Enjoy!
ISBN-13: 9781335000439
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: November 27, 2018
Length: 416 pp
Fatal Series #13
Buy It: Amazon/ B&N/Kobo/IndieBound/Audible
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: November 27, 2018
Length: 416 pp
Fatal Series #13
Buy It: Amazon/ B&N/Kobo/IndieBound/Audible
Overview:
First the fire, then the heat…A brutal home invasion. Two small traumatized survivors who may have witnessed the horror. Lieutenant Sam Holland has never worked a case quite like this one, in which her eyewitnesses are five-year-old twins. But when Sam steps up in a big way for them, she risks her heart as much as her career.
While Sam and her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, go to battle in more ways than one for her tiny witnesses, her colleague Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales battles his own demons. Months of unbearable grief and despair come to a head in an unimaginable way that threatens Gonzo’s status with the department and his relationship with his fiancĂ©e, Christina.
With trouble both at the precinct and on the case, Sam struggles to keep her priorities straight at home and at work while trying not to lose her heart to her latest crime victims.
Read an excerpt:
CHAPTER ONE
“THIS IS A classic
case of be careful what you wish for.” Nick placed a stack of folded dress
shirts in a suitcase that already held socks, underwear, workout clothes and
several pairs of jeans. Only Nick would start packing seven days before his
scheduled departure for Europe next Sunday, the day after Freddie and Elin’s
wedding. “That’s the lesson learned here.”
“Only anal-retentive
freakazoids pack a week before a trip.” Sam sat at the foot of the bed and
watched him pack with a growing sense of dread. “Three freaking weeks. The last time you were gone that
long, I nearly lost my mind, and I don’t have much of a mind left to lose.”
“Come with me,” he said for
the hundredth time since the president asked him to make the diplomatic trip,
representing the administration on a visit with some of the country’s closest
allies. Since President Nelson was still recovering—in more ways than one—from
his son’s criminal activities, several of the allies had requested he send his
popular vice president in his stead.
Sam
flopped on the bed. “I can’t.
I have work and Scotty, and Freddie is going on his honeymoon for two weeks and... I can’t.” No Nick
at home to entertain her. No Freddie at work to entertain her. The next few
weeks were going to totally suck monkey balls.
“Actually,
you can.” Nick hovered
above her, propped on arms ripped with muscles, his splendid chest on full
display. “You have more vacation time saved up than you can use in a
lifetime, and you
have the right to actually use it. Scotty will be fine with Shelby, your dad
and Celia, your sisters and the Secret Service here to entertain him. We could
even ask Mrs. Littlefield to come up for the weekends.”
Their son’s former guardian
would love the chance to spend time with him, but Sam didn’t feel right about
leaving him for so long. However, the thought of being without Nick for three
endless weeks made her sick. His trip to Iran earlier in the year had been pure
torture, especially since it kept getting extended.
“Why’d you have to tell
Nelson you wanted to be more than a figurehead vice president?” She
play-punched his chest. “Everything was fine when he was ignoring you.”
He kissed her lips and then
her neck. “You’re so, so cute
when you pout.”
“Badass cops do not pout.”
“Mine does when she
doesn’t get her own way, and it’s truly adorable.”
She scowled at him.
“Badass cops are not adorable.”
“Mine is.” Leaving a
trail of hot kisses on her neck, he said, “Come with me, Samantha. London,
Paris, Rome, the Vatican, Amsterdam, Brussels, The Hague. Come see the world
with me.”
Sam had never been to
Europe and had always wanted to go, so she was sorely tempted to say to hell
with her responsibilities.
“Come on.” He rolled
her earlobe between his teeth and pressed against her suggestively. “Three
whole weeks together away from the madness of DC. You know you
want to go. Gonzo could cover for you at work, and things have been slow
anyway.”
There hadn’t been a
homicide in more than a week, which meant they were due, and that was another
reason to stay home. “Don’t say that and put a jinx on us.”
“Come away with me.
