Rival Hero

Redleg Security, Book 4

By: Jackie Walker

Narrated by: Jason Clarke, Erin Mallon

Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

I never planned on sleeping with him. Nor did I intend to make him my enemy. I only went into the bar to scope out my competition–him. The scorching hot night that followed was a mutually pleasurable accident. Of course I knew we were in the running for the same position.

It’s not my fault he didn’t know who I was.

Gathering intel is my specialty.

Maybe if he were better at it, he would have gotten the job instead of me.

I tried my hardest to resist our chemistry, but he was too damn hot.

Too charming. Too funny. Too masculine.

And he smelled so freaking good.

My hormones took over.

Now we're working together on the Redleg Security intelligence team. Every day. High stress. Close quarters. Sexual chemistry off the charts.

But he hates me.

The thing is… he should hate me. I treated him like a pawn.

But he’s a real man with dreams, passion, and pain.

And I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want him.

But it’s too late for us.

I made us rivals when we could have been so much more.

Note: Rival Hero is a bodyguard romantic suspense story with rom-com vibes. It features a strong heroine who's a former CIA intelligence officer and a swoony former Army Ranger hero who will make you laugh one minute and swoon the next. There's action and all the feels, along with a healthy dose of humor and tons of spice. There is an HEA, no cheating, and no "other woman" drama. Content warnings are available on the author's website.

Tropes: One night stand to office rivals to lovers, good boy goes bad, and forced proximity.

Listening Order: Rival Hero is Book 4 in the Redleg Security Series. Each of the first four books in this series features a different couple, including their happily ever after and is a "complete story" with no cliffhangers. However, the series is best enjoyed in order to avoid suspense-related plot spoilers. Each book starts right where the prior book ends. If you do not wish to listen to them all, then you can listen as a stand-alone.

©2023 Jackie Walker (P)2024 Jackie Walker

I love him

Klein and Mia are by far my favorite couple in the redleg series. The heat between them damn it was intense soo good must read. I have a deep deep love for this book. I am always recommending it and I wish I could read it for the first time again it’s that imprinted in my head and heart. There is something about the sweetness in Klein and his affection for the well being of his mom that gets me. The way my sweet Klein wants to release the dark side in him but keeps bringing it back to hide it made the story so good. When he unleashed that side of him jesus it made the relationship between him and Mia so good. I love that she knows she own him and is willing to give in to him. These two are security gold. Klein potty mouth 🫠 .

The narrator made these two come to life I have never wanted anything so good to end. I am definitely going to be listening to this audio books for months to come. I love Klein and Jason nailed it.

Mia & Cal

I’m loving this series so much, I’ve listened to all of them on audio and the narrators have all been amazing. Each book has gotten hotter too, the spice here 🥵🪭 Perfect blend of sexy, suspenseful, funny and sweet!

There is everything to love about Rival Hero...

When you can laugh until tears roll down your leg and ugly cry over the same book, you know you've got yourself a good one!

Rival Hero is Jackie Walker's 4th installment in her Redleg Security series.

Former Army Ranger Cal Klein (yes, you read that right) falls hard after an unplanned, unforgettable one night stand with savvy, sultry, self-assured Mia.

What he doesn't know is that she's competing for the same job at Redleg Security that he desperately needs...a job that allows him to stay close to home and care for a loved one.

What she doesn't know is just how much that one night will change everything, turning her trust issues on their proverbial ear, allowing her to open herself up to love and a different way of relating.

Forced to work together, Mia undertakes to overcome her ingrained training and past behavior patterns to earn Cal's trust, while Cal struggles with the magnetic pull he has toward the one person who has broken it and may never earn it back.

There is everything to love about Rival Hero. This enemies to lovers after a one night stand, workplace romance has ALL the banter... ALL the laugh out loud moments... ALL the heartbreaking and heartwarming scenes... ALL the suspense and intrigue... ALL the wicked hot steamy scenes... ALL the found family.

The dual narration audio performed by the inestimable Erin Mallon and the incomparable Jason Clarke is perfection.

Both voice actors bring Mia and Cal to life, injecting humor, heart, and heat into the characters they portray. Their performances of a large cast of supporting characters are masterful.

I immediately added Jackie Walker's entire backlog to my wishlist after listening, and I look forward to future installments. Bravo, Ms. Walker... I am a fan for life!

Excellent Story and Narrators

I love this book. Every book in this series is better than the last and they started out excellent. Mia and Cal are an amazing couple and very realistic. And OMG Chapter 18! If you like spice and snark this is the book for you. Jason and Erin are veritably plucked out of my head as the perfect voices for Klien and Mia. I thought the book was hot and amazing, but the audio version was even more hot and amazing. Their ability to show the emotions of the characters and the proper tone for each situation brings the story to another level.
And you probably shouldn’t listen to/read chapter 18 at work. ;)

Wow book to me

I’m new to this Auther and hadn’t listened to the first 3 book in the series. Didn’t even know there were 3 books before this. Just one of the best books of the year for me. Writing is amazing. Erin and Jason are fantastic as always.

