Heat
Nicolina Martin
(Russo Saga, #1)
Publication date: March 29th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Anything can happen during the hot nights in the Dominican Republic.

Sydney

I just wanted a tan and to sip drinks with little umbrellas in them. I didn’t know that vacation would mean sex with a hot stranger, being drugged, and nearly killed. My instincts tell me there’s more to the smooth facade of Nathan Russo, but my heart won’t listen. He’s my opposite, hot where I’m cool, experienced while I’ve never really lived. What starts out as a sexy fling can’t be more. Can it?

Nathan

I’m a dangerous man with a mission to complete and people to kill. Sydney Lewis might literally cost me my life. As the stakes increase, I have to decide whether to follow my head or my heart. My life is too dangerous, I’m too much of a monster. She’s a good girl. She can’t be a part of this. I have to be cruel. I have to cut her out.

But she’s the only one who can save me.

Heat will take you on a journey to paradise, through Hell, and back.

Publisher’s Note: This dark romance is intended for adult readers only and may contain triggers for some readers. It contains elements of danger, adventure, steamy scenes, adult language and a guaranteed HEA. If any of these offend you, please do not purchase.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Fingers thread through my hair.

I don’t move, my heart speeds up. In an instant, I remember where I am. What I have done. I slept on his lap, knowing it was an open invitation to something I still can’t articulate. I fight to control my breathing and try not to stir, because I don’t want him to know I’m awake. I want to see where he takes this.

I realize I’m holding my breath and force myself to breathe again. I try to inhale calmly, but it catches in my throat. His arm, draped around my waist, tightens. He knows I’m awake, knows I’m not objecting, and he’s not stopping.

His hand slides under the blanket. It’s hot on my skin through my thin blouse. He traces a path along my arm down to my hand that lies in front of my chest, then he moves and places his palm below my breasts, letting it rest there. A finger slides across my nipple. It stiffens instantly. It screams for his attention, and that light brush is far from satisfying. I forget to breathe, and then I just give up on it altogether. I want more. This feels so kinky. So forbidden.

I have to force myself to stay still.

His hand hovers over my nipple, then he pinches it gently and I gasp, spikes of want surging through me. This pretending-to-sleep routine is going to be hard to keep up. When I don’t object, he grows bolder and cups my breast and squeezes. Carefully at first, and then with more force. He suddenly stills and I hear the soft steps of someone approaching.

“Is there anything you need, sir? Coffee? A pillow for yourself?”

“Thank you. I’m good,” he answers cheerfully.

“She seems to be having a good sleep.”

“Oh yes. Anyone would envy her.” His voice reverberates through his chest.

Oh yes indeed!

His hand starts exploring again. It moves down along my belly and I tense up like a piano wire. Is he going where I think he’s going? But then I feel his warm palm on my naked skin as he pushes his hand under my blouse and moves upward again. He pushes up my bra, freeing my breasts, pinching first one nipple and then the other before he firmly squeezes my breasts, paying good attention to them both. I squirm and am barely able to stifle the moan that wants to escape my throat. His other hand rests on my head, toying with my hair, then taking more of a forceful hold of it as his breathing changes, gets more labored. I like it. I like that I affect him as much as he affects me.

When his hand abandons my breasts, I miss its presence immediately. I wonder if he’s done exploring, but he changes direction, caressing along my stomach and then down the front of my hip. Oh—Oh my God! Sliding his hand down my skirt, he pulls it up until his fingers rest scorching hot on my thigh. Agonizingly slow, he feels his way up my thigh until his hand rests on my panties. Panties that are drenched with moisture.

When a finger starts circling my clit through the fabric, I can’t help the moan that escapes me.

Author Bio:

Nicolina Martin is a Swedish born author who escapes the long, dark winter nights by writing hot contemporary romance/suspense.

She's a mother of three teenage girls, a medical doctor, a quirky loner, and a social human being. She has traveled the globe, has had more lovers than she can count, has loved and hated, succeeded and failed, has gone through marriage and divorce. She has seen darkness and despair, as well as light and happiness.

