Odelia "Odie" Frank and Jagger "Jag" Benney are both operatives for a secretive agency known as TES. They are assigned by their boss, Cullen, to investigate Hersch, an arms dealer in Washington, D.C. But before they can set out on their trip, Odie receives a package that someone else is willing to kill her to get a hold of. Before Odie can even exam the entire contents, she and the package are taken from her home. Fortunately, Jag is able to rescue her, but the person who took them (and the package) disappears over a cliff.

This begins their adventure, and Jag is suspicion of Odie when he begins to think that she is not being honest about the package. This is confirmed a few days later when Odie's friend (and contact who had sent the package) Kate ends up dead. Since Kate's memorial service is in Washington, they simultaneously decide to investigate her death, since it seems that it may have to do with their original assignment regarding Hersch. As they begin to investigate, however, they find out this is no simple case, and it may be tangled up with the deaths of Odie's husband and father.

Meanwhile, the chemistry between Odie and Jag can not be ignored. When Sage died, she decided to focus on her career. She had the love of her life, but that chapter had ended, and she had moved on. But she never expected someone like Jag to walk into her life.

The plot of this book was action-packed and mostly satisfying, if a bit predictable. The romance seemed a little forced, and there were places when some of the more intimate scenes seemed a bit abrupt. Odie and Jag were supposed to be hot on the trail of their investigation, but they certainly had plenty of time for love! The author also used several acronyms that were never (or rarely enough that it was difficult to find) defined, which was confusing. Another confusing thing was that Odie used text messaging, which is perfectly reasonable in this age of technology, but there was no offsetting font to designate when Odie was reading a text, as opposed to having a thought.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book, however, were the character names. There was a Cullen and a Calan Friese. Part of the time, the latter was referred to as Calan (so the reader had to keep Cullen and Calan separate), but the other part of the time, he was referred to as Friese. Then, there was Fraiser Darby, who is not to be confused with the character Dharr. It frustrates me when an author has the pick of thousands of names, yet chooses very similar names.

Odie is a solidly-written character, though. She's not a typical romance book character, which is refreshing. She's very strong, independent, and intelligent, and she doesn't define herself based on her relationship status. She's the type of character I'd love to read about again.

Book Summary

As far as Odelia Frank is concerned, her heart went into lockdown the day her agent-husband was killed in action. Then Jagger "Jag" Benney is assigned to help her investigate a notorious arms broker, and the invincible intelligence officer feels a glimmer of vulnerability she hasn't felt in years….

Despite their chemistry, Jag has his own suspicions about Odie, and the secrets he knows she's hiding. But as a deadly conspiracy explodes, Odie will have to decide if her too-quiet, too-clever, too-sexy partner is someone she can trust—or just a terrible reminder of what happens when you mix duty and love.