When Grant’s wife is in a tragic accident, Rachel goes above and beyond the call of duty to save her life. It is the moment she faces Grant again that their lives begin to spin out of control and they realize the lives of their loved ones were deeply intertwined.
The distorted loyalties of the ones they lost will drive a wedge between them and it will take another death, a last will and a look beyond the grave to find the path they must follow.
Excerpt: A deep masculine voice reached my ear over my right shoulder and caused a shiver to go down my spine. “I’m not sure I like the idea of your son buying my daughter a present.”
I spun around to
view the man who had just spoken so intimately in my ear and had to look up.
Holy cow! This guy could be the twin to the actor who played the leader of the
wolf pack on that hot vampire cable series; only this guy had short hair.
For a moment, I
wasn’t sure if he was being serious or joking with me, but a sexy smile slid
over his lusciously-full mouth, and I realized he was very much not upset.
I cocked my head
to the side, “And what makes you think it is for your daughter?”
He grinned,
“Because I can see the teenaged lust in his eyes.” I laughed at his comment and
glanced at Josh and Jazzy. They were standing close, and she was holding
bottles up for him to smell. The pure look of pleasure he wore on his features
had nothing to do with what he smelled.
“I’m Grant.” He
held his hand out for me to shake and I placed my palm into his. His hands were
huge and swallowed up my petite mitts.
“I’m Rachel.” His
hand spread warmth all the way up my arm. I had not realized how cold I was
until I felt his heated skin.
He released my
hand after a moment longer than necessary, and cleared his throat, “So that’s
Josh?”
“Oh, I see she has
mentioned him.” I absently picked up a bottle from in front of me and sniffed
it. Yuck! It was pine. I blew air out of my nose to clean out my passages and
found Grant chuckling at me.
“Not a fan of
pine?” I took in his features as he spoke and realized I had never seen a man
quite this gorgeous before. His beard ran along his strong jaw, not a heavy
beard, but one that looked soft and just full enough to want to touch. His wavy
hair was tussled over his forehead, from either the wind or his own hand
running aimlessly through it. My fingers twitched to reach
out.
“No, not at all,
I’m a sweet and fruity girl.” I glanced back to the kids again and saw them
talking softly, their heads bent towards each other. “Ah, to be young and in
love again.”
“Does age really
matter?” he queried.
“Well, isn’t it
when you are young that those first moments are the most special? You know,
that first look when your heart beats out of your chest?” Like mine was doing
right that second.
He stepped closer,
“What about those first words?”
“Or that first
touch. You know those little electrical impulses that flow through your skin?”
I said softly, remembering the warmth his handshake had sent up my arm.
“And the
butterflies that fill your stomach,” he volleyed back as he stared me down with
big soulful blue eyes.
“The same ones
that take flight and steal your heart,” I whispered.
“But nothing
compares to the anticipation of the first kiss.” He glanced at my lips and I
realized that I was breathless as I flicked my tongue over my dry lips to wet
them. My God! What was this man doing to me, and why was I allowing him to
affect me in such a way?
I realized the
moment I heard Josh yell that Grant and I had been lost in our own little
world, and that the sounds of the shoppers and holiday music had all faded
away. It was the sound of utter panic in my son’s voice that broke through the
romantic moment and planted my feet back on the hard wooden planks of the store
floor.
“Mom!” Josh
shouted, and I spun toward him expecting to see a display all over the floor,
but the look of sheer horror on his face directed at the front window caught my
attention and I turned. “I think someone just got run over by a car,” he yelled
and took off toward the door. I dropped the bottle I had in my hand on the
nearest table and rushed to follow him.
The moment the
door opened, I heard a woman yelling. I took off running between two cars
parked outside the shop. I heard heavy footsteps behind me but didn’t turn to
look.
A woman stood in
the parking lot screaming and crying, and as I made my way around an SUV to a
large blue construction van, I saw the unmoving feet of a woman lying on the
ground under the chassis of the van. I dropped my purse to the ground and went
to my knees beside the unconscious woman’s feet.
Behind the
Scenes: Distorted Loyalty was written in 28 days. This story flowed really
quickly and I had no choice but to sit and write while the characters spoke. As
soon as I finished writing this one, I jumped right into Six Days of Memories,
which releases June 30th, and wrote that book in 5 weeks.
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Bio: Stacy is a full-time police officer who enjoys crime scene investigation above all else, taking a passion in putting the pieces together to figure out the crime. She is also a business owner where she helps people get the awareness out for the causes they care most about. She is a mother of two, a son proudly serving in the United States Navy and a young daughter. Her husband is also in law enforcement. She is very much into photography and carries her Nikon Digital SLR with her almost everywhere, just in case.
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