Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-60504-575-7
Contemporary Erotica, 2009
In Taking Chloe, Merrick and Chloe Vaughn are happily married. Or so Merrick believes. Imagine his shock when Chloe announces that she wants to leave him because she’s tired of him always putting his work above everything else. Don’t think she’s being unreasonable. Merrick in this story is really ridiculous – he barely exchanges a few words with Chloe at home before he falls asleep, apparently because he’s exhausted himself in the office. She really can’t talk to him and he’s barely there for her, I don’t blame her for feeling as if she’s the only one trying to make the marriage work.
Merrick then does what every rich guy with plenty of dough to spare would do for the woman he loves – whisk her off to Hawaii, their honeymoon spot, and spend the week giving her the best sex she has experienced as well as some that she hasn’t yet up to that point. Naturally, it’s a happy ending from that point.
This is a pleasant read, heavy on sex scenes but at the same time with enough story to ensure that the happy ending this time around is believable. I’d give Ms Rainey plenty of credit in telling me that even after the happy week of sex, these two characters still have to work to repair their relationship.
Short stories are touch and go where quality is concerned, especially those marketed in the “Red Hots!” line, but I’m pleased to discover that Taking Chloe has a nice balance of story and sensual scenes to round things up nicely.
