In Karen Kendall's story, Take Me Two Times, we get to know rookie art "repo man", Gwen Davies. For her very first assignment, her boss and best friend, Avy, hands her a plum one: recover a stolen, reputedly poisonous Venetian carnival mask. Unfortunately, what seems to be at first too easy turns out to be just that, and the mask she retrieves is a high quality replica.

Enter Quinn Lawson, the CEO for the company who owns the mask, who is getting sacked for his failure to produce it. He also just happens to be Gwen's ex-husband, and there is a whole lot of unfinished business between them. They each have a professional stake in the return of the mask, and so join forces in order to find it, although Gwen is more determined to fight her personal feelings than Quinn. At the same time whoever has the real mask is willing to murder for it... repeatedly.

Concurrently with Gwen and Quinn's story, we follow the trials and tribulations of Avy and her fiancé, reformed cat thief, Liam, who are quite amusing...until it seems that Avy is the target of the killer. The questions then become: why is someone trying to murder Avy? Is the murderer someone within the ARTemis organization, as Gwen suspects? And of course, will true love prevail and Quinn get his wife back?

Ms. Kendall hauls the reader in with the very first pages, setting the tone with her trademark quick wit and seductive prose. Gwen's swings from professional confidence to lack thereof are completely understandable when seen from her point of view, as are her insecurities when it comes to Quinn. He shakes her emotional foundation, something she has spent the past fifteen years building. She still has the unfortunate inclination to run, which is again understandable considering their past, but is unable to escape Quinn's sensual attraction. Who could blame her? Ms. Kendall has created a man who carries such a sexual wallop that you would have to be made of stone to resist him, and needless to say, granite is not in Gwen's DNA! It's easy to see how his disbelief in her highly honed skills is replaced with a new respect, although this is quickly followed by an equally instinctive need to protect what is his. And make no mistake about it, Gwen belongs to this Alpha male-especially when he discovers she is carrying his child. Do not miss Take Me Two Times!

Reviewed by: Lynn