$1.99 | Click image for buy link
Tagline: Boy meets girl. Girl ‘dies’ in a fiery explosion. Five years later they meet again.
Blurb:
Kiernan Darby spends five long years playing dead. It’s a life in limbo, but it lets Lars Rademacher do his job and eliminate the members of a lethal crime syndicate, Kiernan’s former employers.
After discovering she’s alive and well, Lars tracks Kiernan down in Mexico. Their reunion is sweet…until he reveals a pesky detail he conveniently forgot to mention.
Kiernan isn’t completely safe. In fact, Lars is using her as bait to catch the last member of the espionage organization.
Excerpt:
Kiernan Darby had spent the last five long years on her own.
She’d built up a solid clientele at her diving school – tucked away from the truly touristy parts of Mexico – and she restored boats on the side. Sailboats – nothing with engines. She kept a low profile about the restoration…she couldn’t afford to draw the wrong kind of attention to herself.
She’d disappeared without a trace for a reason and needed it to stay that way.
Flat on her back, refinishing the hull of a sadly neglected thirty-two footer, Kiernan looked through the decay to the beauty it could be again. She hummed along to some salsa music blaring from her Mp3 player and worked to remove a patch of dry rot. Maybe her sixth sense kicked in…or plain old self-preservation, but she looked sideways through the stripped-to-the-studs bottom portion of her shed to see a pair of bare feet—bare male feet—making their way along the outer drive and headed toward her.
An eerie feeling gripped her and she scooted out from under the boat, slowly and quietly, keeping those incredibly awesome legs within her sight. She stepped toward the open bay door, her gun a quick grab away, and ended up shocked speechless by what she saw.
Sort of saw. The sun glared from behind, but she had no trouble making out the bad Hawaiian shirt, unbuttoned to show a glimpse of the buff male form underneath, nor did she miss the beat up denim cargo shorts, complete with frayed hems. The hair threw her. Long and shaggy, the trade winds created a mad-scientist type look that warred with the aviator shades hiding the rest of his face.
Even with all that, she knew who found her. Time hung, and the hand hovering close to the hidden gun quickly dropped to her side as his name hissed out on a breath. “Lars.”
He took a step toward her, but stopped just short of touching her. “Hey.” The grin that lit his face had one of her own answering back.
“Hey.” Her eyes squinting, she watched him remove his shades and toss them over his shoulder.
“Everyone believes you’re dead.” His hand lifted, but stopped, like he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t disappear if he touched her. “I thought you were dead.”
“I am dead.” And she had to stay that way.
He finally broke down and reached for her hand, holding it in his, his thumb making circular motions over her skin, sending tingles along her arm. The look in his eyes, those wicked, wonderful blue eyes, took her breath away. The naked expression and myriad of emotions in his almost undid her. As usual, when things got intense…they communicated without speaking.
Five years.
Yeah.
Why?
You know why.
It sucks.
Yeah.
I thought…
I know…you had to.
He would’ve spent all his time looking for her instead of the people who ‘killed’ her.
They both knew it.
A ghost of a smile hit his eyes.
But not anymore.
No?
No. It’s safe. You’re safe.
Kiernan almost buckled, her relief palpable. “So…it worked.” She waited a beat. “Took you guys long enough.”
Lars laughed. And it was wonderful to hear. She’d missed that almost more than anything else.
“It wasn’t easy chasing down everyone in that little operation.”
She could only imagine. And she didn’t want to know how many they’d lost doing so. It would make her depressed.
She smiled instead…because she hadn’t lost him. “God, it’s good to see you.” She tugged Lars forward and wrapped her arms around him.
He was solid. Real. Here.
They were free.
It finally hit her.
Free.
To be together.
And she wanted him. Needed him.
Now.
Right this moment.
Five long, damn years and it all rushed back, the way she felt about him. Kiernan shoved his shirt off his shoulders then yanked her tank top over her head. Started on his shorts while he peeled hers down. Their eyes met and he hauled her to him, mouth crushing hers in a bruising kiss. He lifted her, walked the ten steps across the patio to back her up against the shingle siding, never once breaking the kiss.
~*~
