Contemporary Romantic Suspense Excerpts
Category
Read Chapter One from 'Mission: Impossible to Protect'
Mission: Impossible to Protect releases 10.20.20. Read Chapter One to meet the kickass heroine and the man who can’t walk away from her.
Chapter One
Hugging the backstage wall, Danni Knorr crept in the shadows with her SIG tucked into her skirt and a flashlight in her hand. The only light in the wings came from the red exit sign. The band’s frenetic sound matched her heartbeat as it raced to its own crazy-ass rhythm. Espionage beat the hell out of spending the day in a biochemistry/physics lab. Undercover as rock star Alex Hardy’s girlfriend/bodyguard, she had discovered a new high. Like drinking expensive French champagne, she got off on danger.
This was a new thing. Before she’d been kidnapped, Danni had never thought about her body more than keeping it in shape and healthy. Had never thought of holding a gun, let alone buying one and practicing with targets weekly. Had never realized just how many threats were out there and how little she’d been able to do to save herself.
Honing her body into a fighting machine with Krav Maga had been her first step to taking charge after she had been kidnapped. Then she’d taken classes on tactical awareness. She’d read up on the FBI and various police trainings. She’d even thought about joining the Jenkins Security agency, but Nick Jenkins had turned her down because of her lack of experience. At least he’d been honest with her.
The last step in her “recovery” was to take ownership of her pleasure. Sex with the famous superstud Alex Hardy was to be the ultimate statement of her proclaimed freedom. She hadn’t yet made up her mind whether she should seduce him.
Right now, acting only as his bodyguard suited her perfectly. Her idea to guard the musician after discovering that he was being stalked had been serendipitous. A year ago, when Jax the Jerk, her ex-fiancé, had left her at the altar for a teenager with more enthusiasm and experience with sex than she had—or so he’d been happy to tell her—Danni had been unable to bite the bullet and seduce any guy. Since then, there was only one man who’d tempted her to open up and be vulnerable as well as passionate, and sadly, it wasn’t Alex, no matter how much she tried to persuade herself to give him a chance.
Danni stopped and hid against the black concrete wall, searching for the location of the backstage crew before she went into the greenroom. She could easily bullshit about why she was wandering backstage, away from Alex’s performance, but she’d rather not draw attention to herself. And she preferred to avoid creepy Frank, Alex’s childhood friend and head of security.
The murmur of the crew’s voices could be heard outside the stage door where they took their breaks to vape cancer. They had twenty minutes of downtime before the next scene change, allowing Danni less than fifteen minutes to search the belongings of the band and the traveling staff before the backstage crew would be back at work, and the band would take their break in the greenroom.
She knew she was grasping at straws trying to connect the band and staff to Alex’s stalker. But Danni was determined to find how the stalker had accessed Alex’s dressing room to leave the third threatening letter at the last concert in Portland.
Posing as Alex’s girlfriend, she had flown to every city for the last four weeks to hang with the band and the groupies and have her picture taken with Alex. She had declined traveling in the almost all-male—except for Luna, the drummer’s girlfriend and the band’s massage therapist—tour bus, no matter how luxurious their RVs were.
Six cities and all their fake PDA, hoping to bait the stalker to reveal herself, and they had nothing except for another letter. Danni was no further along, with not one lead on how the stalker had breached Alex’s dressing room in Portland.
She slowly opened the door to make sure that the greenroom was clear of the catering staff or aggressive groupies.
Despite the name, the room where the band members hung out during breaks and before the show wasn’t green. As the headliner, Alex had his own dressing room. The greenroom in LA was no different from any of the other performers’ backstage rooms she’d seen the past months.
She decided to snoop without Alex’s knowledge. He was too close to his band and would never believe that one of them could be the stalker. And he most likely was right since there was a ridiculously low probability. But the band and traveling staff all had access to Alex’s dressing room, and they were the only consistent factor since the backstage crews changed in every city. She needed to be absolutely sure that the stalker wasn’t a disgruntled band or traveling staff member.
Guitar cases, gym bags, and backpacks were scattered across the worn industrial carpet. Being on tour wasn’t as cool as everyone imagined. It was exhausting, with boring hours of tedious downtime for the two-to-three-hour high of performance. But, like her newly found danger addiction, performing was a high that fed on itself.
A half-open leather backpack was propped haphazardly against a guitar case. She knew exactly which mess belonged to which member, making it easy to start—Roland Young, drug addict and the lead guitarist, made the top on her list. She didn’t have a clear connection between his addiction and stalking Alex, but he was the only member who raised red flags.
She hurried across the nondescript room, which was painted purple to create an edgy feel in the utilitarian square space. Kneeling next to the beat-up leather backpack, she began a methodical search. She didn’t know what she might find, but she trusted her instincts to recognize a clue.
