Erin McCarthy – Smart Mouth

The first book in the FBI Agents, Chicago series, published December 1, 2004.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: fun



“I’ll leave as soon as you give me what I want.”
In another time and place, that might have a nice ring to it. But standing in a Chicago hotel room with a cub reporter as obstinate as she is hot, FBI-agent Derek Knight knows he has to play it charming. Something like: “By holding on to that evidence, you’re interfering with FBI business, ma’am, and by the way, those long, gorgeous legs of yours would look awfully good wrapped around my …” Sure, losing all sense of professionalism may not help his career, but the off-duty perks would be sensational…
“Yeah, right, you’re an FBI agent. And I can bake a cake from scratch.”
Reese Hampton is not giving up the envelope she found in her rental car – the one with the story that could take her from journalistic Siberia straight to the front page. She’ll just have to outsmart the certifiably insane Fed with the movie-start good looks. Dodge and weave. Distract and bed. No! Bad hormones!, bad! Still, spending time with that unbelievably broad chest up close and personal might just add, um, depth to her story. If only she can let her robe down while keeping her guard up…


Reese Hampton works as a journalist for a very small New York newspaper, one third is sports, one third is obituaries, and one third is gossip. She has been send to Chicago to cover a very important wedding. Without permission from the happy couple or their powerful families of course. After a horrible flight, Reese lands in Chicago and goes to her rental car to seek out her hotel. A strange but very handsome man in a car is checking her out in the parking garage, and she is alarmed when he gets out of his car and follows her to her own! Luckily, she knows how to handle herself, and manages to get in her car and away from him. But he seems to follow her! Driving through red lights, making unsuspected turns, he keeps at her! She is being stalked! So desperately Reese stops her car when he blocks her way, and runs into a deli, screaming for help. Which she gets, the man is wrestled to the floor. Being brought into the back of the shop, she hears his claims to be an FBI agent, sure he said something like that to her before, but she just did not believe him. But when the police come and find him legit, she sees no other choice but to slink out of the back door and go to her hotel.

Derek Knight is not a happy man. His informant has left the evidence he desperately needs for his big case in the wrong rental car, and now this woman thinks he is stalking her and refuses to give him the envelope. But he is FBI and he will get it back. With a bit of charm and some FBI strongarming, he finally gets the rental company to tell him who rented that car and where she was headed, and he follows the gorgeous blonde to her hotel.

Inside her hotel room, Reese notices she is still clutching the envelope the FBI agent was after, and being the nosy reporter she is, she opens it and reads it all. She is over the moon, this story could make her career! Quickly making photocopies from all the papers with her phone, she then stuffs the papers back in the envelope. She will probably have to turn that in… But the knock on her door is not room service, but the handsome FBI agent who was chasing her. He is not happy with her, but that instant attraction between them is hot. Reese tries to bargain with him about the story, but Derek is not interested in that. Still, she knows too much and she could jeopardize his case if she starts poking around on her own.

When Derek finds out which wedding she attending the next day, he agrees to be her date…


Even though I really liked this book, there is not much of a real story. I think 60 to 70 percent of the book is love scenes, and making out scenes. They sure have the hots for each other. First there is a lack of real sex because they don’t have condoms, but after two days, no more limitations. They do understand each other though, and although Reese is more a tomboy than a lady, having grown up with a military father and three older brothers and no mother, she does show compassion for his difficulties. She does not intend to harm his career, but she will have this story. And she knows she can help his case, even though he keeps warning her off.

Derek does have a problem that Reese is only 26, and he is 39, but she does make him feel younger. Then there is the complication of his 24 years young sister moving in with him, and he only having a one bedroom apartment. Still, he doesn’t want to part from Reese just yet, and she cannot keep living in the hotel room after she quit her job.

It was fun, I loved the dialogue and how they started to trust the other, and learn to give in. They also betted a lot, as that was the only thing Reese learned growing up with her brothers, and then cheating. Lots and lots and lots more of sex scenes though. I could have done with a bit less of those, but I will confess that I did not start skipping them either. I am a big fan of Erin McCarthy’s books and her writing style and the characters she creates. They are flawed and fun.

9 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian