Douglas, spare heir to the British crown, is caught with his pants down in an alley. His social media/PR manager, Maverick, is forced to work even more closely with him so as to prevent this from happening again. Along the way, their prejudices fade away, and the line between prince and employee begins to blur as Douglas introduces Maverick to the world of soft BDSM and gentle kink.
This book is delightfully ridiculous. For example, the royal family has its own sex club.
“The club had begun as a hidden kink by one of his ancestors, who had made a room he solely used for his own pleasures. When his son became out of control, the king had introduced his son to it, hoping to curb his wild ways. From there, it had branched out through the years, introducing more and more family members into it as a way to bring the family closer and to teach them the control and humility needed to be a royal figure. In recent years, they had created the club to allow a safer place for them to play out of the prying eyes of the media.”
Douglas “works” at the club as a monitor and teacher. As part of his punishment, his father requires that he put in more hours at the club, which in this universe is basically their version of community service. His brothers, cousins, and their spouses all have regular shifts. When misbehavior occurs, the king and queen are directly involved in solving the problem and doling out punishments.
My two cents: perhaps having the royal family wholly distracted by their own private sex club shenanigans is good for the entire country. Maybe even the entire world. I’m just saying it could prevent a lot of problems.
Maverick is Prince Douglas’s stressed-out and overworked employee. Douglas feels bad for causing so much trouble for him. When Maverick is incapacitated by a migraine, Douglas uses some of his sensory BDSM skills on Maverick during an impromptu head and neck massage. Overwhelmed with the guilt of taking advantage of his employee by touching him without explicit consent, Douglas apologizes and begs for forgiveness. It turns out that Maverick is curious and, when Douglas suggests a more formal arrangement with strictly non-painful “stress relief” play, Maverick agrees.
This is not a good book. But it was strange as hell and made me laugh a ton.
Content warnings for descriptions of non-consensual flogging, physical abuse, and assault.
I got this book as part of June’s Stuff Your Kindle Day on romancebookworms.