Contemporary Romance
October 27, 2015
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Volcanologist Cassidy Harwell’s time away from her old hometown didn’t prepare her for the weirdness she encounters when she returns to Arizona to help a friend understand strange phenomena in the community. There’s a bizarre humming that only a few can hear and people are sex-crazy beyond the norm. Skeptic Cassidy can’t believe what’s happening.
A violent incident brings her face-to-face with police officer Jeremy Tate, a man who has always held a special place in her heart. Now he’s one hot man she can’t resist.
Jeremy has always wanted Cassidy in his life, but not when investigating the odd phenomena in town might throw her into danger. He’s along for the ride, ready to protect her and tackle the overwhelming heat growing between them.
Rating – 5 out of 5 stars
Volcanologist Cassity Harwood, thought she knew all about heat. But one glance at hunky Deputy Sheriff, Jeremy Tate, was enough to let her that fifteen years of hanging around erupting volcanos was nothing compared to the flames that shot through her body whenever she was near Jeremy.
Cassidy returned to her home town, Bristol Peak, after a fifteen-year absence when her friend, Joanna Pritchard, contacted her, begging her to return home to investigate the strange things that were happening there. Half of the citizens of Bristol Peak are hearing strange humming sounds. As if the strange humming sounds were not enough, a sudden blossoming of highly charged romantic couplings are occurring between people who, under normal circumstances, would never even have looked at one another. It has not yet been decided whether the tension caused by the strange sounds might have brought on the wave of unlikely sexual activity, but one can’t help but wonder.
HEAT WAVE, by Denise Agnew, seamlessly combines the mystery of the paranormal with a delicious serving of erotic love, with neither of the story’s elements taking away from the other. I shamelessly admit to being mesmerized from the beginning of HEAT WAVE until the very end.
~ Maralee Lowder, author of the Mortician series
She hadn’t taken more than two steps out of the bathroom when she heard a different noise. Definitely not the hum.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
A terrified scream came from the parking lot.
What the—
She didn’t have time to move before the door crashed open and slammed against the wall. She stumbled back and landed straight on her ass. A man dragged a woman into the room. Cassidy’s breath caught in her throat. The guy’s beefy forearm was looped around the plump young woman’s neck. The woman wore a ragged blue t-shirt and short shorts. Blue eyes filled with terror, the young woman stared at Cassidy as if she might be the cavalry. The woman whimpered, her breath coming hard and fast. Stark terror etched the woman’s face.
“What are you—”
“Shut up!” The man glared at Cassidy and leveled the handgun at her.
Cassidy realized this dude meant business. Wild, bloodshot brown eyes glared at her out of a round, droopy mustached face. He was totally bald. He wore a black biker jacket, nondescript black t-shirt and jeans. He had to be roasting in the leather jacket, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
On instinct Cassidy held her hands up. “Um…hey, it’s all right. I don’t want any trouble.”
He aimed a handgun straight at Cassidy, and her heart jammed into her throat. Anything she might have said strangled into silence. For a few mind-melting seconds, Cassidy wondered if this was it; if her thirty-five years of life would resolve in one microsecond of terror. She froze in place as if the gun-wielding nut job was a pit viper and she tasty prey. She didn’t have time to bring forth her legendary bravery, the kind that pushed her to climb steaming calderas in Central and South America.
Before she could even imagine what to do next, Pissed-Off-And-Friggin’-Nuts pointed his gun at the young woman’s head once again.
“Maybe I should just off you right now, sugar,” the man said to the woman he held.
Cassidy closed her eyes, certain she didn’t want to see the poor woman’s brains splattered all over the wall. She swallowed hard as nausea rose upward into her throat. A tremor wracked her body. When she didn’t hear a gunshot, she opened her eyes. Cassidy heard car tires crunching across the gravel parking lot. She drew in a sharp breath. The old motel was filled to the rafters with journalists. Maybe one of them was returning.
The young woman whimpered and sagged in the man’s arms. He let her go. She landed with a thud on her left side and didn’t move.
The man turned his gaze on Cassidy and gave her a yellow grin. “Bitch, maybe you can help me. Get over here.”
She froze to the spot.
“Sheriff’s Department. Drop your weapon.”
Cassidy started at the new voice. It came from the doorway, a deep and authoritative sound that wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Relief almost made her faint, and she’d never passed out in her life. The real cavalry was here. Second to consolation came anger. She wanted to kick the bruiser with the gun square in the gonads.
The woman on the floor sat up and put one hand out toward the doorway. “Please don’t hurt him. He’s never, ever done anything like this before in his life. He isn’t a bad man. It’s this damned heat wave. It just ain’t right.”
Bruiser’s eyes suddenly went blank, as if he wasn’t a human but a machine operating the cogs behind that gaze. He looked at the gun in his hand. “What the hell is going on?”
Cassidy didn’t answer, startled by the sudden change in attitude. Maybe he was on meth or another drug. He dropped the gun and put his hands up. Two men rushed into the room, one in a sort of battle dress uniform soldiers usually wore, the other in jeans and a dark t-shirt. Both men were big, well-muscled and holding handguns out in front of them. The man in jeans took charge of the bruiser immediately, handcuffing him quickly while soldier-boy asked the young woman if she was all right and helped her to her feet. The woman sobbed and started explaining how her boyfriend had freaked out, and he’d never done anything like this before. Cassidy rose to her feet before anyone could check on her.
“It had to be the hum I’m telling you,” the woman said, her face streaked with tears and distress.
Bruiser visibly trembled, his eyes no longer wild and violent, but shocked and remorseful. “Ah hell man, I don’t know what happened.”
Sirens wailed in the distance, and two more sheriff’s deputies arrived. That’s when Cassidy took a clear look at the deputy in the military-style clothing. He turned towards her, gaze intent. Everything inside her, every primal female need long suppressed, rose up and took notice. Holy cow. She couldn’t digest the heat that came over her, and it had nothing to do with the roasting temperatures outside.
Mister Save-The-Day was the hottest man she’d seen in, like…well, she couldn’t remember. His black hair laid close cut to his handsome head. No, “handsome” didn’t quite suit the guy because it didn’t accurately describe his raw masculinity. “Good-looking” was too dim a descriptor, too mild. “Good-looking” was for male models that looked more suited to riding on polo horses than conquering an incoming enemy.
The dude had a large nose, a sharply cut jaw and cheekbones, and his eyes…well, his eyes reminded her of gunmetal. Power radiated from the deputy, as if his energy had the capability to light up the room. Any woman with half a hormone would notice him even in a crowd. Everything about the man screamed that he was the type to take charge, with broad shoulders and wide chest. With the gun holstered at his waist, he looked as if he could single-handedly crack bruiser’s head without so much as breaking a sweat. The army uniform wasn’t—she could see now the sheriff’s department patch and the shoulder radio.
Hot.