Locke and Load (14 page)
Authors: Donna Michaels
“I love you, too. Never stopped.”
“I don’t suppose I can ask you to try not to protect me anymore?”
“You’re my world. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. I’m just so…so…sorry I hurt you. So sorry I had to make you think…”
“Shh…” He brushed his thumb over her lip. “I’m the one who’s sorry. Every time I look at you, I’m
reminded of what you did to save me. To keep me safe. I’m reminded of how much I failed you.”
She sucked in a breath. “You didn’t fail me.”
“Yes, I didn’t save you. I didn’t rescue you. Or stop that bastard from putting his hands on you and hurting you. I’m so damn sorry for that, Nikki. So damn sorry. And I won’t lie, I will never forgive myself. Ever. But when I look at you, I’m also reminded of how I almost lost you, of how destroyed I felt when you nearly died in my arms. That was so much worse. So much worse…” His voice trailed off, hoarse and raw with emotions that shook his body.
She squeezed his hand. “But I didn’t. I’m right here. I’m okay.”
“I know, and I am grateful, and I get it. I get why you did what you did. Because you couldn’t bear to lose me that way either.”
She hiccupped and nodded. “Yes.”
He really did get it. He
did
understand, and that made all the difference in the world. They really were going to be all right. Their carefree, innocent days were long gone. Too much had happened for them to recapture those days. But what they shared now was so much stronger and deeper.
“I love you, Nikki, and hope you’ll let me put this back on,” he said, pulling something from his pocket.
“My ring.” Tears spilled down her face as she remembered the pure joy she’d felt the first time he’d slipped his grandmother’s engagement ring on her finger, and how tight her chest had squeezed the day she’d had to give it back. “You still have it? Your ex-wife didn’t keep it?”
He shook his head. “I never gave her this ring. There’s only one finger it belongs on, and that’s yours.”
“Please put it back on.” She smiled as he shoved the beautiful diamond and sapphire ring on her finger. “I don’t think I could bear it if you’re not real, and this is all an illusion from my pain meds.”
“It’s real. Very real,” he assured, brushing a tear from her face with his thumb. “As soon as you’re released from here, I’m taking you home to my home…our home, that is, if you’d be happy there.”
“I’m happy wherever you are, Cage.” She squeezed his hand, wishing she had the strength to do more. “And I love your place.”
“Our place,” he corrected, happiness returning to light his eyes a breathtaking green she hadn’t seen since she’d walked out on him.
“Our place,” she repeated. “I can’t wait for you to take me there…especially in the outside shower against the fence.”
He set his forehead to hers and choked out a breath. “Damn, woman.”
“What? It’s true.” She grinned. “You started something out there and left me hanging.” Her heart was as light as the gleam in his eyes. It felt so good to tease. It’d been so long.
“I think maybe I was the one left hanging.”
She chuckled as much as the pain in her chest would allow. “Big time. Very big time. As soon as we’re medically cleared, I’m going to need you to close that case, Detective Burnett. Think you can do that?”
“Oh, you know I can, Agent Locke,” he said, against her lips. “I’m going to lock it down. Tight. Big time.”
“Mmm…I like big time. Tell me more.”
He drew back slightly and held her gaze. “As long as you promise to close your eyes and rest.”
She wanted to remind him that she always rested afterwards because he stole the strength from her legs, but he bent to nuzzle her neck and began to tell her slow, and in great detail, exactly why she needed to regain her strength.
Nikki immediately shut her eyes and ordered her tingling body to heal. Faster.
If you enjoyed LOCKE and Load, please consider leaving a review.
Look
for Lisa’s story
Knight’s SEAL
. The danger continues with Tarah’s story, Cowboy LAWE, Sharon’s story Rescued HARTE, Brooke’s story Hungry for JUSTICE, and Kenzie’s story Forbidden KNIGHT all coming soon in the
Dangerous Curves Series
.
Visit Donna Michaels’
websit
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Visit me at:
www.donnamichaelsauthor.com
****
Next in the
Dangerous Curves Series
Cowboy LAWE
(Coming Spring 2016)
Dangerous Curves Series
Curves aren’t the only reason these women are dangerous
Visit my
Dangerous Curves Series Page
at my website
www.donnamichaelsauthor.com
for release information and updates!
Knight’s SEAL-KW (#1)
LOCKE and Load (#2)
Coming Soon
Cowboy LAWE (#3)
(Spring 2016)
Rescued HARTE (#4)
(2016)
Hungry for JUSTICE (#5)
(tba)
Forbidden KNIGHT (#6)
(tba)
Book 1: Knight’s SEAL
Dangerous Curves/Hot SEALs crossover novella
Navy SEAL Sam Gentry barely has time to consider his buddy’s job offer to join Guardian Angel Protection Service when a commander from their past, with his own D.C. based agency, asks for help. Owing his life to former Commander Jameson Knight, Sam is eager to help retrieve a mutual friend from a dangerous cartel, until he learns the operative assisting him is Knight’s oldest daughter, Lisa—Sam’s former lover.
