It's August already?!?

It's hard to believe it's August already and many kids in my part of the world are getting ready to go back to school! I saw my first "first day of school" picture on Facebook this week already!

But it being August means we're that much closer to Securing Piper
coming out! In fact you have LESS THAN A WEEK before the AUDIO goes live on Aug 13th! Yes, once again, if you like audio books, you can get Securing Piper a week before the ebook!

This is the third book in my SEAL of Protection: Legacy series and I couldn't resist throwing in a slight jungle rescue scene (you guys know how much I love those...the heroine can be vulnerable and out of her depth, but not a crybaby about it...which impresses the Hero! :) )The book partly takes place in Timor-Leste, for those of you who don't know where that is, it's in the Pacific just north of Australia. I needed a country where the US sent Peace Corps volunteers AND wasn't very well known.
And this story sets up some of what happens in the next books in the series, which is a huge tease and you know I love that. HA!

To tease you a bit more, I'm sharing a short excerpt this week from Securing Piper, to get you even more excited about the book! I truly love Piper and Ace together, and I hope you will too!

~Susan


*****Securing Piper Excerpt*****

“How many people have you rescued?” Piper asked Ace. He was still standing in front of her, hands on her shoulders, waiting patiently for her to stop daydreaming and talk to him.

Ace shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. But it’s been a lot. Some people—not just women, but men too—completely panic, and we’ve even had to knock a few of them out in order to extract them. Other people have literally been frozen with fear, and we had to carry them out of the danger zone. Some have been so out of shape that they physically couldn’t walk more than a hundred yards without stopping. And a few have been so concerned about their own well-being, they had absolutely no empathy for anyone else. We were even in a situation where one of us had been injured, and our target literally said if we didn’t hurry up and get him out of there, he’d sue us.”

Piper gasped. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. So believe me, you’re doing great.”

She swallowed hard, took a deep breath—and the words simply exploded out of her.

“I’m scared to death. I’m sore as hell too. I’m not sure I’ll even be able to walk tomorrow. I’m not really a workout kind of girl, and this is definitely going above and beyond what I’m used to. I’m devastated “about Kalee and the other girls who were killed, and I’m pissed that the rebels thought it was necessary to murder defenseless women and children. I’m worried about what will become of Rani, Sinta, and Kemala when we get to Dili. I don’t like that Phantom is obviously pissed because he couldn’t complete the mission you guys were sent here to do—namely, rescue Kalee. And I feel disgusting because I haven’t showered in days. I stink, I’m tired, and I’m thirsty. And the last thing I want to do is lie on the ground, in the dirt, and worry about bugs and possibly snakes crawling over me all night. I just want to be home.”

Without comment, Ace moved his hands. One went to her nape, the other to her waist. He pulled her toward him and rested his forehead against hers.

Piper wanted to cry, but she was too wrung out and dehydrated to produce even one tear. She grabbed ahold of Ace’s shirt at his waist and held on. Standing like this should’ve felt awkward, she’d just met the man, but after everything that had happened, holding on to him and being in his personal space like this simply felt comforting and right.

“I’d be worried if you didn’t feel all of that,” Ace told her quietly after a few moments. “This entire situation is so far outside your comfort zone, it isn’t funny. You thought you were going on vacation to see your friend and the worst thing that might happen is that you’d get a few bug bites. But instead you found yourself in the middle of a rebel uprising. You’re being too hard on yourself. Despite everything you’re feeling, you hadn’t uttered a word of complaint. I’m “going to get you home, Piper. To that fluffy bed and feather pillow you want so badly.”