Smutty

Guard against any danger. Especially if it comes from within.

Detective Matteo Garza doesn’t just do the job—he is the job.

He’s learned the hard way that work and pleasure can’t co-exist.

So when his little sister’s best friend accidentally uncovers a money laundering scheme by one of Remington’s most cold-blooded criminals,Garza vows to keep things strictly business as he keeps her safe.

No matter how much the quirky mathematician makes him feel things best left buried. No matter how much she makes him want.

Delia Sutton knows she’s not like most people, just like she knows she needs to forget her ages-old crush on Matteo and focus on survival.

But the closer they get, the bolder she becomes—the more she breaks down his carefully crafted barriers to discover the man beneath.

Danger is closer than either of them could possibly imagine and no one can be trusted.Delia needs a guardian to fight by her side, and Matteo will do anything to protect her. No matter who the enemy is.

Grumpy detective Matteo Garza meets his match in his sister’s friend Delia Sutton–an oddball character with a penchant for mathematics–when she unwittingly gets embroiled in a white-collar, mafia-related crime.

‘The Guardian’ is a typical RS-structured story, though Kimberly Kincaid does handle the case with aplomb, ratcheting up the tension (and the sparks between Garza and Delia, though admittedly their chemistry seems to be adrenaline-induced) notch by notch until the climax unsurprisingly coincides with commitment-resistant Garza coming to an emotional conclusion of his own. If Garza is emotionally-closed, stoic and grouchy, Delia’s openness in contrast is refreshing and more relatable.

The standout here in any case, is Kincaid’s structure, pacing and talent with words, even if the plot isn’t too much of a surprise. Danger is what draws the couple in question together; the somewhat abrupt conclusion made me wonder however, if Delia/Garza would be a pairing that would eventually last past the urgency and the aftermath of the case.

The secondary characters are not unknowns, having had books of their own, so with each book that comes, the experience is akin to reading about an ever-growing amalgamation of Kincaid’s fictional worlds and characters coming together in a huge clan reunion where Remington is eventually going to be populated with happy couples egging the singletons on. Still, each book is a standalone…if you’re able to ignore the familiarity with which these secondary characters flit in and out of some scenes.

‘The Guardian’ is and easy read–admittedly it’s not too much of a story that I would find myself thinking too hard about weeks later, but it’s a decent and engaging one for the time you’ve got the pages turning.