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Detecting Love Series
Vigilant
Book One
Marisa
There's nothing I want more than to give my all at my job. My goal is be the best detective possible, a confident professional solving the crimes that hit the small town of Palmer I've always called home. I've grown into this role, proud to be part of a team that's more like a second family. It's what fits.
Well, maybe that's not all I want.It'd also be nice to find a guy who'd last longer than a first date. Especially with the thought of my baby sister getting engaged and expecting me to bring a plus-one to her big day.
Trying to solve a couple of homicides keeps me too busy to think about meeting a man, but my life is truly upended the day I meet the gruff, hard-to-please jerk from the city who thinks we can be partners.
Ryan
There's something freeing about giving up the hectic life of fighting crime in Chicago. My plan is to relocate to a little town in the middle of nowhere. A place I can soon take over as chief of police. No more women. Just work. My career is all that I've got the time and energy for after a lousy breakup.
However, it seems that I'm not going to have an easy transfer in Palmer. Meeting the daughter of the man I'm replacing turns into a test of wills, and I'm not sure how I can ever get along with the sloppiest, most laidback, and unorganized detective I've ever had the misfortune to meet.
Arguing about how to handle our investigations keeps my blood pressure soaring, but my idea of resisting women is sorely challenged when I let my fellow detective too close for comfort.
Perceptive
Book Two
Marisa
There's nothing happening in this investigation. No matter how I try to change my perception about these victims, we have no leads. My strategy of tolerating my new partner is easier said than done. I've been doing my best to work with Ryan, and I'm confident I'll stop lusting after the sexy jerk sooner or later. But the news that he'll be my boss? That's too much to handle.
Everything is changing. My family, my job, my willingness to open up and lower my guard for a man I have no business wanting. Suddenly, it doesn't seem like my perspective matters when life is shifting this fast.
All I can do is try to balance my time between the unsolved case that seems identical to a new one. But in the end, it seems like a constant struggle to resist the man who is more off-limits and forbidden than before. It's one thing to lust after my coworker, but it's a whole different headache to realize he'll soon be in charge.
Ryan
There's something strange about these cases that remain unsolved. While one murder is closed, two more stay unanswered, enigmas that frustrate me as I try to acclimate to this new town. My reservations about Marisa won't disappear, but as I learn to adjust to how she "finds" her clues and works on her cases, I can't stick with this idea that she doesn't belong in my life in any other way.
I swore off women, but this smart and sassy detective is in my life. She doesn't give up, dedicated to the job despite her family drama. But whenever I think about how else we could share our time and energy, I'm left with filthy thoughts I shouldn't have.
We'll never see eye to eye. She is destined to face me in every argument, and I'm persistent about sticking to a professional relationship, no matter how much I'm drawn to her. It's one thing to forge ahead and hunt down a person of interest in these homicides, but it's an entirely separate challenge to admit mixing business with pleasure has never been better.
Observant
Book Three
Marisa
There's nothing that I can do to make these murders stop. No matter how many leads I follow, I struggle to make a connection to the cases that remain open. With another woman missing and presumably taken like the others, it's impossible to ignore how this is a race against time. Time is just what I don't have when my sister is pushing up her wedding and my nights are heating up and getting too busy with my partner. We're both aware that we're playing a dangerous game by caving to our desire. But the possibility that he might end up having to leave town? That's too horrible to consider.
Soon enough, conflicting clues start popping up. The victims, the motives, and even a specific person of interest. So many variables are shifting. Suddenly, it seems like I'm in too deep, trying to stay afloat with these impossible cases to solve and the man I shouldn't want.
It helps that I'm not alone—not in struggling with this desire or in the frustration when we can't find the missing body or the killer. When it becomes clear that time is falling short for the next target, I hate to think that it also means my time with Ryan will be over before it's truly begun.
Ryan
There's something to be said for not mixing business with pleasure. I can't understand how my partner bumbles through cases and manages to find the clues we need and the criminals we want to stop. All I can respect and admit is how deeply she's come to matter, both on the clock and in my bed. Marisa is the one woman I want to keep in my life. And the one partner I want to trust to always have my back.
Focused on these cases, we don't have many opportunities to sit down and talk about our futures. Not when a serial killer needs to be found before they strike again. And not when I'm tempted to show her how well we click and match.
Sooner or later, choices will have to be made. If I stay in town to explore this newfound intimacy neither of us can get enough of, there's no chance that I would be able to stay on the force. I promised myself that I'd never let anyone, especially not another woman, influence my choice to stay in my career. I'll never turn off my dedication to see justice be delivered, but this time is different. I hate to consider the idea that I might have to walk away from her love after all.
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