Someone scratched a death threat in the paint of CDC nurse Kini Kerek’s rental car. She’s in Utah researching Hantavirus, but damaging rumors about the CDC have left residents suspicious and uncooperative. Thank goodness for hot, sexy, former soldier Smoke, a man of few words, who’s assigned to protect and help her navigate the isolated desert town as she races to identify a deadly virus before more people die.
Memories from the combat zone leave ex-Special Forces soldier Lyle Smoke in a constant state of battle readiness, and he finds no solace, even after returning home to Small Blind. When he meets Kini Kerek, he discovers his heart isn’t entirely dead. But, that might not last long, because this outbreak is no mistake, and he’ll need to use all his survival skills gleaned from the military and his Native American upbringing to keep him and the beautiful, but secretive, Kini alive.
Chapter One
At one o’clock in the morning, the I-15 through the Utah desert gave the impression it had been abandoned for years. Lyle Smoke drove his jeep through the desolate moonlight, not another car in sight. Not even the slow, slumberous roll of tumbleweeds. Not even wildlife approaching the pavement looking for roadkill.
Nobody to listen.
Nobody to issue orders.
Nobody to guard his back.
Eight years in the Army—breathing, eating, shitting that life. Gone.
He wasn’t Sgt. Smoke, the soldier who could track ghosts, capture boogey-men, and keep his battle-brothers safe. He was Smoke, just smoke. Nothing and nobody and not here.
The quiet highway should have been soothing.
It wasn’t.
A good soldier didn’t trust the quiet. Smoke hated it.
He used to love it.
He’d spent summers on the reservation with the desert as his backyard. He’d rode horses and dirt-bikes through it, camped for days at a time, and hunted to feed himself. He’d learned to navigate by the stars and knew the location of every water source.
But, those simple, quiet, satisfying days were long gone.
Now his days were nightmares of memories. Memories of pain and blood.
All that shit should have stayed in the fucking Afghan sandbox. Too bad his brain hadn’t figured that out yet.
He passed the silver shrouded shadow of Jack Rabbit Rock on the right. The last time he’d been in this part of the desert, he’d taken Liam there. His son had sat in front of him in the saddle, his small body warm and trusting as he looked everywhere at once and pointed at everything.
“Papa,” he’d said, his voice high with excitement. He pointed at something new and announced, “Papa.”
Stopstopstopyoustupidfuckerstop.
Smoke clenched the steering wheel, gritted his teeth, and tried to shove the reminder that his son would never have a life out of his head.
He sucked in deep breaths and focused on the facts. The truth. Maybe if he recited reality often enough, he’d accept it.
The last time he’d been home had been for Liam and Lacey’s funerals.
Liam and Lacey were dead. His son and the mother of his son were dead.
There. He’d thought it. Didn’t make it any truer to him than five minutes ago.
He’d sworn to stay away until he’d accepted what had happened. Yet, here he was, not twenty miles from the epicenter of his pain. Here he was, ready to kill someone, but no enemies to gut in his mother’s kitchen.
Reaching to rewrite the past was stupid, dangerous, and insane. Didn’t stop him from reaching for it in his head, anyway. The past was a ghost not even he could track. Still…the desert held other memories for him. Memories of happier times.
He’d say hello tomorrow morning, kiss his mom, nod at his father, then pack his shit and go hunting for a week. Or three. Maybe that would cure him of his increasing need to choke the life out of something with his bare hands.
He drove through his hometown of Small Blind, Utah, to his parents’ ranch-style house. He left his vehicle on the street and went around toward the backdoor. A car was parked at the back of the driveway. Rental plates? Someone visiting?
Then he saw the dent in the driver’s side door. A monster-truck sized dent. The kind of dent you can only get if you’ve been T-boned by something big and mean and pissed off. Some of the scratches in the paint looked like letters.
Fuck off & die FBI.
What a fuckup. Not an FBI vehicle. Not an accident. Not dealing with smart assholes.
He took a look inside. The airbag on the driver’s side was smeared with something dark. Blood. The driver would have a couple of black eyes. And a hospital bill.
What was a bloodied and bent car doing in his parents’ driveway?
Stop stalling, pussy.
He opened the back door, stepped inside, and memories raked pain across his battered, bruised, and broken heart.
After the first stab of sharp steel, images of Liam became a dull, dishwater ache, settling into his chest as if they were moving in for the duration of his deployment.
No, he was home, not in a combat zone.
Fuck, was he ever going to catch up to reality?
He took a step, and when no improvised explosive devices—physical, emotional, or otherwise—went off, he took another step. His room was only twelve more steps away. Twelve teeny, tiny triggers that could blow him up from the inside out.
The darkness helped by shrouding everything in shadows. His room, his stuff, his bed were right where he left them. Okay, good. He could breathe a little easier now.
Smoke set his duffle on the floor and stripped. He kept his boxers on in case his mom walked in, but it was hot enough in the room that he didn’t want any part of the pile of blankets on the other side of the bed.
He should have called first. His mother was going to give him hell for not giving her time to make the damn bed. He slid onto the mattress.
As he considered the ceiling, Smoke put his hands under his head. His pencil drawings of the constellations were still up there, faded and farther away than ever. He’d wanted to feel like Michelangelo, transform his ceiling the way he planned to transform his life. Transform the world.
Now, he was adrift between the stars unable to see a way to live past his week-old discharge.
***
Fuck, it was hot.
Smoke rose out of sleep at the pace of a snail.
Who the fuck was touching him?
His body knew when something hinky was happening, and it roused him the second some asshole thought he could put shaving cream on his face or snuggle up and take incriminating photos. He sure as hell should have woken up the second anyone put their hand on Smoke’s chest.
A second away from dumping the soon-to-be-interrogated dude on the floor, his brain registered two things. One, the size of that hand. Small, dainty even. Two, the lavender with a bite of citrus scent.
It made him horny.
He glanced down. There was a woman in bed with him.
Christmas? Months away. Birthday? Months away. Hallucination? Months too soon.
He scrutinized the woman. The blanket had slipped off her as far as the top of her butt, leaving her back bare.
No top.
Naked.
Christ, she was laying partway over his chest with nothing covering her but skin and him.
Fuck.
His body tightened, hardened, and wasn’t that a kick in the nads, because this was a no-go situation front to back.
He couldn’t just shove her off of him. Despite the fact that he’d gone to sleep alone, this little gal was no threat to him. He’d have to slide out from under her carefully, so he didn’t wake her, and sneak out of the room.