Scotty will be fine. We’ll FaceTime with him every day and bring him presents.
He’ll be well cared for by everyone else who loves him.” He kissed her neck as
he unbuttoned her shirt and pushed it aside. “You’d get to meet the Queen of
England.”
Sam moaned. She loved the
queen—speaking of a badass female.
“And the Pope. Plus,
you’ll need some clothes—and shoes. Lotsof shoes.”
“Stop it.” She turned
her face to avoid his kiss. “You’re fighting dirty.”
“Because I want my wife
to come with me on the trip of a lifetime? I need you
Samantha.”
As he well knew, she
could deny him nothing when he said he needed her. “Fine, I’ll go! But only if
it’s okay with Scotty and if I can swing it at work.”
“Yes,” her
husband said on a long exhale. “We’ll have so much fun.”
“Will we actually get
to see anything?”
He pushed himself up
to continue packing. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Um, excuse me.”
“What’s up?”
“My temperature after
your attempts at persuasion.”
A slow, lazy smile
spread across his face, making him the sexiest man in this universe—and the
next. “Is my baby feeling a little needy?”
She pulled her
T-shirt over her head and released the front clasp on her bra. “More than a
little.”
“We can’t have that.”
Stepping to the foot of the bed, he grasped the legs of her yoga pants and
yanked them off.
“Lock the door.”
“Scotty’s asleep.”
“Lock the door, or this isn’t happening.”
With Secret Service agents all over their house, Sam couldn’t relax if the door
wasn’t locked.
“This
is definitely happening, but if it’ll make you happy, I’ll lock the door.”
“It’ll make me happy, which
will, in turn, make you happy.”
She splayed her legs wide-open to give him a show as he returned from locking
the door, and was rewarded with gorgeous hazel eyes that heated with desire
when he saw her waiting for him.
“You little vixen,” he
muttered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you don’t,” he said,
laughing as he came down on top of her and set out to give her a preview of
what three weeks away together might be like.
* * *
THEY BROKE THE news
to Scotty the next morning at breakfast. “So,” Nick said tentatively, “what
would you think if Mom came with me to Europe?”
Thirteen-year-old Scotty,
never at his best first thing in the morning, shrugged. “It’s fine.”
“Really?” Sam said.
“You wouldn’t mind? Shelby, Tracy and Angela would be around to hang with you,
and Gramps and Celia too. We thought maybe Mrs. Littlefield could come up for a
weekend or two if she’s free.”
“Sure, that sounds
good.”
Sam glanced at Nick,
who seemed equally perplexed by his lack of reaction. They’d expected him to
ask to come with them, at the very least.
“Is everything okay?”
Sam asked her son.
“Uh-huh.” He finished
his cereal and got up to put the bowl in the sink. “I’m going to finish getting
ready for school.”
“Okay, bud,” Nick
said.
“Something’s up,” Sam
said as soon as Scotty left the room.
“I agree. He didn’t
even ask if he could miss school to come with us.”
“I thought the same
thing.”
“We’ll have to see if
we can get him to talk to us before we go—and not in the morning,” Nick said.
“I’ll ask Shelby to
make spaghetti for dinner. That always puts him in a good mood.” Sam’s phone
rang, and when she saw the number for Dispatch, she groaned. “Damn it. You
jinxed me!” So much for getting out of Dodge without having to worry about
work. She took the call. “Holland.”
“Lieutenant, there
was a fire overnight in Chevy Chase.” The dispatcher referred to the exclusive
Northwest neighborhood that was home to a former U.S. president, ambassadors
and other wealthy residents. “We have two DOA at the scene,” the dispatcher
said, reciting the address. “The fire marshal has requested Homicide
detectives.”
“Did he say why?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Okay, I’m on my
way.” Thankfully, she’d showered and gotten dressed before she woke Scotty.
“Please call Sergeant Gonzales and Detective Cruz and ask them to meet me
there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam flipped her phone
closed with a satisfying smack. That smacking sound was one of many reasons
she’d never upgrade to a smart phone.