Her hands shook as the adrenaline surged through her body—part of the thrill of the hormonal rollercoaster. Maybe she had read too many Nancy Drew novels as a young girl.
She went through each pocket—a row of condoms, spiking hair gel, a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Pretty dull findings. Despite being a junky with an oversized ego, nothing suspicious linked Roland to the stalker or even revealed obvious drug paraphernalia.
The center of the pack held deodorant, and two rolled-up T-shirts that he’d change into at the breaks in the set. She shook out both—nada.
She scooted over to Roland’s guitar case and unlatched it. Besides being illegal, this was a ridiculous waste of time.
Danni stopped in response to a possible sound from the hallway. Her heart jolted at the fear of being discovered. She turned quickly to the crew’s side door, where she had just entered. She strained to hear whether anyone was approaching. Part of the downside of the adrenaline rush was it made you hyperalert and a bit overreactive. A possible advantage when your life was in danger. Not great when you’re just snooping and needed to remain undetected.
When no one appeared, she rifled through Roland’s case. Nothing but extra sets of strings and picks. Although Roland was a slob, he took good care of his guitars.
She methodically went through everyone else’s gear with no findings. Checking her phone, she realized she better hurry back to Alex’s dressing room to make sure there were no surprises waiting for him during his break. She now checked Alex’s room before he returned between sets.
Danni was hurrying back toward Alex’s room when the dressing room door opened. She stepped to the side of a giant speaker to watch who was leaving the room. The only person with a credible reason to be in Alex’s room at this point in the show was the wardrobe person.
Her skin tingled as she watched creepy Frank look both ways before he silently closed the door. Why was Frank in Alex’s room? As head of security, he was supposed to verify that the guards were in place to prevent anyone from sneaking backstage during the intermission.
Danni’s pulse sped as Frank headed toward her hiding place. She held her breath and squeezed into the narrow space behind the speaker. The crowd’s shouts for more when the set ended was background noise to her fast-beating heart reverberating in her eardrums. Instead of holding her breath while smashed against the wall, she could have pretended she was returning to Alex’s room. Except this wasn’t the way that she would have come.
She was glad that she didn’t wear heavy perfume since Frank strolled right past her without noticing. She wiggled out of her hiding spot and headed to Alex’s room. Could Frank be the stalker?
Her brain went into hyperdrive. Despite not liking the way Frank stared at her, she couldn’t think of one reason for Frank to sabotage Alex. The man was supposedly his friend and provided Frank’s income. How did Alex ending his tour early benefit Frank? She needed to find out. Lucky Reeves Hewitt, IT wizard for Jenkins Security, was her bestie.
All this skulking around gave her a little thrill, but nothing like those Jenkins boys and their friends. And even though her plans to sleep with Alex had gone by the wayside, she still wanted to prove her strength and smarts. People might focus on her looks, but she knew where her true power lay. And taking down this stalker would fulfill her real desire—to prove just how kick-ass and capable she was. Then maybe it would be time to join Jenkins Security. Or maybe the FBI…
Dangerous High ~ Excerpt from 'Mission: Impossible to Protect'
Hugging the backstage wall, Danni Knorr crept in the shadows, her SIG tucked into her skirt and her flashlight in her hand. The only light in the wings came from the red exit sign. The band’s frenetic sound matched her heartbeat as it raced to its own crazy-ass rhythm. Espionage beat the hell of spending the day in a biochemistry/physics lab. Undercover as rock star Alex Hardy’s bodyguard, she had discovered a new high. Like drinking expensive French champagne, she got off on danger.
This was a new thing. Before she’d been kidnapped, Danni had never thought about her body more than keeping in shape and healthy. Had never thought of holding a gun, let alone buying one and practicing with targets weekly. Had never realized just how many threats were out there and how little she’d been able to do to save herself.
Honing her body into a fighting machine with Krav Maga had been the first step of taking charge after she had been kidnapped. Then she’d taken classes on tactical awareness. She’d read up on the FBI and various police trainings. She’d even thought about joining the Jenkins Security agency, but Nick Jenkins had turned her down because of her lack of experience. At least he’d been honest with her.
The final step in her “recovery” was ownership of her pleasure. Sex with the famous super stud Alex Hardy was to be the ultimate statement of her proclaimed freedom. She hadn’t yet made up her mind whether to seduce him.
Right now, acting only as his bodyguard suited her perfectly. Guarding the musician after discovering that he was being stalked had been serendipitous. Ever since Jax—the Jerk—her fiancé had left her at the altar for a young woman with more sexual enthusiasm and experience than she had—or so he’d been happy to tell her—Danni had been unable to bite the bullet. There was only one man who’d tempted her to open up and be vulnerable as well as passionate, and sadly, it wasn’t Alex, no matter how much she tried to persuade herself to give him a chance.
