Title: Three Dirty Secrets
Author: Nikki Sloane
Genre: Romance, Fiction
What It's About: Reagan works at the blindfold club--she's the only one of the women working at the club who is not willing to get on the table, claiming that she has a boyfriend. By day, she meets with her handler, who has become a friend since her last undercover job, in which her mark had shot her. And she does not want to mess up this job for the FBI--they are using the club to investigate corrupted politicians, in particular, they are hoping to catch Victor, a higher level politician in Chicago.
During one of her nights, Reagan speaks to Payton, who tells her that Joseph has an amazing, intricate tattoo. Joseph sets her up for an appointment with Silas, who now only does tattoos for friends as a favor. She meets him at his gallery--a photography gallery--and he takes her on his motorcycle to another tattoo artist's shop. There, she tells him a modified version of the story of how she got shot, omitting the fact that she is an FBI agent. He listens to her, but after they are done, they share a moment together where he almost gets undressed. They are interrupted by the tattoo shop owner coming in and asking for Silas as he likes watching Silas work.
Despite not wanting to get involved in a relationship, Reagan stays around Silas as she is drawn to him. She continues to hang out at his gallery and sees one of Victor's aides there, so she gives out her card to him from the club, telling the man about it. Sure enough, Victor is at the gallery as well, but he doesn't seem to be interested in talking to her after viewing the photo that Silas spoke about. Victor does not come to the club nor does his assistant reach out to them.
Reagan comes to Silas's exhibition night, after he invited her. They also attend Payton and Dominic's wedding together after Silas sends in her RSVP without speaking to her about it, which causes an argument between them. Reagan is panicking because she does not want this to mean more than it already does to her, and she does not want to admit to herself that she does love Silas.
But she does admit that to herself at least, and as a result, she goes over to Caroline's office. Caroline is Silas's older sister and she is the first female U.S. Marshal. Reagan tells her that she cares for Silas deeply but at the moment she cannot reveal her undercover work. Caroline agrees to keep it quiet as long as Reagan comes clean once her undercover work is over.
Silas invites her to a photoshoot with Joseph and Noemi, which Reagan takes to mean that they will have a foursome, but it turns out that Joseph proposes to Noemi during the shoot, and the couple goes to meet with Noemi's dad afterwards. Once they are gone, Silas and Reagan have sex, which they have been doing since the gallery opening night anyway. During one of those nights that they had been having sex, Silas revealed that he is afraid of the dark because his sister locked him up in a cabinet for over 8 hours, and he had no choice but to stay there until he got rescued. When Reagan has a migraine that incapacitates her even after she takes her migraine medicine, Silas stays with her in bed, in the quiet (he needs music in the dark) and the dark, because he cares about her and knows that she needs both the dark and the quiet to get over her migraine.
At some point early on, Silas did go to find Reagan at the blindfold club, because she did not provide her phone number for him to reach her at in order to share the photos that they had created while having sex. He finds Reagan in the room with Tara and isn't willing to pay more than a small amount, which Tara takes. But the point of it is for Reagan to play with Tara and he watches. All there of them love this, so later, Tara proposes a three-way relationship. They end up doing it, where Silas and Reagan share the dominant role in their role play, and they all love it.
Ultimately, Julius, the current owner of the blindfold club tells Reagan that he got an interested member, but that the person is only willing to come if Reagan gets on the table. She ultimately agrees to do so in order to get the Assistant to flip on Victor.
That night, when she decides to do it, Marquis, the bouncer who got caught in dealing arms and had to help her get into the club as part of his case, sneers at her as if he knows that something is up. Reagan is on the table, blindfolded and one of the other sale associates is with her. The man comes in and the sale associate negotiates the price, though it is low. Reagan accepts it and the man gets close to her--they talk and he starts touching her which she doesn't like, so she tries to raise the signal. Turns out that it is Victor, and he starts to choke he in order to not get caught once he finds out that she is the FBI. Julius manages to get to her in time, but reveals that Marquis had blocked him and he had to take a beating to get to her, with Marquis saying something about her being FBI. Reagan reveals that she is indeed FBI, and tells him what to do next so that he will not get into jail. She passes out and wakes up in the hospital with her handler sitting in her room. Silas eventually comes and stays a while, and when Caroline comes by to check on Reagan, she inadvertently reveals Reagan's true role in the whole situation to Silas.
So Reagan comes clean to Silas and tells him that her first name is actually Andrea. Silas leaves and does not talk to Reagan for a few days once she returns home. Reagan seeks him out and his assistant at the gallery tells him that Silas has been a pain in the ass. Reagan talks to him and they work out their relationship.
She also asks her agency to let the club continue operating and that she stays in. They agree because they haven't had any success with any of their other investigations--one had gone bust recently. Besides, Julius had gotten immunity based on Reagan's instructions for himself and his employees. He also hired Kyle McReary, Payton's brother, as a lawyer to represent him.
Payton and Kyle are at the FBI office after extensive questioning, and Reagan goes to talk to them, telling Payton that she's never been truer to herself than as who she is as Reagan. She reels that the persona that she has followed as Reagan is who she truly is underneath.
My Thoughts: I actually enjoyed Silas and Reagan as a couple, and I'm glad that the author decided to do something slightly different this time, in showing how two partners who like to be in charge can work well together. I did enjoy the romance, but especially I enjoyed how they solved problems together and worked through their issues through the whole thing--including revealing their own fears, especially Silas, who then goes on to deal with the discomfort that the dark and the silence causes for him, in order to make Reagan comfortable. or when Reagan decides that she's going to get the shots that will help make her migraines much more bearable or non-existent though she's not a fan of needles. It feels like they're pushing each other to face their own discomfort /dislikes without putting each other in traumatic situations. Very sweet, and it's a lot softer than the first three books in how they find love outside of the club, but still connected by the people who were once in the club. Can't wait to read the next one.
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