Second Wind (Cypress Coast #1)

Desperate to escape her abusive fiancé, kinetic sculptor Laurel McDowell pawns her engagement ring, loads everything she owns into her VW Beetle, and heads for the sanctuary of her family home in Big Sur. She lands a job in an art gallery in picturesque Carmel-by-the-Sea and begins a new life.

After her ex’s body washes up on the beach, Laurel finds herself dragged into a scheme involving money-laundering Russians, a pair of amiable biker gang members, and a good-looking government number-cruncher who’s more comfortable in a T-shirt and shorts than a suit.

As a forensic accountant for the FBI, Jake Carlson is used to nailing bad guys by following the money trail. His current investigation is floundering until he meets Laurel McDowell, a young woman with connections to an alarming number of his suspects. Is she a witness, an accomplice, or a victim? All he has to do is to keep her alive long enough to find out.