All these experiences, she pours into her tales, taking her readers for a wild ride while twisting their minds. She loves showing that stories can be different even if the trope is the same.

Nicolina believes that life is too short for regrets and in looking forward, no matter what. She wants to enjoy every moment, and cherish life.

To find out more about Nicolina Martin, visit her official website.

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Taken by Lies
Ella Miles
(Truth or Lies, #1)
Publication date: March 26th 2019
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

At 16 I was taken.
Kidnapped by a boy I thought I could love.
Then he sold me as if I were property.
For three years I endured.
Beatings.
Torture.
Pain.
I never broke.
I was strong, determined, resilient.
But then one day it happened…I broke.
Setting me free.
I should have run away, found a new life, and started over.
Instead, I returned.
To find the man who sold me.

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--

EXCERPT:

Broken.
For one thousand and ninety-five days I’ve done everything to keep myself from breaking.
Shut off my mind off during the beatings.
Escaped the depths of the darkness in the night.
Locked down my body during the rapes.
Imagined a new life when I was tortured.
Gritted my teeth through the violations.
Tried every tactic I needed to survive.
Closing myself away.
Envisioning a better life.
Plotting my revenge.
None of the strategies worked long term.
I hate Enzo for what he did to me, but my need to extract revenge was never enough to keep me alive.
I would try blocking my reality out by pretending my stomach didn’t constantly ache, and my body wasn’t bruised, my bones shattered.
That would keep me alive for a few weeks.
But then came the loneliness.
Being alone was worse than the pain. Not having a friend, a family, or anyone who loved me, that was what made me give up hope more than anything.
It’s been over three years since I was taken.
When those strong arms grabbed me, and the hood went over my head, I didn’t know what my future held.
Nothing.
I am nothing.
I am nobody.
I am a ghost.
A commodity to be bought and traded.
I was sold for one million—that was my worth.
I look down at my naked, bruised body. There isn’t a patch of skin that hasn’t been colored. I doubt I’m worth as much now as I was when I was originally sold.
Who would want a pile of bones like me?
The boat rocks, and I heave. There is nothing in my stomach to come up, though. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I would just starve to death, but no matter how much I’ve tried, my body won’t give into the sweet release. My body has adapted and learned to survive on far less food and water than what it should be capable of.
I’ve tried finding weapons to end my life, but there are none to be found on this yacht.
I’ve searched, no man carries a gun—not even a knife.
I don’t understand the men who keep me.
Nothing about it makes sense. I don’t even know who is in charge. Who is my master? They all share in the torture. They all revel in the pleasure of watching me slowly disintegrate.
No.
I won’t break.
That’s the only thing keeping me sane for the last one thousand and ninety-five days.
The thrill at watching the men in frustration as I continue to hold on to who I am and what I’m capable of.
Their primary goal is breaking me.
I overheard them placing bets on how long it would take and who would deliver the final blow.
Three months…
Six months…
One year…
When I made it one year, they stopped betting. I think most of them thought I would never break at that point.
I won’t.
I can’t.

Author Bio:

Ella Miles is a USA Today Bestselling author, top 100 Amazon Bestselling author, and Kindle Press author. She writes steamy romance with a twist. She's currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy four year old black lab that is scared of everything, including her own shadow.

Ella is the author of the Amazon bestselling book TOO MUCH. She is also the author of the UNFORGIVABLE series, ALIGNED series, MAYBE series, and DEFINITELY series. Get NOT SORRY & ALIGNED: EVER AFTER for FREE by visiting her website: www.EllaMiles.com/freebooks.

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Release Date: March 28, 2019

Cover Design: Sara Eirew

Photographer: Sara Eirew

Synopsis

I moved three thousand miles to get away from my best friend, Luke Fraser.

Funny.

Intelligent.

He was the whole package.

Did I mention he was married?

I couldn’t take the heartbreak of wanting something I couldn’t have, so I bailed.

I had convinced myself that I was over him, until he ended up in my town for a six-week art commission.

One look was all it took for my heart to break all over again. I wasn’t over him. Not one bit.

But things have changed, and not for the better.

Recently widowed, Luke is carrying darkness and secrets.

