First published 2013
Caroline Wallace built her career as a hostage negotiator on staying cool under pressure. That reputation gets tested when she arrives at a lakefront mansion in New Orleans on Christmas Eve. Inside, dozens of the city's most powerful citizens are trapped by Detective Reed Ware, a former model cop who has crossed the line into criminal territory. Reed holds the mayor, council chairman, sheriff, and Caroline's own father, the police superintendent, at gunpoint. Years ago, seventeen-year-old Caroline tried to seduce Reed and failed. Now she faces him across a crisis that could destroy them both. Reed claims he seeks the truth about corruption in the highest levels of city government. Caroline must decide whether to trust the man who rejected her years ago or follow orders to bring him down. The harder she works to resolve the standoff, the more she questions which side represents justice. Her heart pounds not just from danger but from the attraction that still burns between them.
Genres: romance, suspense, mystery, crime, action, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New Orleans
385 pages · Kindle Edition · Gallery Books
Content warnings: violence