CLOSE QUARTERS is part of a connected series surrounding the Goddard Project – a military group in charge of protecting information. You don’t have to have read any of the previous books to enjoy CLOSE QUARTERS.

At the beginning of this book I was a little confused. In the prologue the head of the Goddard Project is putting one of his men on a case and hoping he will fall in love at the same time. I took this to mean that Bennet Vincent was the main character of the book, but that isn’t so. He is an important secondary character, but the main character is Roman Chernichenko.

After I figured that out I really started to enjoy the book. Tanya Ruston works in Africa at a traveling clinic bringing medication to small villages. At the same time, someone is transporting top secret military intelligence along the same route. Roman is sent in to eliminate the problem, even if that means eliminating Tanya.

These two have amazing chemistry from the moment the recognize each other. Having met at the wedding of Tanya’s brother to Roman’s sister, they know they share a serious attraction. Roman uses this attraction to get closer to Tanya so he can decide if she is guilty or not.

There is a lot of action in this book. Tanya’s life is threatened and there are several different groups out to get information from or eliminate her. She only has Roman and the others on his team to protect her from death.

I loved the way the relationship between Tanya and Roman almost instantly changes his outlook on life. He goes from a loner to someone who wants family around him almost overnight. It isn’t very believable, but was fun to read.

The secondary romance between Bennet and Dr. Fleur Andikan is very sweet, but I wish there had been more to their relationship. Fleur’s past would have made the romance between her and Bennet very interesting. I wish they had had their own book.

There was one scene in this book I did not like. It was a sex scene that just pushed it too far for me. Here is a bit of the scene:

Her smile was as sensual as an incubus’s. “Okay.” Then she leaned forward and licked him from the bottom of his dick right up to the head, where she tasted his pre-cum. She licked her lips. “Sweet.”

“I drink lots of juice.” It was a good source of electrolytes, but it was common knowledge that the side benefit was less bitter ejaculate.

“Lucky me.” She licked his head like a lollipop, over and over again.

“No…” he groaned out. “Lucky me.”

“Pre-come is sweeter than ejaculate in most men,” she whispered seductively, her breath blowing over his now spit-slip penis tip.”

All in all this is a fun romantic suspense with lots of hot (and some not hot) sex! ~ Carrie