Hi friends! Today we have Katie Reus visiting with us! She’s a first timer at ALBTALBS – and it’s also release day for her, so everyone be super nice to Ms. Reus!
Thanks so much to Limecello for showcasing Chasing Danger here today! I hope you enjoy the exclusive sneak peek.
A woman in danger and the one man who will keep her safe at all costs…
Chief Nursing Officer Hannah Young is accustomed to working under pressure, but even she’s still reeling in the aftermath of a horrific terrorist attack on Miami. And things only get worse after a knife wielding maniac tries to kill her. Desperate for help, Hannah must turn to the one man she never thought she’d see again.After spending an intensely passionate night with Hannah, NSA Agent and former Delta Force operative Dax Costas fell off the face of the earth. He got called away for a two week mission with no way to contact her. Now he can’t get the smart, sexy woman out of his head. She might be angry at him, but when it appears she has a stalker, Dax moves her under his roof and into his protection.
Unfortunately, whoever wants Hannah dead will stop at nothing. And if Dax can’t identify the perpetrator in time, it could be too late to discover if there is more between him and Hannah than just heated passion…
Chasing Danger (A Deadly Ops novella)
Copyright © 2015 Katie Reus
Despite the heaviness sitting on her chest, Hannah let out a short laugh. If there was a crazy guy in a mile radius, she’d find him. It was like she had a homing beacon for the weird. “I’ll take you up on the drink, but forget picking up any guys. I’m so over your gender.”
“You and me both, girl.” Shaun kissed the top of her head lightly. “I’ll text a couple of the crew who are off tonight and see if they want to meet up.”
“Sounds good to me.” There were six of them who got together regularly after work. Right now anything was better than going back to her empty home—for a multitude of reasons. Weeks ago Miami had been rocked to its core with a horrific terrorist attack that killed hundreds. In the aftermath her best friend, Sophie, had come up from Key West, where she lived with her husband Jack.
Jack used to work for the NSA in a capacity that Hannah sort of knew about because she’d been kidnapped a year ago and Jack and his former boss and teammates had helped save her. She’d had to sign a bunch of paperwork swearing she’d never speak of what he did or what she’d seen. Which was fine with her because thanks to them, she was alive. And if she was honest, she wanted to forget everything she’d been through. Being kidnapped and held in another country had been traumatic enough, no matter how levelheaded she was. Having your freedom taken from you, with the additional worry of death—and worse things—hanging over your head, was hard to forget.
Sophie and Jack had come to town because Jack had been doing contract work of sorts for the NSA, including briefly guarding a woman who’d been a witness to the terrorist attack. During that time Jack and Sophie had stayed at Hannah’s parents’ house, and in the aftermath, Hannah had met one of Jack’s former colleagues, Dax Costas.
Dax fucking Costas, whom she wanted to punch right in the face for standing her up two weeks ago after the most intense, raw sex of her life. Yes, that was a violent reaction but she didn’t care. He just brought it out of her with all his raw sex appeal and bullshit charm. She couldn’t believe she’d thought his I’m-quiet-and-brooding-and-don’t-know-how-sexy-I-am act was actually real. Gah! She never fell for that stupid charming act from men.
Until Dax.
She couldn’t believe she’d invited him to her house. He’d been in her bed, on her sheets, in her safe haven. A place it had taken her a long damn time to feel safe in again after being kidnapped right out of her home a year ago. She’d brought him there because she’d thought he was different. He was the first man she’d let in her home, in her own bed, period. The connection between them . . . She shook her head as Shaun strode in the other direction of the garage to get to his vehicle.
She already had enough on her mind and didn’t need to add to her stress by dwelling on a man who’d turned out to be a liar.
As she slid into the driver’s seat of her new mini-SUV, her cell phone rang. Without starting the engine, she locked her doors, even though the garage was teeming with people getting off work. Ever since the kidnapping, she was hyper-vigilant. Glancing at the caller ID, she frowned. Unknown.
Could be a telemarketer even though they weren’t supposed to call her cell phone, or it could be one of her four older brothers. Screw it. If it was a telemarketer she’d just hang up. “Hello?”
“Hannah.”
Dax’s voice. She hated that she recognized him so easily. The deep quality of his voice did strange things to her insides. She swallowed hard.
