Rissa Parker struggles to support herself and her daughter
by working overnights as a home health nurse. After witnessing her employer’s
murder, she has no choice but to grab her two-year-old and run toward the one
person strong enough to protect them, the Navy SEAL who fathered her child
during a one-night stand.
Navy SEAL Bernard “Burn” Cruz is a straight arrow,
approaching work and play in equal parts. He doesn’t regret much in life,
except for one woman he’s never forgotten. Nearly three years after their
initial encounter, she shows up in San Diego at the bar his team likes to
frequent, and he believes Forever might have knocked on his door. Until a child
cries, and all hell breaks loose.
As bullets fly and bodies drop, Rissa must outrun a killer
whose connection to her past threatens to destroy any chance at a future with
the father of her child, and Burn discovers the family he didn’t know he wanted
might be the only thing worth dying for.
“A Cosmopolitan, please.” After this, she’d
call it a night. Get a cab back to Liesel’s place. Maybe read a few chapters of
a book. Wild and crazy. That’s me.
She took a sip of the
drink the bartender delivered, letting the tart cranberry linger on her tongue
as she watched the television mounted above the bar. A bowling tournament
played, of all things, the announcer droning on about a perfect strike. A man
slid between her stool and the next one, close enough that the heat of his body
radiated toward her.
“Sorry to crowd you.” His voice was deep, smooth, and impossibly
calm despite the chaos of the crowd around them.
She turned—and nearly forgot how to breathe.
He was tall and
built like he actually used his gym membership. His dark skin contrasted
against the crisp blue of his button-down, and when he tilted his head, the
light caught his short black curls. But it was his eyes that stole her
attention, a golden shade, piercing yet unreadable.
For a moment, she
thought he might be about to hit on her, but he only raised a hand, signaling
to the bartender. Of course, he wasn’t interested in her. She needed to finish
her drink and go back to the apartment. Rissa gulped down a large swallow and barely
managed not to cough.
“Patrick. Beer for
me and one of those for the lady.”
She blinked.
“You’re buying me a drink?”
Amusement flickered
in those striking eyes. “Only if you want it.” He wedged himself farther into
the space, turning sideways to fit, with one elbow propped on the bar and his
free hand tucked in his pocket.
She absently swirled a finger through the condensation on her
mostly empty glass. One more drink might be too much. “I think I want a soda,”
she said.
He gave a slight
nod of approval and called out the order to the bartender. While he did, she
took the chance to study him more closely. The sharp angles of his face, the
short-cropped hair, and the faintest hint of a scar cutting through his left
eyebrow.
“The golden color of your eyes reminds
me of a stray cat I sometimes feed near my apartment. I mean, they’re nice,”
she added quickly, when she realized that may have sounded a little weird. “Not
that I’m calling you a cat.”
He chuckled, a
low, rich sound. “I’ve been called worse.”
She glanced down
at her glass, unsure what to say next.
“You here alone?”
he asked.
“No. My friend is
over there.” She motioned toward Liesel, who was dancing with a guy who looked
like he belonged on a recruitment poster.
His gaze followed
hers, and something flickered in his expression. “The guy she’s dancing with is
from my SEAL team.”
Rissa’s stomach dropped at his words. “You’re a Navy SEAL?” He
was so far out of her league.
“Nine years.” His eyes locked on her, and he seemed to be
waiting for her to comment.
She didn’t know much about military ranks, but the way he
carried himself suggested he wasn’t just some guy on weekend leave. “I’ve seen
that TV show, Navy SEAL, but I don’t know anyone in the military.”
His eyes crinkled
at the corners. “You do now.”
Leah Miles writes romance and paranormal fiction from her
small-town in South Georgia, where she lives with her husband and cocker
spaniel while running an insurance agency and Airbnb business.
After a dozen
years in news production at CNN, Leah Miles now manages an insurance agency and
an Airbnb business in rural Georgia, while writing romantic suspense and
paranormal romance featuring take-charge heroes and fierce heroines.
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Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree 