Damaged
By Jeanne St. James
Genre: Erotic Romance with Suspense Elements
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Blurb:
Two
scarred souls: one physically, one mentally. Both on the mend, hiding from
their pasts...
Mace Walker can't wait to get home.
Being buried deep undercover for the past two years, on the most complex case
of his career, has torn him down physically and mentally. Now the FBI agent has
come home to recover after having his leg badly injured from a gunshot wound.
Arriving home late one night, his relief is short-lived as he's faced with a
stranger pointing a gun to his head, acting like he is the one who doesn't
belong there!
Colby Parks, a biochemist at the local university, had come to town a year earlier
to escape an abusive relationship. She vows never to put herself in that
situation again.
Then the perfect opportunity comes along: house-sitting for Mace's sister while
making the house she purchased habitable. But she couldn't anticipate this big snag:
the one wearing the tight Levi's and worn leather jacket, looking like he had
just escaped prison.
Being forced to share a house creates sparks between them in more ways than
one. However, things take a turn when their pasts catch up to them, threatening
to pull them apart forever.
Excerpt:
As Mace Walker slid the key
into the lock, an immediate sense of relief washed over him. He hadn’t been
home in…Hell, forever. Even though he
owned the house and considered it his home, he felt like a stranger when he
opened the front door. He chucked his keys on the table by the door with a
sigh. He’d been home for a whole thirty seconds and restlessness already ate at
him.
The house was quiet, and he
wondered where his sister was. Probably sleeping, dummy, since it was—he glanced at his watch—freaking one in the
morning. Most normal folk slept at this hour. But then, he wasn’t normal. He
couldn’t be to do his job.
But, he couldn’t do his job
right now, anyway. He’d been forced home to heal. Against his wishes.
Fucking
bullshit.
The foyer was dark, but he
didn’t need to hit the light. He still knew the house well enough. He made his
way to the stairs where he dumped his duffle bags on the floor and ran a hand
through his too-long hair.
Those two small duffels held
little evidence of his life for the past couple years—just some toiletries and
a few basic items of clothing.
He turned toward the kitchen,
and the foyer lit up, blinding him for a second. He blinked against the harsh
light, and a young voice rang out from the top of the steps. “Hold it right
there! Put your arms up and back away from the stairs.”
What
the fuck?
Mace had expected to see his
sister bounding down the stairway of his two-story colonial, excited after not
seeing him for the past two years. Actually, more like one year, eleven months,
and fifteen days. Not that he’d counted.
But instead, he stared up into
the deadly eye of a Glock. And from his viewpoint, it looked like a model 27, a
.40 caliber—a compact, but still a decent sized gun in a very small, very
uneasy hand. Instantly, the hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Damn.
He’d dealt with crime bosses
and their flunkies—from drug to porno rings—and had managed to survive. Now he
was going to be killed by some measly punk he surprised while burglarizing his
house when he happened to come home? The cruel irony made him want to laugh.
Instead, he did as instructed. With caution, he raised his hands above his head
before stepping back toward the middle of the foyer. He avoided standing
directly under the light, trying to get a better view of the top of the steps.
But he didn’t have much success; the upstairs hallway and the upper section of
the stairway were hidden in shadows.
If he played his cards right,
this little situation would be under his control in no time at all. He just had
to keep the kid calm and make the skinny punk believe he was the one in
command. The Glock didn’t have a conventional safety. All the kid had to do was
pull the trigger and pull it again and again until all the rounds in the clip
emptied into Mace’s body. And from what he could see in the limited light, the
kid’s fingers twitched from nervousness.
Not a good sign.
Where had a young punk gotten
an expensive handgun like that? It certainly hadn’t been in the house. And if it
had been, it would have been locked up in the gun safe.
If only he could see the boy’s
face. He needed to see the eyes. Without seeing those, Mace couldn’t even begin
to predict what the kid would do.
“Don’t you dare move, or I’ll
blow your face off!” The kid’s voice raised an octave, making him sound more
and more like…a female.
Mace tensed when the person
started down the steps. At first, he could see bare toes, a slim calf, then
another. His gaze flicked to the gun before returning to the shapely naked
thighs which couldn’t belong to a kid. No fucking way. Especially not a boy.
Those smooth legs definitely belonged to a woman, and he couldn’t wait to see
the rest of her.
So far, the view almost made it
worth being held at gunpoint. Almost.
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About the Author:
JEANNE
ST. JAMES is a best-selling erotic romance author who loves an Alpha male (or
two). She was only thirteen when she started writing since it gave her an
escape from teenage angst! Her first paid published piece was an erotic story
in Playgirl magazine. Her first erotic romance novel, Banged Up, was published
in 2009. She is happily owned by farting French bulldogs. She writes M/F, M/M,
and M/M/F ménages.
Author Links:
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