Close Contact

Close Contact (Body Armor series)- Lori Foster
HQN Books
Release Date: November 28, 2017

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: MMA fighter Miles Dartman’s casual arrangement with personal shopper Maxi Nevar would be many men’s fantasy. She seeks him out, they have mindblowing sex, she leaves. Rinse, repeat. Yet lately, Miles wants more. And when Maxi requests his services via the Body Armor security agency, he’s ready to finally break through her defenses—and protect her day and night.

Receiving a large inheritance has brought chaos and uncertainty into Maxi’s life. Her ex has resurfaced, along with lots of former “friends,” and someone is making mysterious threats. Then there’s Miles, who doesn’t ask for anything…except her trust. Pleasure is easy. Now Maxi has to give her heart as well as her body…or risk losing a man who could be everything she needs.

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Maxi Nevar has been spooked since she moved into her late grandmother's farmhouse, but has convinced herself the incidents were nothing.  Until she wakes up outside, clearly having been drugged.  That sends her to Body Armor, where she knows MMA fighter Miles Dartman now works.  What was supposed to be a one night stand left Miles thinking about more- but he couldn't find Maxi until she walked into Body Armor and hired him.  Now he has to juggle his attraction to her with his doubt about her crazy story, and then with trying to protect her from the mysterious threat that is becoming more violent by the day.

Close Contact is a great addition to Lori Foster's Body Armor series (Under Pressure, Hard Justice) of MMA fighters who have made the move into being elite body guards. Miles is the latest fighter to change careers and he meets his match with Maxi Nevar.  After a brief, no-strings attached fling it was Maxi who walked away and Miles who found himself feeling rejected.  As hurt as he feels about that he doesn't think twice about protecting her from whatever is going on at her house. Maxi tried keeping him at a distance because between the craziness in her life and her bad track record with men, she figured this was the wrong time, wrong place.  But Miles is the whole package: smart, strong, brave, loyal, and incredibly good-looking. They have combustible chemistry and Maxi doesn't stand a chance at not falling in love with him. It was fun watching their good intentions (Miles at taking it slow, Maxi at keeping her emotions out of it) fly out the window.  There was just enough history between the two of them that it felt like perfectly picking up an ongoing story, without feeling like we were missing any backstory or getting impossible insta-love. Foster does her usual excellent job of building a relationship based on respect and a developing friendship as well as chemistry.

There's also enough of a suspense story to keep the reader on edge and without it feeling like an afterthought.  I enjoyed how Foster kept us guessing until the very end at who was responsible for the threats against Maxi- and why.  While recurring characters from other books make some cameos, you don't have to have read the other books to thoroughly enjoy Close Contact. Long-time readers will enjoy seeing Leese, Armie, and the regular MMA crew pop up, as well as Foster continuing to set up Brand and Sahara's story (Fast Burn- coming March 2018!).  

Close Contact is everything we've come to expect from a Lori Foster book: fast-paced writing; fun, layered characters; humor; and danger. Add in some sexy fighters and about a million cats and this book will keep you hooked! Warning: plan on reading in one sitting, because you won't be able to put Close Contact down once you start!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review