If It Fornicates

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Synopsis

Nick is a sought-after Dom at Market Garden, a London club that caters to a high-end clientele looking to have their deepest sexual fantasies fulfilled by the classy rent boys who work there. He knows how to keep the clients in line with his special brand of sadistic pleasures and has never minded the work. However, lately he's been tired and out of sorts, something that could be dangerous for everyone involved. Nick recently started dating Spencer, a closeted corporate attorney and former client, who is the perfect submissive for him. In fact, Spencer is the perfect boyfriend in every way, not even minding what Nick does for a living. But when Nick keeps finding himself distracted by thoughts of Spencer while working and comparing all his clients to his superbly submissive lover, he knows he's going to have to choose between his work and the man he loves. The only problem is that Nick is still in college and without his job, he has no idea how he'll be able to pay his bills. Spencer expresses that he'd be happy to take care of Nick for a while, but the idea of being a kept man rankles the independent Dom, leaving them trying to come up with a compromise that will work for both of them.

Review

If It Fornicates is the fourth book in L. A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov's Market Garden series, which follows a group of rent boys at the exclusive London club/brothel of the same name. It is also a direct sequel to the previous book, If It Flies, continuing the story of dominant sadist, rent boy Nick and submissive Spencer, the client who turned into a boyfriend. In this one, Nick and Spencer begin to navigate the intricacies of their relationship, while Nick continues his work at Market Garden. Spencer is very supportive and doesn't mind that Nick is still selling his sexual services, but the deeper Nick starts to fall for Spencer, the more he begins to falter at work. His heart just isn't in it anymore and he's becoming miserable. He knows that as a Dom, especially one who's also a sadist, that isn't good, because he needs to be completely focused on the client or unintended injuries could occur. He also prides himself on giving clients a good time, and because he's very distracted by his feelings for Spencer, his efforts lately have been half-assed at best. However, if he were to quit, he can't figure out how to manage financially, while he's still in college. Meanwhile, Spencer is almost equally unhappy in his work, so the two begin to have dialogues about what things they could change in their lives and what the future might look like for them. But when Spencer suggests Nick moving in with him and letting him pay the bills, the stubborn Dom in Nick isn't sure he can allow that without completely losing his treasured independence.

If memory serves, I believe the first part of Nick and Spencer's story was written in dual third-person POV (or if might have just been Spencer's). If It Fornicates is entirely from Nick's perspective. I didn't mind this at all, because we'd gotten a pretty good picture of Spencer before, and having it all from Nick's POV really helped to deepen his character. We learn that he's studying for a psychology degree and we also get a peek at his apartment when he takes Spencer there. Nick makes a moderate living at Market Garden, but he lives very simply in a tiny studio flat, unlike Spencer who has a nice house and other expensive things paid for by his job as a corporate lawyer. We also get to watch Nick as he wrestles with his feelings. He doesn't want to quit his job, but when it becomes apparent that he can't give it his full attention, as a responsible Dom, he doesn't have any other option. For his part, Spencer is the sweet, supportive boyfriend, willing to be there for Nick no matter what career he decides is best for him. He's also the perfect submissive, superbly complementing Nick's kink in every way, which makes Nick feel even more guilty for continuing his work. He isn't ashamed of what he does, but he still can't help feeling it's somehow wrong when he has such a perfect guy at home. As a warning to jealous readers, there are a couple of scenes showing Nick working with his clients. Normally I tend to fall into that category and I'm not much of a fan of reading about a main character's sexual exploits when they're already in a relationship with their person. For some reason, though, it didn't bother me as much here, maybe because it was just a job for Nick, or maybe because Spencer was okay with it, or maybe because there's so much more emotion to Nick and Spencer's scenes together. I also admit that it deepened Nick's character development, because it's in those moments that he starts figuring things out and hashing them out in his mind.

I enjoyed the first half of Nick and Spencer's story in the previous book, but I really loved this second part. I think it's because the two men are now in a relationship that only grows deeper by the day, so there's a lot more tender romance and the love scenes are more emotional with a lighter touch on the BDSM elements. Overall, If It Fornicates was the perfect culmination to Nick and Spencer's love story. I look forward to the remaining books in the series and hope we get to see more of these guys in supporting roles.

Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, including a D/s relationship, sadism/masochism, bondage, sex work, and sex toys, all of which could be objectionable to sensitive readers.

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L. A. Witt

Aleksandr Voinov

Themes

Beta Heroes
Opposite Sides of the Track
Psychology 101