Asa

Crownover wraps up her Marked Men series in safe mode, giving Asa Cross—maybe the baddest of her bad-boy heroes—a convenient redemption plot. After a terrifying near-death experience, Asa quits his life of crime and petty larceny, gets a job as a bartender, and determinedly makes monthly installment payments on his massive medical bills. What could best complete this picture of straight-and-narrowness? Falling for Royal Hastings, the cop who arrested him the last time he dabbled in crime. As luck would have it, this sexy officer yearns for nothing less than slapping cuffs on Asa once again—preferably so as to attach him to the headboard of a bed. What might have been an edgy plot with spiky sex is instead predicable and tame. Agent: Stacey Donaghy, Donaghy Literary. (Apr.)