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RELEASE BLITZ ~ Saved By A SEAL by Susan Stoker
SAVED BY A SEAL by Susan Stoker
Date of Publication: February 6, 2016
Blurb
100% of all author proceeds from this first in series boxed set will be donated to AMERICA’S VETDOGS.
Three New York Times / USA TODAY Bestselling authors have joined forces to give back to the military veterans who have given so much to their country. Lindsay McKenna, served her country in the U.S. Navy. Chris Keniston and Susan Stoker are honored to join her in helping wounded veterans. With this objective in mind, these women bring you SAVED BY A SEAL, a first in series box set. Join these authors and their SEAL heroes from the very beginning of their bestselling romance series and help give back too!
More about the books:
NOWHERE TO HIDE by Lindsay McKenna:
Lia Cassidy left the Army scarred physically and emotionally after a vicious attack by two fellow soldiers. She turns to helping others, working at a Delos Home School Charity in Costa Rica that aids abused women and children. But when the deadly drug lord, La Arana, attacks the school, Lia finds herself on the run for her life. The only person she can trust is the ex-SEAL sent to protect her.
Cav Jordan is strong, honorable and gorgeous…and intrigued by Lia. He knows she has suffered pain in her past, and he is determined to break through her barriers and earn her trust. But as Cav slowly chips away at the walls Lia has built, ghosts from her past threaten to destroy their fragile relationship.
ALOHA TEXAS by Chris Keniston
Former navy diver Nicholas Harper likes his new world as captain of a dive boat in Hawaii. That is until a surprise phone call changes everything. Now Nick’s uncomplicated life suddenly becomes very complicated.
Powerhouse attorney Kara Lynn O’Conner’s world revolves around her small Texas town where life is easy and safe. Focusing on her career keeps her dark secrets locked away, until Kara’s newest case resurrects old fears.
When the past and present collide, five year old Bradley Cooper may be the only one who can change everything.
PROTECTING CAROLINE by Susan Stoker
Matthew “Wolf” Steel hated flying commercial. Luckily his job as a Navy SEAL meant he didn’t have to do it very often. He’d been unlucky enough to be assigned a middle seat on the cramped jet, but fortunately for him, the woman next to him was willing to switch seats with him. Hoping for a relaxing flight, Wolf was pleasantly surprised at the good conversation and sense of humor the woman had as they flew 36,000 feet over the countryside.
When Caroline boarded the plane to Virginia to move across the country for her new job she never expected to be seated next to the hottest guy she’d ever seen. She also never expected he’d be so easy to talk to. She knew he’d never be interested in talking to her if he hadn’t been trapped in the seat next to her, but it was a nice way to spend a long plane ride.
Neither Wolf nor Caroline were prepared for a terrorist hijacking of their plane, but if Caroline thought that would be the last time she’d see, or need, Wolf, she’d be sorely mistaken.
About Americas Vet Dogs:
America’s Vet Dog’s Mission: To help those who have served our country honorably live with dignity and independence.
America’s VetDogs® is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that serves the needs of disabled veterans from all eras who have honorably served our country. VetDogs provides guide dogs for individuals who are blind or have low vision; hearing dogs for those who have lost their hearing later in life; service dogs for those with other physical disabilities; facility dogs as part of the rehabilitation process in military and VA hospitals, and PTSD service dogs to help mitigate the effects of PTSD in an effort to provide the emotional and physical support needed.
In 2013, America’s VetDogs (an affiliate of and managed by the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind) became the second assistance dog school (the Guide Dog Foundation is the other) in the United States to be certified by the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International.
For more information about this organization or how to donate go to http://www.vetdogs.org.
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About Susan Stoker
New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Susan Stoker has a heart as big as the state of Texas where she lives, but this all American girl has also spent the last fourteen years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, and Indiana. She’s married to a retired Army man who now gets to follow her around the country.
She debuted her first series in 2014 and quickly followed that up with the SEAL of Protection Series, which solidified her love of writing and creating stories readers can get lost in.