Waking her would be…awkward. She’d scream, and he’d be hard pressed to explain what the fuck he was doing in the same bed with her. The screaming he could have put up with, it was the explaining he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Decision made, he eased out from under her a couple of inches.
She sighed and shifted her body, ending up with more of her covering him than before.
Well, shit.
Now he knew she had big breasts. Both of them were pressed against his lower rib cage, a soft, sweet weight parts of him really wanted to get to know better.
His cock was all kinds of interested, but given the lack of room in his boxer style briefs, she’d probably freak out if she opened her eyes. Her face was turned in the direction of his primary weapon.
He tried to ease out from under her again, but this time, she woke up.
Her head rose a couple of inches above his chest then stopped. She froze, her body tensing.
Here it comes, the screaming, the yelling, the accusations. A special kind of hell for a man who didn’t like explaining anything to anyone.
Not breathing, he waited for the uproar to begin.
She turned her head slowly, like she had all the time in the world and complete power over the mostly naked man under her.
Her gaze met his and she tilted her head to one side, a tiny furrow etched between her brows. Not angry or afraid, no, she wore the same stoic mask some of his team wore before going into an active combat zone. Prepared to engage with the enemy.
He could see danger in her dark brown eyes and full, curved mouth. It was her hair, a tumbled rush of dark, curling waves over her shoulder that made him want to thread his hand into its mass and tug her to him.
She was fucking gorgeous.
Someone needed to shoot him. Now.
Fuck.
She lifted her head anther fraction and the shadows fled from her face enough for him to see the bruises. All around each of her eyes, turning her pupils into dark targets.
She’d been in that car, the one with dent. The one that had a death threat scratched into the paint.
Sleep hadn’t quite let go of her yet, and he really didn’t want to scare her, so he should say something to put her at ease. Reassure her somehow.
“Who did it?”
She blinked, surprise replacing the determination on her face.
What the fuck had just come out of his mouth? And why had he said it so it sounded like a threat?
“Who did…what?” she asked.
Her voice was breathy, soft, and sexy. His cock went from interested to lifetime commitment in a heartbeat.
“Who hit your car and hurt you?”
“I don’t know.” Her gaze went unfocused. “It all happened so fast. I don’t remember seeing another car. I don’t remember the crash. I do remember one of the sheriff’s deputies asking me about what happened, but…”
He stared at those bruises, bruises that looked wrong on her skin. “Car, van, ice-cream truck, give me something.”
“Why?”
Why? Why wasn’t she angry? Why wasn’t she scared? “Because whoever did this to you”—he lifted one hand and traced the bruise circles with one cautious finger—“I’m going to find the fucker and kill him.”
Calm curiosity was chased off her face by a cold, rigid rage that rivaled his own.
“Not for me, you’re not.” She began wiggling away from him.
Everything that made him a soldier rebelled at the idea of this injured, vulnerable woman leaving his home, his room, his bed. He locked his hands in place. This was a battle he had to fight with words. Not his weapons of choice.
“And if they hit you with something bigger next time?” he asked.
She slid away a bit more. “It was just random kids. Graffiti.”
“Followed up by attempted murder.”
She rolled her eyes then winced. Yeah, those bruises looked like they went all the way down to the bone. “Do what you want. Your house, your bed, but don’t use me to rationalize your violence.” She paused. “You are Lyle Smoke, right?”
“Smoke,” he said, watching in fascination as she managed to slither out of bed without flashing him once.
“Isn’t that your last name?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
She got to her feet, the blanket now around her like she was a Roman goddess.
He realized she’d asked him something. “What?”
One eyebrow rose and she smiled.
Busted.
She shook her head. “I said it’s okay. I can take care of myself.”
The words fell from her mouth like lead weights, dark, heavy, and cold.
She headed for the door.
“Alone is a dangerous place to be.”
She paused, looked over her shoulder at him. Her eyes were wide for a second.
She didn’t answer, just stared at him with those somber, bruised eyes. Then she turned away, picked something off the floor, and left the room.
She took all the fucking air with her.
He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t remember how to breathe.
The bathroom door closed. He stood next to his bed, sucking in air like it was laced with cocaine and he needed a hit.
Holy shit.
Holy, holy shit.
Who was she?
Why was she here?
He needed intel on this woman and he needed it now.
Chapter Two
Kini stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror then poked her cheek with one finger. What just happened couldn’t have been real. Could it?
Had she really fallen asleep alone, only to wake up draped over the body of the hottest man she’d ever seen? A six foot-something tall, muscled, hung, man with Caribbean blue eyes.
She’d been ready to knee him in the nuts until he offered to kill whoever crashed into her car yesterday. All it had taken was a glimpse of her bruises.
So much violence in his eyes, on his face. It almost took her back to the scariest moments of her childhood. When her father had been in a rage he could do anything, hurt anyone. Could and did. Safety was a mirage most people believed in without thought. She’d learned the truth much too young.
Her father never had control over his anger. Smoke looked as if he had too much. He should have inspired terror, but he’d looked so damn serious and sincere, all she’d felt was regret because he was too late.
Two decades too late.
He’d demanded to know who hurt her.
The first words out of his mouth weren’t a slick hello or hey baby, come here often? No, he offered to kill for her instead. In a deep baritone that sent shivers of pleasure slipping up her spine.
Who did that? Offer to start a war for a woman he’d just met.
It was stupid to believe heroes existed. Depending on another person to save you was setting yourself up for disappointment, and she knew better than that.
She’d known then he was Susan and Jim’s son, the soldier who hadn’t been home in a long time. They’d told her he’d been in the Army for eight years. Her dad had only been in for four and had come out of it a broken, angry, violent man. Eight years… God, she couldn’t imagine the shit he’d seen and done and couldn’t forget.
Her reflection stared back at her, sadness framed in her downturned mouth and dull gaze.
That wouldn’t do at all. The whole world thought she was endlessly cheerful and had few worries. Time to put her game face back on. The one with a mega-watt smile that made anyone who looked at her believe she was young, a little foolish, and completely harmless.
Kini dropped the blanket and stepped into the shower, struggling to push Smoke out of her mind. His skin had been warm under her hands, his muscles firm and his scent, cedar and sand, had made her want to lick at his skin to taste the spice of him. He was a temptation she didn’t need.
