Joey

4.5 Heart Eyes

This is a super sweet story of a man crawling out from abuse and possibly finding love and a safe shore. I hearted it. Big time.

Joey Harkin, 6'3”, is 27 y.o. and just managing to get his bearings after escaping 8 years with an abusive ex who disguised his sadism, cruelty, and insecurity as a D/s relationship. He works as a project manager in a prestigious Chicago advertising firm, and after things go haywire on a campaign, he comes to the attention of one of the firm owners, Rick Southwell. Rick is 45, a Dom, and a bit jaded about love and relationships. Aren't we all? LOL Rick pretty quickly recognizes Joey's submissiveness, but he also senses there's fear and hurt. After some bad stuff happens Rick gets the chance to step in and slowly tries to figure out Joey's story and how he can help him heal.

I loved this. I liked the pacing, I liked the characters, and I liked how they related to each other. I liked that though perhaps this is tagged as D/s and maybe even DaddyDom, none of it really comes in to play as pertains to Joey & Rick. They're not, and may never be, at a stage where Joey can once again feel that level of trust, and Rick is the kind of man who's strong, and secure enough in who he is and what he wants to be there for Joey in any capacity their relationship may take.

I'm jumping right into Bk.2 because I'm a vengeful harridan.