Author: April Hunt
Series: Alpha
Security, #2
On Sale: March 28,
2017
Publisher: Forever
Mass Market: $7.99
USD
eBook: $5.99 USD
The
second book in April Hunt's romantic suspense series, perfect for fans of Julie
Ann Walker, Lora Leigh, and Rebecca Zanetti.
Alpha
Security operative Trey Hanson is ready to settle down. When he meets a
gorgeous blonde in a bar, and the connection between them is off the charts, he
thinks he's finally found the one. But after their night together ends in a
hail of gunfire and she disappears in the chaos, Trey's reasons for tracking
her down are personal . . . until he learns she's his next assignment.
Elle
Monroe never expected to see Trey again. The night they shared was incredible,
but the last thing she's looking for is a relationship. Now that it's clear
she's being targeted, though, she has no choice but to trust this man she
barely knows with her life. And Trey's not just determined to keep her safe . .
. he's determined to win her heart.
Elle stared, transfixed by the clock behind
the airport’s claims counter. Each snap of the second-hand took about five
years off her life. Being a few weeks shy of her thirtieth birthday, she
estimated she had roughly ten-and-a-half seconds until the coroner needed to be
called. Twelve, max, with a little bit of luck, but her luck seemed to be in
short supply.
Her normal patience was at an all-time low,
sucked into a black hole right along with her personal hygiene and her luggage.
Twenty total hours in a plane, plus an unscheduled six-hour stop for mechanical
repairs, was to blame for the first. The latter two were entirely the fault of
the airline.
With a deep sigh, Elle looked around the
large, open space. People milled through the airport, bulky suitcases bouncing
behind them as they scrambled to their destinations, while others procured
blankets and pillows and looked to be settling in for the duration of the
night.
On her left, two children tackled the legs
of a tall, slender soldier dressed in desert fatigues. Laughing, the woman
bent, spreading kisses over every surface of their little cheeks.
Elle ignored the faint ache in her chest
and watched the happy family walk away. As they disappeared around the corner,
a new sensation whittled its way in—a tingle;
the one she’d felt the instant she and Shay unloaded from the gate—the one that
came with the ardent focus of someone’s attention. It took root in the pit of
her stomach and didn’t let go.
When she’d sensed it earlier, she blamed
the paranoia on lack of sleep and inhumane travel hours. But the prickle of
awareness came back tenfold, turning her head until she noticed the man leaning
against the far wall, reading a newspaper.
Elle did a double take. It wasn’t Trey. It
couldn’t be. She’d left him back in Thailand without so much as her last name,
much less her travel itinerary, yet the longer she stared at stranger across
the room, the faster her heart galloped.
Worn blue jeans encased his thighs
perfectly. Not tight. Not baggy. No doubt if he turned around, the rear would
look as impressive as the front. Both his face and his hair were disappointedly
half-hidden by a baseball cap and sunglasses, but he had the same strongly
chiseled jaw and sexy blond scruff that made her want to throw every razor
known to man straight into the garbage.
Though he never looked away from his paper,
the wall lounger’s lips twitched, almost as if sensing her visual appraisal. That
smirk. Those lips. The stretch of a long-sleeved T over a chest wide enough to
land an airplane on. Elle nearly collapsed into an X-rated memory of how lips
nearly identical to those of this stranger had pleasurably ripped away all her
sensibilities only a scant few days ago.
Standing in the middle of a busy airport
definitely wasn’t the time to relive her night with Trey. When her turn came up
at the counter, she gave herself a mental slap and focused on giving the
attendant the information the airline needed to reconnect her with her
suitcase. And then with a Have a nice day
and her single carry-on, Elle shuffled away to wait for Shay to finish in the
bathroom.
She searched her purse for her cell phone
and bounced off the chest of another traveler.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.” She reflexively reached out to steady to victim.
“Shut
it,” a low voice snarled.
Oh, hell no. Exhaustion mixed
with an insane need to shower off the last day and a half made her head swivel
to Mr. Attitude. She looked up. And up. Whoa.
He was ridiculously tall.
If she’d had a little bit more sleep she’d
probably be able to talk herself out of confronting someone so freaking huge,
but she’d had a middle seat, and both Shay and the man to her left had been
armrest hogs. Elle was eight hours past polite.
She narrowed her eyes, wishing her glare
would make him squirm. “It was an accident. I said I was sorry. There’s no need
to be a jerk about it.”
“Actually, there is.” Mr. Attitude clamped
a hand around her upper arm and squeezed.
“Ow.
Hey, watch it!” She tugged, and he tightened his hold.
He leaned his large body way past her
personal boundaries. That was when she saw the scar, half-hidden behind his
sunglasses. It looked angrier up close, the skin around his eye socket puckered
straight up to his hairline. Cold dread licked up Elle’s spine.
It was Alley Man.
“I told you to shut. The fuck. Up.” He
emphasized each word and punctuated it with a sharp jab to her ribs. When she
attempted to twist away, the poke came again—this time with the cool sensation
of metal.
A gun.
Alley Man stepped closer, careful to keep
it hidden from view. “If you so much as twitch, sputter, or look at anyone
cross-eyed, I won’t hesitate to make this very bad for you. Do you fucking
understand me?”
Elle re-swallowed the bile that had risen
to her throat. “I should probably warn you that I don’t have any money. Well, I
have about ten dollars’ worth of Thai baht,
but that’s about it. And maybe a fuzzy breath mint.”
Tightening his grip, he steered them away
from anyone who would remotely care what was happening. And let’s face it: This
was one of the busiest airports in the country. No one was going to notice one
travel-ravaged blonde, even if she stripped down to her cotton undies and
streaked half naked through the terminal.
Alley Man kept the gun pressed firmly
between her ribs as he directed them to the exit. “I don’t want your money,
Miss Monroe.”
Elle’s heart went from a steady thunder to
an apocalyptic roar. He knew her name.
He knew she’d be at this airport. On this day. On this flight.
The only thing Elle knew was that she was
really—and completely—screwed.
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THE
ALPHA SECURITY SERIES
HEATED PURSUIT, #1
HOLDING FIRE, #2
HARD JUSTICE, #3
FOLLOW
FOREVER ONLINE
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