“You’ll still be able
to come with me, right?” Nick asked, looking adorably uncertain.
Sam went over to where
he sat at the table and kissed him. “I’ll talk to Malone today and see if I can
make it happen.”
“Keep me posted.”
* * *
A RINGING PHONE woke
Christina Billings from a sound sleep. Two-year-old Alex had been up during the
night with a fever and cold that was making him miserable and her sleep
deprived. Her fiancĂ©, Tommy, had slept through that and apparently couldn’t
hear his phone ringing either. He was due at work in an hour and was usually up
by now.
“Tommy.”
She nudged him, but he didn’t stir. “Tommy.
Your phone.”
He came to slowly, blinking
rapidly.
“The phone, Tommy. Answer
it before it wakes Alex.” He needed more sleep and so did she, or this was
going to be a very long day.
Tommy grabbed the phone
from the bedside table.
Christina saw the
word Dispatch on the
screen.
“Gonzales.”
She couldn’t hear the
dispatcher’s side of the conversation, but she heard Tommy’s grunt of
acknowledgment before he ended the call, closing his eyes even as he continued
to clutch the phone.
Christina wondered if he
was going back to sleep after being called into work. She was about to say
something when he got out of bed and headed for the shower.
Nine months ago today, his
partner, A. J. Arnold, had been gunned down right in front of Tommy as they
approached a suspect.
After
a long downward spiral following Arnold’s murder, Tommy had seemed to rebound
somewhat during the summer. But the rebound hadn’t lasted into the fall.
In
the last month, since his new partner, Cameron Green, had joined the squad,
Christina had watched him regress into his grief. He’d said and done all the
right things when it came to welcoming Cameron, but he was obviously spiraling
again, and she had no idea what to do to help him or how to reach him. Even
when lying next to her in bed, he seemed so far away from her.
Sometimes, when she had a
rare moment alone, she allowed her thoughts to wander to life without Tommy and
Alex at the center of it. She loved them both—desperately—but she wasn’t sure
how much more she could take of the distant, closed-off version of the man she
loved. They were supposed to have been married by now. Like everything else,
that plan had been shoved aside to make room for Tommy’s overwhelming grief.
It’d been months since they’d discussed getting married. In the meantime, she
took care of Alex and everything else while Tommy worked and came home to sleep
before starting the cycle all over again.
They didn’t talk about
anything other than Alex. They never went anywhere together or as a family. They
hadn’t had sex in so long she’d forgotten when it had last happened. She was as
unhappy as she’d ever been. Something had to give—and soon, or she would
be
CHAPTER ONE
“THIS IS A classic
case of be careful what you wish for.” Nick placed a stack of folded dress
shirts in a suitcase that already held socks, underwear, workout clothes and
several pairs of jeans. Only Nick would start packing seven days before his
scheduled departure for Europe next Sunday, the day after Freddie and Elin’s
wedding. “That’s the lesson learned here.”
“Only anal-retentive
freakazoids pack a week before a trip.” Sam sat at the foot of the bed and
watched him pack with a growing sense of dread. “Three freaking weeks. The last time you were gone that
long, I nearly lost my mind, and I don’t have much of a mind left to lose.”
“Come with me,” he said for
the hundredth time since the president asked him to make the diplomatic trip,
representing the administration on a visit with some of the country’s closest
allies. Since President Nelson was still recovering—in more ways than one—from
his son’s criminal activities, several of the allies had requested he send his
popular vice president in his stead.
Sam flopped on the bed.
“I can’t. I have work and
Scotty, and Freddie is going on his honeymoon for two weeks and... I can’t.” No Nick
at home to entertain her. No Freddie at work to entertain her. The next few
weeks were going to totally suck monkey balls.
