Merciless by Diana Palmer

Merciless:
Tall, dark and eligible? That’s all that matters to the women of Jacobsville when it comes to handsome and aloof FBI agent Jon Blackhawk. But if it were up to him, he would never settle down. Luckily, Jon has the best gatekeeper: his efficient and reliable assistant, Joceline Perry. Without her help, he’d be at the mercy of husband hunters — but the more he comes to rely on her, the more he notices how invaluable she really is....

While Joceline can’t deny that her boss is attractive, as a single mother with responsibilities she’s determined to be professional. But when Jon is accosted by a criminal seeking revenge, she comes to his aid — fueling the spark that is growing between them.

As the attempts on Jon’s life increase, Joceline stands by his side. But when the smoke clears, will the man who avoided love realize that all he ever needed was right there all along?

Diana Palmer is my guilty pleasure when it comes to romance, I enjoy her simple back and forth play between her characters as well as the tension she manages to weave throughout the pages. But I do find her characters to be a bit repetitive, in fact they have a lot of the same traits. I also found this book to be a little confusing when they spoke of side characters and their relationships, I felt names were being tossed around, but I had no true aspect of who they were. There was an intriguing mystery that played out, definitely keeping me interested in the underlying story as well.

Joceline has worked for Jon for five years and has secretly loved him all that time, but he is a man determined to remain a bachelor. As an old enemy makes threats against both Jon and Joceline danger surrounds them, and they are forced into close quarters after Jon is injured; where the tension between them rises energetically. Hiding a secret of the past from Jon is becoming harder and harder for Joceline as they become closer to one another and Jon realizes his own feelings for her run deeper than simply those for an employee. As more of the past comes to light, they discover that a terrible crime they believed to be solved, was committed by someone else--and that someone will stop at nothing to see both Jon and Joceline dead.