YOU! GUYS!!! I don’t know if you know, but I absolutely adore birthdays! As such, I saw that today is Stephanie Tyler‘s birthday so I emailed her a while ago asking her to visit us at ALBTALBS — and she agreed! *Squee!*Â You don’t really want to hear from me though, so heeeeere’s Stephanie!
Hey Everyone!
Limecello was nice enough to invite me to share a teaser from my upcoming Romantic Suspense called Surrender that comes out April 2nd. Itâs the first in my new Section 8 series, and since todayâs my birthday, it makes it that much more of a celebration!
Hereâs the blurb for Surrender:
On the run and living for revengeâŚ
Desperate, fearless, and hunted.
For ex-Navy SEAL Dare O’Rourke, Section 8 was legendary. The son of one its missing members, he grew up in the shadow of its secrets. All he knew was that it was a cabal of operatives discharged from branches of the military and reassigned to extremely dangerous, off-the-books international missions. And their handler, who answered only to the president, was as shrouded in mystery as the missions themselves.
Nothing can stop them. Nothing can break them.
Now, the handler of Section 8 has given extreme orders: kill any remaining members, along with their families. It’s then that Dare makes a startling discovery: the existence of a long-lost half sister named Avery he was never meant to meet. Determined to fight for their lives and find their missing father, Dare and Avery bring together the last members of Section 8 for one last mission: to avenge their families, and to survive.
***
I love starting a new series â theyâre all connected, because in my mind all these men especially know one another from the military or black ops world. So Lonely is the Night, which is Shadow Force #5, leads directly into Surrender. Today, Iâd love to give you all an opportunity to win an eCopy of Surrender. Iâll pick two winners from the commentersâall you have to do is talk a little bit about whether or not you like love triangles in your books.
Below, Iâve also given you a chapter from Surrender â itâs focused on Avery, whoâs Dareâs half sister and Key, who becomes an important part of Section 8. This is an exclusive excerpt, picked specially for Limecello đ
Teaser from Chapter 11 of Surrender by Stephanie Tyler
Gunner had more private tattoo appointments coming in, and so he left Avery upstairs, alone and restless. She nursed the beer heâd left for her as she stared out across the small balcony. Sheâd opened the French doors enough to hear the music floating in, noted the bar across the alleyway and decided that sheâd be safe enough there.
It was time to try out her new look anyway. Cops didnât lay in wait in college bars looking for Americaâs most wanted, and the assassins themselves wouldnât make a move in the crowd. If there were more, and if theyâd followed her.
She couldnât handle being a prisoner any longer.
There was the small matter of the alleyway itself, but it appeared to be a nicely crowded pathway to the bar. She climbed down the fire escape easily after pulling on a tank top and sandals and followed the groups of laughing people.
The heat, the bodies, the musicâall of it came together in one giant cacophonous swell that carried her into the bar with the rest of the revelers.
She wondered if it was always like this on week- ends or if sheâd just gotten lucky. Ordered a drink and swayed a little bit to the music. Turning down an offer to dance was easy enough the first time, but gradually the men began to get more persistent.
âLook, I just want to hang out here,â she told the guy who wouldnât let go of her wrist. She finally pushed at his shoulder hard enough that he was momentarily stunned.
Defending herself was going to get old. She couldnât draw so much attention to herself, and she would if she continued to kick this guyâs ass.
As she began to back away again, he lunged. And then he disappeared, replaced by a man who had a golden smile and an easy air, although she suspected there wasnât anything truly easy about him.
Heâd taken the man out without breaking stride. Eventually, the bouncers would pour the pest out onto the sidewalk, but for now, he weaved into the crowd.
âThanks.â
âYou were doing all right.â
âThen whyâd you step in?â she called above the din.
âIf you were gonna wrestle, I wanted it to be with me.â His grin disarmed her. The thought of being caught in his stronghold made her blood run warm. Two days in New Orleans and two men had given her this reaction; no one should come to this city without some kind of chaperone or chastity belt. âYou okay, chère?â
The manâs dialogue was authentic, came from deep inside, although there was no innocent southern farm-boy thing going on here by any stretch of the imagination.
He was blond, his hair longer than Gunnerâs. His face held the scruff of several daysâ worth of not shaving, and she rubbed her cheek against it lightly. He laughed, put an easy arm around her waist and bought her another shot. She accepted, told herself firmly that it was the last one. Of course, that didnât count the famous hurricanes that were designed by their very nature to knock her flat on her ass.
âWhatâs your name?â she asked him finally.
âDoes it really matter?â he murmured. She wanted to think it didnât, but it did. It always would. She was a damned romantic, like her mom, no matter how she fought it, which was why she didnât get involved. A few one-night stands were all sheâd had over the past two years.
âIf I said it did?â she asked, heard the husky want in her own voice.
âItâs Key.â He looked at her. âAnd you?â
âAvery.â
âGlad we got that out of the way.â His mouth came down on hers, and she melted into him. Sheâd had the perfect amount of alcohol, and the crowd seemed to swell around her like a protective hug. She was anonymous, and for the first time in months, she felt safe.
