Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  A Gift for Merisi

SERIES:  Mike & Cal’s Story

AUTHOR:  Adira August

PUBLISHER:  Red Deer

LENGTH: 226 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 24, 2021

BLURB:

YOU KNOW HOW A ROMANCE STARTS WITH TWO GUYS MEETING AND BEING REALLY ATTRACTED TO EACH OTHER BUT THEY CAN’T BE TOGETHER FOR XYZ REASON AND THEN THERE ARE PAGES OF PINING IN PRIVATE AND LONGING LOOKS BY TURNS THEY KEEP MISSING AND WONDERING IF THE OTHER GUY MIGHT POSSIBLY MAYBE LIKE THEM, TOO?

Let’s skip all that.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mike Merisi had a helluva crush on his company’s most important accounting client. Work ethics had required Mike to maintain his professionalism around the high rise construction manager who’d haunted his fantasies for many weeks. But Mike had a feeling Cal had been dreaming of him, too.

Today was the last day of the contract and Mike was determined to ask Cal Derricksen to dinner at the end of their final meeting. They didn’t get to the meeting. Mutual repressed desires and unacknowledged natures refused to be ignored one minute longer, rendering construction cost accounting irrelevant.

They did make imaginative use of Cal’s office furniture, however, to the immense satisfaction of them both.

But in the aftermath, the inexperience of the nascent Dom and virgin sub brought confusion and doubt and distrust between two men who refused to let go of one another.

So Mike sought advice from a Master. That Master told him that no one became a great Dom unless they knew what it was to submit. Completely. The Master could teach him.

When you discover you’re the Dom of another man’s dreams, you have to grow up.

Cal was too important to Mike for him to refuse. He paid the hefty fee and made the contract. The Master was now his Master.

After all, there must be millions of submissives. How hard could it be?

♥♥♥!!!♥♥♥!!!♥♥♥

MM ROMANCE FOR ADULTS WHO LIKE A DARK EDGE CONTRASTING THE SENTIMENT. MIKE AND CAL ARE CHARACTERS FROM THE HUNT&CAM4EVER SERIES. THIS IS THEIR ORIGIN STORY—A WINTER’S TALE OF DESIRE AND DISCOVERY, FLOWERS AND FLOGGERS, DETERMINATION AND DISCIPLINE. A LOVE STORY THAT STANDS ALONE, HFN, TO BE JOINED BY BOOK TWO IN THE SPRING.

REVIEW:

Note:  Hunt&Cam4Ever is a one of my favorite series of all time.  Mike Merisi, investigator with Hunter Dane’s special unit, is a character that appears throughout that series.  It’s not necessary to have read that series before reading this story however, as it actually takes place before Mike goes to the Academy.

Mike Merisi works for his family’s business.  He’s a CPA and his favorite client is Cal Derricksen.  They have been circling each other for some time and Mike’s determined to ask Cal out now that he’s about to no longer be a client.  But when he sees Cal in his office, he kind of skips right over the asking for a date and goes right to sex on the office furniture 😉  While they both enjoy it, there is something off and Mike realizes he needs to figure out how to handle this relationship or it’ll be over before it even starts.

Mike has come off of a relationship where he’s basically been used and he realizes that is not at all who he is.  His encounter with Cal cements something in his mind that causes him to reach out for guidance.  The guidance takes shape in a Dom Master that is recommended to him through the local sex shop.  Octavio is the Master and although he’s semi-retired, he does occasionally take on new trainees.  There is something about Michaelangelo Merisi that he likes.  Mike only has two week before he enters the police academy so their training has to be accelerated.  Which fits since Mike and Cal’s relationship has also been accelerated 😉  Mike instinctively knows a lot about what Cal wants, but they are both babes in the woods when it comes to BDSM.  So the Master has to teach Mike quickly.  It’s grueling, but effective.  And Mike understands what he needs to do and how he has to lead and follow.  Most importantly, he learns quickly that this is not a game and there are rules for a reason.  He has a great responsibility that he will need to fulfill if he indeed wants to make this D/s relationship work with Cal.

Wow.  This book is a beauty.  Mike Merisi is one of my favorite characters from one of my all-time favorite series, Hunt&Can4Ever.  I’ve always hoped that we’d get stories for the other members of Hunter Dane’s special unit.  This one is a doozy!  I think this story does a great job of explaining many of the misunderstood tenets of BDSM.  It also illustrates why training is so important and what kind of ego checking has to be done in order for things to truly be safe, sane and consensual.  Mike makes mistakes.  He knows that – that’s why he’s gone for training.  But it takes really submitting for him to finally understand what is really required of him as a Dom.  Is it painful?  Yes.  It is necessary?  Absolutely.  He needs to understand where his own desires and assumptions have caused him to make mistakes with Cal and what he needs to do in order to have a successful relationship with him.  They’ve moved fast with neither of them having much of a roadmap.  They are going to have to be completely honest with each other if they want to make this work.  Cal has never been in a relationship before – never had a boyfriend.  This is new territory for him as well and he will have to deal with his shame in expressing his desires – but that can only be accomplished if Mike is ready to handle his role.  I was blown away by this tale and how much Mike desired to be better for Cal and what he was willing to endure in order to learn.  I can’t wait for the next chapter in their story.   Highly recommended for fans of BDSM and seeing a couple step into who they really are.

RATING:

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