4.5 stars 
 This is the Wicked Horse book I've been waiting for and Bridger did not disappoint. He is the enigmatic character in the background of all the other books, running the Wicked Horse and the Silo, participating in scenes and helping his friends, but otherwise closed off and unemotional. No one really knows his full story, not even his closest friend. 
 Until she is dropped on his doorstep, almost literally, battered, beaten, but fighting and in need of help. 
 Bridger is exactly the imperfect, broken man I was expecting based on the scarce clues throughout the series. Here, readers finally learn his secrets. His past is brutal. His present is cold. I knew his background was going to be rough. And it was. I knew it was going to take a special woman to break down his walls. And it did. He was a tough one to make fall (and put them both through the ringer on his way down). 
 There was more than just breaking down Bridger's walls to this story though. Maggie was brought to him for a reason, and the danger she faced often took precedence over anything physical going on between these two. The need to remain hidden kept the story interesting, especially as secrets start coming out and remaining hidden becomes more difficult. 
 Though Bridger operates the club and bar, very little of the story actually takes place there, and the kink level of this book seemed lower than previous books. Bridger's lack of passion for sex seems in opposition to his career, until one takes into account his background. Then the presence of sex around him but his lack of connection to the act makes a lot more sense. That doesn't mean there isn't plenty of sex and heat between Maggie and Bridger, but it takes a different direction as Bridger comes to grips with his past and how it will influence his future. 
 Previous Wicked Horse characters return to support Bridger and Maggie. The women make great strides to rally around Maggie and welcome her in as it becomes clear to them (if not Maggie and Bridger themselves) that Maggie is something different to Bridger. The men do what they can to help Bridger too. There are also cameos and mentions of a few other characters from Sawyer's series, adding an entertaining link between series. 
 Where some of the other Wicked Horse books had short timelines, this one was quite different. Bridger's hangups about relationships and sex were not going to be resolved within days, or even weeks. But the story kept moving just as the calendar did, and it kept me turning pages as fast as I could waiting for *that* moment. This is my favorite of the Wicked Horse books, both because of the story itself and because I had to wait so long to get it. 
 I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.