H.E.A.T. Book Bundle
H.E.A.T. Books 1-3
Nicola Claire
Copyright © 2016, Nicola Claire
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
ISBN: 978-0-473-36027-6
Created with Vellum
Contents
About the Author
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Also By Nicola Claire
Foreword
A Flare Of Heat
Description
1. "There are times when I truly believe humanity will not survive."
2. "If you can't find the will to laugh, you might as well curl up and die along with the victims."
3. "Two does not a serial killer make."
4. "Bureaucracy's got a hell of a lot to answer for."
5. "Curiosity didn't just kill the cat, it also fucked with the police detective who wasn't focused as well."
6. "If you bury it deep enough, it can't climb back out and bite you on the arse, can it, Sport?"
7. "If you pick at it enough, eventually you get rid of the scab and you're left with only a clean cut."
8. "Looks like a Lily, bites like a Venus Fly Trap."
9. "That's it, Sport; softly, softly catchee criminal."
10. "If you keep looking backwards, you'll eventually trip up and fall hard on your arse."
11. "If you don't feel, then you can't put yourself in the perp's shoes."
12. "The job will pull you in and hold you down, unless you find a way to shut it the fuck off. A hobby, alcohol, mindless sex. Doesn't much matter, Sport. Just don't let it suck you dry without living a little first."
13. "Pay attention, read the signs. Don't ignore your gut."
14. "Run, Lara. Run!"
15. "Focus on your surroundings, but don't let them distract. Use a location to your advantage, never the other way 'round. Be ready. Be aware. Be a fucking cop."
16. "Fear is what makes you a good detective. But mindless terror kills."
17. "Do I need to shake some sense into you, Sport?"
18. "Focus, focus, focus. Or the bad guys win."
19. "Don't fuck this up!"
20. "Evil is cruel. Evil is ancient. Evil sucks all the goodness from the air."
21. "Justice is never the law."
22. "Life keeps chucking rocks at your head. Sooner or later you're gonna get hit."
23. "We're your family now, Keen. Don't think on where you've been, just think on where we'll take you. Your life began when you joined CIB."
24. "Prioritise. Use your time wisely. Buy a fucking watch."
25. "Sometimes all it takes is a gentle shove in the right direction. Sometimes it takes a two-by-four to the head."
26. "We all need a little tenderness from time to time, to stave off the brutality of real life."
27. "Being honest with yourself is harder than hearing the truth."
28. "Expect the unexpected, Sport. Then they can't use your surprise against you."
29. "You go to bed each night and do what you gotta do to get up the next morning and do it all over again. Don't think about it, just do it. Know yourself and you'll get through it in the end."
30. "Come on, Sport. Get with the programme. Read the clues. Follow the leads. The evidence talks, Lara. You just have to listen."
31. "You're a damn good cop, Keen. But stick with me and I'll make you a superstar."
32. "Pay attention, Sport. Don't fucking fall asleep on the job."
33. "Time for you to learn the truth."
34. "You shed too many tears at my plaque. I didn't deserve them, Sport. Nor your kind words."
Review Request
A Touch Of Heat
Description
1. “You know me better than most.”
2. “Never let them see your fear, Sport. Attack before they notice the shaking in your limbs.”
3. “Keep pushing and pushing and pushing, Sport. But the moment you hear them snap back, shut the fuck up and watch them unravel.”
4. “Sometimes it’s the small things that trip us up. Sometimes they’re so fucking big we can’t see past them.”
5. “Life has a tendency to surprise us, Keen. But it’s yourself you gotta watch out for. Sometimes the biggest shocks come from within.”
6. “Push on? Or retreat? If it was easy to choose which path to take, we wouldn’t end up falling potholes, would we, Sport?”
7. “If you can’t see the wood for the trees, then get the fuck out of the forest.”
8. “Silence is a golden prison too many people willingly walk into.”
9. “The plot thickens, Keen. It fucking thickens.”
10. “Mind over matter, Sport. If the firewalkers can do it…”
11. “Disconnect. Disassociate. Detach. This is a job like any other. Emotions stay at the door.”
12. “Tricky things spiders. They hunt with patience. They sit and wait for their prey to come to them. You should try it, Keen. Sometimes you can catch the spider as he spins his own web.”
13. “Paradise is only attainable to those worthy and no others.”
14. “It gets easier, Keen. This job. Easier, but at the same time it slowly suffocates the fuck out of you.”
15. “The emotional cop, is not necessarily a good cop. But that doesn’t mean we’re not meant to feel.”
16. “Life sucks. Death sucks harder.”
17. “I work the facts. I sort the evidence. I leave my emotions at the door.”
18. “We all need someone to lean on, Sport. That’s why God gave us broad shoulders and strong arms.”
19. “Never a good drop of whisky around when you need it. So always carry a little spare.”
20. “Public spaces, where cameras might be lurking, make for an interesting playground, indeed.”
21. “It’s hard to tell fact from fiction, Sport. Never make the mistake of believing something until you know it’s the truth.”
22. “I hear things. See things. I know things.”
23. “When your emotions have been worn down to such a base level like this then it’s harder to think before you speak.”
24. “This is me.”
25. “The dead demand our attention.”
26. “Time’s marching, you better pick up the pace.”
27. “You can deny anything to anyone, Sport. But you can’t deny the truth to yourself.”
28. “Guilty by process of elimination.”
29. “If you can’t stand the heat, then hand in your badge. It’s a simple as that. Cases don’t get solved without a few uncomfortable questions.”
30. “If you think you saw it, you probably did. If you pretend you didn’t, it never exists.”
31. “Gotta love a cop’s penchant for not mincing words.”
32. “Keen’s all grown up now, boss.”