Smoke was hot, but she’d gotten as close to him as she was ever going to get. Besides, she was only going to be in the area another week, then it was back to Atlanta to write up her report. After that, it was off to her next assignment in another state.
She dressed in the clothes she’d nabbed on her way out of the bathroom, a pair of dark blue jeans and a Public Health T-shirt that identified her without making her look like she’d just walked out of a hospital.
Her current assignment was to collect patient histories and blood samples from at least two hundred local people from the rural areas of Utah. Most especially, from those of Native American descent.
She’d been here a couple of weeks already, and things were going slower than she liked.
Kini braided her wet hair then left the bathroom, hoping to grab a coffee and go.
Jim and Susan were in the dining room off the kitchen with Smoke. No one looked happy.
“Morning,” she said with a bright smile before anyone else could say anything. “I’m late, so I’m just going to grab some coffee before I go.” She matched actions to words, heading toward the coffee pot and filling her travel mug with liquid energy.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be back tonight,” she continued in the same upbeat tone. “Don’t hold dinner for me.” The issue of sleeping arrangements occurred to her.
“Um, should I sleep on the couch tonight?” She glanced up and found Jim and Susan glaring at their son.
Smoke was staring at her, but he finally met his parents’ gazes before meeting hers again and saying slowly, “No.”
That was all he said. No explanation, no additional information. Must be a regional trait. She had yet to meet a talkative resident in the whole state.
“Okay.” She saluted him with her cup and was about to turn and head for the front door, but there was a flash of movement behind her and male hands slid over her hips, pulling her backward into a body larger than hers.
Adrenaline shot through her system, dumping all the confusion, frustration, and irritation she was trying to supress straight into her bloodstream. She didn’t freeze, didn’t think, didn’t hesitate, pushing back into the man behind her, surprising him and forcing him back a step, then she turned to face him and brought her knee up as hard as she could into his groin.
He went down on a groan, first to his knees then fell onto his side.
The next second, Smoke was there, between her assailant and her, blocking the man’s access to her.
“Nathan,” Susan demanded of the man on the floor. “What did you do?”
Smoke glanced at the groaning Nathan then turned to her. “Okay?”
She focused on his face, surprised by the lack of violence there. Irritation, yes. Violence, no. “Um…yes.”
Smoke looked at her hands, and his gaze stayed there. She glanced down to see what he was looking at. Her hands were shaking. Hard.
Damn it. Kini took in a deep breath then let it out slowly. She repeated that for a couple of seconds, enough time for her to pull out of the violent, vicious emotional soup her brain was floating in.
She looked at Nathan and cleared her throat. “Who’s he?”
“My nephew,” Susan said, putting her hands on her hips. “Nate, what on Earth possessed you to grab Kini like that?”
“I thought Smoke brought a girlfriend home,” he answered through clenched teeth. He squinted at her. “Did you have to knee me so hard? I may never father children.”
She shook her head. What had he been thinking? “You shouldn’t sneak up and grab women like that.”
“Idiot,” Smoke said to his cousin. “Touch her again, and I’ll rip your arms off.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Smoke like he had three heads.
Smoke turned to Kini, gave her a visual once-over, but didn’t seem too satisfied, given the frown on his face. “Your coffee?”
She glanced at her empty hands then the floor. Her travel mug was halfway across the room, the contents of her cup sprayed all over the place.
“Oh crap, I’m so sorry.” She darted toward the sink and grabbed the dish cloth then hurried over to begin mopping up the spill.
Smoke put out a hand to stop her. “Idiot is going to clean this, not you.”
“Excuse me?” She was grateful for his support, but not letting her clean up a mess she’d made wasn’t his decision to make.
“Nate scared you.” Smoke’s voice, a deep rumble, did something to her insides. Something she didn’t want to dwell on. “Nate can clean it up.”
A glance at the idiot told her something different. “Nate doesn’t look like he’s going to be up to too much hard labor for a while, and this floor needs to be cleaned now.”
The big man frowned at her. “Then let me hel—”
“It’s fine,” she said, cutting him off and going around him. Susan tossed her a roll of paper towels while Jim guided Nathan into another room; he complained about the pain the whole way. Despite her giving Smoke a narrow-eye’d glance, he grabbed a wet cloth and wiped away more than half of the mess.
As soon as the floor was finished, she grabbed her work bag and left the house.
She’d find coffee, sanity, and security later.
###
Watching her drive away unsettled Smoke’s stomach. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Son,” his father said behind him.
Smoke turned. His dad had his arms across his chest and the time for business expression on his face—the one he wore when he had to give anyone bad news.
“Where did you sleep last night?”
“My bed.”
“Kini was in your bed.” His dad said every word like they weighed a thousand pounds each.
“Yeah,” Smoke shrugged. “But until this morning, I thought I was alone.”
“So…” His father’s voice trailed off, but Smoke could read the rest of the sentence on his father’s face. So…did you sexually assault our guest?
Why was this even a question? It was an insult to Smoke and Kini.
He crossed his arms over his own chest and asked, in a tone that was a weapon he used sparingly, “So, what?”
Whoa, why the hell was he going there with his father? It was a question his father should ask. He opened his mouth to apologize, but got interrupted.
“You slept with her?” Nate asked from behind him, his tone incredulous, as if Smoke had slept with a tank full of piranha.
“Didn’t know she was there until I woke up,” Smoke said. Again.
Nate grinned. “You’ve got balls, man.”
“Better than yours, idiot.” His cousin looked like he’d recovered enough for another ass-kicking.
“Hey, I just wanted in on that action. She’s got a great ass.”
Smoke headed for him, faster than his cousin expected because he glanced up, paled, then backpedaled right into a wall.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the idiot said, putting his palms up.
Smoke shoved his cousin’s hands away and stuck a finger in his face. “What did I say?
Nate swallowed. “That if I touched her, you’d rip my arms off.”
Smoke smiled, showing his teeth.
“Come on, dude, that’s just creepy.”
“Leave her alone.” The words came out of Smoke’s mouth like he’d chewed them up and spit them out.
“I will,” Nate promised in a whiny voice that made Smoke’s teeth ache. “I will.”
Smoke examined his cousin, and decided that while Nate was an idiot, he wasn’t suicidal.
“Smoke?” his dad asked. Not one question, but several all in one word.
“Nothing,” he answered. “I…she…” He shrugged, lifting his hands in surrender. “Nothing.”
His father grunted and went into the kitchen. The sound of the back door closing came from around the corner.
Nate hightailed it out of there, so Smoke went back into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee, reading something off the tablet in her hand.
