This is book 3 in the I-Team series, following Extreme Exposure & Hard Evidence.
Sophie Alton's life is going well. She has fulfilled her childhood ambition to become a journalist and is now one of the I-Team's best investigative reporters. She also has a group of close friends that includes several of the I-Team's current and former members. Unfortunately her love life isn't going as well as her career. She has dated plenty of men, but never felt a real connection with any of them. At times she thinks wistfully of the one perfect night she had with Hunt, her high school crush and wishes that she could find that kind of magic again.
Sophie's lack of romantic prospects don't really bother her though, especially because her job keeps her too busy to worry about it. She's has been working on a piece about the plight of pregnant women in Colorado prisons. In the course of her research she became especially close to one inmate named Megan. Sophie is hopeful that Megan will be able turn her life around and have the chance to make a fresh start with her baby when she is released. Unfortunately on Megan's first visit with her child she takes the baby and goes on the run. Sophie is determined to find out where she has gone and why. As a result when she receives a message from Megan's brother, who is also in prison, Sophie jumps at that the chance to talk with him in hopes that he can tell her where Megan has gone. What Sophie doesn't realize is that Megan's brother is Hunt, her high school lover. He and Megan have different last names and she always referred to him simply as Marc.
Hunt's life after high school went very well for several years. He joined the army and served with distinction, and after leaving the service he joined the DEA. He made a home for himself and was finally able to reconnect with his half-sister, Megan. Then Megan accused his partner of being one of the men who abused her when she was in juvenile detention. When the man was killed Hunt was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
As a former DEA agent he's hated by the other inmates and because he's an accused cop-killer the guards feel the same way, so Hunt's life in prison is extremely difficult. He manages to tolerate it until he hears that his sister is on the run. He fears for her safety and is determined to find her and make sure that she's safe. In order to do that he'll have to break out of prison. He's counting on Sophie's reaction to seeing him to create an opening that he can use to make his escape.
Once Hunt makes his escape with Sophie in tow the two agree to work together to find Megan and her baby and figure out why she felt she had to run away. Their attraction to each other is as strong as ever, but Hunt knows that he has no future and can't offer Sophie anything beyond the moment. Sophie finds it hard to believe that Hunt is guilty of any crime, but she's fears that her heart is overpowering her reporters instincts. At the same time she's not sure she can bring herself to pass up a chance for even a little more of the magic she has never found with anyone else. As difficult as they are even those problems seem minor when the people who are after Megan threaten their lives and Hunt and Sophie start to fear that it may already be too late for Megan and her baby.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side the plot moves along very quickly and it held my attention. I also liked Hunt and Sophie and their interaction with each other. On the negative side Sophie does quite a few things that are extremely dumb. So dumb that if I had liked her even a tiny bit less I would have totally written her off for being TSTL. For example, when you're helping your lover, the escaped convict, and you want people to think that you've just gone off to be by yourself for a few days, getting caught on a pharmacy's surveillance video using your credit card to buy Plan B and condoms is not smart. Also, rule one when you get arrested is that no matter how innocent you are you need a lawyer. Rule two is not to say a word to the police until your lawyer gets there, even if one of the cops is the husband of your best friend. A smart reporter should know these things.
This sort of behavior seems to be a problem with the heroines in Clare's contemporaries. The second I-Team book was a DNF for me because the heroine, Tessa, was so dumb she made me nuts. I find this confusing and frustrating because the heroines of her historicals aren't stupid. I would enjoy the I-Team books more if the heroines were at least a bit smarter.
I also wish that the end of this book had felt a bit more realistic. I wanted Hunt & Sophie to have their HEA, but considering the reality of Hunt's situation the way things were wrapped up seemed far too good to be true. The total lack of realism pulled me out of the moment in a way that I really didn't like.
Grade: C
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