Review: Kept by Carolyn Faulkner

This was an ebook that I downloaded -- a freebie from All Romance.com, and it wasn't very long, probably could be considered a novella. However, I was intrigued by the very short blurb and so, considering the price, I went for it.

The story revolves around Trish Barton, a 37-year-old New Hampshire 5th grade school teacher who has recently lost her mother after an extended battle with illness. She is traveling to Tennessee to be with her cousin who is, in actuality, her best friend. She is hoping that this vacation from her home surroundings will put some distance between her and her grief and help her begin to rebuild her good humor and enjoyment of life.

Her cousin Maggie is waiting at the airport for her accompanied by her boss, Reed Douglas, a wealthy, single, gorgeous, tall/dark/handsome hunk with a kind and caring manner, beautiful Southern manners, a soft sexy voice, and an apparent willingness to somehow be a friend, at least by extension through her cousin, in spite of her tears and depression, at least initially. Reed is drawn to Trish in a way that mystifies him. His easy manner is also evident to Trish and even though she has not been attracted to anyone since her divorce three years earlier, she surprises herself because of some twinges of lust she discovers almost immediately.

Overhearing a conversation between Maggie and Trish, Reed begins to question Trish about an expressed fantasy to be "kept" by an older, wealthy man who would be a Sugar Daddy of sorts and who would keep her as a mistress. Because Reed is truly a dominant man (with some hidden darker tendencies), he presses her for her further thoughts about this and she plays along, thinking it was just conversation. In truth, Reed is more and more taken with Trish and ultimately proposes that they enter into such a relationship, complete with lawyers and agreements.

What Reed finds out is that Trish is not a grasping and greedy woman. She enters into this arrangement because she is genuinely attracted to Reed but succeeds in holding herself emotionally aloof, at least for a while. He finds it almost impossible to shower her with gifts or to do anything for her other than what they had agreed in the contract. She is pleasant and forthcoming with her favors, but she still struggles with her grief. Reed is discovering that it is not an easy thing to be a Sugar Daddy to this woman.

It is a cute story and I have to say that I like Trish--her inner strength, her absolute insistence on fairness, her refusal to be greedy, to hold Reed to their agreement, although she is slowly but surely becoming aware that she never wants to let this man out of her life. She begins to live in fear that he will someday put her aside. Reed is truly an alpha male and there are scenes of erotic spanking although I think it is kept to a very mild level. That isn't my thing, but it appears that it works between these two. He wants to be Trish's friend as well as her "employer" and ultimately finds that he can't even consider a future without her in it.

Faulkner writes a very good story which is not always easy in a shorter number of pages. I have read some authors' work where after hundreds of pages one cannot even then figure out what they are trying to say. One wonders how they were ever published. Not so with Faulkner. She is adept and a great word-smith. She carries the plot along. She manages to segue from one character to another and yet maintain the integrity of the story. In a word, she is a very good writer. As I have already said, I am not a big fan of erotic bondage/s & m, but in the context of this tale it is managed well. Erotica fans will probably like this story. I give it a rating of 3.75 out of 5.