PROMISE TO DEFEND
Rescue Ops Series Book 2
by Diana Gardin
September 12, 2017; Forever Yours eBook; $3.99
By saving her, he might just save himself...
I'm broken. I have been for seven years. Ever since my wife was
murdered while I was deployed overseas. I was protecting our country, but I
should have been protecting her. I haven't looked at another woman since--but
then Olive Alexander crossed my path. She stirs up feelings I thought were long
dead. So when her house is ransacked after she receives a threatening message,
I know I have to step in and keep her safe. I failed my wife, but I won't fail
Olive. Unfortunately, Olive isn't exactly ready to accept my help...
With her sexy-as-sin pencil skirts and sleek ponytails, Olive
clearly doesn't let anything--or anyone--mess up her perfectly
ordered life. But years spent working as a special ops soldier has taught me
how to read people... and I know Olive is hiding something. When my covert
mission for Night Eagle Security collides with Olive's past, I'll have to get
her to open up--or risk losing her. And losing Olive is not an
option. If she's in danger, I'll defend her...even if it costs me my life.
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“Couldn’t sleep, Red?”
“No.”
Turning, he gets up and walks down the hall.
I hear a door open and close and when he returns, his arms are laden with a
cozy-looking gray chenille blanket. Pausing in front of me as I look up at him
in confusion, he uses his leg to nudge my knee.
“Scoot over.”
Moving sideways, Ronin sits down and
stretches out behind me on the couch. Then he spreads the blanket out over his
legs and wraps an arm around my waist. He tugs, and I find myself settling down
in front of him while he spoons me from behind. He places the blanket over both
of us, and then wraps his other arm around me.
It’s like I’m trapped in the hardest,
warmest, most protective, best-smelling cocoon there ever was.
At first, I’m stiff, because what?
Ronin’s scent wafts over me, and I breathe it
in like a woman deprived of air. It’s partly cologne, but it’s a fresh,
masculine clean scent with just the tiniest hint of spice. It’s amazing. His
body, pressed up against mine in the most intimate way, is so hard that heat
pools deep in my gut and my thighs clench together to try to fight the bubbling
desire he’s stirring up inside me. A kind of true desire I haven’t felt in
years.
His arms tighten around me, pulling me
closer. “Relax, Red.” His words raise the hairs on the back of my neck, and a
delicate shiver rolls through my whole body.
Taking a deep breath, I allow myself to
soften against him.
“Not comfortable being touched, are you?”
Ronin’s voice in my ear is husky and deep, and it feels like he’s reaching
inside me rather than just speaking to me.
I shrug. “Not usually.”
“Do
you want to talk about why that is, Red?”
My eyes trail over his hands as his capable
fingers begin to stroke unassumingly along my forearms. It’s the slightest
touch. Barely a caress, really, but the way I can feel it reverberating everywhere
from my neck to my toes is unsettling. I’ve never been touched on a level as
deep as this, and I don’t know what to do with the way it feels.
Shrugging again, I think about how to answer
that question.
“I’m just…cautious…after everything.”
There. That should satisfy his curiosity.
But Ronin doesn’t quite let it go. “There’s
more to you than cautiousness. And that’s okay…I get it. I have layers, too.
Ones that go so deep I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the bottom of them. And
I’d never expect anyone else to, either.”
The sheer understanding in his tone floors
me. He doesn’t elaborate on his own issues, and he doesn’t ask me to delve
further into mine. I’ve never been around a man who doesn’t ask for something
from me, usually too much, in return for spending time with him.
Tentatively, I caress the bicep that holds me
so tightly. The corded muscles jump beneath my touch, and I can feel the breath
that Ronin sucks in.
“Tell me about these?” I ask, caressing the
giant bird tattoo in the center.
His voice low, velvety, he answers me. “Well,
this is an eagle in flight. I got it when I first joined the army.”
I trace the intricate details of the tattoo,
the fine lines given to each of the bird’s feathers.
“And this one,” he continues, indicating the
three thick, black bands stretching around his arm nearer his shoulder.
“Represent each time I had to pass a test to achieve something great. Army
entrance, officer exam, Ranger training.”
Marveling, I imagine the sheer amount of
strength it took for him to achieve each of these goals.
He’s silent for a moment, and I trace the
bright, bold heart tattoo entwined with rope. “And this one?”
Ronin stiffens slightly. He pauses, but then
when he answers, there’s a cooler quality to his voice, one that I don’t
understand. “That represents my heart.”
And that’s it. That’s all he says, and it
surprises me how much that hurts.
We sit in silence for a few long moments, the
tension swirling between us, when I finally feel his body relax against mine
once again.
I haven’t stiffened since we started talking.
I haven’t felt the need to flee from his hold, to shy away from his closeness.
It’s huge, at least for me. This doesn’t happen. Not unless it’s on my terms,
and with men I can keep at a safe distance.
But something tells me there’s no keeping
Ronin at a distance. It should terrify me…but it doesn’t. Instead, a spark of
hope flickers to life inside me. Hope that this man can succeed in breaking
down the walls I’ve built so carefully around my heart.
When a chuckle rumbles through his chest, I
almost jump out of my skin and his grip on me tightens for just a moment to
reassure me.
“What the hell is this?” he asks.
Focusing my attention on the television, a
smile ghosts across my lips. “It’s ‘Behind the Scenes: Big Top.’” Reality
television is an addiction for me, and the show that follows the leading
players in a traveling circus behind the scenes is one of my favorites.
His laughter grows louder and I can’t help
myself; I chuckle right along with him.
“Red…please tell me why we’re watching ‘Behind
the Scenes: Big Top.’” The teasing lilt in his voice makes my pulse race.
“I like it.” Feeling the need to defend myself,
my tone is indignant. “If I weren’t an interior designer, and I was just a
little bit braver, I think I’d probably be a circus performer.”
Ronin’s laughter fades away as he considers
my words. “What act would you do?”
I can answer that question without a second
thought. “I’d be a trapeze artist. Flying high, all those dangerous catches?
The freedom of it? It’d be amazing.”
Ronin’s quiet for a moment. I think he’s
forgotten all about my answer when he speaks again, his words dusting across my
skin once more.
“That’s a circus I’d pay big money to watch,
Red. Because I think I’d really enjoy seeing you look free.”
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Diana Gardin is a wife of one and a mom of two. Writing is
her second full time job to that, and she loves it! Diana writes
contemporary romance in the Young Adult and New Adult categories. She's also a
former Elementary school teacher. She loves steak, sugar cookies, and Coke and
hates working out.
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