And they both have a hard time expressing themselves clearly and not jumping to conclusions about the motivations of the other. It’s a bit of a dance for these two – two steps forward, one step back – as they work their way through their past hurts and blame and unfair expectations.
There are some really nice moments of reconciliation and understanding that were a good respite from some of the difficulties both men were experiencing. One of the other really satisfying things about this story is the evolution of both Josh and Pax individually and together as they explore their kinks and what they need from a relationship and it comes as a bit of a surprise to both of them. There are some really beautiful scenes between Josh and Pax that move the story along as well as help the characters clarify who they really are. There are times when this isn’t an easy book to read because of the violence and trauma. But they definitely earned their happiness. I urge readers to take the time to read the Author’s Note at the end of the book. It provides a lot of context around the story and real life struggles mirrored in the book. There is a lot of work to be done still. Highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy a second chances and hard-won HEA stories with a little kink thrown in!
RATING: 
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