Director’s Cut: Heated Bodyguard Summer
Every book starts as one thing in my mind and then, somewhere in the writing, reveals what it really wants to become.
Heated Bodyguard Summer began as a steamy beach-town bodyguard romance. I knew I wanted Sunbreak Harbor to feel sunny, charming, and inviting. I knew I wanted a heroine who arrived there shaken but still strong. Of course, the story demanded a hero who could stand between her and danger without ever making her feel weak.
Once outlining was accomplished and I began writing the scenes, things changed. Kara Stone walked onto the page.
Kara is a celebrity chef, which means control is part of her life. She knows how to run a kitchen, manage pressure, smile on camera, and keep the world seeing the polished version of herself. But when someone breaks into her Orlando home, steals something deeply personal, and follows her into what should be a safe coastal escape, all that control starts to slip.
That was where the story changed for me.
This did not stay only a “danger follows her to the beach” romance. It became more psychological. More personal. The deeper I went, the more I realized the scariest danger for Kara was not simply being watched. It was wondering whether someone knew exactly where to hurt her.
Cole Navarro arrived as the man hired to protect her, but he quickly became more than the strong former Navy SEAL bodyguard standing in the doorway. Cole is constantly 'on'. He's disciplined and very good in a crisis. But what I loved most about writing him was discovering the man underneath the training and experience.
Cole isn't flashy. He is not careless with words. He notices everything. And with Kara, he begins to understand that protection is not control.
One of the emotional threads I kept coming back to was this idea: Safety should not feel like a cage. For Kara, that matters. She has to learn the difference between someone wanting access to her and someone wanting her to have a choice. Kara has to trust her instincts again, facing fear without letting it become the only thing inside her.
Cole has his own lesson to learn too. He knows how to show up for danger. He knows how to take the hit, assess the exits, and keep moving. But staying after the crisis? Being there when life gets ordinary again? That is much harder for him.
That is where the romance lives for me. Not only in the heat, though there is plenty of heat. The heart of this book is in the way Cole and Kara become safe for each other without either of them losing themselves.
Through suspenseful moments and the tearing away of Kara's beliefs, forced proximity drew these two together like a magnet. Opposite in personalities as they could be, watching them bond and trust one another was as they say, chef's kiss.
Sunbreak Harbor gave me such a beautiful backdrop for this story: the lighthouse, the marina, the beach cottage, the boardwalk, the salty air, the kind of summer setting that should feel like escape. But in this book, even pretty places can hide shadows that trap someone.
That contrast became one of my favorite parts of writing it.
A sunny island.
A protective bodyguard.
A woman trying to breathe again.
And a threat that feels far too personal to ignore.
For readers who enjoy steamy romantic suspense with a psychological edge, a former Navy SEAL hero, forced proximity, beach-town danger, and a heroine who is stronger than she knows, I hope Kara and Cole’s story gives you exactly the page-turning escape you came for.
And because Kara is a chef, I could not resist adding a little extra treat.
