Neena is looking for men.  Okay, specifically, she is looking for men to pose for the local charity calendar.  She is down to needing a Mr. December and an alternate.  The smarmy lawyer she just gave her card to will definitely fit the bill, but no way would the guy in the butt ugly Hawaiian shirt.  Not only does he not fit the image of a hard body, but then there is the shirt and baggy pants.

But suddenly Neena is rethinking her position.  When she and Mr. Hawaiian shirt are caught in a robbery gone bad at the café and trapped together, she knows she has made the wrong snap judgment decision.  Now if she could just get her hormones to stop yelling at her and be able to ascertain what she wants next it would be perfect.

Mitch Gilroy (aka. Mr. Hawaiian shirt) has returned to his home town after a number of years in the Army.  Specifically, he has come back to this area to be far away from anything military or stressful.  He just wants to get his life back on track and work as a local handyman.  He never expected to be taken as a hostage in a botched robbery attempt.  But that is what he will do if he needs to so that the cute woman is left alone.  Instead, he is trapped with her and agrees to be in the calendar.

Can the two of them let themselves live in the moment enough to see what is right in front of their eyes?  Can they work together to banish their demons and build a relationship?

You should never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, the man by his hideous taste in shirts.  Close Quarters is a funny, sassy, and suspenseful addition to Ms. Agnew’s Hot Zone series.  I enjoyed the interactions between Neena and her friends, as well as how she decides to take a chance on Mitch for the calendar, and in life.  Ms. Agnew also does a fine job of writing a spicy romance scene.  I thoroughly enjoyed Close Quarters and hope there is a book five in the future for this series.