“What happened to the newspaper?” he asked, nodding at the tablet.
“It went digital,” she said, waving the device. She put it down and patted Smoke’s cheek. “Times are changing, son. Try to keep up.”
“Funny.”
He got up, poured a coffee for himself, and sat back down. To stare at his mother.
She glanced at him then put the tablet down. “What?”
“Kini?”
The corners of his mother’s mouth tilted up. “We offered her a place to stay while she’s in the area. She’s doing a CDC health study of the local population.”
Smoke grunted. He’d gotten a call from his Army buddy River not more than a day and a half after he’d been officially discharged, offering him a job with the CDC. Some kind of investigation team.
Did the CDC do a lot of public health research or education?
“Unfortunately, some folks have refused to even talk to her. They think she’s part of some government cover-up or something equally ridiculous.”
That kind of talk could be dangerous—most folks in this part of the country didn’t like the government sticking its nose into their business.
“What’s Kini’s full name?” Smoke asked.
“Kini Kerek.”
At his arched eyebrow, his mother smiled. “Her mother was Hawaiian.”
“Was?”
His mother cocked her head. “Yes, that’s how Kini put it.”
Smoke nodded then kissed his mom on the cheek. “I’m going to make a call.”
She reached out and took his face in her hands, holding him in place. “It’s good to have you home.” Though no tears were visible, her voice dripped them.
“It is good,” he said quietly, covering her hands with his. “But…”
“But, what?”
It was a lot harder to say out loud than he anticipated. “I’m not….”
He didn’t finish the sentence, he couldn’t. It would be admitting defeat, and he wasn’t going there. Not ever.
“Of course you’re not,” she said so matter-of-factly it startled him. “Eight years in the Army, the deaths of your son and his mother, and your injuries last year would damage anyone’s…okay meter.” She pulled her hands away then hugged him. “I’d be worried if you tried to lie and say you were fine.”
He squeezed her tight and whispered into her hair, “Can’t fool you.” She smelled of everything good in the world, coffee, bacon, and home.
She held him for another second or two then released him and dusted her hands as if she’d finished a particularly difficult task. “Do you have any plans for the next few weeks?”
“Camping and hunting in the desert.”
“Your grandfather was out there a couple of weeks ago,” she told him. “He said there were more people around, strangers, than usual.”
“I can cope. Stay out of sight.”
She snorted. “You learned how to do that when you were five years old.” She crossed her arms and scowled at him. “The Army just put a polish on it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” God, he’d missed her.
He strode down the hall and into his bedroom, closing the door so his call wouldn’t be interrupted. Not that he thought his parents would, but Nate was dumb enough to try to keep talking to him. Hopefully the idiot had left the house for a while.
The man answered on the second ring. “River.”
“I’ll take the job.”
“Smoke?” River didn’t wait for confirmation. “Awesome, man. I think you’ll like work.”
“Tell me about Kini Kerek.”
“Yeah, Kini is in your neck of the woods.” River didn’t sound surprised at all. “Hang on while I bring up her file.”
Smoke could hear the soft click of keyboard strokes, then River said, “She’s a nurse and a member of the Outbreak Task Force doing a study that’s two-fold. First, she’s collecting DNA samples and patient histories in order to track the incidence of diabetes and heart disease in the Native American population in Utah. The second part of it is attempting to track the incidence of infection and the development of antibodies in the same population for the hantavirus.”
That was a lot of information to collect. “Why?”
“The CDC is considering developing a vaccine for the virus. They need to know a lot more about it first though. Most important: are people acquiring an immunity to it without developing the rapid onset pneumonia it can cause. Thirty-eight percent of cases die, so it’s a damned dangerous infection.” And now for the important question. “Does the public know what she’s doing?”
“They know about the first, but not the second.”
“Are you sure?”
The pause on the other end of the phone was a long one. “What have you heard?”
“She’s running into a sudden and solid lack of cooperation from the locals. Someone key’d her car with death threats and she was T-boned yesterday. Right now, she looks like a very pissed off raccoon.”
“That’s not good.”
River had always been a master at understatement.
“Put me on the payroll.”
“You mean right now? Are you sure?” There was no missing the concern in River’s voice. “You just got home. Have you even seen your parents yet?”
“I saw them. They’re good.”
“Smoke, man, I appreciate the dedication, but you and I both know you need some down time.”
“Something isn’t right with her.”
River didn’t respond right away. Smoke had always liked that about the other man—he thought before he said shit. “What do you mean?”
“She’s in trouble. I don’t know what it is yet, but she looks…hunted.” He knew the expression on a human being’s face when they knew a bigger, nastier predator was after them. He’d been the predator more than once.
“Her background checks were okay. Nothing popped up.”
“Trouble,” Smoke repeated, then asked, “Payroll?” Okay, it was more of a demand.
“Give me an hour or so to get it done. If you think you might have to run interference for her, I’d better get you your credentials pronto.”
“Send them to my folks’ address.”
“Will do.” River said then paused before continuing. “You’re not in the Army anymore, and we’re not cops or FBI agents, so don’t kill anyone. Okay?”
What the fuck?
“It’s Tuesday,” Smoke told him with complete seriousness. “I don’t like killing people indiscriminately on Tuesdays.”
“No?” The smart-ass sounded surprised.
“No. I save random killing for Fridays and Saturdays.”
“What about Sundays?” River asked, curiosity making his voice rise.
“Sundays, I just slap people around for the fun of it.”
“That seems a bit harsh. What do you do on Mondays?”
“I punch smart-asses in the mouth.”
“See you Monday then,” River said cheerfully then hung up.
At one o’clock in the morning, the I-15 through the Utah desert gave the impression it had been abandoned for years. Lyle Smoke drove his jeep through the desolate moonlight, not another car in sight. Not even the slow, slumberous roll of tumbleweeds. Not even wildlife approaching the pavement looking for roadkill.
Nobody to listen.
Nobody to issue orders.
Nobody to guard his back.
Eight years in the Army—breathing, eating, shitting that life. Gone.
He wasn’t Sgt. Smoke, the soldier who could track ghosts, capture boogey-men, and keep his battle-brothers safe. He was Smoke, just smoke. Nothing and nobody and not here.
The quiet highway should have been soothing.
It wasn’t.
A good soldier didn’t trust the quiet. Smoke hated it.
He used to love it.
