Detonate — D.L. Jackson

One man and one woman, both on a collision course with a mad bomber and the past. Alice Mackay is driving herself into an early grave. Business is booming, in more ways than one, and she can't keep up with the calls. When she decides to place an ad to attract an ordnance tech who can handle disarming alien bombs in space and on other worlds, she gets is a cocky Terran Marine instead, the opposite of what she think she needs. He's got charm in spades, but it doesn't help that he's also run off all her other eligible candidates. Now she's stuck with him, and that's not good when she's sworn to remain celibate for the rest of her life. What scares her the most, is the man is capable of knocking down every wall she's build around her heart. When you've loved and lost, sometimes you don't have the strength to do it again. Alice knows if she doesn't get involved, she won't get hurt when something happens -- and something always happens. But Boomer is addictive and soon she finds herself over her head in an ocean of suppressed emotions and ready to sink deeper. Boomer has been sent to Trios Port City to investigate a string of bombings that lead back to Alice MacKay, the city's resident ordnance tech, and one of the galaxy's best. The Galactic Department of Investigations is convinced she's guilty. Problem is, the more he gets to know her, the more he's certain she's not his killer. MacKay is devoted to saving innocents, to the point she disregards her own safety, and that's not okay. Because, not only is he convinced she's not the bomber, he's also in love with her. Now it's a race against time to find the real killer before he claims the life of the woman Boomer's fallen for. What he doesn't expect is that more than their jobs tie them together. Both have a past they can't escape, and it's time to face it head-on or die. Can he save her from herself and the one way course she's set toward self-destruction?