Everyone tells me to stay away. Even him. He’s a mess. Broken. Incapable of giving me what he says I deserve.

But regardless of what I deserve, there’s only one thing I need.

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About the Author

Jordyn White writes steamy romances featuring smart, sexy women and the swoon-worthy men who adore them. Her sexy love stories are full of passion but don't skimp on the tenderness.

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Release Date: March 27, 2019

Cover Design/Photographer: FuriousFotog

Synopsis

He gave her the kind of pleasure every woman dreams about…

Release Date: March 28, 2019

Cover Design: Pink Elephant Designs

Synopsis

Confession One: Musical theatre and chess were my true loves.

Today we have the blog tour for Elle Keating’s I DREAM OF SPIDERS! Check it out and be sure to order your copy today!

Title: I Dream of Spiders

Author: Elle Keating

Genre: Contemporary Romance

About I Dream of Spiders:

The move to the remote town of Quarry Hill, Pennsylvania was supposed to help Griffin McGuire start over and forget the two people who betrayed him. As a paramedic at the local hospital, he would still have to interact with people, but the rest of the time he could hole himself away in the secluded cabin he was renting. It was perfect. For the first time in over a year, he felt like he could finally breathe.

That was until he met her.

A woman who doesn’t know her own name or why she was covered in blood and standing in the middle of the road when he found her. Griffin knows he should contact the police, but something is preventing him from going to the authorities. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that he was correct in trusting his instincts. Every time she falls asleep, she dreams and another memory is unlocked. Memories that are horrific and make him want to protect and hide her from the world.

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Read an Excerpt:

I bring Clare dinner, but she is now asleep on the couch. I lift her in my arms and carry her to bed. I am tempted to crawl in next to her but I don’t. I pull the covers over her and then retire to the couch. Several hours later, screaming erupts from the other room and I rush to her. She is thrashing in bed, clawing at her sheets, her face distorted as she curses at her captors. I slip into bed and try to wake her. Stroking the curve of her cheek with my fingers, I call her name.

“Get the fuck off me…you bastard!” she screams.

“Clare, wake up!” I yell, cupping her face with both my hands. Her eyes shoot open. Even in the dark room, I can see her blue eyes frantically search mine, for recognition, for confirmation that she is here with me and not in that hell hole she had escaped from.

“They won’t stop. The nightmares, they just keep coming.” I pull her to me and position us so that I am lying on my back while she cries onto my bare chest. Her breathing remains stuttered as she sobs. All I can do, all I can offer are a shhh and I got you and you’re safe.

“I feel so helpless, so weak. I’m so sorry, Griffin. For coming here, for making you feel like you have to take care of me, for intruding on your life. You don’t deserve this.”

I raise her chin with my fingers. “I want you here…and I want to be the one to keep you safe…even if I have to keep you safe from me.”

“You would never hurt me,” she whispers.

“You are becoming harder and harder to resist, Clare.” She lifts her head off my chest and looks at me. I can feel her nipples pebble through her shirt as they press against me. She feathers her fingers over my abs and I jolt from the sensation.

“The other night, I kissed you because I wanted to know if there was someone, some man who remains in my subconscious even if I can’t remember him. But you were all I thought about then, all I’m thinking about now.”

I lace her fingers through mine. “You love another.”

“If I love Dylan, if I lay with him like this, then why don’t I feel guilty right now? Why do I picture your hands touching me…your lips tasting me?”

“Clare, tell me to leave. Right now.” I am hanging on by a thread.

In a blink of an eye she rises to her knees and straddles me, trapping me beneath her. “No, Griffin.” She tears off her shirt, exposing her bare breasts. I have seen them before, but fuck are they beautiful in the moonlit room! “You’re not leaving,” she says.

I lose it. I forget what is at stake. I forget all the reasons I should say no, and I sit up and kiss her.

Elle Keating is the author of romance novels with sexy heroes and fierce females. Her first book, Thrill of the Chase (Dangerous Love, #1), was published by Forever Romance’s digital imprint, Forever Yours, in 2015. Cut to the Chase (Dangerous Love, #2) soon followed. Most recently, Elle self-published Wanting More (Dangerous Love, #3), Back to the Start (Dangerous Love, #4) Feels Like Falling (Dangerous Love, #5) and the standalone novel, Keeping His Commandments.

