Controlled Burn
He writes the safety protocols. She lights the match.
Kellan Cross is a man defined by control. After a pyrotechnic accident left him scarred and ended his stunt career, he built Velocity Stunts into an elite agency where safety is a religion. But when a rival agency targets his company with corporate sabotage, Kellan lands a make-or-break contract for Inferno Protocol, a disaster blockbuster filming in the Nevada desert. The catch? The insurance bond requires him to hire the only person qualified for the job: Eva Rosales—the woman he loved, fired, and exiled three years ago.
Eva has spent three years scraping by on the indie circuit, branded "reckless" by the man she trusted most. When Kellan shows up with a contract, she takes it with one goal: to prove her competence and then walk away for good. But the desert heat isn't the only thing rising. Forced into a shared production trailer, the friction between Kellan’s rigid protocols and Eva’s intuitive brilliance ignites a passion neither can suppress, reminding them why they were once the industry's most dangerous power couple.
As the stunts turn deadly and it becomes clear a mole is trying to destroy the production, Kellan must make a choice: wrap Eva in cotton wool to keep her safe, or trust her to stand in the fire beside him. In the Impact Zone, the only way to survive is together, but in a world of rigged explosions and high-speed crashes, falling in love might be the most dangerous stunt of all.
The Blurb
Kellan Cross is a man defined by control. After a pyrotechnic accident left him scarred and ended his stunt career, he built Velocity Stunts into an elite agency where safety is a religion. But when a rival agency targets his company with corporate sabotage, Kellan lands a make-or-break contract for Inferno Protocol, a disaster blockbuster filming in the Nevada desert. The catch? The insurance bond requires him to hire the only person qualified for the job: Eva Rosales—the woman he loved, fired, and exiled three years ago.
Eva has spent three years scraping by on the indie circuit, branded "reckless" by the man she trusted most. When Kellan shows up with a contract, she takes it with one goal: to prove her competence and then walk away for good. But the desert heat isn't the only thing rising. Forced into a shared production trailer, the friction between Kellan’s rigid protocols and Eva’s intuitive brilliance ignites a passion neither can suppress, reminding them why they were once the industry's most dangerous power couple.
As the stunts turn deadly and it becomes clear a mole is trying to destroy the production, Kellan must make a choice: wrap Eva in cotton wool to keep her safe, or trust her to stand in the fire beside him. In the Impact Zone, the only way to survive is together, but in a world of rigged explosions and high-speed crashes, falling in love might be the most dangerous stunt of all.
"A masterclass in romantic tension. The 'competence porn' in this book is elite—watching Kellan and Eva work together while fighting their past is absolutely electrifying. Piper Knox delivered a high-octane ride that I couldn't put down!"— Sarah Jenkins