Contemporary
To Serve and Protect: Rescue Me
By Leigh
Sep 1, 2007 - 5:22:25 PM

At 39, Carla Benevito is confident and in control as a CEO, but her personal life is a mess. Her younger boyfriend Jeff has been living with and off of her for several months, and she knows she needs to end things with him.

The relationship does end, and with a bang. On a camping trip Jeff insisted on taking (Carla is much happier in hometown Chicago with indoor plumbing and abundant coffeehouses) a disagreement causes Jeff to pack up their gear and leave – without Carla. After two days alone in the wilderness, Carla is hungry, sunburned, and hobbling along on a twisted ankle when she comes across a campsite. A campsite into which suddenly appears a tall, dark, and handsome man….and his dog.

Jamie Peters is enjoying his two week vacation in the middle of the Northern Wisconsin wilderness with just his dog Pixie as company. Jamie and Pixie need the break; Jamie is a fireman, but he and Pixie are also a highly trained search and rescue team who know that at any time they can be called on to perform a demanding and draining job. Personally, Jamie also needs time to regroup after splitting with his girlfriend Brenda. At 45, Jamie has little interest in keeping up with the lifestyle of someone almost twenty years younger, but Brenda’s digs about his age still sting. Yes, Jamie is enjoying his solitude – until he returns to his campsite to find a very beautiful, very sunburned woman eating Pixie’s dinner.

He should have been annoyed at the intrusion; instead, Jamie can’t help but be impressed by Carla. Most women would be screaming and crying, bemoaning their fate and demanding to be taken home. Carla accepts that she’ll be stuck camping for a few days until Jamie’s ride home comes, and instead of actively seeking his sympathy, she apologizes for intruding on his vacation. Their mutual admiration and attraction quickly ignite into passion; but what happens when it’s time to go home? Can a city girl with a high-powered career really be the one for a small town fireman who can’t commit to love?

RESCUE ME is the third book, chronologically, in Keaton’s PROTECT AND SERVE series. The author successfully pulls off the ‘damsel in distress’ storyline and makes it believable, and her heroine completely tosses aside any wimpy stereotypes about distressing damsels! Carla and Jamie are both commanding and in charge professionally, but their previous lovers have left them with insecurities about their ages and sex appeal. I loved seeing them bring their dominant personalities to their encounters, and bury the doubts their younger, less knowledgeable lovers had left. This is a hot and steamy romance that gives new meaning to the phrase older IS better!