Review – Skin Deep (I-Team After Hours #1) by Pamela Clare

Description:

An I-Team Spin Off

Broken on the inside

Megan Hunter has worked hard to get back on her feet, leaving the nightmare of her teenage years behind. The last thing she wants or needs in her life is a man. But when she is attacked by someone from her past, a scarred stranger intervenes, saving her life and that of her little girl. Looks can be deceiving, for despite the man’s rough appearance, she feels safe with him. And for the first time in her life, she knows the stirrings of desire.

Broken on the outside

Nathaniel West paid a high price serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. He returned to his family’s ranch in the Colorado mountains to heal—and be alone. Disfigured as he is, he has put all thoughts of sex and romance aside. But something about Megan brings him back to life, heats his blood, makes him feel like a man again. As danger pursues her, and the truth about her past is revealed, he vows to protect her—and to heal her wounded spirit.

But confronting the past is never easy—especially when it’s carrying a gun. Megan will have to learn to trust Nate to survive and to claim a passion that is much more than … Skin Deep.

Includes a Bonus Story, Marc & Julian Make a Beer Run
Ride along with Marc, Julian, Zach, Gabe, Reece, Nate, and Joaquin as a beer run turns out to be more than they bargained for.

I was all excited to get my hands on SKIN DEEP. I LOVE the I-Team series and couldn’t wait to read the first book in the new spin off series.

Megan and Nate are two of the most deserving H/h I have ever read.  Both broken and wounded from past circumstances, both lonely and scared of rejection. The two officially meet when Nate rescues Megan and her daughter from an attacker. Nate sees something in Megan’s eyes he hasn’t seen in a long time, interest and lack of horror at his appearance. Megan feels something she has never felt for a man, butterflies in her belly, along with a sense of safety that she has only felt when around her brother Marc and his best friend, my man, Darcangelo.

Nate extends an invitation to his ranch so Emily, Megan’s little girl, can see his horses. When Megan and Emily go to the ranch they end up snowed in, which leads to one of the sweetest, most tender romances I have ever read, seriously. The way Nate approaches being intimate with Megan, the way Megan kisses Nate’s scars and their first time together, it is all is so moving. It’s hot, but on top of hot, seeing two wounded, scarred people feel the emotions they did is absolutely breathtaking.

The relationship between Nate and Megan was more than enough for a great book. However, Emily, Nate and Nate’s dad, Jack, added another dimension to the story that is heartwarming. I LOVE seeing two Alpha men wrapped around the pinky of a 4 year old girl.  Then there are the I-Team men, oh what a special treat getting to see more of them and their smart-ass-ness with each other. I enjoyed witnessing Marc having to deal with his baby sister showing interest in  a man.

If I have one complaint…well it’s not a complaint, it’s me being greedy and whining…I would love to see more of Nate, Megan, Emily and Jack, I am totally in love with all of them, like shaking my e-reader to try to see if more about them would come out, like an epilogue to the already beautiful epilogue. I want to see this amazingly beautiful family living their day to day HEA, would love to see Nate and Megan go through a pregnancy together…sigh…SKIN DEEP has me a total mushy, emotional sap today.  

Ms. Clare does an excellent job providing Megan and Marc’s back story without weighing down SKIN DEEP so you can read SKIN DEEP and not be lost if you haven’t read the I-Team series. My question is why haven’t you read the I-Team?  If you like romantic suspense it is a MUST  READ series, if you like great romances with Alpha men and strong women, it’s a MUST READ series.

SKIN DEEP is a novella, but it packs a whole lotta action, romance and emotions! One of my picks for favorites of 2012.

The bonus story is great, I love seeing the entire I-Team crew together.

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