Having graduated from the Naval Academy and planning on being a career officer, Lieutenant Commander Kylie Thomas has spent a lot of time working within acceptable guidelines. In fact, Kylie likes knowing what the rules are and feels the structure they've given her life could only be considered a good thing. A challenge to her buttoned- down approach to life came into her world under the name of Ensign Drew MacLeod. After Drew was transferred into her San Diego office, Kylie began having fantasies. True, he was easy on the eyes, but Kylie's daydreams were more domestic. Kylie dreamed about being married to Drew, about their having a house and children together. But the fact that Drew is a direct subordinate, and a pesky eight years younger, has helped Kylie keep their relationship on a professional footing. Then came the shooting. A seaman came looking for revenge against Kylie for a judgement she made, but he disagreed with, and he killed four others before he was stopped.

Trying to escape their survivor's guilt for an evening, Drew and Kylie find themselves in a local bar at the same time. A few drinks later, their inhibitions are down and they act on the physical attraction they've both been feeling. When a forced R&R is passed down to all the survivors of the shooting, Drew decides to go to Hawaii to focus on his S.E.A.L. training regimen. Unable to forget his emotional connection with Kylie, Drew invites her to come. After struggling between doing what she thinks of being the right thing and what she feels is the right thing, Kylie agrees. Will this be a new beginning to a better way of living or will this be their first step onto a slippery slope ending in misery?

The background of what made Drew and Kylie into the people they are is really well thought out and interspersed through out the story as it would be if two people were just getting to know each other. They stay true to who they are but also show the kind of radical changes that would come about after such a traumatic experience. The reader will not be disappointed with anything in the story except knowing there probably won't be a second book for these two.