“Actually, you can.” Nick hovered above her, propped on
arms ripped with muscles, his splendid chest on full display. “You have more
vacation time saved up than you can use in a lifetime, and you have the right to actually
use it. Scotty will be fine with Shelby, your dad and Celia, your sisters and
the Secret Service here to entertain him. We could even ask Mrs. Littlefield to
come up for the weekends.”
Their son’s former guardian
would love the chance to spend time with him, but Sam didn’t feel right about
leaving him for so long. However, the thought of being without Nick for three
endless weeks made her sick. His trip to Iran earlier in the year had been pure
torture, especially since it kept getting extended.
“Why’d you have to tell
Nelson you wanted to be more than a figurehead vice president?” She
play-punched his chest. “Everything was fine when he was ignoring you.”
He kissed her lips and then
her neck. “You’re so, so cute
when you pout.”
“Badass cops do not pout.”
“Mine does when she doesn’t
get her own way, and it’s truly adorable.”
She scowled at him. “Badass
cops are not adorable.”
“Mine is.” Leaving a trail
of hot kisses on her neck, he said, “Come with me, Samantha. London, Paris,
Rome, the Vatican, Amsterdam, Brussels, The Hague. Come see the world with me.”
Sam had never been to
Europe and had always wanted to go, so she was sorely tempted to say to hell
with her responsibilities.
“Come on.” He rolled her
earlobe between his teeth and pressed against her suggestively. “Three
whole weeks together
away from the madness of DC. You know you want to go. Gonzo could cover for you
at work, and things have been slow anyway.”
There hadn’t been a
homicide in more than a week, which meant they were due, and that was another
reason to stay home. “Don’t say that and put a jinx on us.”
“Come away with me. Scotty
will be fine. We’ll FaceTime with him every day and bring him presents. He’ll
be well cared for by everyone else who loves him.” He kissed her neck as he
unbuttoned her shirt and pushed it aside. “You’d get to meet the Queen of
England.”
Sam moaned. She loved the queen—speaking of a badass
female.
“And the Pope. Plus, you’ll
need some clothes—and shoes. Lotsof
shoes.”
“Stop it.” She turned her
face to avoid his kiss. “You’re fighting dirty.”
“Because I want my wife to
come with me on the trip of a lifetime? I need you Samantha.”
As he well knew, she could
deny him nothing when he said he needed her. “Fine, I’ll go! But only if it’s
okay with Scotty and if I can swing it at work.”
“Yes,” her husband said on a long exhale.
“We’ll have so much fun.”
“Will we actually get to
see anything?”
He pushed himself up to
continue packing. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Um, excuse me.”
“What’s up?”
“My temperature after your
attempts at persuasion.”
A slow, lazy smile spread
across his face, making him the sexiest man in this universe—and the next. “Is
my baby feeling a little needy?”
She pulled her T-shirt over
her head and released the front clasp on her bra. “More than a little.”
“We can’t have that.”
Stepping to the foot of the bed, he grasped the legs of her yoga pants and
yanked them off.
“Lock the door.”
“Scotty’s asleep.”
“Lock the door, or this isn’t happening.”
With Secret Service agents all over their house, Sam couldn’t relax if the door
wasn’t locked.
“This is definitely
happening, but if it’ll make you happy, I’ll lock the door.”
“It’ll make me happy, which
will, in turn, make you happy.”
She splayed her legs wide-open to give him a show as he returned from locking
the door, and was rewarded with gorgeous hazel eyes that heated with desire
when he saw her waiting for him.
“You little vixen,” he
muttered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you don’t,” he said,
laughing as he came down on top of her and set out to give her a preview of
what three weeks away together might be like.
* * *
THEY BROKE THE news
to Scotty the next morning at breakfast. “So,” Nick said tentatively, “what
would you think if Mom came with me to Europe?”
Thirteen-year-old Scotty,
never at his best first thing in the morning, shrugged. “It’s fine.”