“Hello?” he said.
Damn it, she needed to get it together. “Who is this?” She didn’t want to admit that she recognized him from two words.
A long pause. “Dax.” It sounded like he said the word through gritted teeth.
“The only Dax I know was supposed to meet me for a date two weeks ago but never showed.” Or called. How freaking humiliating.
“Hannah, I’m more sorry about that than you know. I got called away for work and—”
“Did they not have phones where you were going?”
“Not . . . exactly.”
“What the hell does that mean? Not exactly? Unless you were in the Amazon rain forest with no satellite reception, I find it hard to believe you couldn’t have taken two seconds to call, or even freaking text me.” She wished she could act cool and unaffected, but her voice vibrated with fury.
“I didn’t have the means to call you. I can’t tell you more than that, but I’m back in town and I want to see you again. Please let me make it up to you.” The pleading note in his voice tugged at her, and she almost caved.
But she had some pride left, even if the man’s voice got her hotter than anyone else ever had. She snorted. “No, thank you. The sex was great, Dax, but I’m not interested anymore.” Feeling like a bitch and not caring, she hung up.
Her face burned as she remembered just how raw things had been between them. They’d had sex all over her house. They’d spent four days and nights together, wrapped up in each other, coming up for air only long enough to eat and sleep. She’d even called in sick to work two days in a row, something she’d never done, not in the decade she’d worked at the hospital. She’d never thought sex could be that good, that real. Swallowing hard, she fought the heavy feeling pressing against her chest. Combined with everything today, hearing Dax’s voice brought her low.
She’d thought she wanted to hear from him, but now that she had, it just hurt. He couldn’t even come up with a decent excuse.
“I didn’t have the means to call you.” How lame.
Mentally shaking herself, she started the engine and looked in the rearview mirror to see Shaun’s car pull up behind her. She wasn’t going to sit here in the parking garage and continue to feel sorry for herself. Because that’s not what Youngs did. Not according to her mother.
.
Author BIO: Katie Reus is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Red Stone Security series, the Moon Shifter series and the Deadly Ops series. She fell in love with romance at a young age thanks to books she pilfered from her mom’s stash. Years later she loves reading romance almost as much as she loves writing it. However, she didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer. After changing majors many times, she finally graduated with a degree in psychology. Not long after that she discovered a new love. Writing. She now spends her days writing dark paranormal romance and sexy romantic suspense.
For more information on Katie… Visit Katie’s website, find Katie on Facebook, follow Katie on twitter.
Fabulous! Well, what’d you all think? Do you enjoy romantic suspense? 😀 To sweeten the deal, Katie has offered up a print ARC of the next book in the series Shattered Duty to one lucky commenter! So remember to wish Katie a happy new release day! 😉 [And remember to check back at the end of the month to see if you’ve won!]
And you know, just to make things more fun, here’s the cover and blurb for Shattered Duty.
When his wife was murdered two years ago, Special Agent Levi Lazaro turned his back on everything he cared about. Ever since, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. Now he’s finally uncovered the identities of those who killed his wife—and he’s ready to destroy them at any cost. He won’t let anything stand in his way—not even a beautiful NSA agent on a mission of her own.
Special Agent Selene Wolfe prides herself on being the best. Her fearlessness and quick-thinking make her the perfect person to take down a deadly terrorist cell. But she needs Levi’s help, and the moment he shows up, Selene knows her objectivity—and her heart—are in trouble.
As the two strike an uneasy alliance, Levi finds himself tormented by his desire for Selene—a feeling he thought long dead. But when their mission takes an unexpected turn, he finds himself at a crossroads. Can he put aside his need for revenge to save the woman who’s reawakened his soul?
loved the excerpt! makes me wonder where Dax was…
Denise
looking forward to shattered duty. loved the teaser. saw the recpt for chasing danger on my phone before going to bed so i knew it would be on my kindle in the morning.
Happy release day!!! And I hope to read many more books in the years to follow. 🙂
love romantic suspense. right now I’m actually reading one called off the edge by Carolyn crane.
HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!!! Had my copy on my Kindle this morning. Can’t wait to read. Love all your books.
Happy release day!! 🙂
Happy Release Day Katie! I love romantic suspense and I love your books!
HAPPY RELEASE DAY