When Elle isn’t torturing her heroes and heroines (don’t worry, there’s always a happily ever after), she is a public school administrator and enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 children in New Jersey. For more on Elle and her books, visit ellekeating.com.

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Today we are celebrating the release of FATAL RECKONING. Fatal Reckoning is part of the Fatal series by Marie Force. Check out the purchase links, blurb and teaser for the book below.

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FATAL RECKONING (Fatal, #14) by Marie Force

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As she had every morning for seven days, Sam reached across the bed, looking for Nick, finding his side of the bed cold and unoccupied. He would be home from his trip to Europe later that day. Thank God. In his absence, she’d been forced to make due with rushed FaceTime conversations on their son Scotty’s phone, texts and the press coverage of the trip that had included an audience with Queen Elizabeth. Sam had been sorry to miss the chance to meet a woman she idolized, but she’d remained at home to care for their Scotty as well as Alden and Aubrey, the five-year-old twins who’d recently become part of their family after their parents were murdered.

She’d put the time to good use, getting “the littles,” as Nick had nicknamed the twins, back on a schedule that included a return to their preschool. Dr. Trulo, the Metro Police Department psychiatrist, had helped her find a qualified therapist who would work with the children together and individually to help them cope with their terrible loss. And she’d fielded phone calls from their mother’s family members, who were suddenly concerned about their well-being now that the men responsible for their parents’ murders had been brought to justice.

Sam couldn’t stand hypocrites and had gritted her teeth each time a member of a family that had initially expressed no concern whatsoever for the children called to check on them. Fortunately, their parents had made their older brother, Elijah, their legal guardian, and he’d asked Sam and Nick to serve as the children’s custodial guardians while he finished college at Princeton. What would happen after he graduated, Sam didn’t know and couldn’t think about. Not now when the children needed everything she and Nick and their devoted assistant, Shelby, had to give them to get their lives back on track, or as close to it as they could get without their beloved parents.

One step a time, she told herself, just as she often did while working a homicide investigation. The activity with the littles had been good for her as she served out a seven-day suspension for taking in the children of her murder victims, something she’d do again in a hot second. Was it a conflict of interest? Absolutely, but she hadn’t thought about that when she saw two babies in need of something she could give them. It had only taken a few days after she brought them home for everyone associated with their household to fall in love with the blond-haired twins.

She moved from her pillow to Nick’s, which bore faint remnants of his distinctive cologne, the scent of “home.” If her time-zone calculations were correct, he would be on Air Force Two by now, about to begin the seven-hour flight home from France. Her phone rang, and she wondered if it was him, telling her he’d be home soon. Greedy for anything from him that she could get after a week apart, she grabbed the phone and flipped it open without checking the caller ID.

“Sam!” Her stepmother, Celia’s urgent tone had Sam sitting up in bed.

“Morning. What’s going—”

“Sam, it’s your dad. Something’s wrong.”

“I’m coming.” Sam was out of bed and running before she gave a thought to the fact that she was wearing pajama bottoms, Nick’s favorite ratty Harvard T-shirt and no bra. She bolted from the bedroom, past the shocked Secret Service agent in the hallway and down the stairs as she held the phone to her ear and tried to beat back a tidal wave of panic. The agent working the front door opened it for her, thankfully without asking any questions. As she didn’t have Secret Service protection, Sam could come and go as she pleased, and the agents had gotten used to her mad dashes.

Barefoot and oblivious to the cold October air, she sprinted down the ramp Nick had installed so her dad could visit their home and covered the short distance between her home and her father’s in seconds, cruising up the ramp to his front door and bursting into the house.

“Back here,” Celia called.

Sam went from the living room through the kitchen to her father’s bedroom in what used to be the dining room. With one quick glance, she saw that his color was all wrong and his lips were blue. In that moment, none of her training or years of emergency experience was available to her. In that moment, she wasn’t a decorated police officer. She was only a daughter staring at the lifeless face of the first man she’d ever loved.

