Title: Mine to Hold
Author: Shayla Black
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Publishing 9/3/13
Length:   297 Pages
Series:  Wicked Lovers #6

Overview

A friend’s duty.

Tyler Murphy was an LAPD detective, single and happy—until a near-fatal tragedy crippled his friend, fellow detective Eric Catalano. While Tyler supported Eric, he also became a shoulder for Eric’s wife, Delaney, to lean on. But with one naughty suggestion from Eric, a drunken night with Delaney spilled into erotic abandon. Before it was over, Tyler saw his best friend’s wife as a woman and yearned for more. When Eric struggled to deal with the aftermath, Delaney begged Tyler to leave. Crushed, he fled to Louisiana, hoping to escape his longing for the one woman he could never have again…and unaware of what he’d left behind.

A lover’s desire.

After two years of living with regret, Tyler finds Delaney on his doorstep, her husband having abandoned her long ago. She’s protecting a shocking secret and desperately needs refuge from a stalker determined to see her dead. As they fight to stay alive and catch the killer, they struggle to resolve the guilt of their past pleasures. But they can’t deny that what was once a spark is now a flame burning out of control. To possess Delaney—body and soul—Tyler must heal her pain and thwart the evil that’s a mere breath behind her…

My Thoughts

it’s nice to get Tyler’s story here – he’s been a constant in the series so far, ever since we got introduced to him in Alyssa and Luc’s story and well, it’s about time that we see what really makes him tic.  We know that he was brought into the series because he was hired by Alyssa’a brother to find her and we also know that he’s a serial womanizer – a guy who really hasn’t had much of a reason to plant a solid foundation anywhere.  at least romantically.

So this story is where we see what his past was like, and what it means for his future.  We know that he was a cop from LA and that he left that job to become a detective and then went out on his own.  Thankfully before that though, we know that he at one point in time had a best friend and partner who was married to an amazing woman.  And that’s where the stories cross.

Delaney was the wife of Tyler’s partner, and after prodding from her now ex husband, they ended up becoming much closer than friends.  Of course you know that it’s going to end poorly and that’s exactly what happened – 2 years ago.  Tyler ends up in Louisiana and Del is still in LA trying to rebuild her life now that she’s singer and a mom.  yup a mom.

Our 6th installment to the series opens up when Del has come to Tyler for help since she’s being hunted by a drug lord and an ADA who’s got a god complex.  She needs Tyler to protect her (their) son so that she can write her story and hopefully wrap things up.

If only life were that simple right?  Well we learn that Tyler has always had incredibly intense feelings for Del and they haven’t reduced at all over the years.  Seeing her again is the only thing that potentially keeps him from chasing other women and seeing his son, a boy that he never knew about, well that just about turns his life upside down.  This is where Ms Shayla Black does  an amazing job of giving us a completely different perspective of Tyler than we ever had before.

The story from here is one of a roller coaster – trying to figure out how to get the story finished, keep everyone safe and figure out what they are to each other now.  We see the help of just about every character that we’ve met come into play in this story and it’s a really sweet way to continue the saga.  They truly are a family who want Tyler to be happy and now Del and Seth too.

Let’s just say that while there is closure on some pieces of the story, there are still so many open ended bits.  We know that all relationships can;t be fixed and that’s actually ok.  We see a lot of death, injury and hints at what’ to come next for some of the characters which means that this series is long lived even after a 6th book! The passion and heat between our two mains is intense per usual and that’s exactly what we need to keep things going.  Where we had BDSM and kink in the last book, we have romance and emotion in this one.  A nice way to mix things up.

All in all, a great continuation and i can’t wait to see what’s next.  We saw an awful lot of Xander again on this book like we did in #5 so i can’t wait to get to the crux of what makes him tick and hopefully his brother as well since we know there’s a murder mystery there too.  So, i hope everyone takes a read – and enjoy!