Avenged: Latest HRT Series Release

I'm thrilled to announce that the 5th book in the HRT Series is out now! Schroder's one of my favorite HRT heroes, right up there with Bauer, so I hope you guys love him as well. (Well, he is a former PJ, and you guys know how I feel about them!)

Blurb:

When the past and present collide…

Taya Kostas is a survivor. She’s clawed her way back from the hell she was subjected to at the hands of an undercover agent working for the U.S. government. Since then she’s dedicated her life to preventing the same from happening to anyone else. Now her story has come full circle. She’s about to take the stand as the key federal witness in the biggest terrorist case the country has seen in years. But even though the man responsible for her nightmares is behind bars, the evil she escaped is still hunting her. When fate places her safety in the hands of the man who saved her life once before, together they race to stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy.

He’ll risk it all to save her. 

For five years Special Agent Nathan Schroder has been battling his inner demons, but lately it seems like he’s on the verge of losing that fight. Then Taya is suddenly thrust back into his life and in imminent danger, so he steps in to protect her. He’s never forgotten her or the way she held up under fire, and this time he’s not letting her walk away. The terrorists determined to prevent her from testifying will stop at nothing to silence her forever. She might be in official protective custody, but she’s way more than a job to Nate. When the enemy finally strikes and her life hangs in the balance, he’ll do anything to keep her safe.

Buy Links:

Amazon US
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Excerpt:

He opened the door wide a few moments later and stepped aside for her to enter. “All clear.”

She passed by him and into the room, her entire body buzzing with awareness as he shut the door behind her. The room was standard, with two queen-size beds and a small bathroom. She barely noticed any of it, too caught up with having over six feet and two-hundred-plus pounds of the sexiest man on earth standing just feet away from her. The skin along her spine buzzed with an almost electric charge, her entire body aching for his touch.

But then doubt suddenly overtook her. Compared to him she was ridiculously inexperienced at this. And she could just imagine how good he’d be in bed. While she was fairly certain he wouldn’t turn her down if she threw herself at him now, she didn’t want to seem pathetic and desperate, either. It was hard not to think about all the other women who called him.

Now or never, Taya. This could be your only shot with him.

She took a deep, bracing breath, and started to turn around. Before she could, two strong hands curled over the muscles at the top of her shoulders and squeezed. Taken by surprise, she smiled and let out a little groan of pleasure as her eyes slid closed. “Oh my God, that’s exactly the spot.”

His deep chuckle ruffled the hair at her nape as his hands kneaded her stiff muscles with firm, toe-curling pressure. “It’s cuz I’ve got magic hands.”

Oh, she had no doubt of that. Just the thought of them stroking over her naked body made her wet.

She turned to look up at him and the expression on his face stole the breath from her lungs. Hungry. Focused. Watching her closely.

Waiting. A hungry panther ready to spring.

Desire shot through her, her pulse thudding in her ears. When he reached up to pull the ball cap off her head and ran his hands through her hair, she couldn’t stop the moan that spilled from her throat.

Those gorgeous, skilled hands that were equally capable of taking a life and saving one tightened in the strands, his gaze locked with hers. A heartbeat later his mouth crashed down on hers.

She’d been waiting for it, even expecting it on some level, but the heated urgency of the kiss took her off guard.

Taya gasped and grabbed hold of his broad shoulders, her fingers sinking into the hard muscle there. That coiled strength beneath her palms had carried her when she’d been too weak to go on, was protecting her even now. The sense of security combined with the feel of his mouth moving over hers, setting her blood on fire.

She pressed against the full length of him, hungry for the feel of that strength wrapped around her. He made a low sound in his throat and drove his tongue into her mouth, sending a velvet shock to the center of her abdomen and between her thighs. Her nipples were hard, achy points against the lace of her bra as they met the hard wall of his chest.

His mouth was hungry over hers, taking complete charge of the kiss until her head spun and she couldn’t breathe. Raw need roared through her, growing stronger with every throb of her heart.

