The Deals We Make by S. Cole is live!

The final book of the Iron Outlaws MC series, this is Vex’s story.
A childhood-best-friends-reunited love story that is beautifully emotional with great character development and a gorgeous romance, and I loved it.

 

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Blurb

From USA Today best selling author Scarlett Cole, writing as S. Cole, comes an electrifying best friends to enemies to lovers romance.

Calista
They always say you should never fall in love with your best friend.
And that’s especially true if they aren’t in love with you.
But when I was eighteen years old, I did it anyway.
Until Tiberius “Vex” Williams did the unthinkable and shattered my heart, costing me everything.
But now I’m back in New Jersey with an ailing mother and an unknown stalker.
The last thing I need is a grumpy biker determined to make sense of our past.

Vex
There are many rumors about how I became an Outlaw, but I became one to save my best friend’s life after she threatened to hack the MC.
And she hated me for it, leaving New Jersey in a blur of words time hasn’t healed.
Calista Moray is now the CEO of a leading cybersecurity firm, and she’s back looking better than ever.
When our paths cross, sparks fly. We’re best friends turned enemies with a score to settle and a whole lot of tension between us.
Until the head of the Cosa Nostra confides that millions of dollars have been stolen from their accounts and he asks me to figure out where their money went.
The thought I’ll find Calista’s digital fingerprint everywhere terrifies me.
Especially given this time around, it’s not just our hearts but our lives at stake.

 

 

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Review

4.5 stars

The final book of the Iron Outlaws MC series, this is Vex’s story. A childhood-best-friends-reunited love story that is beautifully emotional with great character development and a gorgeous romance, and I loved it.

Vex is the tech guru for the Outlaws. He is a beloved member of the club, and we’ve seen him save the lives of his brothers and their girls over and over throughout the series. In this book we get to see his complicated backstory with the MC, and just how he came to be a member of the club, and I was fascinated!

Vex and Calista grew up as neighbours and best friends. They developed a mutual love of hacking, and when a teenaged Calista was poised to land in a world of trouble, Vex jumped into save her, and ended up indebted to the Iron Outlaws, and a patched-in member of the club. Calista was hurt in the process, and she left town and it’s been years since they’ve seen or spoken to each other.

When Calista, now a wealthy CEO of her own cybersecurity company, returns to their home town to care for her ailing mother, she and Vex are back in each other’s orbit once again, and he has no intention of staying away anymore. And when he suspects she may behind a hack on one of their allies, and learns that she’s in hiding from a potentially dangerous stalker, he’s all in for the girl that he’s never forgotten.

“I got you, Cal. I promise. All the shit, all the water under the bridge, all the hate you carry in your heart and the hurt I carry in mine – none of it matters. If you were at risk, I’d keep you safe, I promise.”

Vex and Calista have such a complex history. They’ve both been hurt, they both have good reasons to be angry, and their feelings around their reunion are complicated even further by Calista’s unrequited teenage crush on her best friend, and her lingering feelings for him. With them back in each other’s lives and finally talking about all that went down between them years ago, everything is about to change.

It feels like history is being re-written. Like I’m being given a second chance to map out how our story ends.
And I’m determined not to fuck it up again.

The attraction between these two is there from the first moment they are reunited. There’s just a whole lot of anger in the way. But once they deal with that and move forward, we get to enjoy every moment of relationship build-up between them. They’re honest and open about what they’re feeling, and I loved watching them dive in and explore their mad chemistry.

“It can’t be casual between us, can it?”
He cups my cheek. “I don’t think it can be casual, but I also don’t know how we would ever make it permanent. But is that a good enough reason to not even try it?”

Calista lives on the other side of the country, and she wants nothing to do with the Outlaws, so they both know that they can’t work long term, but that doesn’t stop them from falling hard for each other. Through it all they talk about their lives and the challenges they face, and I loved how mature and functional they are about it all.

“I think we owe it to each other to live through the next phase of who we are to each other as honestly as we can.”

Vex is gorgeous as a man falling hopelessly in love. He’s torn between his brothers in the club and the woman he loves, and I loved seeing him take stock of his life, figuring out what he wants, and fighting to make it happen.

“A man’s only as good as the world he creates for himself, the way he loves and protects and serves his family, the way he honors his friends, the way he takes care of them all. ‘Property’ might be an old-school way of expressing it, but as my old lady, you’d be the most important person I’d have the honor of taking care of.”

But Vex and Calista both inhabit dangerous worlds, and with threats coming at them from multiple angles, they may not even get the chance to get the happy ending they are so desperate for.

“I fucking love you, Calista. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”

I loved being back in this world! I love the brothers, I love their girls and their kids, and I love all of the fantastic dynamics between them all. They really are a found family, and seeing them have each other’s backs without question is just amazing. There are so many moments among the boys, the girls, and the whole group together that stand out as highlights in this book, and I loved each and every one of them.

I was sad to see the end of this series, but am so excited that Scarlett Cole will be continuing on with more Outlaws books from the Colorado chapter. I’m sure we’ll see more of the characters that I have come to care for so much, but I can’t wait to meet a whole new bunch of bikers (the glimpse at the end of this book already has me invested!).

This is a great read that is romantic and emotional, and I loved this story so much!

4.5 stars.

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.

 

Iron Outlaws MC

 

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Meet the Author

The tattoo across my right hip says it all really. A Life Less Ordinary. Inked by the amazingly talented Luke Wessman at the Wooster Street Social Club (a.k.a. New York Ink). Why is it important? Well, it sums up my view on life. That we should all aspire to live a life that is less boring, less predictable. Be bold, and do something amazing. I’ve made some crazy choices. I’ve been a car maker, a consultant, and even a senior executive at a large retailer running strategy. Born in England, spent time in the U.S. and Japan, before ending up in Canada where I met my own, personal hero – all six and a half feet of him. Both of us are scorpios! Yeah, I know! Should have checked the astrological signs earlier, but somehow it works for us. We have two amazing kids, who I either could never part with or could easily be convinced to sell on e-bay.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a really long time. Check through my office cupboards or my computer and you’ll find half written stories and character descriptions everywhere. Now I’m getting the chance to follow that dream.

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For more information on S. Cole and her books visit: http://www.scarlettcole.com/