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You Could Never Disappoint Me ~ Excerpt from 'An Inner Fire'
“I know you don’t like to hurt people. Don’t worry about disappointing me tonight, if you’ve changed your mind.”
His breath rushed fast and hot against her cheeks.
“If you want to wait, I’m okay, but once I start kissing you, I’m not sure I can stop.”
Her heart accelerated pulsating to every pressure point. She had never met a man like Davis. He didn’t want her to feel pressured, to feel she couldn’t say no. She could see the dark grains of stubble on his chin, his chest rising and falling with an uneven force.
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
He let out a shaking breath. “Now, I’m worried about disappointing you.”
Her heart expanded, danced. Davis, the tough, invincible male, showing his vulnerability. “Davis, you could never disappoint me.”
His calloused hands held her face and his lips explored her jaw, nibbling playfully. He teased her ear, whispering how sweet she was and how much he wanted her.
She outlined his full lower lip with her tongue, tugging on the sweet fullness. She felt the hitch of his breath against her chest. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she explored his mouth with her tongue, searching.
He pressed her against the refrigerator. The cold metal against her back with the heat of Davis moving against her front sent waves of pleasure. She wanted to feel his skin, to touch all of him.
“Can we move to the bedroom?” His voice strained against her ear, his breath burning.
She took his hand and led him the five steps to her bedroom. He pulled her back and kissed her deeply, his tongue thrusting in and out, showing her what he wanted from her. She sucked on his tongue, pulling it deep into her mouth, pulling them both into passion.
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Read Marriage Under Fire for FREE on Amazon/KU
Read MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE, Grayce Walters romantic suspense series book 4, for FREE on Amazon. Here’s an excerpt from the book about two Marines who go undercover and fall in love.
Hunter held the door open for Maddy. He tried to keep his focus straight ahead like a well-trained Marine, but with a will of their own, his eyes tracked the sleek dress hugging her sweet, rounded ass.
His well-honed training and unshakeable discipline went to hell whenever his sister’s best friend was nearby. Maddy Jeffers was more of a challenge than any assignment the Marines had thrown at him. Had the gods in heaven laughed at him when he’d been assigned to work with this tiny blond bombshell?
It would be a relief to return to his normal routine of dangerous, clandestine operations, he reminded himself. Who was he kidding? He’d miss Maddy—the way her eyes brightened in mischief, the way she ran her fingers through the bouncy curls, and the way she lifted her chin when challenged, as if to say to the world, “Give me your worst. I can take it.”
A silver-haired woman wearing red-framed glasses low on her nose and a utilitarian suit of navy blue moved around the front desk. “Major Hines? And Second Lieutenant Jeffers?”
Hunter stepped forward and took charge. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Dawson is waiting for you.”
“The colonel is here?” Maddy squeaked.
Ignoring Maddy’s surprised response, the woman pushed her glasses back up her nose and addressed Hunter. “He and the agents will see you now.”
Maddy raised her eyebrows at him as if he had answers. The colonel must have reviewed the report by now. Surely there was nothing in it to warrant a visit to Seattle.
“Follow me, please.” The secretary wore low-heeled shoes, unlike Maddy, who wobbled along in high heels, probably trying to add to her five-foot stature.
Maddy toyed with her lively curls—a nervous habit he found endearing.
He walked behind the two women, but this time he focused straight ahead. He hated the unexpected. His survival depended on his ability to assess and control a situation. The arrival of his commander was unforeseen and out of his control.
Hunter watched Maddy as she donned her Marine armor—spine straight, chin up, eyes forward. If it weren’t such a turn-on, he’d laugh at the combination of her Marine stance with the hot dress and heels.
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More Than a Connection ~ Excerpt from 'An Inner Fire'
It was more than liking; it was a connection, a force. When Grayce had looked into his eyes, he had a sensation of transparency, as if she peered deep into his soul. He’d had the same unfamiliar sensation when she’d gazed at his dad’s picture in his office. She understood his loss; somehow she knew he had suffered when he could do nothing to stop the agonizing progression of his dad’s bone cancer.
Oblivious to the rain, he crossed Fremont Avenue. What had the receptionist said? Grayce was always taking care of everyone.
She had rushed to the rescue of an injured dog. It wasn’t hard to imagine Grayce Walters consoling anyone in pain. Obviously, the receptionist was one of her charity cases. But who took care of Grayce Walters?
During this visit, like in his office, she had appeared worried. Was her fear more pronounced today or was he more attentive? He had the same gut reaction then. Grayce Walters was hiding something. He didn’t suspect for a minute she was involved with the wharf fire. There was nothing criminal about the sensitive woman.
For the first time in his career, he doubted his ability to be objective about a witness.
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