He’d spent summers on the reservation with the desert as his backyard. He’d rode horses and dirt-bikes through it, camped for days at a time, and hunted to feed himself. He’d learned to navigate by the stars and knew the location of every water source.
But, those simple, quiet, satisfying days were long gone.
Now his days were nightmares of memories. Memories of pain and blood.
All that shit should have stayed in the fucking Afghan sandbox. Too bad his brain hadn’t figured that out yet.
He passed the silver shrouded shadow of Jack Rabbit Rock on the right. The last time he’d been in this part of the desert, he’d taken Liam there. His son had sat in front of him in the saddle, his small body warm and trusting as he looked everywhere at once and pointed at everything.
“Papa,” he’d said, his voice high with excitement. He pointed at something new and announced, “Papa.”
Stopstopstopyoustupidfuckerstop.
Smoke clenched the steering wheel, gritted his teeth, and tried to shove the reminder that his son would never have a life out of his head.
He sucked in deep breaths and focused on the facts. The truth. Maybe if he recited reality often enough, he’d accept it.
The last time he’d been home had been for Liam and Lacey’s funerals.
Liam and Lacey were dead. His son and the mother of his son were dead.
There. He’d thought it. Didn’t make it any truer to him than five minutes ago.
He’d sworn to stay away until he’d accepted what had happened. Yet, here he was, not twenty miles from the epicenter of his pain. Here he was, ready to kill someone, but no enemies to gut in his mother’s kitchen.
Reaching to rewrite the past was stupid, dangerous, and insane. Didn’t stop him from reaching for it in his head, anyway. The past was a ghost not even he could track. Still…the desert held other memories for him. Memories of happier times.
He’d say hello tomorrow morning, kiss his mom, nod at his father, then pack his shit and go hunting for a week. Or three. Maybe that would cure him of his increasing need to choke the life out of something with his bare hands.
He drove through his hometown of Small Blind, Utah, to his parents’ ranch-style house. He left his vehicle on the street and went around toward the backdoor. A car was parked at the back of the driveway. Rental plates? Someone visiting?
Then he saw the dent in the driver’s side door. A monster-truck sized dent. The kind of dent you can only get if you’ve been T-boned by something big and mean and pissed off. Some of the scratches in the paint looked like letters.
Fuck off & die FBI.
What a fuckup. Not an FBI vehicle. Not an accident. Not dealing with smart assholes.
He took a look inside. The airbag on the driver’s side was smeared with something dark. Blood. The driver would have a couple of black eyes. And a hospital bill.
What was a bloodied and bent car doing in his parents’ driveway?
Stop stalling, pussy.
He opened the back door, stepped inside, and memories raked pain across his battered, bruised, and broken heart.
After the first stab of sharp steel, images of Liam became a dull, dishwater ache, settling into his chest as if they were moving in for the duration of his deployment.
No, he was home, not in a combat zone.
Fuck, was he ever going to catch up to reality?
He took a step, and when no improvised explosive devices—physical, emotional, or otherwise—went off, he took another step. His room was only twelve more steps away. Twelve teeny, tiny triggers that could blow him up from the inside out.
The darkness helped by shrouding everything in shadows. His room, his stuff, his bed were right where he left them. Okay, good. He could breathe a little easier now.
Smoke set his duffle on the floor and stripped. He kept his boxers on in case his mom walked in, but it was hot enough in the room that he didn’t want any part of the pile of blankets on the other side of the bed.
He should have called first. His mother was going to give him hell for not giving her time to make the damn bed. He slid onto the mattress.
As he considered the ceiling, Smoke put his hands under his head. His pencil drawings of the constellations were still up there, faded and farther away than ever. He’d wanted to feel like Michelangelo, transform his ceiling the way he planned to transform his life. Transform the world.
Now, he was adrift between the stars unable to see a way to live past his week-old discharge.
***
Fuck, it was hot.
Smoke rose out of sleep at the pace of a snail.
Who the fuck was touching him?
His body knew when something hinky was happening, and it roused him the second some asshole thought he could put shaving cream on his face or snuggle up and take incriminating photos. He sure as hell should have woken up the second anyone put their hand on Smoke’s chest.
A second away from dumping the soon-to-be-interrogated dude on the floor, his brain registered two things. One, the size of that hand. Small, dainty even. Two, the lavender with a bite of citrus scent.
It made him horny.
He glanced down. There was a woman in bed with him.
Christmas? Months away. Birthday? Months away. Hallucination? Months too soon.
He scrutinized the woman. The blanket had slipped off her as far as the top of her butt, leaving her back bare.
No top.
Naked.
Christ, she was laying partway over his chest with nothing covering her but skin and him.
Fuck.
His body tightened, hardened, and wasn’t that a kick in the nads, because this was a no-go situation front to back.
He couldn’t just shove her off of him. Despite the fact that he’d gone to sleep alone, this little gal was no threat to him. He’d have to slide out from under her carefully, so he didn’t wake her, and sneak out of the room.
Waking her would be…awkward. She’d scream, and he’d be hard pressed to explain what the fuck he was doing in the same bed with her. The screaming he could have put up with, it was the explaining he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Decision made, he eased out from under her a couple of inches.
She sighed and shifted her body, ending up with more of her covering him than before.
Well, shit.
Now he knew she had big breasts. Both of them were pressed against his lower rib cage, a soft, sweet weight parts of him really wanted to get to know better.
His cock was all kinds of interested, but given the lack of room in his boxer style briefs, she’d probably freak out if she opened her eyes. Her face was turned in the direction of his primary weapon.
He tried to ease out from under her again, but this time, she woke up.
Her head rose a couple of inches above his chest then stopped. She froze, her body tensing.
Here it comes, the screaming, the yelling, the accusations. A special kind of hell for a man who didn’t like explaining anything to anyone.
Not breathing, he waited for the uproar to begin.
She turned her head slowly, like she had all the time in the world and complete power over the mostly naked man under her.
Her gaze met his and she tilted her head to one side, a tiny furrow etched between her brows. Not angry or afraid, no, she wore the same stoic mask some of his team wore before going into an active combat zone. Prepared to engage with the enemy.
He could see danger in her dark brown eyes and full, curved mouth. It was her hair, a tumbled rush of dark, curling waves over her shoulder that made him want to thread his hand into its mass and tug her to him.
She was fucking gorgeous.
Someone needed to shoot him. Now.
Fuck.
She lifted her head anther fraction and the shadows fled from her face enough for him to see the bruises. All around each of her eyes, turning her pupils into dark targets.
