Black Sheep

Cox’s second Dark Desires erotic contemporary (after I, Porn Star) is a sizzling, kinky retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Childhood sweethearts Cleo McCarthy and Axel Rutherford both come from ruthless crime families. When they fall in love as teenagers, they think their love will last forever—until their love affair is destroyed by Axel’s malevolent father, who claims Cleo for himself. When he sees her again years later, Axel at first can’t forgive Cleo for choosing his father over him, until he learns that Cleo really had no choice at all. Despite his background, Axel has a conscience, and the life he took at his father’s insistence haunts Axel so much that he founds the Punishment Club, a private facility where masochists gather for the punishments they think they deserve. Axel doesn’t know the identity of the person he killed, but Cleo does, and that bombshell may transform their relationship. Cox’s blisteringly hot prose is as sweetly addictive as caramel popcorn and as spicy as a hot pepper. Cleo and Axel’s tale will captivate Cox’s existing fans and win her new ones. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Aug.)