WITH EVERY BREATH is the fourth book in The Slow Burn series by Maya Banks and so far I think the best one. I found this one the best so far because Eliza and Wade are two of the most fascinating people to read about. They both have a life that neither of them were aware of. Eliza always shows herself as tough, self reliant and totally confident. Wade appears like he needs no one, does as he pleases and only cares about his friend Gracie. This is a great story about how far one person is willing to go for her friends. When Wade and Eliza are around each her it's like waiting for dynamite to ignite.

Eliza Cummings changed her name, location and her persona after her life was disrupted by a monster who used mind control on her when she was 16 years old to commit unspeakable acts on women. After helping to put him away she thought she was free of him until 10 years later she finds out he will be free due to a technicality. Her team at Deveraux Security Services knows that she's acting differently now but they think it has to do with everything that she recently went through when she was trying to save her friends when someone was going after the Deveraux women.

Wade Sterling is the type of person that lives by his own code and answers to no one. The only person he has ever had any semblance of closeness to is Gracie and he still kept that at a certain distance. But his encounter with Eliza brings out a different side of him. She is the only one who has the ability to make him lose control. Likewise Wade sees a side of Eliza that even her team is not aware of.

What I enjoyed most about WITH EVERY BREATH is how Maya Banks took this strong, confident woman and broke down how vulnerable she really was. Reading this story I saw a totally unexpected side of Eliza. I like how Wade who appeared to always be in control loses it whenever he's around Eliza, especially when he knows she's in trouble and trying to handle everything on her own. Eliza has been carrying some deep dark secrets for a long time that has affected how she sees herself. Wade is determined to change her thoughts. These two have the ability to bring out a side of each other that has never been seen before. Wade and Eliza prove just how far they are willing to go for each other WITH EVERY BREATH they take.

Book Summary

Eliza Cummings fought free of a monster who terrorized her when she was an innocent teenager and helped put him away for good. She took a job with Devereaux Security Services and devoted every hour to taking down the very thing she’d nearly become. No one, not even those closest to her, know her darkest, shameful secrets. But now the killer has been set free on a legal loophole and it’s only a matter of time before he comes for her. Eliza’s only choice is to run and lead the monster away from the people she loves.

Wade Sterling has always lived by his own rules, a law unto himself who answers to no one. He’s never professed to be a good man, and he’s definitely not hero material. Wade never allows anyone close enough to see the man behind the impenetrable mask—but one woman threatens his carefully leashed control. He took a bullet for her and the result was more than a piece of metal entrenched in his skin. She was under his skin and nothing he did rid himself of the woman with the courage of a warrior and who thinks nothing of putting her life before others.

But when Wade sees a panicked and haunted Eliza he knows something is very wrong, because the fool woman has never had been afraid of anything. And when she tries to run, the primal beast barely lurking beneath his deceptively polished façade erupts in a rage. She may not know it, but she belongs to him. This time, Eliza isn’t going to play the protector. She was damn well going to be the protected. And as long as Wade breathes, no one will ever hurt what is his.