In Tempted Into Danger (ICE: Black Ops Defenders #1) by Melissa Cutler, RioBank anti-crime analyst Vanessa Crosby didn’t realize when she created an algorithm to track cash flow in her spare time that it would put her life into danger. But that’s exactly what happened when her boss found out what her mathematical mind created. It seems there is a connection with the bank and the Chiara brothers – a group of three brothers who are heavy hitters in the world of international crime. Now Vanessa’s boss is demanding she hand over the algorithm, although she 
doesn’t trust his motives. She decides she needs to investigate what she’s found a bit further before handing over the information. Before she gets a chance to do so, she’s attacked in her apartment and becomes part of a hostage situation, only to be saved by one of the most fearless men she’s ever met.
“She was about to go off the grid with a man she’d just met, without anyone knowing where she’d be. She’d made up her mind to trust Diego implicitly, but that trust was being put to the test sooner than she would’ve liked.”
Diego and his crew saved her life at the risk of their own. Vanessa knows she is indebted to them but is still scared as to who she can trust. She’s never really had anyone in her life she could count on except herself and her best friend Jordan, so trusting that they won’t leave her to fend for herself is a hard thing to do. When they come under attack again as Diego has them in sight of the safe house his superiors set up, they have to resort to his plan zero and end up in his hideout in the Panama jungle. Nothing can ever seem to go as planned for them unfortunately as they meet trouble at every turn: from pit vipers to downpours, and from rebels to indigenous tribes. Vanessa and Diego form a strong bond during their time keeping each other alive and sane. One that is formed on friendship and intense chemistry. She knows if they survive the mission she’ll never see Diego again so Vanessa is determined to savor every moment they have together and to form enough memories to last her a lifetime.
“I would chase you to the corners of the earth to keep you safe if I had to. Doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. That’s what would happen. There is no scenario you could dream up that won’t result in me protecting your life with my life.”
Diego Santero is almost offended at the mission he and his ICE crew have been given. They are basically chauffeurs taking Vanessa to a meeting at a safe house with his superiors and then bringing her safely home again. Being part of a black ops team, he’s used to assignments that are a bit more high risk to say the least. Diego is glad after all that he was assigned to the case when they come under fire upon arrival at Vanessa’s apartment. No other team would have been able to get her out safely and on the road to the meeting like they had. Unfortunately the safe house is also compromised which leads him to believe there’s a traitor among the ICE officers at command. He takes Vanessa to his hideout while his other team members go to theirs as well. Diego can’t believe it, but the more time he spends with the beautiful math wiz, the more captivated he is by her. It shakes him to his core to feel this way. He is always focused on his mission and never deviates so he can keep everyone safe. With every danger they encounter, he finds himself protecting Vanessa not only because she is the “asset” in the mission, but because of his growing attachment to her. He’s never thought of a life outside of black ops, but finds himself contemplating giving up his career to have Vanessa by his side every moment.
Talk about an action-filled thriller of a romance! Melissa Cutler’s story kept me on the edge of my seat trying to find out what would happen next to our passionate, but unlucky, couple. Their romance played out in the steamy jungles of Panama where they hit barriers at every turn but thankfully it only helped bring them closer in their growing relationship. I loved that our heroine Vanessa is a smart-as-a-whip mathematician (think a female Charlie Epps on the show Numb3rs) and that our hero Diego loved her for her mind as much as for her body. The fact that he loved to hear her solve complex math problems out loud and got turned on by it was both funny and very sexy. 😉 Diego’s character was intense, honor-bound and fiercely protective of Vanessa, who had been abandoned before, and was exactly the kind of man she deserved to have in her life. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy lots of thrills and absolutely remarkable characters.
Book Info
Publication Date:Â June 4, 2013Â | Series:Â Harlequin Romantic Suspense (Book 1758)