She’d been in that car, the one with dent. The one that had a death threat scratched into the paint.
Sleep hadn’t quite let go of her yet, and he really didn’t want to scare her, so he should say something to put her at ease. Reassure her somehow.
“Who did it?”
She blinked, surprise replacing the determination on her face.
What the fuck had just come out of his mouth? And why had he said it so it sounded like a threat?
“Who did…what?” she asked.
Her voice was breathy, soft, and sexy. His cock went from interested to lifetime commitment in a heartbeat.
“Who hit your car and hurt you?”
“I don’t know.” Her gaze went unfocused. “It all happened so fast. I don’t remember seeing another car. I don’t remember the crash. I do remember one of the sheriff’s deputies asking me about what happened, but…”
He stared at those bruises, bruises that looked wrong on her skin. “Car, van, ice-cream truck, give me something.”
“Why?”
Why? Why wasn’t she angry? Why wasn’t she scared? “Because whoever did this to you”—he lifted one hand and traced the bruise circles with one cautious finger—“I’m going to find the fucker and kill him.”
Calm curiosity was chased off her face by a cold, rigid rage that rivaled his own.
“Not for me, you’re not.” She began wiggling away from him.
Everything that made him a soldier rebelled at the idea of this injured, vulnerable woman leaving his home, his room, his bed. He locked his hands in place. This was a battle he had to fight with words. Not his weapons of choice.
“And if they hit you with something bigger next time?” he asked.
She slid away a bit more. “It was just random kids. Graffiti.”
“Followed up by attempted murder.”
She rolled her eyes then winced. Yeah, those bruises looked like they went all the way down to the bone. “Do what you want. Your house, your bed, but don’t use me to rationalize your violence.” She paused. “You are Lyle Smoke, right?”
“Smoke,” he said, watching in fascination as she managed to slither out of bed without flashing him once.
“Isn’t that your last name?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
She got to her feet, the blanket now around her like she was a Roman goddess.
He realized she’d asked him something. “What?”
One eyebrow rose and she smiled.
Busted.
She shook her head. “I said it’s okay. I can take care of myself.”
The words fell from her mouth like lead weights, dark, heavy, and cold.
She headed for the door.
“Alone is a dangerous place to be.”
She paused, looked over her shoulder at him. Her eyes were wide for a second.
She didn’t answer, just stared at him with those somber, bruised eyes. Then she turned away, picked something off the floor, and left the room.
She took all the fucking air with her.
He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t remember how to breathe.
The bathroom door closed. He stood next to his bed, sucking in air like it was laced with cocaine and he needed a hit.
Holy shit.
Holy, holy shit.
Who was she?
Why was she here?
He needed intel on this woman and he needed it now.
Chapter Two
Kini stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror then poked her cheek with one finger. What just happened couldn’t have been real. Could it?
Had she really fallen asleep alone, only to wake up draped over the body of the hottest man she’d ever seen? A six foot-something tall, muscled, hung, man with Caribbean blue eyes.
She’d been ready to knee him in the nuts until he offered to kill whoever crashed into her car yesterday. All it had taken was a glimpse of her bruises.
So much violence in his eyes, on his face. It almost took her back to the scariest moments of her childhood. When her father had been in a rage he could do anything, hurt anyone. Could and did. Safety was a mirage most people believed in without thought. She’d learned the truth much too young.
Her father never had control over his anger. Smoke looked as if he had too much. He should have inspired terror, but he’d looked so damn serious and sincere, all she’d felt was regret because he was too late.
Two decades too late.
He’d demanded to know who hurt her.
The first words out of his mouth weren’t a slick hello or hey baby, come here often? No, he offered to kill for her instead. In a deep baritone that sent shivers of pleasure slipping up her spine.
Who did that? Offer to start a war for a woman he’d just met.
It was stupid to believe heroes existed. Depending on another person to save you was setting yourself up for disappointment, and she knew better than that.
She’d known then he was Susan and Jim’s son, the soldier who hadn’t been home in a long time. They’d told her he’d been in the Army for eight years. Her dad had only been in for four and had come out of it a broken, angry, violent man. Eight years… God, she couldn’t imagine the shit he’d seen and done and couldn’t forget.
Her reflection stared back at her, sadness framed in her downturned mouth and dull gaze.
That wouldn’t do at all. The whole world thought she was endlessly cheerful and had few worries. Time to put her game face back on. The one with a mega-watt smile that made anyone who looked at her believe she was young, a little foolish, and completely harmless.
Kini dropped the blanket and stepped into the shower, struggling to push Smoke out of her mind. His skin had been warm under her hands, his muscles firm and his scent, cedar and sand, had made her want to lick at his skin to taste the spice of him. He was a temptation she didn’t need.
Smoke was hot, but she’d gotten as close to him as she was ever going to get. Besides, she was only going to be in the area another week, then it was back to Atlanta to write up her report. After that, it was off to her next assignment in another state.
She dressed in the clothes she’d nabbed on her way out of the bathroom, a pair of dark blue jeans and a Public Health T-shirt that identified her without making her look like she’d just walked out of a hospital.
Her current assignment was to collect patient histories and blood samples from at least two hundred local people from the rural areas of Utah. Most especially, from those of Native American descent.
She’d been here a couple of weeks already, and things were going slower than she liked.
Kini braided her wet hair then left the bathroom, hoping to grab a coffee and go.
Jim and Susan were in the dining room off the kitchen with Smoke. No one looked happy.
“Morning,” she said with a bright smile before anyone else could say anything. “I’m late, so I’m just going to grab some coffee before I go.” She matched actions to words, heading toward the coffee pot and filling her travel mug with liquid energy.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be back tonight,” she continued in the same upbeat tone. “Don’t hold dinner for me.” The issue of sleeping arrangements occurred to her.
“Um, should I sleep on the couch tonight?” She glanced up and found Jim and Susan glaring at their son.
Smoke was staring at her, but he finally met his parents’ gazes before meeting hers again and saying slowly, “No.”
That was all he said. No explanation, no additional information. Must be a regional trait. She had yet to meet a talkative resident in the whole state.
“Okay.” She saluted him with her cup and was about to turn and head for the front door, but there was a flash of movement behind her and male hands slid over her hips, pulling her backward into a body larger than hers.