“Sam! What should we do?”

Celia’s frantic tone and her fearful expression nudged Sam into action. With shaking hands, she called 9-1-1 and requested help.

The operator asked for specifics.

“Sixty-four-year-old unresponsive quadriplegic.” She recited the Ninth Street address. “Tell the Secret Service that Lieutenant Holland said to let them in.” “Of course, Lieutenant.” The operator perked up when she realized who she was talking to. “Do you know the victim?”

“Yes.” Sam tried to swallow around the huge knot of fear wedged in her throat. “He’s my father.” My touchstone. My hero. My best friend forever. “Please hurry.”

“EMS is on the way. Has your father had any recent health issues?”

“Nothing other than the paralysis.” He’d been doing better in the last year after surgery to remove the bullet that had remained lodged in his neck for three years. He’d regained some sensation in his extremities, but he’d become frailer with every month spent immobile. Sam walked around the hospital bed to comfort Celia, who was stroking Skip’s face and hair and begging him to open his eyes, to talk to her.

“Please don’t do this,” Celia said pleadingly between sobs. “Not yet. Don’t leave me.”

Debra Nixon, the lead agent on Scotty’s detail, appeared in the doorway, probably after having been told of Sam’s sprint. “What can I do?” She assessed the situation with sharp eyes.

Holding the phone to the side, Sam said, “Tell the agents at the checkpoint to let in EMS.”

“Done. What else?”

“Ask the agents at the house to keep an eye on the kids? Don’t let Scotty come over here.” Dear God, Scotty… He adored his Gramps. All at once, Sam couldn’t breathe as the potential magnitude of what was happening registered, leaving her staggered, her legs nearly buckling under her. Somehow, she remained standing, but only because Celia needed her to keep it together. Inside, however, she crumbled.

“EMS has arrived,” the operator said. “I’ll pray for your family, Lieutenant.” “Thank you.” Sam slapped the phone closed.

Debra went to let in the paramedics, who brought equipment and badly needed competence. They immediately took over, tending to Skip as Sam and Celia stood with their arms wrapped around each other. Watching one of her worst fears play out, Sam wondered if she might be dreaming this. It had to be a dream because the possibility that this could be real was too frightening and heartbreaking to entertain.

The lead paramedic looked to Sam and Celia. “Has he had any recent health issues?”

“Nothing other than the paralysis and a persistent urinary tract infection.” Celia dabbed at tears with a tissue. “He’s been on antibiotic for that.”

“Has he ever been unresponsive like this?”

“No,” Celia said. “Never.”

Sam knew she should call her sisters but couldn’t bring herself to move or do anything other than hope and pray.

The paramedic listening to her father’s heart shook his head, and the other one sprang into action, setting up a portable defibrillator. Seeing the paddles and understanding what they were doing snapped Sam out of the dreamlike trance she’d slipped into as the surreal scene unfolded around her.

“No,” Sam said. “No.”

“Sam!” Celia cried. “What’re you doing?”

Sam stared at the face of the man who meant the world to her. “It’s not what he would want.” She knew it without a shadow of a doubt. In some ways, the most difficult decision she would ever make was also the simplest.

“Please, Sam.” Celia sobbed helplessly. “Please.”

Sam met the intense gaze of the lead paramedic. “He has a DNR.”

Hearing that, the paramedics stepped back.

Sobbing, Celia pulled free of Sam’s embrace to lean over her husband, kissing and caressing the half of his face that had retained full sensation after the shooting and the stroke that’d followed. Long after his injury, Sam and her sisters learned that for some time he’d been dating Celia, who became his devoted nurse and later, his wife.

“Lieutenant,” one of the paramedics said. “Would you like us to transport him?”

A lifetime of holidays, celebrations, parties and other events in this house ran through her mind in a flash. Skip Holland had lived there for most of his adult life. It seemed only fitting that his life should also end in the home he’d loved. If he was in pain, he probably couldn’t feel it. She took comfort in that.

“No, thank you.” Sam’s heart hurt, her hands trembled and her mouth had gone dry from fear. How would she ever go on without him?

