Afterglow - Cherry Adair

Book Blurb:
Pleasure with a price.

A high-profile celebrity wedding in Monaco is the kind of A-list event security specialist Rand Maguire excels at. Everything goes like clockwork, until guests start inexplicably losing all their inhibitions. . . .

Painful secrets from the past.

Rand is no stranger to the effects of Rapture. His chemist father’s attempt at a cure for depression caused Rand’s mother’s death years ago, and put his father away for her murder. Now someone is circulating Rapture in a campaign of terror, intending to manufacture and sell it on a global scale. But with no leads, Rand feels the heat.

Passion with no limits.

Sexy Lodestone agent Dakota North is sent to help Rand kick-start his search, armed only with her uncanny sixth sense. But what they discover in their race across Europe is more far-reaching and lethal than an erotic street drug. From a Barcelona bank heist to a million-dollar arms deal in Paris, Dakota and Rand give in to an insatiable craving for each other in nights of pure carnal delight, no senses left untouched. No Rapture necessary.

In My Own Words:
There are worse things then having to work a high-profile destination wedding, but not so sure there are worse things than said wedding guests drinking spiked champagne.  When the wedding guests toast with the drink, then all of them immediately start having sex like rabbits, Rand Maguire is flabbergasted.  He immediately calls his friend at Lodestone who promises to send his best agent to help.

Dakota North walks in to the room of embarrassed wedding guests, she is immediately aware that the drug they ingested was Rapture. But that seemed impossible since the recipe and everyone else that knew about it was blown up several years before.  Having had a relationship with Rand in the past, she knows working with him will be a recipe for disaster but when the leads say that this drug is being manufactured for global use, there seems to be no other choice.  Dakota and Rand must work together to help stop what could possibly be the worst epidemic in history.  BUT, can Rand forgive the woman that sent his mother the drug that killed her and also was the person to put his father behind bars?  Can Dakota possibly keep her own secrets safe while Rand is so close?

Notable Quote:
..."or kill you"
"They almost succeeded"...."Bummer for the bad guys, YAY for me."

Review:
I am intrigued by the abilities the agents of Lodestone have, so I was excited to read Afterglow.  I am on the fence about this one.  The villain was truthfully one of the worst I have ever read (which is great), I thought I knew who it was, then I was certain that it couldn't be, then it turned out it was.  I enjoyed watching the interaction between Dakota and Rand, and when all the secrets finally came out, watching them accept who they are and who they can be together.  Dakota had lived through so much, and Rand, dealing with his own demons, had turned cynical and almost mean.  The part I didn't really care for was the drug.  I mean, really....a drug that takes away your inhibitions and makes you have sex anywhere, anyhow with anyone??  It just wasn't a drug that I believe, especially for mass market and terrorism.  That being said, I really do look forward to the next book, and seeing more of these special gifts the Lodestone agents posses.