SCANDAL NEVER SLEEPS - Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
The Perfect Gentleman , Book 1
Berkley
ISBN: 978-0-425-27532-0
August 2015
Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Manhattan, New York - Present Day

Gabriel Bond mourns the loss of his best friend Maddox, but he's also angry to once again be cleaning up Mad's mess.  He knows his life is about to get very complicated, so when Gabe meets a pretty woman at the bar after Mad's funeral, he decides to indulge himself.  Eve is unlike any woman he's ever been with, and she affects him in ways he's never felt.  Yet with the battle he'll have ahead of him, Gabe knows this can't last any longer than the weekend.

Everly Parker feels as if she's living on borrowed time.  Within six months of coming to work at Crawford she became the vice president in charge of cybersecurity, but she's well aware that most people believe it was her relationship with Maddox Crawford that earned her that promotion.  Maddox was a friend and a mentor, but never a lover and she misses him greatly.  In addition to her worry that the new CEO will fire her, Everly has also received some mysterious texts claiming that Mad was murdered.  When Gabriel asks her to spend the night with him, she sees it as a chance to have a little fun while shedding some of her worries for a while.

After their incendiary weekend ends abruptly, Everly is sure she'll never see Gabriel again, and now that she knows exactly who he is, she's not sure that's a bad thing.  So she's incredibly surprised to find out that he's the new CEO at Crawford – and one who's obviously judged her abilities based on the gossip he's heard.  Though the attraction between them is as hot as ever, there are now obstacles in their way, and when it becomes apparent that Maddox was indeed murdered, Gabe and Everly realize they are also in danger.

SCANDAL NEVER SLEEPS introduces readers to The Perfect Gentleman , six boys who became closer than brothers in prep school.  As adults, all of those men are powers to be reckoned with: Gabriel Bond and Maddox Crawford own multi-billion dollar companies, Connor Sparks is a CIA “analyst”, Dax Spencer is a naval captain, and Roman Calder is the White House Chief of Staff for President Zack Hayes.  The men have been through everything together, and now they are brought together to bury one of their own. Gabriel and Maddox had a falling out shortly before Mad's death, so his grief is mixed with the anger over the chaos Mad left behind.  Eve helps him to forget the mess his life is in, until he realizes that Eve is actually Everly, the woman he believes to be responsible for some of the problems Mad left unresolved.

The chemistry between Everly and Gabriel sizzles, but their relationship isn't going to be a smooth one.  Add in the mystery around Maddox's death, as well as the brotherhood between the men, and SCANDAL NEVER SLEEPS becomes a sexy, suspenseful novel that should not be missed.

Jennifer Bishop