They can't deny the heat-it's the only thing keeping them alive.

A distracted soldier is a dead solder. That's special operative Trey Williams' motto. The last thing he needs in his life is a girlfriend. Problem is, the woman who's been recruited to pose as his wife on a special assignment is proving to be exactly the kind of distraction he can't afford.

Years ago, Carly McAfee turned her back not only on her military career, but the men who come with it. So why did she say yes to a mission that puts her in intimate contact with Trey, under 24/7 surveillance by both bad guys and good? One slip, and they're both dead. It's not long, though, before her body betrays her, followed closely by her heart.

With a terrorist arms deal going down and missing teammate's life on the line, Carly and Trey must throw caution to the wind in the scorching-hot performance of their lives-and try not to lose their hearts and minds in the process.

Warning: Contains bad men with big guns and video cameras, and an unmarried couple who need to get naked and get busy acting very married to save both their country and their lives.

This book has been previously published and has been revised and expanded from its original release.

Title: TREY
Author: Cat Johnson
Series: Red, Hot & Blue, book 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Year of release: 2010, April 20
Format: eBook
Source: Bought via Samhain eBookstore

First line:
He waited, crouching in the reeds.

Memorable Scenes:
- scene where Trey picks up drunk Jack at Carly's bar > Trey is adorably cute in his jealousy
- scene where Jack realizes the deal between Trey & Carly > even though Jack was cute and charming at some point he needed a reality-check where Carly was concerned and this is where he got it



QuickScore-Verdict:
I really like Cat Johnson's writing. It reads very easily, has subtle humor and is steamy. She also has the military stuff down really well. However, I felt the plot was brushed over a little bit. I was expecting more suspense and plot-wise and it was a bit of a cold shower how the suspense was resolved. The pace was good as in it kept moving forward without unnecessary information dumps yet outlining the plot clearly and thoroughly. But the balance in the pace is a bit off as it starts slow and has a rushed ending

TREY was a great way to get familiar with Cat Johnson's writing and I liked it a lot. I'm definitely going to read more of her books, starting with Jack's story because the guy deserves a HEA of his own and a woman to unleash all that southern charm on.

Favorite Quotes:
She was a strange cocktail of simplicity mixed with attitude, shaken with killer good looks.

"We were pretending I’m not in the military. Trey, she’s a really good kisser.” That little gem of a revelation caused Trey to trip over his own feet. This ridiculously surreal situation would have been laughable if Trey weren’t so miserable. “That’s great, Jack. Thanks for telling me." Perhaps Jack would vomit in his truck next, then Trey’s evening would really be complete.

Jack. The joking, colorful Southern sidekick to the quiet but observant Trey Williams.

So they knew about her time in the service. She hoped they also knew she spent the entire duration of it behind a desk stateside. Sure, she went through basic training and yeah, she could fire a weapon. If she had one, which she didn’t so she wasn’t at all convinced that skill was going to help in this situation. She could file papers for Trey if the need arose though.

“Well, if you ask me, it’s a damn shame to throw out the whole pie just because the crust got a little burnt.” (Jack)