Adrenaline shot through her system, dumping all the confusion, frustration, and irritation she was trying to supress straight into her bloodstream. She didn’t freeze, didn’t think, didn’t hesitate, pushing back into the man behind her, surprising him and forcing him back a step, then she turned to face him and brought her knee up as hard as she could into his groin.
He went down on a groan, first to his knees then fell onto his side.
The next second, Smoke was there, between her assailant and her, blocking the man’s access to her.
“Nathan,” Susan demanded of the man on the floor. “What did you do?”
Smoke glanced at the groaning Nathan then turned to her. “Okay?”
She focused on his face, surprised by the lack of violence there. Irritation, yes. Violence, no. “Um…yes.”
Smoke looked at her hands, and his gaze stayed there. She glanced down to see what he was looking at. Her hands were shaking. Hard.
Damn it. Kini took in a deep breath then let it out slowly. She repeated that for a couple of seconds, enough time for her to pull out of the violent, vicious emotional soup her brain was floating in.
She looked at Nathan and cleared her throat. “Who’s he?”
“My nephew,” Susan said, putting her hands on her hips. “Nate, what on Earth possessed you to grab Kini like that?”
“I thought Smoke brought a girlfriend home,” he answered through clenched teeth. He squinted at her. “Did you have to knee me so hard? I may never father children.”
She shook her head. What had he been thinking? “You shouldn’t sneak up and grab women like that.”
“Idiot,” Smoke said to his cousin. “Touch her again, and I’ll rip your arms off.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Smoke like he had three heads.
Smoke turned to Kini, gave her a visual once-over, but didn’t seem too satisfied, given the frown on his face. “Your coffee?”
She glanced at her empty hands then the floor. Her travel mug was halfway across the room, the contents of her cup sprayed all over the place.
“Oh crap, I’m so sorry.” She darted toward the sink and grabbed the dish cloth then hurried over to begin mopping up the spill.
Smoke put out a hand to stop her. “Idiot is going to clean this, not you.”
“Excuse me?” She was grateful for his support, but not letting her clean up a mess she’d made wasn’t his decision to make.
“Nate scared you.” Smoke’s voice, a deep rumble, did something to her insides. Something she didn’t want to dwell on. “Nate can clean it up.”
A glance at the idiot told her something different. “Nate doesn’t look like he’s going to be up to too much hard labor for a while, and this floor needs to be cleaned now.”
The big man frowned at her. “Then let me hel—”
“It’s fine,” she said, cutting him off and going around him. Susan tossed her a roll of paper towels while Jim guided Nathan into another room; he complained about the pain the whole way. Despite her giving Smoke a narrow-eye’d glance, he grabbed a wet cloth and wiped away more than half of the mess.
As soon as the floor was finished, she grabbed her work bag and left the house.
She’d find coffee, sanity, and security later.
###
Watching her drive away unsettled Smoke’s stomach. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Son,” his father said behind him.
Smoke turned. His dad had his arms across his chest and the time for business expression on his face—the one he wore when he had to give anyone bad news.
“Where did you sleep last night?”
“My bed.”
“Kini was in your bed.” His dad said every word like they weighed a thousand pounds each.
“Yeah,” Smoke shrugged. “But until this morning, I thought I was alone.”
“So…” His father’s voice trailed off, but Smoke could read the rest of the sentence on his father’s face. So…did you sexually assault our guest?
Why was this even a question? It was an insult to Smoke and Kini.
He crossed his arms over his own chest and asked, in a tone that was a weapon he used sparingly, “So, what?”
Whoa, why the hell was he going there with his father? It was a question his father should ask. He opened his mouth to apologize, but got interrupted.
“You slept with her?” Nate asked from behind him, his tone incredulous, as if Smoke had slept with a tank full of piranha.
“Didn’t know she was there until I woke up,” Smoke said. Again.
Nate grinned. “You’ve got balls, man.”
“Better than yours, idiot.” His cousin looked like he’d recovered enough for another ass-kicking.
“Hey, I just wanted in on that action. She’s got a great ass.”
Smoke headed for him, faster than his cousin expected because he glanced up, paled, then backpedaled right into a wall.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the idiot said, putting his palms up.
Smoke shoved his cousin’s hands away and stuck a finger in his face. “What did I say?
Nate swallowed. “That if I touched her, you’d rip my arms off.”
Smoke smiled, showing his teeth.
“Come on, dude, that’s just creepy.”
“Leave her alone.” The words came out of Smoke’s mouth like he’d chewed them up and spit them out.
“I will,” Nate promised in a whiny voice that made Smoke’s teeth ache. “I will.”
Smoke examined his cousin, and decided that while Nate was an idiot, he wasn’t suicidal.
“Smoke?” his dad asked. Not one question, but several all in one word.
“Nothing,” he answered. “I…she…” He shrugged, lifting his hands in surrender. “Nothing.”
His father grunted and went into the kitchen. The sound of the back door closing came from around the corner.
Nate hightailed it out of there, so Smoke went back into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee, reading something off the tablet in her hand.
“What happened to the newspaper?” he asked, nodding at the tablet.
“It went digital,” she said, waving the device. She put it down and patted Smoke’s cheek. “Times are changing, son. Try to keep up.”
“Funny.”
He got up, poured a coffee for himself, and sat back down. To stare at his mother.
She glanced at him then put the tablet down. “What?”
“Kini?”
The corners of his mother’s mouth tilted up. “We offered her a place to stay while she’s in the area. She’s doing a CDC health study of the local population.”
Smoke grunted. He’d gotten a call from his Army buddy River not more than a day and a half after he’d been officially discharged, offering him a job with the CDC. Some kind of investigation team.
Did the CDC do a lot of public health research or education?
“Unfortunately, some folks have refused to even talk to her. They think she’s part of some government cover-up or something equally ridiculous.”
That kind of talk could be dangerous—most folks in this part of the country didn’t like the government sticking its nose into their business.
“What’s Kini’s full name?” Smoke asked.
“Kini Kerek.”
At his arched eyebrow, his mother smiled. “Her mother was Hawaiian.”
“Was?”
His mother cocked her head. “Yes, that’s how Kini put it.”
Smoke nodded then kissed his mom on the cheek. “I’m going to make a call.”
She reached out and took his face in her hands, holding him in place. “It’s good to have you home.” Though no tears were visible, her voice dripped them.
“It is good,” he said quietly, covering her hands with his. “But…”
“But, what?”
It was a lot harder to say out loud than he anticipated. “I’m not….”
He didn’t finish the sentence, he couldn’t. It would be admitting defeat, and he wasn’t going there. Not ever.
