Anything can happen under the cover of darkness.

Kell Roberts has walked the thin line between life and death for so long that it now feels like home. He is a soldier, a survivor, and a loner. Still, Kell cannot turn his back on the beautiful woman caught in his firefight against the drug lords of Mexico. She says her name is Teddie, but Kell senses there’s much more to her story—and it’s about to pull him into a mission he didn’t sign on for: keeping her alive.

Teddie Lassiter knows this lean, mean rescuer just saved her life, but the steel glint behind those soft gray eyes seem to be hiding something deep. The men after Teddie are deadly, but the man who holds her life in his hands and tempts her with his wicked touch is even more dangerous. He could make her dream about living and loving again. And if they can survive, maybe, just maybe, they can stop fighting the world and each other—and simply surrender.

Title: NIGHT MOVES
Author: Stephanie Tyler
Series: Shadow Force, book 4
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Bantam Dell
Year of release: 2011, October 4
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Received a digital ARC from author for review

First line:
Kell Roberts had been at the foster home in Dillingham, Alaska, for three months, four days and sixteen hours and had managed to lie his way through
every damned minute when the blond kid arrived with a deep Southern drawl, a bag Kell would later discover contained barely anything and an attitude as big as the hills, all to share Kell’s room.

Memorable Scenes:
- Teddie aiming a gun at Kell and pulling the trigger > there's a nice twist but this scene made me instantly like Teddie.
- The pat-down by Kell searching for tracking devices on Teddie's underwear > I was disappointed when Reid interrupted

Theodora 'Teddie' Lassiter is a US diplomat's daughter who has lost her entire family and is forced into witness protection. She used to be a photographer/videographer. She’s strong-willed and determined to get vengeance on the ones responsible for her family’s murders

Kell Roberts is ex-Delta turned private contractor. He’s gruff and has learned early in life that the only one he can trust and depend on is himself. Guilt has been chipping away at him, causing him to turn away from his best friend, whom he almost lost in an ambush attack on his former team and also initially from the woman who turns out to be his anchor and love of his life.

The romance between Teddie and Kell really worked for me. It wasn't the wham! instant attraction kinda romance but it was built up slowly and gradually. I thought it was perfectly balanced with the suspense storylines. I loved the prologue that told the story of how Kell and Reid met in a foster home and became friends for life, as Reid played a major part in Kell’s life and in his decisions, also where they concerned Teddie.

Reading a Stephanie Tyler RS is like coming home for me. I'm treated to familiar elements like the multiple POVs, though I think she kept it pretty focused on just a few POVs this time. There’s of course the secondary romance and last but not least the intricate suspense storylines that are weaved together effortlessly. But it's never repetitive or boring.

There were quite some storylines in NIGHT MOVES, both romance wise and suspense wise but they all worked well together. Action and suspense from the get-go had me intrigued and holding my breath. As with all her other romantic suspense novels Stephanie Tyler managed to juggle and balance the various plotlines, weaving them together to form an intricate whole. No loose ends left untied and all the connections subtly intertwined.

The build-up towards the climactic end was well done, however I was a little disappointed in the conclusion and how they dealt with the mastermind villain. It seemed to me like it was a bit too easy and I missed a certain confrontation between 2 of the secondary characters, a confrontation that would have made it even more nail-biting than it already was and which in my eyes would have made sense in the way the plot was set up.

Also the secondary romance wasn’t as fleshed out as I’m used to by now from Stephanie Tyler. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the secondary romance, I just felt it wasn’t wrapped up completely and knowing this is the last in the series I feel I will not see that HEA in future books. Still I think that this won’t bother readers who want the focus solely on the main couple. I just wanted more for this secondary couple than I got because I was spoiled with some awesome secondary romances in the other books of both the Stephanie Tyler romantic suspense series I’ve read.

Despite these minor issues I had with NIGHT MOVES Stephanie Tyler's writing never fails to reel me in. It's raw, unembellished and straightforward, actually it’s kind of like her heroes. I am sad to see end of this series with this last book. I know Stephanie Tyler is going paranormal at the beginning of next year but I truly hope she’ll also be back with new military romance because those are the books that make me come back to her time and time again.

Favorite Quotes:
"Why tell me all this?" he asked her finally. She swallowed, hard, looked like she wanted to pull away from his grip, but she didn't. "You're an American mercenary too—I figure, if you were going to kill me, you already would have. The worst you can do is turn me over to the other men . . . and I'll find a way to kill you or myself before I let that happen."

As scared as she was of living, she was far more scared of dying.

She looked so f#cking sad and he wanted to hug her. Except she'd probably stab him and run or something, so he stayed put and listened.

She tried to close her legs, didn't want Kell to know how wet she was for him, but his hand was insistent . . .He pulled back as she kept her thighs closed. "You wet for me, baby? I can tell even if you don't let me touch. But you're going to let me, right?"

She wanted to reach across the console for his hand, but she didn't. They'd already shared intimacies, and yet she'd never felt shyer around him. Like nervous butterflies were in her stomach and the something that had broken inside of her so long ago was well on its way to being repaired.

He hung up on Dylan's curses, which was a shame, since he always managed to learn a few new ones from him—and in varied languages as well— (Reid)

"I'm too busy for more of your crap."
"So take me in. Interrogate me."
She pictured him all bound up, and if that happened, she would not be talking. Well, no more than saying his name repeatedly and very loudly. (Grier and Reid)

He should tell her there was nothing beautiful about him, but he needed it to be true, didn't want her to see him as a danger . . . didn't want her to see the ugliness he'd been born with on the inside.