Find Susan Stoker Online
Teaser
Wolf would’ve preferred to sit in the same row with his friends, but because they’d made their flight arrangements so late, they didn’t have a choice and had to take seats that were available. Mozart offered to flirt with the airline employee in the hopes they’d be able to get upgraded, or at least be seated together, but they’d agreed to suck it up and sit where they were assigned. They all knew they wouldn’t fit in the seats if they all sat in the same row anyway. Their shoulders were just too broad to fit comfortably side-by-side in a crunched airline row. Wolf knew his friends felt the same way he did—they didn’t flaunt their SEAL status to receive preferential treatment. It was bad enough women hit on them back home in San Diego in the bars just because they were SEALs.
Wolf hated to admit it, but he’d gotten bored with the bar scene. He was picky in the first place, and he’d found too many women just wanted to sleep with a SEAL, it didn’t matter who the SEAL was, just that they could brag later to their friends they’d done it with a legendary SEAL. The sadder part was that too many SEALs took advantage of it. Wolf could admit to himself that once upon a time he’d done that exact thing, but time and experience had shown him the encounters left him feeling dissatisfied and used. If someone had asked him right after he’d graduated from BUD/S if he’d ever feel used by a woman who wanted to sleep with him, he would’ve laughed himself silly.
Wolf knew what love looked like. His parents had been together for almost forty years. They were still as madly in love now as they were when they got married. It used to embarrass him, but lately it made him feel wistful. They’d still go on dates and hold hands wherever they went. His dad surprised his mom with romantic gifts and, every now and then, a special trip. Wolf wanted what his parents had. He wanted someone he could be himself with. He wanted someone to need him. He wanted to need someone. Wolf supposed it wasn’t manly to admit any of those things, but it was what it was.
Wolf had no idea how to go about finding that special woman though, except he knew he wouldn’t find her in a bar. The other issue was that he was a SEAL. He was sent off to crappy little countries to kill people and to keep the peace. Every now and then they were sent off on a rescue mission. He wasn’t allowed to talk about the specifics of what he did with anyone. He had no idea how that would work in a marriage. He’d seen too many of his SEAL friends get married and then divorced because their wives just couldn’t handle the secrecy and the uncertainty of when their husbands would be coming home, or even where they were going in the first place.
To be fair, not all of the marriages ended because of the secrecy and danger inherent in being a SEAL. Some ended because one of the people in the marriage cheated on the other. Sometimes it was the wife who cheated, and other times it was the husband. Wolf shrugged. There wasn’t any use in obsessing about it. Hopefully he’d someday find someone to settle down with. If it didn’t happen during his military career, perhaps it would once he was retired. There was no rule that said someone in their forties couldn’t find true love and get married.
After drifting off and thinking about his lack of a love life, Wolf flinched when he felt a hand on his arm. He hadn’t been paying attention and was actually startled. His team would get a kick out of that. Wolf was known to always be one step ahead of the enemy and to be able to have a good idea what they were going do before they did it. Now here he was letting a civilian take him by surprise.
He opened his eyes to look at the woman sitting in the aisle seat next to him. She was ordinary. He took in her jeans, sneakers, and long sleeve T-shirt at a glance. Her brown hair was pulled up into a messy knot at the back of her head. She looked to be in her early thirties. She wore no rings; had very little makeup on, her nails weren’t polished; she had little gold studs in each ear and was looking at him expectantly. He inwardly sighed. When he was younger Wolf loved when women hit on him, now it had gotten old. Granted, this woman didn’t look like she was the type to throw herself at a man, but he’d learned that looks were deceiving when it came to what women wanted.
Glancing in her direction, Wolf thought the woman appeared to be mulling over telling him something. This in itself was fascinating, since in his experience, women tended to get right to the point of what they wanted to say. Her hesitation made him more interested in hearing what she had to say to him and he waited, patiently, as she gathered her thoughts.
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BLOG TOUR ~ MERCURY STRIKING by Rebecca Zanetti
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Excerpt
What had she done? Lynne had actually fallen asleep on Jax Mercury. She awoke, blinking inside the stifling hood, just as he lifted her into the cool morning air and easily strode over uneven ground. A slight change of temperature hit her, and his steps leveled out.