*end excerpt*

Whew! Man, I loved writing about these two together.

In other fun news, both Rekindled (Alex and Grace's story, Titanium Security #5) and Hunted (HRT #3, Bauer--gah, Bauer!--and Zoe) have both finaled in the 2015 Aspen Gold contest. I'm especially tickled about Alex and Grace, since there aren't nearly enough romances out there featuring main characters their age. Love it!

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't sent out a giant thank you to all of you who purchased the Heroes In Uniform box set. We hit the USA Today bestseller list because of you guys!

Right now I'm hard at work on the next HRT book, Cruz's story. So far he's surprising me with how he's handling his attraction to the heroine. He's uh, not shy about taking matters into his own hands when necessary ;). After that I'll write Vance's story and finally Blackwell's, but I have one or two other surprise projects I'll be working on in the coming months as well that I'm pretty excited about.

Hope you all have a safe and fabulous summer!

Happy reading,
Kaylea

Navajo Code Talkers and Navy SEALs

In my new book, SEAL's Code, which comes out Tuesday, I decided to create a hero character, Danny Begay, who is half Navajo. He's raised on the res until he turns 12, when his mother, of Miwok ancestry, moves him to her people in Northern California.

I've enjoyed spending time in the Tucson and Phoenix areas the last three years, attending the Arizona Dreamin' conventions, and the Tucson Festival of Books. This past year, I also spent time talking with good friends who have taught on the res, or have done FBI undercover work there. I wanted a character who was not okay with his roots. In fact, I wanted a character who was haunted by his past. And I want this character to discover that his past actually contributes to his becoming the best man he can be, a Navy SEAL. SEAL's Code Book Trailer here.  SEAL's Code Thunderclap Campaign.

Here's an excerpt which shows his before state of mind:

The family gathered afterward at Wilson’s mother’s house which was on the res nearby. It was hard not to feel the eyes of his relatives on him, just as it was hard not to notice the pats on the back Wilson received. Lopez had been well coached and sought Wilson out to thank him for his service. Danny wanted to leave and told his mother so barely two hours into the get-together. He’d politely greeted all the relatives he recognized, and those who didn’t come up to him he figured didn’t want to be reacquainted. Not like Wilson.

As a youth, just hanging with Wilson would have been enough to make the afternoon interesting, but today with the frostiness between the two cousins, it was forcing him into a dangerous place even the sweet recollection of the night with Luci couldn’t heal. Making matters worse, Wilson made an off-color remark, about Danny’s activities last night which irritated Danny further.

The two ignored one another until, somehow, they wound up waiting to use the only restroom in the house.

“Your mom says you’re ready to go home,” Wilson said to his cowboy boots.

“That’s right.”

“I honestly don’t know why you came in the first place, Danny.”

Danny’s right eye squinted a little. “We never liked these things, Wilson. You know that.”

“You’ve been gone, what, eight years or more?”

“Twelve.”

“Okay, then. Twelve. And you can’t spend an afternoon giving these people the time of day?”

“I don’t belong here, Wilson.”

Wilson nodded his head. “Oh yeah. Forgot. You’re the one that got away. You trying to rub my nose in it, huh?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I don’t want to be here. I’ve done my farewells, and now it’s time for me to say adios.”

“You might consider your mother’s feelings.”

Danny drilled him with a return look that probably picked at a scab, inflaming Wilson further. “You hear the voices? Does the chanting get to you, Wilson?”

He could see his cousin was thinking about this carefully. It surprised him that Wilson didn’t give a quick answer no, which meant only one thing.

“Holy fucking shit, Wilson. You hear them, too. Just like I do.”

Emma Barnowl, one of his grandfather’s friends, opened the bathroom door and their nostrils were hit with room deodorizer, which did a poor job of masking the smell she’d left behind.

“Fuck me,” Wilson said under his breath. “I’m going out back.”

Danny followed his cousin, and within thirty seconds, was standing next to him, pissing on his aunt’s tomato plants just like they used to do when they were boys of five. To this day Danny hated tomatoes, especially home grown ones.

