Why oh why did I wait so long to read this book?! Well, life sometimes has a way of interfering with my plans. I’ve been a huge fan of Elle Keaton’s books since I read my first one back in 2018. According to my reading records I blew through the first four books in the Shielded Hearts series in four days and I’ve never looked back. (The series was formerly called Accidental Roots.)

Red Flagged is a continuation of the first two books in the Reclaimed Hearts series (I think you should read these stories in order). Each book has a satisfying conclusion for the romance between the two main characters but there is an underlying mystery that has yet to be solved.

Dante and Andre had a thing a year or so ago and then they both kind of disappeared (not together 😊). They reconnect in Cooper Springs and find that the attraction between them is still there. The romance in this story is great but the mystery of who is trying to kill Andre is what really kept me on the edge of my seat while reading.

Elle Keaton is great at throwing out red-herrings and leaving several possibilities as to who the bad guys are. Also, the mystery of old bones, dead bodies and other things going on in Cooper Springs kept me turning the pages in my e-reader as fast as I could read.

I love second chance stories and this one for Dante and Andre was great with the bonus being that they are both older than 30. I love reading books about characters of all ages but it’s especially fun when I get to read one about characters in the 30-50 years old range.

The epilogue wrapped everything very nicely while at the same time teasing us a bit for what might be coming next and I can’t wait.

Reviews for Elle Keaton

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André’s evening reading was interrupted by a banging against his front door. The hammering was loud, purposeful, and, in André’s opinion, full of false promise. He briefly contemplated not answering. The reverberation alone told him who was on the other side.

He had a choice to make.

For fuck’s sake, the thundering knock hadn’t even startled him.

Damn.

Annoyed, he set his mystery novel—a British cozy he’d been half paying attention to while listening to the rain pound against the roof—face down on the arm of the couch and rose to his feet. Traitorous anticipation bloomed slowly, languorously, alongside the growing exasperation in the pit of his stomach, rising like the steam from a freshly brewed cup of tea.

“Dear, I know you’re in there. Answer the fucking door. It’s pissing down out here.”

Wasn’t forty-five too old for a booty call? Was it a booty call when the ass in question showed up unannounced and, well, uncalled?

André didn’t have time to answer any of that in the short distance between his couch and the front door. Reaching out, he flipped the lock open and then twisted the handle, his hand shaking slightly.

This would be the last time.

Seconds later, André was slammed back against the living room wall, his hands automatically slipping under Dante’s leather jacket and cotton t-shirt, his fingertips sliding against Dante’s chilled, damp, skin. Dante murmured something and then his mouth was on André’s, claiming him as he always did.

Always. But never forever.

Within minutes, they were mostly naked and stumbling into André’s bedroom. A trail of clothing was strewn behind them, much like Hansel and Gretel’s trail of breadcrumbs so they could find their way back out of the wicked forest.

André felt his personal forest was much more complicated than Hansel and Gretel’s, but he’d finally found a way out of it.

This was the last time they were doing this.

At least this time, they made it to the bed and hadn’t just ended up on the couch like so many nights before. Falling onto the mattress, André had landed on his back and currently was gazing down his body, watching an equally naked Dante press his nose into André’s crotch. He liked it.

God, he liked it.

His cock did too. His cock was a fan of everything Dante. But it needed to stop. It had to. A relationship that consisted of late-night knocks on the door (followed up by the best sex André had ever experienced) and an empty spot next to him in the morning was not what he wanted.

The sex was incredible but what happened afterward made him intensely lonely.

As ridiculous as it was for a man of his age and profession—a U.S. Marshal, for godsakes—André wanted a partner. A real partner.

Dante Castone, an undercover operator for the DEA, was not the man for the job.

He wanted someone who’d stand by his side through good and bad times and vice versa. Dante was not that man. No matter how fucking incredible his lips felt as they closed around André’s cock.

“Jesus,” André groaned, arching his back.

Since a partner didn’t seem to be in the cards for André at this late stage in the game, he’d decided to settle for a job that wasn’t actively trying to kill him. He wanted to head into his twilight years like a cop on The Andy Griffith Show or Mayberry R.F.D., giving advice to innocent kids and chatting with senior citizens who would end up having the answer to everything.

“You’re distracted tonight,” Dante rumbled as he let André’s cock slip from between his lips so he could begin licking his way up André’s body. He was heading toward André’s neck, which seemed to be a favorite place of his.

“Don’t leave marks,” André complained, his hips jerking as Dante nibbled on a sensitive nipple. “I don’t want to have to explain anything to my coworkers.”

“So many rules. You know I love breaking rules.”

Dante did love breaking rules—André’s rules, at any rate.

“Quit thinking so hard.” Dante punctuated his demand by biting and then sucking hard on André’s nipple, tracing around the nub with his hot tongue.

“Fuck.” André’s cock throbbed with anticipation of what was to come—himself and Dante—and he writhed desperately underneath Dante’s pleasantly heavy, muscular body, needing more contact, more of everything.

Reclaimed Hearts Series

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