Ride with Me

Ride with Me is the debut novel from Ruthie Knox. From Amazon’s website.~

In this fun, scorching-hot eBook original romance by Ruthie Knox, a cross-country bike adventure takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is not about the bike! 
 
When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger--a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she's spent years planning.
 
Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn't want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn't want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.
 
Even Tom's stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can't stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next?

I’d seen lots of talk on twitter and various blogs about Ride with Me before its release and knew I needed to read this book. I’m so glad I moved this book up to the top of my TBR list on release day. I liked Lexie from the very beginning. She is a strong and independent woman who knows what she wants and has no problem doing what it takes to get what she wants. Tom was a bit of a jerk at first, but as he talked more about himself to Lexie, I came to not only like, but respect the choices he made.

I loved that while Lexie and Tom were attracted to one another from the very beginning, they actually let their attraction build up for a good bit of their trip before they even share their first kiss. Of course, since Lexie told Tom she was married when they first met, I liked that he didn’t make the first move. Their first kiss totally steamed up the screen on my kindle. After a short time away from one another, Lexie and Tom are both missing one another, but Tom is the one who goes looking for Lexie. Once Tom and Lexie finally make love for the first time, they really can’t keep their hands off one another. Both agreed to a no strings attached relationship, but as we all know someone always gets hurt in that situation. Lexie was falling for Tom long before they had a physical relationship, and with each passing day she falls deeper and deeper in love.

With Tom’s history, he is slower to realize how he really feels about Lexie, but once he figures it out, he takes steps to insure they have a future together. I really loved both Lexie and Tom and my feelings for them as a couple only grew as their story progressed. I did think the story ended rather abruptly, but still loved the story. In fact, I’ve already preordered Ruthie’s next book for my kindle.