Inside. They were inside somewhere. The smell of dust and burned tomato soup tickled her nose, but no sound provided a clue as to their whereabouts. All but blinded, she tried to tune in to her other senses. Jax’s boots clomped heavily across a hard surface, and his heart beat steadily against her shoulder.
His stride didn’t hitch as he climbed stairs, turned, walked in a too-quiet area, and opened a door. The world tilted, and he placed her, gently actually, on what felt like a fake leather sofa.
He yanked the hood off.
Light from halogen lamps assaulted her wide pupils, and she winced, her eyes tearing. “You’re an ass.”
Silver flashed, and he cut the zip ties. “So it has been said.”
Heat climbed into her face. The man had carried her easily and didn’t seem winded a bit. Even so, the legends whispered around campfires and refugee camps across the country had to be exaggerated. Nobody was that tough. “We need to talk,” she gritted out.
He yanked a kitchen chair toward her, turned it, and straddled it. Now, in the light, she was struck by how young he really was. Maybe mid-thirties, black hair, dark brown eyes, and rugged facial features. Handsome in a pissed-off kind of way. A scar cut under the left side of his jaw, white and deadly. “So, talk.”
She swallowed and tugged her backpack to her chest, glancing around what appeared to be a small apartment. A kitchenette took up one wall, an unmade bed the other, with dented furniture in between. Sofa, metal coffee table, woodlaminate kitchen table, paint peeling pink kids’ dresser, and mismatched kitchen chairs. Maps covered the table, spread out haphazardly. “Where am I?”
“You don’t get to know that.” He rested his arms on the top of the chair, muscles flexing.
She bit her lip. Men’s clothing littered the unmade bed, and the smell of musk and male filled the atmosphere. “Whose place am I in?”
“Mine.” He lifted a shoulder, his gaze unwavering. “And yours now, I guess.”
She pushed back into the torn pleather. “I’m not, I mean, I—”
One dark eyebrow rose. “You’re here because I’m keeping an eye on you and making sure you don’t infect anybody else.”
“I won’t infect anybody else,” she said slowly, her nails digging into the couch until the pads of her fingertips protested. “We don’t really know the truth about that statement, now do we? You’re the ultimate carrier of the most dangerous plague to ever attack mankind.” He lowered his chin, the movement somehow menacing. “You’re also here so I can make sure you’re not ready to check out.”
She rolled her eyes. “If I’d wanted to kill myself, I wouldn’t have traveled this far to do it.”
“Fair enough.”
She glanced at the unmade bed. Too many women had become victims as the world had disintegrated; the strong overcame the weak. She wasn’t weak, and she was no man’s plaything. “I’m not here for your amusement.”
“I’m not amused.” He leaned toward her, and her breath caught in her throat. “Let me be perfectly clear. I don’t force myself on women, and neither do any of my men. Any people here, and anyone we come across, remain safe from personal attack. Rape is a crime dealt with by death, so you have no need to fear.”
She’d heard that in the rumors and tales, but she hadn’t known it to be true. “Women don’t earn their keep, earn their protection, with sex here?” Wherever here was.
“No.”
“You were in an inner-city L.A. gang. Years ago.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Rape was against the rules?”
His face blanked. “No, but I’ve never forced a woman.” Those dark eyes narrowed. “My past is my own. You sure know a lot about me.”
Not really. He’d become a folk legend fighting in L.A. before the news had shut down. Since then she’d been trying to gather facts, but there were still blanks. “Why did you leave the gang? I’ve never heard why you entered the army.”
He rubbed his chin. “Judge gave me a choice. Prison or military. I guess he saw something in me.”
She let her shoulders relax. “I wondered.”
“Yeah.” Jax eyed her shirt just at her neck. “Can I see again?”
Well, she couldn’t really blame him. She set aside the pack holding her father’s precious journal. Her fingers remained steady this time as she unbuttoned the blouse and drew open the sides.
Jax’s nostrils flared, while a tension, one she barely remembered as sexual, overtook the atmosphere. “Does it hurt?”
