Neglected as a child and subjected to countless disappointments, Jessica Evans doesn’t want to believe in either love or relationships.  Determined to keep true feeling at bay, Jessie uses ménages with her best friend Clancy and other men as a safety net.  She can enjoy the dominance she craves in the bedroom, but on her own terms.  But Jessie’s safety net is torn away from her when Wade Peterson asks her to marry her.  Though she turns Wade down, Jessie still can’t get him out of her mind.  And if the struggle to tamp down on her feelings for Wade wasn’t hard enough, Jessie’s past soon resurfaces with additional complications that unsettle her hard won control.

Wade is crushed when the woman he loves rejects his marriage proposal.  However, the sexy-as-sin cowboy isn’t about to give up so easily.  He might be willing to share Jessie with Clancy to keep her, for now, but the desire to have Jessie only for himself soon becomes too much.  Will Wade be able to win Jessie’s trust and show her that true love and happily ever afters can exist?

Mackenzie McKade does it again!  Bound by the Past is an emotional, engaging, sensual read I could not put down.  Wade is meltingly sexy, patient, dominant, and loving – the epitome of the perfect hero.  In the hands of a lesser author I might have become frustrated with Jessie and her determination to stay distanced from Wade.  However, Ms. McKade made me understand Jessie’s fears and sympathize with her.  I adored her and loved watching her grow into someone who was able to accept love and give it in return.  As for Clancy, Jessie’s best friend and the third in the couple’s threesomes, he has me crying out for his story.  He’s kind but tormented, supportive of his friends but in need of someone to love him and help him overcome his own past.

Bound by the Past is the second in the Ties That Bind series, but can be read as a stand alone.  There is a brief mention of the hero and heroine of the first book, Bound for the Holidays, but having not read that book (yet), I don’t feel I missed anything for this particular tale.  I dearly hope Ms. McKade continues this series with books for Clancy and Wade’s siblings.

At turns tender and titillating, Bound by the Past is a book I Joyfully Recommend.  Ms. McKade delivers a fantastic, blazingly hot tale with characters that will capture your heart and a romance that is truly sigh worthy.