“Of course you’re not,” she said so matter-of-factly it startled him. “Eight years in the Army, the deaths of your son and his mother, and your injuries last year would damage anyone’s…okay meter.” She pulled her hands away then hugged him. “I’d be worried if you tried to lie and say you were fine.”
He squeezed her tight and whispered into her hair, “Can’t fool you.” She smelled of everything good in the world, coffee, bacon, and home.
She held him for another second or two then released him and dusted her hands as if she’d finished a particularly difficult task. “Do you have any plans for the next few weeks?”
“Camping and hunting in the desert.”
“Your grandfather was out there a couple of weeks ago,” she told him. “He said there were more people around, strangers, than usual.”
“I can cope. Stay out of sight.”
She snorted. “You learned how to do that when you were five years old.” She crossed her arms and scowled at him. “The Army just put a polish on it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” God, he’d missed her.
He strode down the hall and into his bedroom, closing the door so his call wouldn’t be interrupted. Not that he thought his parents would, but Nate was dumb enough to try to keep talking to him. Hopefully the idiot had left the house for a while.
The man answered on the second ring. “River.”
“I’ll take the job.”
“Smoke?” River didn’t wait for confirmation. “Awesome, man. I think you’ll like work.”
“Tell me about Kini Kerek.”
“Yeah, Kini is in your neck of the woods.” River didn’t sound surprised at all. “Hang on while I bring up her file.”
Smoke could hear the soft click of keyboard strokes, then River said, “She’s a nurse and a member of the Outbreak Task Force doing a study that’s two-fold. First, she’s collecting DNA samples and patient histories in order to track the incidence of diabetes and heart disease in the Native American population in Utah. The second part of it is attempting to track the incidence of infection and the development of antibodies in the same population for the hantavirus.”
That was a lot of information to collect. “Why?”
“The CDC is considering developing a vaccine for the virus. They need to know a lot more about it first though. Most important: are people acquiring an immunity to it without developing the rapid onset pneumonia it can cause. Thirty-eight percent of cases die, so it’s a damned dangerous infection.” And now for the important question. “Does the public know what she’s doing?”
“They know about the first, but not the second.”
“Are you sure?”
The pause on the other end of the phone was a long one. “What have you heard?”
“She’s running into a sudden and solid lack of cooperation from the locals. Someone key’d her car with death threats and she was T-boned yesterday. Right now, she looks like a very pissed off raccoon.”
“That’s not good.”
River had always been a master at understatement.
“Put me on the payroll.”
“You mean right now? Are you sure?” There was no missing the concern in River’s voice. “You just got home. Have you even seen your parents yet?”
“I saw them. They’re good.”
“Smoke, man, I appreciate the dedication, but you and I both know you need some down time.”
“Something isn’t right with her.”
River didn’t respond right away. Smoke had always liked that about the other man—he thought before he said shit. “What do you mean?”
“She’s in trouble. I don’t know what it is yet, but she looks…hunted.” He knew the expression on a human being’s face when they knew a bigger, nastier predator was after them. He’d been the predator more than once.
“Her background checks were okay. Nothing popped up.”
“Trouble,” Smoke repeated, then asked, “Payroll?” Okay, it was more of a demand.
“Give me an hour or so to get it done. If you think you might have to run interference for her, I’d better get you your credentials pronto.”
“Send them to my folks’ address.”
“Will do.” River said then paused before continuing. “You’re not in the Army anymore, and we’re not cops or FBI agents, so don’t kill anyone. Okay?”
What the fuck?
“It’s Tuesday,” Smoke told him with complete seriousness. “I don’t like killing people indiscriminately on Tuesdays.”
“No?” The smart-ass sounded surprised.
“No. I save random killing for Fridays and Saturdays.”
“What about Sundays?” River asked, curiosity making his voice rise.
“Sundays, I just slap people around for the fun of it.”
“That seems a bit harsh. What do you do on Mondays?”
“I punch smart-asses in the mouth.”
“See you Monday then,” River said cheerfully then hung up.
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CDC microbiologist Ava Lloyd races to find a cure for a bio-terrorism organism sweeping El Paso. The few stolen moments with her very hunky bodyguard River have been explosive, but no matter how alluring he is, she can't afford to get distracted. The clock is ticking, people are dying by the hundreds, and once this crisis is solved, they'll both be off on their next assignment, thousands of miles apart.
This book is INTENSE.
I LOVED IT. "Romantic Suspense" is sort of a "meh, take it or leave it" genre for me, but THIS book balanced out the "romance" and "suspense" PERFECTLY. It's incredibly well-written with an engaging plot that I absolutely could not get enough of!
Right from the beginning, River tuned in to Ava and they seemed to form a connection and sort of symbiotic relationship that held my attention. They each ended up helping each other in several different ways, and I loved reading how their relationship evolved.
River may be one of my favorite heroes. He is my idealized "military hero," comprised of total badass and a dash of "boy next door" charm. The protectiveness that he felt for Ava was truly endearing, right from the start.
I admired Ava because she kept having these new and downright crazy situations thrown at her but, with River's help, she met these challenges head-on and persevered. Ava was no shrinking violet, but I liked that she relied on River at times.
This was just a spectacular story full of gripping, edge-of-your-seat moments that had me eagerly turning the pages from beginning to end. I will DEFINITELY read more romantic suspense books by Julie!
(I received a copy of this book in consideration of an honest review)
I LOVED IT. "Romantic Suspense" is sort of a "meh, take it or leave it" genre for me, but THIS book balanced out the "romance" and "suspense" PERFECTLY. It's incredibly well-written with an engaging plot that I absolutely could not get enough of!
Right from the beginning, River tuned in to Ava and they seemed to form a connection and sort of symbiotic relationship that held my attention. They each ended up helping each other in several different ways, and I loved reading how their relationship evolved.
River may be one of my favorite heroes. He is my idealized "military hero," comprised of total badass and a dash of "boy next door" charm. The protectiveness that he felt for Ava was truly endearing, right from the start.
I admired Ava because she kept having these new and downright crazy situations thrown at her but, with River's help, she met these challenges head-on and persevered. Ava was no shrinking violet, but I liked that she relied on River at times.
This was just a spectacular story full of gripping, edge-of-your-seat moments that had me eagerly turning the pages from beginning to end. I will DEFINITELY read more romantic suspense books by Julie!
(I received a copy of this book in consideration of an honest review)
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