Jaimee Turner has been trying to be the submissive wife her husband wanted for most of her life.  Now he is gone, and a year later, she is trying to get out from under his shadow and friends.  She knows that she can find a way to become her own woman if she can just find the right person to talk to.  Jaimee also knows she will have to tread lightly around Lucas in order to achieve her goals.

Lucas Grayson is the Agent-in-Charge of the local FBI office and he is currently investigating a case that involves Jaimee.  Lucas takes his job to protect the innocents seriously.  Problem is, the Turner case is crazy and so are the people involved with The Collective.  Lucas believes that Jaimee is the weak link and is sure he knows the way to make her talk.  It helps that long ago they had a romance.  Lucas is also determined to find out why Jaimee walked away from him and married the scumbag he knows as her late husband.

Jaimee has many secrets from her marriage that could be explosive if they come out. However, she wants to release these secrets when the time is right in order to free herself forever.  Lucas isn’t about to let Jaimee and her knowledge get away from him.  As Jaimee and Lucas circle each other and their passion begins to burn higher, the Collective is also getting closer and they really don’t want anything that Jaimee knows to become public.  When the bad guys are revealed, can Lucas keep Jaimee safe and unhurt, and most of all, will their relationship survive when the truth comes out?

What happens when years of lies come to the surface between separated lovers?  Jaimee and Lucas have to find out in Rude Awakening.  Jaimee can finally have her life back if she can find out information about her deceased husband’s associates.  Lucas wants the same information for his case, but he wants Jaimee in his bed even more. I loved the snarkiness as much as the passion between Jaimee and Lucas that seemed to happen every time they saw each other.  I was amazed that they didn’t combust sooner.  Lucas surprised me with how he decided to get his answers, but it was in keeping with his inner strength.  The suspense was enough to keep me turning the pages, well that along with wanting to see the sizzle and pop between Jaimee and Lucas.  I have to admit I will never—ever—look at caramel the same way again.  Bravo for Ms. Chadwick on how she brought Jaimee and Lucas to their life together.  Rude Awakening is an erotic and sensual story with the sharp crack of suspense.  A story I will be re-reading several times to see if I missed anything between Jaimee and Lucas.