I thought this was going to be fun, and it was–for about 10 pages. After that, it was all downhill. While the hero and heroine have lots and lots of hot sex, the romance completely escapes me, and despite a tragic backstory, I despised the hero.

Story Brooks’ (yes, her name really is Story) fiancée dumps her at an expensive San Diego seafood restaurant. That isn’t the end of Story’s bad evening; soon after leaving the restaurant she learns that her father has had a heart attack. Her parents were divorced when Story was just a child and she hasn’t seen her father in years. But Story decides to head to New York City that evening to see her father.

Within minutes of arriving at the hospital a handsome man hits on Story. It turns out the man is no stranger to her father. Her father is a legendary hostage negotiator in New York and Daniel Chase is his protégé and good friend. Her father quickly warns Daniel that his daughter is off limits (yep, that’s the Officer Off Limits part). Of course Daniel pays no attention and within hours of meeting they’re engaged in a heavy petting session, which is about as innocent as their relationship ever gets for the rest of the book. Over the next week the two engage in a lot of hot sex. My problem is, that’s all I ever feel is going on between the two.

I initially liked Story. She had potential as a sassy heroine when she stormed out of the restaurant, taking an expensive bottle of champagne with her and telling her fiancée just what she thinks of him. That was the last time I liked Story. The minute Daniel came on the scene my opinion of her tanked. Daniel’s a notorious womanizer who is used to having meaningless sex with near strangers. He makes this clear to Story, which is fine with her as she plans to return to San Diego quickly and isn’t ready for anything serious.

So of course, Daniel decides almost instantly that thanks to Story he’s no longer a player and asks her to stay for a month. This sudden turnaround was just unbelievable. He’s angry when she says she just wants sex. Daniel wants Story to see him in a nonsexual light, which is a bit surprising given that all they do is have sex. I didn’t buy his turnaround for a minute. Yes, we eventually learn that Daniel had a horrible past, but it didn’t help me care for him. And the cutesy names he called Story almost from the moment they met made me cringe.

And while Story supposedly came to New York to be with her father, she seems to spend very little time with him, other than to bring this heart attack victim coffee. Seriously?

This is one of those books where I kept checking to see how many more pages I had to read. I just wanted it to be over.