The paramedics stepped out of the room.

Sam wanted to beg them to stay. She couldn’t handle this. She couldn’t bear it. Tracy. Angela. She had to call them. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely make the call to her eldest sister.

“Are you losing your mind without your man?” Tracy asked in a teasing tone.

“Trace.”

“What? Sam? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Dad. You need to come. Tell Ang too. Hurry.”

“What?” Tracy asked, frantic. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s… Just come. As fast as you can.”

“Sam.”

“Call Angela and get over here. Now.”

“We’re coming,” Tracy said, sounding undone.

Sam moved around to the other side of the bed and gazed down at her dad’s face as he struggled to breathe. Tears threatened, but she fought them off, determined to stay strong for Celia, who was hysterical.

They’d been on borrowed time for almost four years now, during which Skip’s once-robust world had been reduced to three rooms. He’d been trapped in a kind of hell she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. All that time, she’d known that at some point his body would surrender the fight.

Knowing it could happen at any time didn’t make the reality easier, though. Her sisters lived close by, so it didn’t take them long to get there, rushing into the room and bringing the scents of cold and wood smoke with them. They took one look at Skip and broke down into heartbroken sobs when they realized what was happening. Sam didn’t acknowledge them or do anything other than stare at the face of the man who’d occupied the very center of her life.

“What can we do?” Tracy’s husband Mike asked, as he stood behind Sam and her sisters.

“Nothing,” Sam said. “We have to let him go because he wouldn’t want heroic measures.” Later, she’d probably wonder where her composure was coming from. All she knew for certain was that her dad had lived long enough trapped inside the prison of his useless body, and it was up to them now to let him go with the grace in which he’d lived his remarkable life.

Angela went around the bed to try and comfort Celia, who was inconsolable. Tracy wrapped her arms around Sam. Only with her sister’s warmth pressed up against her, did Sam realize how cold she was.

As she wondered if he could still hear them, Sam thought about what she should say to him while she still could. But there was no need for last-minute salvos. Nothing had been left unsaid between her and her father. He would leave this world knowing exactly where he stood with her and the rest of his family. Skip Holland had been loved and respected and adored by his wife and daughters and had returned those sentiments tenfold.

They were all there, the four people he loved the most, when Skip took his last breath at eight thirty-seven.

Sam noted the time, because she knew it would matter. For a long time after his chest stopped moving, she continued to stare down at him. Through the fog of the surreal, she understood what had happened, and in one tiny remote part of her, she felt relieved for him. She’d never been a particularly religious person. However, the thought of Skip walking tall and proud, freed from the god-awful prison of his egregious injury, into the kingdom of heaven, brought badly needed comfort.

But when she thought about Celia, herself and her sisters, Skip’s beloved grandchildren, devoted sons-in-law, colleagues and friends—the many people who had loved him—she ached for everyone who would be left to go on without him. And in the corner of her soul that belonged to her family in blue, she seethed with rage, directed at the nameless, faceless criminal who’d taken Skip from them far too soon.

On the way home at last, Nick thought, watching the Paris skyline get smaller as Air Force Two climbed to altitude. He had a million things to do, emails that had given birth to more emails while he’d been away, briefing documents to review before he returned to the White House on Monday and a press corps on board hungry for interviews.

But all he could think about was eight more hours until he could see his Samantha. That felt like an eternity after missing her terribly for an endless week apart.

They were absurd. He knew it. She knew it. They didn’t care who knew it. What had started as a crazy, wildfire of attraction the night they met, had been denied for six long years until they were reunited at a crime scene, of all places. Sometimes Nick thought they were still making up for lost time almost two years after finding each other again.

That was the best explanation he had for the absolutely ridiculous love they had for each other, the kind of love that made a life worth living. He was eager to get home to spend time with Scotty and the “littles” who had recently joined their family. But he was absolutely desperate to see his wife, to hold her, kiss her, make love to her, breathe her in and stare at her gorgeous face. He could do that for hours and never get tired of the view. Her face was his favorite view in the world.