Elisabeth Knight has waited over eight months to get into the field, and just her luck, her first mission hits close to home in more ways than one. Not only does it involve rescuing her friend, a former NIO like herself, but her father assigns one of his former SEALs to assist—the one she’d given her body and heart to five years ago. Sam had walked away when he’d realized who her father was, and she let him, not wanting to see the sexy man shot, or worse, assigned to Antarctica…permanently. Completing their current mission isn’t the issue, the danger lies in their inability to fight their resurrected attraction and keeping that failure from her father.
ALSO BY DONNA MICHAELS
Amazon.com/author.donna-michaels
~Citizen Soldier Novels~
(Harland County Spinoff Series)
Wyne and Dine (#1)
Wyne and Chocolate (#2)
Wyne and Song (#3)
(Rel. Nov. 2015)
Wine and Her New Year Cowboy
(#3.5) (Rel. Dec. 28)
~Harland County Series~
Harland County Christmas (Prequel)
Her Fated Cowboy (#1)
Her Unbridled Cowboy (#2)
Her Uniform Cowboy (#3)
Her Forever Cowboy (#4)
Her Healing Cowboy (#5)
Her Volunteer Cowboy (#6)
~Dangerous Curves Series~
Knight’s SEAL
–KW
(#1)
Locke and Load (#2)
~Time-shift Heroes Series~
Captive Hero (#1)
Future Cowboy Hero (#2)
(Rel. 2016)
~Related~
Cowboy-Fiancé
(formerly Cowboy-Sexy)
Cowboy Payback
(Cowboy-Sexy/Fiancé sequel)
~Do-Over Series~
Valentine’s Day Do-Over (#1)
Valentine’s Day Do-Over Part II: The Siblings (#2)
~Novels~
She Does Know Jack
Royally Unleashed
The Spy Who Fanged Me
~Novellas~
Thanks for Giving
Ten Things I’d Do for a Cowboy
Vampire Kristmas
**♥**
Phoebe’s temporary gig as a substitute music teacher at an elementary school is just what the burnt out, former Broadway star needs to regroup from a demanding, and lately, unsatisfying career. Exposing children to the magic of music has reawakened her love for the basics. The Poconos is a great place to find herself, and she was finding her frequent encounters with the handsome, single father of one of her students has reawakened a different type of passion.
But he’s made it clear he’s not looking for permanent, and for the first time in her life, she’s not looking for temporary. Maybe what his locked up, guarded heart needs is a little song.
♥
Wyne and Song
Citizen Soldier Series: Book Three/Ethan
Coming November 2015
**♥**
***
Citizen Soldier Series
Guarding the hearts of the Pocono Valley
A Harland County Spinoff
Visit my
Citizen Soldier Series Page
at my
website
www.donnamichaelsauthor.com
for release information and updates!
Book 1:
Wyne and Dine
Book 2:
Wyne and Chocolate
Coming soon:
Book 3:
Wyne and Song
(Rel. Nov. 2015)
Book 3.5:
Wine and Her New Year Cowboy
(
Part of Ring in a Cowboy Boxed Set-Rel. Dec. 28)
***
A Romantic Comedy Suspense
**NOR Reviewer Top Pick**
Former Army Ranger Capt. Jack ‘Dodger’ Anderson would rather run naked through a minefield in the Afghan desert than participate in a reality television show, but when his brother Matthew begins to receive threats, Jack quickly becomes Matthew’s shadow. As if the investigation isn’t baffling enough, he has to contend with the addition of a beautiful and vaguely familiar new contestant.
Security specialist, Brielle Chapman reluctantly agrees to help her uncle by going undercover as a contestant on the
Meet Your Mate
reality show. Having nearly failed on a similar assignment, she wants to prove she still has a future in this business. But when the brother of the
groom
turns out to be Dodger, the only one-nighter she ever had—while in disguise from a prior undercover case—her job becomes harder. Does he recognize her? And how can she investigate with their sizzling attraction fogging her brain? Determined to finish the job, she brings the case to a surprising climax, uncovers the culprit and
meets
her own
mate
.
***
About the Author
Donna Michaels
is an award winning,
New York Times & USA Today
bestselling author of
Romaginative
fiction. Her hot, humorous, and heartwarming stories include cowboys, men in uniform, and some sexy, primal alphas. With a husband in the military fulltime, and a household of nine, she never runs out of material. From short to epic, her books entertain readers across a variety of sub-genres and one is even being hand drawn into a Japanese MANGA.
To learn more about Donna Michaels and her books, or to join her mailing list, visit
www.DonnaMichealsAuthor.com
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https://www.facebook.com/DonnaMichaelsAuthor
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Thanks for reading,
~Donna
