Everyday, Average Jones by Suzanne Brockmann ****

I went back and forth between rating this one 3 stars or 4 stars - maybe it's a 3.75?

This is #4 in Brockmann's Tall, Dark and Dangerous series - her first Navy SEAL series (before Troubleshooters), in which she uses the members of her fictional Team Ten Alpha Squad as the heroes. I enjoyed the first 3 - even rated them 5 stars, but not really keepers. But this one, Cowboy Jones' story, sorta rubbed me the wrong way.

First off, spoiler-ish, it's the Secret Baby plot. And not only is it the Secret Baby - Melody's not only keeping it secret, she's stubbornly refusing to even have anything to do with him. And she pissed me off.

See, she's always assumed she'd marry some everday, average guy - maybe an accountant. He'd be some guy whose biggest risk might be mowing the lawn on weekends. And it's because she figures, although she fell in love with Cowboy when he rescued her from a hostage situation in MakeBelievakia 7 months ago, she's too ordinary for him.

Of course, he's thought of nothing but the 6 days they spent together, boinking like bunnies after her rescue was over. So much that - in spite of his rogue-ish reputation - he's never even looked at another woman since those 6 days, 7 months ago.

So when he shows up in her middle-class, average town to see if he can woo her again, he's pretty dang shocked to see her hugely pregnant. He thinks she's 9 months pregnant and he's not the dad (which sort of pisses him off, really) - then he discovers the truth.

He spends a few weeks, literally camped out in her back yard, trying to convince her to marry him, but Melody is stubborn and won't marry except for love. See, what's annoying is, she won't even let him have his say - and she also won't own up to how she feels. She just shuts him out.

There's a sub-plot with a foster boy next door that shows his tender side, which she likes, but also makes Cowboy believe maybe he isn't father material after all - and since it's obvious to him that Melody doesn't want him (she worked hard enough to show him that), he finally gives up and leaves, promising to share custody and pay child support, but leaving her free to find a man she can love to marry.

Frankly, she's a bitch and she deserved his leaving her. But all in all, I still enjoyed reading their story, even if I wanted to smack her across the face a few times. Isn't that odd? It's just that I like Brockmann's style and her story-telling. Oh, and guess what, he goes back and they get a HEA after all.

It fit my Serial Readers Challenge, as well as the A To Z Challenge under title. Hmmm - was he besotted, or just determined. Naw, not besotted.