After they were done, they sat in metal lawn chairs. Wilson offered Danny a cigarette.

“I don’t smoke, and neither do you, or you didn’t,” Danny corrected himself. 

“That’s funny,” Wilson said as he casually lit up and put his lighter and cigarettes back in his rear pocket.

“How come you didn’t wear your uniform?”

“It’s my choice. I didn’t think he’d like it.” Wilson took a long drag on his cigarette and blew it right at Danny’s face, but the wind carried it away.

“Thought you were proud of being in the Navy. Running little rescue boats around and shit.”

“I am. Got nothing to do with it. Kind of felt like it would be bragging or something, you know?”

Danny wondered about Luci, halfway expecting she’d drop by the gathering. Was he disappointed she’d stayed away? He couldn’t get the memory of her warm body against his out of his mind. This might be a reason to stay an extra day or two, but that would be a dangerous road, full of emotional potholes and entanglements. None of his liaisons ever lasted, so he figured it was better to remember her the way he’d left her. He remembered seeing her proud straight shoulders and those tight jeans, encasing her thighs and a world-class ass, as she walked toward her car and didn’t look back once. He knew the only good ones were the ones who didn’t look back.

Wilson’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Look, Danny, I’m going to say this once, and then let you go. I’m sorry we got off to a bad start after so many years.”

“I was surprised you were around. Didn’t expect it.”

“So I was right, you’re not happy to see even me.”

“Again, putting words in my mouth.”

Danny looked down, eyes landing on Wilson’s scuffed cowboy boots, which were a mismatch to the clean suit pants and white shirt he wore. “I left this place with a lot of demons. I think I got just as many, maybe more than you, Cuz.” Wilson took a final drag, stomped it out on the patio, and then tossed the pieces into his mother’s vegetable garden.

A slight breeze shivered its way down Danny’s spine. A little group laughed from inside the house. He heard the tinkling of glasses and silverware, the sounds of cars arriving on the crushed rock roadway in front of his Aunt’s house, a doorbell ring, and the buzzing of a small plane overhead. The place looked, smelled and felt dangerously normal.

“I learned to tame those demons in the Navy, Danny. I’m not going to lie to you, but serving in the Armed Forces is giving me skills I can take out there in the real world.”

Danny found himself chuckling in spite of the fact that it was going to piss Wilson off. “Yeah, don’t see many rubber boats around the res, Cuz. You training to be a white water rafting guide in the Canyon? Shit, you coulda done that in high school.”

“Except I was getting stoned in high school, Danny. So were you. I heard you were a real mess.”

“Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I look like a mess to you?”

Wilson abruptly stood. “No, Danny, you look like a fuckin’ hero just like your grandfather.”

His cousin left and joined the gathering inside the house.

Question for you readers today? Do you like to learn about history with your romance reading? Or is it all about the romance? What balance do you like to give? And do you enjoy learning about Native American, or specifically Navajo culture? I'll pick one winner and announce it here on this blog on my launch day, Tuesday, June 30. Won't you join us? 

Sharon Hamilton

Life is one fool thing after another.

Love is two fool things after each other.

Author Page ** Sharon's Blog ** Sharon's Website ** Facebook**Twitter

Sharon’s Newsletter

Research, SEALs, and Presidents

I'm in the midst of writing PROTECTED BY A SEAL (a Hot SEALs romance), on preorder now for a Tuesday, July 21st print and eBook release. That means I'm also eyeball deep in research and articles and all things military because inevitably one search leads to an article that leads to another that leads to another... Before I know it, hours have passed, I've moved past Navy SEAL Close Quarter Battle training 30 minutes ago and I'm now reading an article about Teddy Roosevelt.

And who would I be if I didn't share the interesting tidbits that led me down that wayward path in the labyrinth that is the Internet. So here you go--The 4 Presidents With the Craziest War Stories.

Enjoy!
Cat Johnson

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