33. “Any chance not to use your service weapon, you grasp it. Paperwork’s a bitch.”
34. “When it looks like the end and you know you’re on your own. Don’t fucking think for a second you can’t still win.”
35. “We have reached the ninth circle of Hell.”
36. “You can’t solve everything at once. But you can sure as hell solve everything eventually.”
Review Request
A Tw
ist Of Heat
Description
1. “Thank you.”
2. “Do we need to have another talk?”
3. “Salutem.”
4. “It’s under the stars.”
5. “Don’t ask.”
6. “Free and safe.”
7. “What happens now, my love?”
8. “Are you ready, pet?”
9. “Yes, sir.”
10. “Good girl.”
11. “I am now.”
Review Request
Review Request
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About the Author
Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.
She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.
She has a passion for all things suspenseful, spiced up with a good dollop of romance, as long as they include strong characters - alpha males and capable females - and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.
There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.
When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.
Creating rich worlds with dynamic characters and unexpected twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...
For more information:
www.nicolaclairebooks.com
[email protected]
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Starter Library
Also By Nicola Claire
Kindred Series
Kindred
Blood Life Seeker
Forbidden Drink
Giver of Light
Dancing Dragon
Shadow's Light
Entwined With The Dark
Kiss Of The Dragon
Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Novella)
Mixed Blessing Mystery Series
Mixed Blessing
Dark Shadow
Rogue Vampire (Coming Soon)
Sweet Seduction Series
Sweet Seduction Sacrifice
Sweet Seduction Serenade
Sweet Seduction Shadow
Sweet Seduction Surrender
Sweet Seduction Shield
Sweet Seduction Sabotage
Sweet Seduction Stripped
Sweet Seduction Secrets
Sweet Seduction Sayonara
Elemental Awakening Series
The Tempting Touch Of Fire
The Soothing Scent Of Earth
The Chilling Change Of Air
The Tantalising Taste Of Water
The Eternal Edge Of Aether (Novella)
H.E.A.T. Series
A Flare Of Heat
A Touch Of Heat
A Twist Of Heat (Novella)
A Lick Of Heat (Coming Soon)
Citizen Saga
Elite
Cardinal
Citizen
Masked (Novella)
Wiped
Scarlet Suffragette Series
Fearless
Breathless
Heartless
Blood Enchanted Series
Blood Enchanted
Blood Entwined
Blood Enthralled
44 South Series
Southern Sunset
Southern Storm
Southern Strike (Coming Soon)
Lost Time Series
Losing Time
Making Time
Stitching Time (Coming Soon)
The Sector Fleet
Accelerating Universe
Apparent Brightness
Right Ascension
Zenith Point
The Summer O’Dare Mysteries
Chasing Summer (Coming Soon)
Foreword
H.E.A.T. or Hauraki (Auckland, NZ area) Emergency Assistance Team, overlaps the Sweet Seduction World with some of the characters from that series appearing in H.E.A.T. In particular, you'll see Detective Ryan Pierce of the Auckland CIB (Criminal Investigations Bureau) and Nick Anscombe of ASI (Anscombe Securities & Investigations).
It follows the lives of a CIB detective, Lara Keen, and her H.E.A.T. investigator love interest, Damon Michaels. And in particular concentrates on the grittier side of emergency services life; the fallout that can sometimes ensue from working in such a stressful environment.
This story is based on personal experience, furnished with a little of my imagination, and doctored to show the best, (and on occasion the worst), of what humanity goes through every single day; sometimes challenging, sometimes exciting, and at others a mix of mysterious and chilling.
But first and foremost it is a romance series, because I absolutely believe in that old adage: "love makes the world go 'round."
Description
"There are times when I truly believe humanity will not survive."
Some of the last words spoken to Detective Lara Keen by her Criminal Investigations Bureau partner Carl Forrester before he died. They have haunted her ever since.
With a spate of murders to solve, a tip off about suspicious activities in a popular sex club, and the return into her life of the one man she never wanted to trust again, Lara's world becomes darker and much more sinister indeed. Having to rely on HEAT, Hauraki Emergency Assistance Team, Chief Investigator Damon Michaels in order to discover the reason behind a grisly body in a car boot fire just proves how disturbing Lara's life has become... on so many levels.
But with Carl's wise words in her head and a gut instinct many detectives would long to have, Lara is determined to join the dots before the killer strikes again. And if she has to get up close and personal with her new hot HEAT partner to achieve that? Well, that's just what good detectives do.
A sexy, sizzling crime-thriller sure to add a flare of heat to your night.
For: Morny.
A fellow writer & kindred spirit.
Chapter One
"There are times when I truly believe humanity will not survive."
The words whispered on repeat inside my head. Not my words, but the sentiment was familiar. I understood doubt and uncertainty, fear and defeat. I stared in the face of human brutality on a daily basis. And it stared back. Unrepentant. Unapologetic. Slightly insane.
But why I would be dreaming of Carl's parting words to me was a mystery I currently didn't have the luxury of solving. There were simply too many unsolved crimes rattling around inside my head for me to devote any length of time on Carl's sometimes strange mutterings.
I reached over and picked the receiver up from my phone beside my bed. The reason why my dream had come to an abrupt halt with Carl's dire prediction on repeat; the incessant ringtone of my land-line.
"Keen," I managed to say without sounding too groggy and woefully sleep deprived.
"Got a hot one for you," came the slightly amused and undoubtedly not fooled voice of my sometimes partner Detective Sergeant Ryan Pierce.
"Sarge," I replied, sitting up fully and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I didn't bother to look back at the warm sheets, regret was an emotion I couldn't spare at three-thirty on a winter's morning.
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