“Really?” Sam said. “You
wouldn’t mind? Shelby, Tracy and Angela would be around to hang with you, and
Gramps and Celia too. We thought maybe Mrs. Littlefield could come up for a
weekend or two if she’s free.”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
Sam glanced at Nick, who
seemed equally perplexed by his lack of reaction. They’d expected him to ask to
come with them, at the very least.
“Is everything okay?” Sam
asked her son.
“Uh-huh.” He finished his
cereal and got up to put the bowl in the sink. “I’m going to finish getting
ready for school.”
“Okay, bud,” Nick said.
“Something’s up,” Sam said
as soon as Scotty left the room.
“I agree. He didn’t even
ask if he could miss school to come with us.”
“I thought the same thing.”
“We’ll have to see if we
can get him to talk to us before we go—and not in the morning,” Nick said.
“I’ll ask Shelby to make
spaghetti for dinner. That always puts him in a good mood.” Sam’s phone rang,
and when she saw the number for Dispatch, she groaned. “Damn it. You jinxed
me!” So much for getting out of Dodge without having to worry about work. She
took the call. “Holland.”
“Lieutenant, there was a
fire overnight in Chevy Chase.” The dispatcher referred to the exclusive
Northwest neighborhood that was home to a former U.S. president, ambassadors
and other wealthy residents. “We have two DOA at the scene,” the dispatcher
said, reciting the address. “The fire marshal has requested Homicide
detectives.”
“Did he say why?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
Thankfully, she’d showered and gotten dressed before she woke Scotty. “Please
call Sergeant Gonzales and Detective Cruz and ask them to meet me there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam flipped her phone
closed with a satisfying smack. That smacking sound was one of many reasons
she’d never upgrade to a smart phone.
“You’ll still be able to
come with me, right?” Nick asked, looking adorably uncertain.
Sam went over to where he
sat at the table and kissed him. “I’ll talk to Malone today and see if I can
make it happen.”
“Keep me posted.”
* * *
A RINGING PHONE woke
Christina Billings from a sound sleep. Two-year-old Alex had been up during the
night with a fever and cold that was making him miserable and her sleep
deprived. Her fiancĂ©, Tommy, had slept through that and apparently couldn’t
hear his phone ringing either. He was due at work in an hour and was usually up
by now.
“Tommy.” She nudged him,
but he didn’t stir. “Tommy.
Your phone.”
He came to slowly, blinking
rapidly.
“The phone, Tommy. Answer
it before it wakes Alex.” He needed more sleep and so did she, or this was
going to be a very long day.
Tommy grabbed the phone
from the bedside table.
Christina saw the
word Dispatch on the
screen.
“Gonzales.”
She couldn’t hear the
dispatcher’s side of the conversation, but she heard Tommy’s grunt of
acknowledgment before he ended the call, closing his eyes even as he continued
to clutch the phone.
Christina wondered if he
was going back to sleep after being called into work. She was about to say
something when he got out of bed and headed for the shower.
Nine months ago today, his
partner, A. J. Arnold, had been gunned down right in front of Tommy as they
approached a suspect. After a long downward spiral following Arnold’s murder,
Tommy had seemed to rebound somewhat during the summer. But the rebound hadn’t
lasted into the fall.
In the last month, since
his new partner, Cameron Green, had joined the squad, Christina had watched him
regress into his grief. He’d said and done all the right things when it came to
welcoming Cameron, but he was obviously spiraling again, and she had no idea
what to do to help him or how to reach him. Even when lying next to her in bed,
he seemed so far away from her.
Sometimes, when she had a
rare moment alone, she allowed her thoughts to wander to life without Tommy and
Alex at the center of it. She loved them both—desperately—but she wasn’t sure
how much more she could take of the distant, closed-off version of the man she
loved. They were supposed to have been married by now. Like everything else,
that plan had been shoved aside to make room for Tommy’s overwhelming grief.
It’d been months since they’d discussed getting married. In the meantime, she
took care of Alex and everything else while Tommy worked and came home to sleep
before starting the cycle all over again.
They didn’t talk about
anything other than Alex. They never went anywhere together or as a family.