It felt good.
Keyâs tongue teased her, and she wished she could go with him somewhere . . . anywhere, but that would be stupid and sheâd already taken a chance tonight.
Key pulled her into a corner, away from the masses, where she could actually hear herself think, and then she looked into his face and realized that thinking was the last think she wanted to do.
Thinking was overrated. Highly so.
As if agreeing, he gave her another slow, sure kiss that tasted like the best of everything rolled into one. His hands held her waist, his stance still somehow protective, even as his body melded to hers in a slow dance of tumbling, riotous passion, as if the two of them were completely alone rather than in this crazy bar.
But that was the beauty of this placeâfor all intents and purposes, they were alone. And she stopped any last semblance of reason and let insanity win out for the time being.
Of course, it wasnât long before she realized that Key had a gun and a knife. He could be military or a merc or a bounty hunter. Or a criminal.
None of the options were good. Did he recognize her? Was this all a setup?
She didnât think that he would need to do this much work to get her in hand. The fact that sheâd literally been in his arms and technically still remained a free woman was comforting . . . and still she had to extricateâand fast.
But his touchâhe held on to her like a parched man in the desert whoâd found the fountain of life and wasnât prepared to let go. In the private corner that had become theirs she was trapped between his body and the wall in the most delicious way possible. And so she let herself go, wondering if she could orgasm from the kissing and light fondling alone.
Sheâd been trying for her entire life to figure out Dariusâs hold on her motherâwhy sheâd hated and loved this city and that man.
New Orleans and her surroundings were the keys to everything. Avery needed to figure out how to unlock the puzzle, to make sure she never made the same mistakes her mother had made.
New Orleans could be the death of herâits rhythms seemed to be in time with her heartbeat, her soul, and that was seductive and wrong. Wrong, according to her mother, whoâd thrown all caution to the wind here.
Avery could love it here, and somehow that was so very wrong. So was flirting, drinking and dancing, but she didnât care. For the moment, she was normal.
âYouâre adorable.â
âYouâre seeing two of me, arenât you?â⨠He waggled a finger at her and murmured something in what she assumed to be Cajun French. âSee, I donât know what youâre saying. You might be telling me Iâm the ugliest thing youâve ever seen.â
âYeah, thatâs it, sugar.â
âSo . . . what do you do?â she asked, and he held up his bottle of beer and pointed to it, asking her, âWhat do you do?â
âFor tonight, the same thing.â
âAnd kissing me,â he said seriously.
âDo you live here?â
âIn this bar?â
âIn New Orleans.â
âNah. Just passinâ through. On a road trip with my brother.â
âWhatâs that consist of?â
âMainly looking for trouble. Tonight, I found her.â He pulled her close, and she looked into those hazel eyes and something tugged at her. He was happy tonightâthat wasnât a lieâbut there was a sadness underlying his expression she couldnât deny.
She guessed everyone had secrets. Sometimes, that was reassuring to know; other times, terrifying.
âWhat are you thinking about, chère?â The more he drank, the thicker his accent got, but he actually seemed to gain more control with each beer, each shot. In fact, heâd probably pass as sober even if given more than a passing glance, while she felt like she might tip sideways at the slightest push.
âYou.â
He laughed. âWant to know all my secrets?â
âSomething like that.â
âIâm an open book. So live a littleâcome home with me.â
âI canât,â she told Key.
âNot gonna show me your tits?â
âYou donât have any beads.â
âI have something better than beads,â Key promised, and dammit, she believed him.â¨She wouldnât bring him back to Gunnerâs and she
wasnât going home with him, no matter how badly her body begged her to. And so after kissing him until she couldnât breathe, she stroked his cheek and walked away.
âYouâre really leaving me like this?â he called.
âGives you something to look forward to,â she told him over her shoulder as she kept walking.
But Key wasnât letting that happen. In seconds, he was on her again, kissing the back of her neck, luring her back in, and she knew she couldnâtâdidnât want toâresist. But right now that was all the same thing.
âIâm not letting you run,â he told her.
âWhere are you staying?â
âJust around the corner. Youâre safe with me.â
âYou were in the military, werenât you?â
Key gave her a small, slightly drunken smile and then placed a renewed interest in making sure she couldnât resist him. And it took everything she had to do so. Granted, it took quite a while, until she was sure someone was going to tell them to get a room. They did little more than kiss, but every nerve in her body was on fire, the slow burn more arousing than fast sex could ever be.
âGotta go, Key,â she told him. She was unsteady as she pushed away from him and walked away, out of the bar and his life, no doubt saving her from undeserved heartache.
And he let her.
Twenty minutes later, back at Gunnerâs, sheâd already showered to get Keyâs scent off her. Her now short hair dried fast, and she lay there in the unfamiliar bed, the fan blowing on her, realizing she was still the same exact person after all.
What had she expected to change?
***
You can find information on how to order the book here.
Y’all know the drill! Two chances to win a copy of this awesome book! Tell me what you think! And also, be sure to bestow many fabulous birthday wishes upon the very special and awesome birthday girl! <3