A knock on the door that separated his cabin from the rest of the plane, drew Nick out of his thoughts. “Come in.”

His lead Secret Service agent, John Brantley Junior, stepped into the room, his expression serious and professional as always. Brant rarely cracked a grin or removed the all-business façade that made him such an effective agent.

“What’s up?” Nick asked.

“We received a call from Agent Nixon.”

As Debra Nixon was his son’s lead agent, Nick’s first thought was for Scotty. “What?” He fought back a burst of panic.

“Your father-in-law.”

“What about him?”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you that he passed away a short time ago. Mrs. Cappuano, her sisters and stepmother were with Deputy Chief Holland when he passed.”

Sam. Oh no, no, no. “I need to speak to my wife.”

“We’re attempting to reach her now. She’s not answering her phone.”

“Call one of the other agents and have them find her.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nick’s entire body felt cold with shock and despair as he imagined Sam dealing with such an awful loss, and while he was hours away from her. He’d never felt more useless or despondent as he imagined what she must be going through.

Brant returned a short time later, speaking on a secure satellite phone. “Hold on just a moment. Here he is.” He handed the phone to Nick.

“Sam?”

“I’m here.” Her dull, flat tone told him so much but nowhere near enough.

“Babe… I’m so, so sorry.”

“Thank you. I know you loved him too.”

“I did. So much. I would give anything to be there with you right now.”

“I wish you were here too.”

“What happened?”

“Celia called when she couldn’t wake him. The paramedics came, but I told them he wouldn’t want to be resuscitated.”

Oh God, she had been the one to make that call? Nick closed his eyes, put his head back against the seat and released a deep breath, trying to imagine what it had cost her to make that decision on her father’s behalf. “What can I do for you?”

“It helps to hear your voice. I have to go tell Scotty, and the kids will be getting up.”

“Samantha…”

“I’ll see you when you get here, okay?”

“I love you so much, and I’m just heartbroken for you and Ange and Trace and Celia.”

“Thanks. I love you too. I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too, babe.”

The line went dead, and he handed the phone back to Brant.

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Brant said, visibly shaken. “Is Mrs. Cappuano…”

“She sounds… bad. Flat.”

“She’s in shock.”

Nick leaned forward, elbows on knees, head in hands. Skip is dead. Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his face, his thoughts full of Sam, Scotty and the rest of their family. This would be a devastating loss for all of them. And it was a devastating loss for him. Skip had been a friend and father figure to him since the day Nick met him. Even paralyzed from the neck down, Skip had managed to completely intimidate Nick with the formidable blue-eyed stare that had put him on notice. Take care of my baby girl, or you’ll deal with me. Few things had ever mattered more to Nick than keeping the promises he’d made to Skip Holland that first day.

“I’m going to ask Mr. O’Connor to step in, if that’s all right,” Brant said. Nick nodded and used the sleeve of his shirt to mop up his tears.

Terry came into the cabin, shock etched into his expression. “I just heard the news. I’m so sorry, Nick.”

Nick insisted his chief of staff call him by name when they were alone.

“Thanks.”

“Were you able to talk to Sam?”

“Briefly.”

“I won’t ask how she is.” Terry took a seat. “Did you hear what happened?”

“He was unresponsive this morning. They chose not to resuscitate him. He had a DNR.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Get me home to her as fast as you can. I don’t care what has to happen.”

“I’ll arrange for Marine Two to meet us at Andrews. We can land on the south lawn of the White House and have you home within minutes.”

“Thank you.” That would be quicker than being conveyed to the city via motorcade, but it was still going to take far too long.

CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE FATAL SERIES

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AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 contemporary romances, including the Gansett Island Series, which has sold more than 3 million books, and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books, which has sold 1.5 million books. In addition, she is the author of the Butler, Vermont Series, the Green Mountain Series and the erotic romance Quantum Series, written under the slightly modified name of M.S. Force. All together, her books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide!

Her goals in life are simple—to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.

Join Marie's mailing list for news about new books and upcoming appearances in your area. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter @marieforce and on Instagram. Join one of Marie's many reader groups. Contact Marie at marie@marieforce.com.

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