So, here Clint stood on a fine summer day, next to the most beautiful woman in the place, and he refused to give in to the attraction fizzing between them like shaken soda pop. Story of his life.
The guys at SSoF joked with him sometimes that he wasn’t happy unless he was miserable. That wasn’t exactly true. The truth was, Clint didn’t trust happiness. After all, when he was a kid, he’d been happy as could be right up until the day his mother had packed her bags and walked out of his life forever, saying she couldn’t take it anymore. He hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t been prepared at all—and when it happened, it had hit him all the harder as a result. Once that had happened, he never thought he’d be happy again. Or maybe that he never should be happy again. Disappointment didn’t hurt as much if you were braced for it from the start.
“Good turnout today,” Tara said, scanning the crowd. “Bigger than I expected.”
“That’s good, right?” Clint said, glad to be out of his head. He needed to focus on the here and now, not the past. There was no changing the past. No matter how he might wish he could. He cleared his throat and checked his phone. Noah had sent him a picture of him and Ashley sticking out their blue coated tongues from those slushies. He shook his head and stuck the thing back in his pocket. “More tree huggers to vote for your bill.”
Tara gave him some side-eye. “We prefer the term social justice warriors, thanks. But yes. It’s good.”
A high pitched whistle sailed past Clint’s ear and he swatted at the sound, thinking it was a bothersome mosquito. It was hot as Hades out here now and his all-black attire didn’t help matters. But then the whistling grew louder and…nope. That was no bug.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. He turned to push Tara to the ground, but realized he’d acted too late when he saw the bright red splotch of crimson blossoming on the arm of Tara’s jean jacket and…
“Oh shit! You’re hit. Get down!” he yelled, using his body to cover hers. “Gun!” he shouted out, so everyone would know to take cover. “There’s a gun!”
All hell broke loose as an incoming call came to his phone. He pulled it out to hear the guys yelling on the other end of the line. He managed to break through the noise to ask, “Is Ashley okay?”
“Yes!” Levon yelled back through the line. “Noah’s got her covered. The cops are moving in, they’ve got the gunman cornered and are taking him down. You okay?”
Clint stared at the people scattering around him, their signs and banners strewn across the grass like so much trash, the woman beneath him shivering and shaken and bleeding, and answered truthfully. “No. I need EMTs out here stat! Tara Crumb’s been hit.”
Sirens wailed from the squad cars now circling the area and the crowd was yelling and screaming, but all Clint could focus on was the fact that this was all his fault. He’d allowed himself to get distracted by Tara and their conversation and he’d failed to spot the shooter in time.
My fault. My failure.
Again.
Grab your copy of Protecting His Beautiful Lover
Available October 22nd, 2020
www.LeslieNorthBooks.com
BLURB
When Chance McCallister left her to join the Navy SEALS, Mandy Loomis was devastated. Now, more than ten years later, Chance and his brothers are back in town for their father’s funeral, but Mandy is no longer that moon-eyed teenager she once was. She’s a fiercely independent woman determined to solve her own problems—and she has plenty.
When her gambler father died two years prior, he left Mandy—along with a successful auto repair business—with a ton of debt owed to a ruthless loan shark. Mandy is barely getting by, and when her mechanic quits, she’s in a real bind. It just so happens, Chance is willing to help out. Sure, Chance is bigger, stronger, and sexier than ever, but Mandy isn’t interested in anything but his mechanical skills. Or maybe just a bit interested in his kissing skills—which, by the way, are just as good as she remembers.
Mandy wasn’t the only one brokenhearted when they were just teens. Chance never did get over his first love, and seeing her now only brings back those feelings in a major way. He’s grown up a lot since he left their little town, and now that he’s home, he’s determined to win back the girl he never should have lost. If only he can convince Mandy that he can protect her from the loan shark and his thugs, and that she doesn’t have to protect her heart from him.
But just as the two are beginning to realize they’re meant to be together, the loan shark makes things more than just a little precarious, putting both their love and their lives in danger.
Grab your copy of SEAL’s Homecoming (SEAL & Veterans Book One) from
www.LeslieNorthBooks.com
* * *
EXCERPT
Chapter One
Chance McCallister popped the last button and peeled his sweaty Dress White uniform top off with a relieved sigh. For two hours he’d melted under the relentless sun in the long-sleeved polyester. Standing by his father’s grave would have been hard enough even without the thick, Georgian, mid-July humidity pressing against the weight of all the medals, ribbons, badges, and Navy SEAL Trident adorning the front of his coat.
“I need a beer.” Harris, the middle brother, dropped his Dress Blue uniform top—courtesy of the U.S. Marines—onto the back of a kitchen chair and headed for the refrigerator.
“Grab me one too.” Lee, the youngest at twenty-eight, stretched his arms over his head, already losing his Army Dress Blue uniform top the second they got home.
Standing in wet undershirts, uniform pants, belts, and shiny shoes, none of them would pass inspection, but only Harris had to worry
