She’s got her guard up.

Detective Avery Dahl finally has her life back on track after a painful divorce. She’s not going to risk her heart again, especially to a sexy veteran with heartbreak written all over him. Due to extenuating circumstances at an upcoming family wedding, she reluctantly agrees to bring him as her fake boyfriend—and soon realizes her mistake. Because Mason is as lethal with seduction as he is with a weapon, and keeps pushing her boundaries until her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. Her instinct is to push him away, but when a mysterious enemy targets her, Avery has a choice to make. Face it alone, or take a risk and let him in.

He’s determined to get past it.

After a horrific accident ended his military career, Mason Gallant has struggled to fit into the civilian world. Now that he and his buddies are opening a business together in Rifle Creek, he’s finally found his footing again. But he never counted on meeting a woman like Avery. He can’t stop thinking about her, so when she needs help, he steps up. Except posing as her boyfriend makes things even worse—because he soon realizes he wants way more than just her body. Now that he’s seen the caring, sensual woman inside the tough cop, he wants to protect her from whoever is threatening her. As the attraction between them heats up, the danger escalates. Mason must prove to her that she can trust him with her heart as well as her life—or risk losing her to the bullet of a stone-cold killer.

This book opens with a couple of cases, one is the reason Avery left Billings. A phone causes great relief for her when she’s informed Radzat was denied parole. This event plays a major role in this book.

At the end of the first book Avery has offered her now vacant basement apartment to Tate’s friend and new business partner Mason. Now she’s wondering if that was a mistake. She’s having a difficult time ignoring the feelings the man has awoken in her. She has a problem though, Tate, who is now with her best friend Nina, had promised to go to a family wedding weekend with her. Now he can’t go because they’re going to meet her family.

Mason has his own issues, his PTSD while mostly under control, the nightmares persist. His service dog, Ric is a major help to him and also a scene stealer. Mason hears she has a problem but not what it is, Tate enlightens him and he immediate says he’ll go with her. It takes quite a bit of convincing but eventually Avery agrees to let him be her fake boyfriend for the weekend.

This is a favorite scene from the wedding and is also on Kaylea’s website.

Avery looked at him in surprise. “You dance?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve got moves you can’t even imagine.”

Amusement and a hint of arousal glowed in her eyes. She didn’t say anything, just followed him out to the middle of the floor amongst the other couples.

He stopped, turned her to face him and locked an arm around her waist, pulling her forward until their bodies almost touched. Avery stared up at him as the music filled the air and other dancers wove around them.

Mason slowly grasped her other hand, raising it to shoulder level. In her heels she was tall enough to look him dead in the eye, and he liked the novelty of it. He read the uncertainty in her gaze, and the desire she tried to hide. She had his entire body hard already, the need to stake his claim on her right here in front of everyone clawing at him.

He began to move, leading her to the beat, sheer possessiveness roaring inside him. This had started off as a kind of game for him, but now he wanted something more. Starting with making her give into the need he could see smoldering in her eyes. Making her surrender to the demands of her body. Make her need him.

It was impossible to tear his eyes from hers as they danced, the heat between them rising with every second. He slowed with the music, swaying gently with her, his arm locked around her waist and the fingers of his other hand encasing hers. Avery’s face was just inches from his own, her golden eyes mesmerizing. Her gaze dropped to his mouth before flicking back up, and the longing she was trying to hide undid him.

He stopped there in the middle of the dance floor to slide a hand into her hair and lower his mouth to hers. When their lips touched, she gasped and tensed for a split-second.

Mason curved his fingers around the back of her skull and angled his head, fitting their lips together. He kept the kiss slow, shoving back the raging need to take, seducing her with every stroke and caress of his lips.

Pure lust and possessiveness streaked through him like a wildfire. He held her to him, battling the need to plaster her body to him, and gave her a teasing stroke of his tongue across her lower lip.

Avery sucked in a breath and pulled her head back to stare up at him. Her irises were nothing but thin golden rings around wide black pupils, her breathing unsteady.

Fuck him. She went to his head like a drug, turning him into a raging storm of need.

She would go on the defensive now, put all her shields up with all these people around, but he’d gotten a taste of what lay beneath them, and he wasn’t giving up now.

Her ex had to be the stupidest fucking idiot alive to throw this amazing, sensual woman away.

Mason was a soldier through and through. He was going to fight for her.
Cross, Kaylea. Lethal Temptation. Kaylea Cross Inc. Kindle Locations (1168-1190). Kindle Edition.

While the relationship between Avery and Mason heats up, so does the suspense in other events. An interesting and scary occurrence at the resort where the wedding occurs begins it all.

The property Tate, Mason and another friend are purchasing for their business, is a bone of contention for a relative of the seller, this too adds to the mystery.

This book has it all, friendships, romance, action, suspense and sizzle.

I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

5 Contented Purrs for Kaylea!

Kaylea Cross

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kaylea Cross writes edge-of-your-seat military romantic suspense. Her work has won many awards and has been nominated for both the Daphne du Maurier and the National Readers’ Choice Awards. A Registered Massage Therapist by trade, Kaylea is also an avid gardener, artist, Civil War buff, Special Ops aficionado, belly dance enthusiast and former nationally-carded softball pitcher. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and family.