They hadn’t had sex in so long she’d forgotten when it had last happened. She
was as unhappy as she’d ever been. Something had to give—and soon, or she would
be forced to decide whether their relationship was still healthy for her. She
did not want to have
to make that decision.
Only the thought of leaving
Tommy at his lowest moment, not to mention leaving Alex, had kept her from
making a move before now. She loved that little boy with her whole heart and
soul. She’d stepped away from her own career as Nick’s chief of staff to stay
home with him and had hoped to add to their family by now. When she thought
about the early days of her relationship with Tommy, when they’d been so madly
in love, she couldn’t have imagined feeling as insignificant to him as a piece
of furniture that was always there when he finally decided to come home.
Christina hadn’t told
anyone about the trouble brewing between them. In her heart of hearts, she
hoped they could still work it out somehow, and the last thing she needed was
her friends and family holding a grudge against him forever—and they would if
they had any idea just how bad things had gotten. Her parents had questioned
the wisdom of her giving up a high-profile job to stay home to care for her
boyfriend’s child, especially when she’d made more money than him. But she’d
been ready for a break from the political rat race when Alex came along, and
she had no regrets about her decision. Or she hadn’t until Tommy checked out of
their relationship.
This weekend they’d be
expected to celebrate at Freddie and Elin’s wedding, and she’d have to pretend
that everything was fine
in her relationship
when it was anything but. She wasn’t sure how she would pull off another
convincing performance for their friends. Tommy was one of Freddie’s groomsmen,
so she’d get to spend most of that day on her own while he attended to his
friend.
Dangling at the end
of her rope in this situation, more than once she’d thought about taking Alex
and leaving, even though she had no legal right to take him. Another thing
they’d never gotten around to—her adoption of him after his mother was killed.
What would Tommy do if she left with his son? Call the police on her? That made
her laugh bitterly. She’d be surprised if he noticed they were gone.
Tommy came out of the
bathroom and went to the closet where he had clean clothes to choose from thanks
to her. Did he ever wonder how that happened? He put on jeans and a black
T-shirt and then went to unlock the bedside drawer where he kept his badge,
weapon and cuffs.
She watched him slide
the weapon into the holster he wore on his hip and jam the cuffs and badge into
the back pockets of his jeans, the same way he did every day. Holding her
breath, she waited to see if he would say anything to her or come around the
bed to kiss her goodbye the way he used to before disaster struck, but like he
did so often these days, he simply turned and left the room.
A minute later, she
heard the front door close behind him.
For a long time after he left, she lay in bed staring up at the ceiling with tears running down her cheeks. She couldn’t take much more of this.
The Series
With more than 3.5 million books sold, Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of the Fatal Series from Harlequin's Carina Press, as well as the Gansett Island Series, Treading Water Series, Green Mountain Series and new erotic Quantum Trilogy. Contact Marie at marie@marieforce.com
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That is cool that she went back and gave them their story. I really need to start this series. I've got a couple of the books already.
ReplyDeleteOh Sophia Rose sorry I maybe wasn't clear enough, Sam and Nick are the stars of the whole series LOL
Delete13 books wow..that is awesome. I like series like this because you really get to know the characters.
ReplyDeleteexactly Thanks Kim
DeleteThis is the BEST series!! This downloaded onto my Kindle when it published a few days ago and I need time to read it, but the most addictive series - great romantic suspense. And a great couple.
ReplyDeleteAh yet another satisfied customer LOL
DeleteWow that is a lot of Force books
ReplyDeleteprolific author for sure
DeleteI haven't read any in this series. Love the covers though.
ReplyDeletegreat series
DeleteI've not read this author yet, but have really wanted to. I'm off to look at them on Amazon! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteshe's fantastic Lorna
DeleteI've still not tried her but need to. I know a number of yall who just love her books.
ReplyDeleteOh Anna really she has a couple of series that are right up your alley. Try her Quantum series
Delete