“The blueness?” She glanced down, her lungs suddenly
too tight “No. I don’t feel anything.”
He reached out and gently took her wrist, shoving the sleeve up to reveal the track marks on her elbow. “This must hurt.”
His touch stirred awareness deep in her abdomen, and surprise paused her at the feeling. When was the last time she’d felt desire? Or even warmth from another’s touch? She glanced down at the scars caused by drawing so much blood. So many times, and outside of normal medical procedures after a while. “Yes. That hurts.”
“I knew a junkie once with an arm like this.” Jax shook his head and unrolled her sleeve. “The irrationality of a thing is not an argument against its existence, rather, a condition of it,” he murmured, securing the buttons at her wrist. She frowned as the familiar words rolled around her head. “Einstein?”
“Nietzsche.” Jax lifted an eyebrow. “Rumor has it you’re carrying an advanced form of Scorpius. True or false?” “False rumor to isolate me.” She tried to keep her tired eyes open.
Jax gestured toward her pack. “I get the food and water you have, but what’s in the journal?”
She sighed. “Sorry, but there’s nothing about Scorpius. My dad was a physicist and a philosopher. He wrote a lot down.”
Jax blinked. “That’s quite the combination.”
“Yes.” The words on paper were all she had left of her parents.
Jax studied her and then looked toward the gas lamp on the counter. “We have lanterns left, but not for long unless we get more fuel. So keep an eye on the lamp but extinguish it if you go to sleep.”
“I understand.” The guy was quoting Nietzsche? What kind of an ex-gang member turned army special ops turned leader of a vigilante group knew philosophy? She shook her head. Time to negotiate. “I’m here for a reason.” “I’m sure.” He eyed her blue heart again. “You can cover up.”
She fumbled in refastening her shirt. “I’ll teach you everything I know about the illness, and you provide temporary protection and one kill.” The mere idea she was contracting a murder banished the desire humming inside her and replaced the heat with a lump of cold rock.
A veil fell over Jax’s eyes. “What makes you think we don’t know everything you do about the illness?”
She shrugged, wondering if he knew what kind of information he might have stored away just from his ransacking labs. “The Internet went down fast, much faster than anyone would’ve thought, and the news and television thereafter. No way do you know what I know.”
He watched her patiently, as if waiting to strike. “The Internet went down because of a guy named Spiral.”
She blinked. Wow. So Jax Mercury had some seriously good intel. “True. He was infected with the illness and then reacted by creating a world-class computer virus. Figured if bodies died, so should technology, since it got us in this fix in the first place.” Her instincts hummed. Underestimating Mercury would be a colossal mistake. Suddenly, and for the first time in way too long, hope struggled to unfurl within her. “I still know more about the illness than you do.”
“Probably.” He studied her for a few moments longer before cocking his head to the side. “What else?”
She cleared her throat. “I assume you’ve scavenged the area you control?”
His chin lifted. “So?”
She swallowed, her body stilling. “Did you scavenge the emergency CDC outpost on the southeast side of L.A.?” Her blood pumped so fast she could feel a vein in her neck bulging.
“Yes. Why?” he asked softly.
The softness contained a deadly intent that rippled a shiver down her spine. Her fingers fidgeted. “They had the most recent research, and combined with mine, we might have hope.” They also had intel on where Myriad, the ultrasecret lab, might be located.
He studied her. “We raided the CDC outpost and took all medical supplies and paper records. Our limited medical personnel went through the files looking for cures, but I have to be honest, none of them are researchers with your background.”
Lynne leaned forward. “I’m happy to go through all the information and decipher it for you.” Oh God. Maybe the risk of heading into Mercury’s territory would actually pay off . . . if she could find Myriad. “Could I look through the data?”
He leaned back and studied her. “Sure. Are you telling me there may be a cure?”
USA Today Bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti has worked as an art curator, Senate aide, lawyer, college professor, and a hearing examiner – only to culminate it all in stories about Alpha males and the women who claim them. She writes contemporary romances, dark paranormal romances, and romantic suspense novels.
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