Subject: Lt. Commander Mark Sampson
Mission: Keep his eyes on the skies…despite one sexy distraction!
There are things a man can never undo. For Coast Guard search and rescue pilot Mark Sampson, it was the agonizing decision that cost him a teammate—and his faith in himself. But an unbelievably sexy blonde on a secluded beach may help him forget…if only for a night.
Cassie Rowe needed a distraction—and, boy, did she get one! How was she to know the brooding stranger who rocked her world was the pilot who'd left her brother to die? And now they're on the same mission. She should hate him. But she can't fight the storm of desire threatening to pull them under…
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Mission: Keep his eyes on the skies…despite one sexy distraction!
There are things a man can never undo. For Coast Guard search and rescue pilot Mark Sampson, it was the agonizing decision that cost him a teammate—and his faith in himself. But an unbelievably sexy blonde on a secluded beach may help him forget…if only for a night.
Cassie Rowe needed a distraction—and, boy, did she get one! How was she to know the brooding stranger who rocked her world was the pilot who'd left her brother to die? And now they're on the same mission. She should hate him. But she can't fight the storm of desire threatening to pull them under…
Buy Links
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Au ~ Amazon Ca
B&N ~ Google Play ~ iTunes ~ Kobo
Then, without warning, the wind blew itself out for a long moment, the warm air seeming to hold its breath. They paused beside an overhang and the rushing ocean nipped at the jagged beach below.
Cassie looked out at the sea. “I want to know what happened to my brother,” she murmured quietly.
“Everything is in the report,” Mark forced himself to say, moved by her words.
Not everything, whispered a voice inside, one he smothered. He wouldn’t listen to it. Relive it. Much too dangerous.
“But I don’t know.” She turned and her anguished eyes met his.
“There’s nothing more I can share,” he said curtly and ignored the scalding regret that flared in his gut when her mouth trembled. Her face was an accusation.
“Of course not,” she said, her voice cracking. “That’s all it is with you guys. Files. Records. Procedures. But what about people?” She jabbed a finger into his chest “What about Jeff?”
“Jeff was a brave man. The best rescue swimmer I ever had the honor to work with.”
They were the truest words he’d ever spoken but not the whole truth. Not even close.
“Yet you left him to die.” Her mouth thinned.
Words slammed against the lump in his throat. Collided with one another, forming a pile that made it hard to breathe.
He couldn’t go any further in this conversation or he’d risk falling back down the black hole that’d kept him out of the cockpit. He’d worked hard to fly again and needed to be in control…in command.
“Your quarters are over there.” He pointed at the bungalows a few yards away and pinned his gaze on a distant spot over her shoulder.
After a moment, she made a strangled noise and stomped away, leaving him alone in the dark.
He watched until she slipped inside her room. Cassie’s desperate words returned to him on the wind.
Yet you left him to die.
He had left Jeff to die.
And he’d never forgive himself. He didn’t deserve anything, but he needed the absolution the rigorous work in the days ahead could give him.
And he’d do everything in his power to make sure none of those days included Cassie.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
Grief changes people, especially when grief is mixed with guilt. Survivors guilt, being guilty of not keeping in touch, or just guilt of caring too much or too little. Grief has no timeline or expiration date. Grief changes how you see the world and yourself.
That is what Cassie has learned since her brother died during a Coast Guard rescue mission a year ago. Not knowing the intimate details of what happened to her brother has led her to volunteer for a humanitarian mission to the hurricane battered Virgin Islands. Wanting to know what her brother felt during his missions, the sense of being able to help people is one reason why she's here. The other, to try to experience what he must have felt being left to die in the middle of the ocean.
Mark Sampson was the pilot who had to make the choice to leave Jeff or risk the lives of the people they had just rescued and his crew. He's finally ready to fly again and his first mission: humanitarian aid.
Finding out who the other is causes anger in Cassie and even more remorse and guilt in Mark. Cassie just wants to understand the decision that Mark made to leave her brother to die. Mark can't talk about it – he blames himself even more than Cassie does.
I really enjoyed this book, learning about the Coast Guard, the operations, the brotherhood, and watching two people learn to live again.
Award-winning author Karen Rock is both sweet and spicy—at least when it comes to her writing! The author of both YA and adult contemporary books writes red-hot novels for Harlequin Blaze and small-town romances for Harlequin Heartwarming. A strong believer in Happily-Ever-After, Karen loves creating unforgettable stories that leave her readers with a smile.
She enjoys returning to her teaching roots when speaking at regional and national writing conferences and interacting with other writers. She has a Master of Fine Arts in English and has continued to learn and grow professionally through her work with YA co-author, fellow romance author, friend and sister-in-law, Joanne Rock.
When she’s not writing, Karen is an avid reader who’s typically immersed in three different books at a time, all in different genres. She also loves cooking her grandmother’s Italian recipes, baking, Christmas (no need to specify—she loves every bit of it), and having the Adirondack Park wilderness as her backyard, where she lives with her husband, daughter, dog and cat who keep her life interesting and complete.
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