Protecting Fate by Katee Robert
Contemporary Romance/BDSM Erotica
Released March 17, 2015
Entangled Brazen

Reviewed by Sheena

Her body was his to protect. And to own…

The sixth installment of the naughty series that is set at the exclusive club of proclivity, Serve, where anything goes, no desires are taboo and on the right floor, you can find a willing partner who shares your kink. To act out any scene straight out of your most secret fantasies.  Protecting Fate is the story of fixer Sara Reaver and her reluctant bodyguard, Z and the passions that threaten to change their lives forever.

Sara is in over her head in her quest to “fix” her current client’s little problem.  The plot progression of how she finds herself in so deep is a little weak, but this isn’t my first Serve Series rodeo, so I was willing to overlook the author being a little too fast and loose with exactly how much reality I needed to suspend to get into the groove of the story.  Nevertheless, Sara is in serious trouble and her uncle, club Serve proprietor, “Uncle Roger” sends his best man to cover her for the indefinite amount of time it will take to neutralize the threat against her life.  And then we meet Z.

Different scenes were in play around him, the sensory overload only setting him further on edge.  Keep it reigned in, man.  Get the girl, and get out of here.  because he wanted to stop and watch the man spanking the woman bent over a bench, pausing every few strokes to finger her between her legs.  Or the couple fucking on the couch across from Sara in plain view of anyone who cared to watch.  Or the Dom tying his sub to the bondage contraption, creating a fascinating pattern with purple rope across her body.  It was like fucking Candyland in here.  Which meant he needed to leave. Now.

Zebadiah “Z” Loreto is imposing and so straight-laced, a girl can’t possibly help the compulsion to ruffle his feathers, see whats hiding under all that ex-military, professional bodyguard stoicism.  Z and Sara meet at the club of all places, where I nearly have a coronary wondering if Robert would dare show the fiercely independent and sexually liberated (read: she is quite promiscuous) Sara, actually go through a kinky bondage scene with an admirer.  I kept chanting, no, no, no. no, but like a train wreck, I could not look away until *whew* crisis averted.  This was noteworthy because the author wrote Sara so well that it was quite feasible that  she would have no qualms about performing sexually with the random dude even on the heels of sparks flying with Z.  I am not into slut shaming, but Sara rode a fine line for me.  Even her best friend and future sister-in-law quipped about Sara having been around the block a few times too many.  Her “Three rounds and you’re out” motto kept her heart and vagina firmly separated as Sara was deathly afraid of commitment and falling in love after witnessing her parent’s failed marriage.  Right away, they share common ground as Sara is a submissive who is burning for a dominant lover and Z is just the Dom to fit the bill.  The attraction is immediate and though the lady protests much- I knew I would look forward to seeing her fall for Z.  It was just a matter of time before she gave into her pleasure and try to heal his emotional ruin.  Oh but I love an emotionally tortured hero- he has scars too!!

I didn’t have to wait long for their coupling as the pissed off tycoon after Sara makes a move against her (eye roll, more on this later), forcing Z to whisk her into hiding- in a ginormous mansion. With a pool…where she can do Olympic style freestyle laps, skinny dipping. Cue the resolve melting from Z’s bones as he watches from his bedroom window- and decides to guard her body- with his own. In the naked kind of way. *wiggles eyebrows.*  Sara is a woman in full control of her feminine powers of persuasion.  She is a fire cracker who is not scared to poke the bear to get a reaction.  I lived for her bold tongue and fearless seduction.  Z hadn’t had a chance really.

If this guy worked for Garrett, then he was a master of control.  She’d have to be a saint not to try and test him…

“I have a question for you , Z.”

He dropped his gaze to the scrap of cloth covering the dip between her thighs.  He could swear it was damp from her desire.  His control fractured a little more. “What?”

“Do you want me?” Her voice seduced him as thoroughly as the sight of her body.  “I can feel your eyes on me.  Do you want to touch me?”

Yes. Fuck, yes. He was actually reaching out to do just that when he caught himself.  What the fuck was he doing?

Their romance had several bumps in the road.  Both wary for their own reasons, they have several false starts and when they finally decide to give it a real shot, they are forced apart for weeks at a time.  They are very compatible sexually, but I didn’t really buy into their emotional connection.  No head over heels in love, that’s for certain.  Their happy reunion is short lived when game changing news is discovered and neither of them react appropriately.  Given the weak plot, this pivotal shift they experience during their blow -up is easily the best few chapters of the entire book.  She is regressing, he is irrational. She is proud and stubborn and he can not let go of his not-so-secret past that haunts him.

The resolution is as weak as the rest of the plot, however, for a while there, the author really gave us something special.  Though I liked the story well enough, there were some definite issues that prevented it from being as great as it could have been.  Z was previously married and though incessantly about his ex-wife.  Though the thoughts were not fond, they were distracting, If I didn’t hear another thing about Jennifer, the ex bitch wife, it would have been too soon.  Also, naiveté’ is reserved for young, barely grown heroines.  Not big, burly and world hardened professional bodyguards.  How he believed he worked for a top-notch human security and reconnaissance firm and they have no clue about why he was dishonorably discharged from the military was just silly.  By all accounts you are robo-bodyguard, the best in the business, leading your own team of robo-bodyguards and they didn’t check you out? Snort. C’mon.  Also, this “danger” Sara was in, was super weak.  I needed to see a real attempt on her life. Sure they tossed her apartment, but that was child’s play.  If she was assigned the best bodyguard in the business and sequestered for as long as she was, I need the villain to be  a complete bad ass to inject a little menace into the story!

The danger was luke warm but not to disappoint, the sex was hot.  Though billed as erotica, BDSM, these Serve novels are very accessible for those who are not heavy into the lifestyle, but can appreciate some light bondage and submission sex play.

Sara barely had time to get into the feeling of Z’s cock in her mouth when he dragged her up his body to straddle him.  Hi hands urged her to slide up and down against his cock, its ridge lining up perfectly with her clit.  There was something so damn forbidden about this, about them miming sex without any barrier between them, that her entire body zinged with desire unlike any she’d ever known.  Every inch of her skin was on fire, the feeling heightened by the drag of her nipples against his chest, the imprint of each of his fingers on her ass, his cock between her legs, his tongue in her mouth.  She wanted.  God Almighty, she wanted.

No blood letting, no bodily fluids (besides references to climax) and the spanking is barely enough to leave a blush upon a girls bottom.  Robert does a great job of giving the best of both worlds to readers.  All of the dark passion and sensuality of a BDSM scene without any of the more uncomfortable and graphic elements that could turn off a reader with only a mild interest in the arts.  Out of all of the Serve novels, Z is the best Dom I’ve read- mainly because he is more aggressively dominant with his woman. Some of the other hero’s were too soft and permissive.  You’re a Dom for crying out loud!  If that Sub gets sassy, spank that ass!!! Z definitely lived up to his Dom status without crossing any sensitive lines.  Me liked. A lot.

As I mentioned the plot is paper-thin, but the juicy, steamy bits propel the story to it’s surprisingly strong conclusion.  Serve series enthusiasts will enjoy  this installment and the novel stands alone for those new to the series.  Like Sara, I’m in too deep to abandon Serve just yet! I’m crossing my fingers for a #7. *wink*

Grade: C+

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