HOT dang!

I thought this was just a fun spicy office romance, but the smut in this book is SUPER HOT & KINKY🔥This started with Cal and Mia having ONS the night before Cal was supposed to be given a promotion, but lo and behold, his boss already hired another person for said position and that person was Mia. Cal was angry and felt betrayed, while partly hating himself because he still felt very attracted to her. Mia feels remorseful for her actions, and she wants him to trust her, but Cal isn’t gonna make it easy for her. I love groveling heroine, it’s not often I see this dynamic, but it worked, cause Cal deserves everything as he is the sweetest cinnamon roll ever!

Cal is such a good man and son, I really love his relationship with his mom, it’s so heartbreaking to see him willing to sacrifice himself for his mother, my heart can’t take it! And Mia is just so supportive which makes him realize that he does deserve a life of his own, but in the end, he manages to get everything and I love it for him. Mia also has a really dark past that leads her to be this cynical untrusting woman, and slowly Cal helps her to open up about it.

We have so much fun and snarky rivalry banter in the office, and of course charged with sexual tension. It was delightful and sexy, but still has some angst and full of action and I had such a good time listening to this. This was my first Jakie Walker book, and now I’m curious to read the others!

🎧𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄🎧
This was LOONG but oh boy did I enjoy every second of it! I have no words for Jason Clarke’s performance, he’s already one of my favorites, and in this, I get to hear him talk dirty for a long period of time and that’s all a girl can ask. I want to shout kudos to Erin! My god this lady, she really went all out portraying Mia, it was so entertaining and hilarious. I was cackling on several occasions when she was voicing Mia’s horny thoughts because they are freakin’ hysterical, I adore her! Highly recommend this audio.

✨ 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 HOMECOOK BOOKS 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 ✨

Perfect!

The story was absolutely amazing! Mia is sassy and Klein gives it right back to her. I love their banter and their chemistry. The spice was hot!

The performance of the narrators were spot on. Perfect matches to the characters. They really brought Mia and Klein to life.

Narrators smashingly bring out all the feels in this workplace suspense romance.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (0-5) public places, toys, mild BDSM, lots of delicious details
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (I’d give it 6 or 10 if I could—ALL the shiny stars!)

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩🎧 The narrators smashingly bring out all the feelings in this one—sweet, feisty, sad, sensual, sympathetic, scared, and so very stimulated! And, yeah, every time they said stud, Tiger, good girl, cake, etc I definitely melted!
🤩 One-night stand, enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance.
🤩 My favorite part (of the whole series) is how funny and s3xy the MCs are even though some of the topics are serious and heart-wrenching. Truly ALL the feels.
🤩 Cool captivation—it feels so natural and smooth how Jackie captures our attention with an enticing plot and scrumptious characters.
🤩 Cal Klein is totally my newest book boyfriend—he loves with his whole mind, soul, and body.
🤩 Cake on her mind—I love how Mia is obsessed with cake and Cal’s “cakey tush.”
🤩 The suspense and mystery of the storyline is fantastic. That “need to know” kind of feeling.
🤩 New word of the book: bjology. You must like some kinky to enjoy this one, friends.
🤩 Stud, tiger, good girl—I’m melting. These nicknames really work on me.
🤩 These two MCs are strong and determined on their own, but together they help each other become the best versions of themselves.
🤩 Beautiful and loving representation of caring for a parent with dementia.
🤩 Impressive theme of fighting the good fight against human trafficking.
🤩 The whole Redleg Security series has the best found-family and work family vibes.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 Nothing at all.

Steamy

Rival Hero is a hot hot hot fan yourself steamy suspense romance. I love these characters, I love that you can find them all in each book of this series. This book has all the feels, Mia can make you cry then make you laugh and Cal gives you all the aww and heart melting moments.

My favorite part was the last kidnapping, I laughed so much. The rescue of the first kidnapping was pretty cool. The best part is the falling in love.

There are plenty of wet inducing steamy parts. Never thought I'd like steamy books but I do now.

This audiobook may be long but Jason Clarke and Erin Mallon make the time fly by. They do these characters justice and they make this world come alive.

This series is so dang good, If you love steamy suspense ex Military romance then you can't go wrong with these books. I'm gonna have to restart this series. Apparently I missed a couple books, I'm so excited to start over. ~wink wink~

Great story!

I really enjoyed this story, even though I hadn’t read/listened to any of the previous books, I don’t feel like I was lost or was missing anything. It was a great stand alone and I loved the bantering and comedy from both characters. The FMC was very well written and she was funny! Erin Mallon nailed the narration for this character, it was a perfect fit!! Jason Clark was an amazing Klein! The two narrators together really did this story justice. I really thought the author did an amazing job of describing the Alzheimer’s disease process and the effect it has on families. The main storyline was also very solid and was a very quick listen even at 20hrs. New author to me and definitely will not be the last!