Sam Nielson is a homicide detective in the South Bronx police precinct. While he has a couple of close friendships with other police officers he has known since police academy, he is completely uninterested in having any kind of a committed relationship. He specializes in sex with no strings attached – he figures that, in the words of the Boss, he is “born to run” in life. But when Special Investigations detective Bobby Rodriguez transfers to his precinct, Sam begins to second guess his cavalier attitude. Bobby is one heck of a distraction, and Sam finds himself thinking about the man during the day and dreaming about him at night.

When Sam and Bobby are teamed on a homicide investigation, their professional relationship begins to develop into a personal one. For all that Sam is gay, he has always indulged in what he feels to be “straight” sex rather than the kinky stuff, and Bobby is definitely a change from that. Bobby is dominant, and he is determined to teach Sam the joys of being submissive in the bedroom. Although initially dubious, Sam finds that he enjoys his games with Bobby. As much as he enjoys playing with his lover, it takes a brush with death during their homicide investigation for Sam to really re-think his opinions of love and lasting relationships. Is he really ready to make a commitment to a man whose idea of love is to give him a collar to wear? Talk about jumping into the deep end of the pool right away!

Jenna Byrnes’ story Born to Run is the second in the Streets of Fire series of stories that focus on three friends in the New York City police department. This story takes a look at dominant/submissive lifestyles and contrasts people who live the lifestyle 24/7 with those who merely dabble in it as harmless fun in the bedroom.

This is a diverting tale, although not much time is spent on the murder investigation. Instead, the focus of the story is on the love life of the two main characters and how Sam comes to terms with an alternative lifestyle. Sam struggles with his enjoyment of being submissive. He believes that he should probably be ashamed of himself, and he certainly has mixed feelings about finding humiliation exciting, but he also sees that he and Bobby can offer each other something that they crave. Bobby is not developed as a character quite as fully as Sam is – probably because he is not part of the trio of main heroes of this series. For all that he is the “master” in the relationship, his main purpose is to teach Sam that love can be fun and kinky instead of being a trap for the unsuspecting.

Overall, Born to Run is quite entertaining. The final story in this series should focus on the character Gil. I look forward to reading that one and to finding out what challenges life and love will have for him.

Reviewed by: Whitney