Deathwish
Officer Gabriella Maria Flores desperately needs a big win to save her career. A case that proves that she has her act together, something non-controversial to make people forget the recent scandal she's been involved in. Instead, the murder she catches couldn't be more high-profile, the number one suspect her boss's brother. Means, motive, opportunity--check. And open-and-shut case, if she's ever seen one. But then, instead of arresting the suspect, why is she falling in love with him?
Excerpt:
He’d only ever seen her in uniform before. The intense wave of lust caught him off guard. After the day he’d had, lust was the last emotion he’d expected to have to deal with.
She
answered the door barefoot, in exercise shorts and a tight top with
spaghetti straps. His gaze ran up her long legs, over her trim torso,
tripped over her generous breasts, then settled on the fine sheen of
sweat on her chest. He’d probably interrupted her nightly exercise
routine.
He’d only ever seen her in uniform before. The intense wave of lust caught him off guard. After the day he’d had, lust was the last emotion he’d expected to have to deal with.
“I
stopped by earlier,” she said. “You weren’t home. I was going to walk
down again later. We have two witnesses who can put your arrival at the
apartment building after the gunshot.”
“Yeah?” He felt his face split in half with a smile. “For real?”
“For real.”
He reached for her without thinking, picked her up, and swung her around in the hallway. He might have whooped.
Then he caught himself and set her down. “Sorry.”
She
raised an eyebrow, but she was smiling as she shook her head.
“Forgiven. This once. Don’t do it again.” She watched him for a second.
“How are things downstairs?”
As
the smile immediately disappeared from his face, Gabi could have kicked
herself for asking. It had been the first time she’d seen Hunter happy.
He’s no longer a suspect.
She didn’t want to analyze why she liked that idea so much. She stepped back. “Want to come in?”
He immediately stepped forward.
Maybe
he needed to get out of his own place for a while. As a soldier, he was
probably used to blood, but a death this personal still had to be
difficult. She wasn’t sure she’d want to sleep in that apartment if she
was in his place.
She
moved to her couch and grabbed her Broslin PD T-shirt from the back,
pulled it on, deliberated for a moment if tonight was the night to break
her own rules. What the hell.
“I was about to toss some frozen burritos in the oven. Want some?”
His stomach growled. “That’d be great.” A glint came into his mocha eyes. “You know, I could grow to like you, Officer Flores.”
“For frozen burritos?” She bit back a smile. “Anyone ever tell you, you shouldn’t fling around affection so cheaply?”
The glint remained. “Do you prefer when guys play hard to get?”
And for some reason, his teasing voice sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
Oh
sweet chimichanga, if she looked at Hunter Bing that way for even a
second, she deserved to be called stupid. So he was no longer a suspect.
But he was still her boss’s brother.
She
led him into the kitchen. “Word of warning, I’m not much of a cook. I
bought the stuff on a closeout sale. Food poisoning isn’t completely off
the table.”
He glanced around, his eyes widening a little when he looked toward her bedroom.
She
winced, but resisted the urge to jump and close the door. He was
staring at the poster above her bed, an image of Annie Oakley with the
quote “I ain’t afraid to love a man. I ain’t afraid to shoot him
either.”
He raised a dark eyebrow at her as he turned, his lips twitching.
She so wasn’t going to comment. The poster had been a gift from Carmen.
Gabi
decided to reroute Hunter’s attention by opening the box of frozen
burritos, showing him the contents. “See? Nothing fancy.”
“I’m used to MREs.”
“That’s the dried food in the little packets that never go bad, right?”
“Meal
Ready to Eat. Basically they dehydrate food into something that looks
and tastes like a piece of cardboard. You’re supposed to reconstitute it
with hot water, but in reality, half the time we’re not allowed a fire
to avoid enemy detection, so we just chew on the cardboard.”
She tried to imagine that as she turned on the oven. “Let’s not throw the cardboard word around until you tasted this.”
She
dropped four burritos on a cookie sheet and slid them into the heating
oven, then set the timer. Next she grabbed a can of sour cream from the
fridge. She put the blue tub on the middle of the table. “Sour cream
covers a multitude of sins.”
“Amen.”
She stepped back to the fridge. “I got water, milk or soda.”
“Soda is good.” He looked around again. “How long have you been living here?”
“Six months.”
“How do you like it?”
She shrugged. “The lease won’t let me install a chin bar in the bedroom door.”
“I can talk to the landlord about that,” he offered. “Where did you live before this? I mean, which part of the city?”
“Southwest Philly. Twelfth District.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Rough neighborhood.”
“Some of it.”
“How do you like Broslin?”
“How do you like Broslin?”
“Too quiet.”
His lips twisted. “I wouldn’t mind it a tad quieter.”
Right.
His homecoming hadn’t been the most relaxing. He’d probably expected it
to go a lot differently from the way it had, an unexpected murder, then
becoming a suspect.
But
he was no longer a suspect, and he was in her apartment. He was the
first man in her apartment since she’d moved here. Why had she invited
him in? Why had he come up? She tried not to read too much into that.
His
girlfriend was gone, his brother was busy being a newlywed, his
apartment was busted. He was only here because he was lonely. Gabi
relaxed. He probably missed the camaraderie of his unit. She still
missed her team at the twelfth.
“So Broslin is not your thing?” he asked.
She
shrugged. “When I first got here, I thought all the small-town
sweetness looked fake. Almost like a movie set. People kept stopping me
on the street to welcome me, and I kept waiting for someone to break
script.”
He smiled. “I
bet the paper ran something about you once your hiring was confirmed. A
new cop is big news in a small town. People were probably admonished to
make you feel at home.”
She shook her head with some amusement. “I would have felt more at home if they shot at me.”
Hunter’s
eyes turned somber as she said that, and she could have kicked herself
once again. She was making jokes about being shot? Really? She scrambled
for a sharp change of subject.
But
before she could think of something, he said, “Thanks again for
releasing the apartment. I could stay at my brother’s place, but I don’t
want to interrupt all that loving bliss.”
“No problem. The DA had no objections. We got everything we needed.”
“It’s
good to be home. Even under the circumstances.” He paused.
“I’m putting
in new carpet tomorrow. Once I’m done, nobody will be able to tell that
anything ever happened there.”
But he would never forget, not for a minute, Gabi thought. How could he?
He’d
held up well after Cindy’s death, had stood up to questioning, but
tonight there was a touch of vulnerability about him. Gabi wasn’t used
to fuzzy feelings, but she was seeing him in a different light suddenly.
She’d lost enough people, both friends and family, to know that no
matter how it happened, that kind of loss was never easy.
To
distract him, she grabbed on to the next neutral subject she could
think of. “So want to give me some heads-up on the Christmas parade?
It’s my first small-town Christmas. The sweetness might send me into
diabetic shock. I’d feel better if I was prepared.”
“We have an outstanding parade. The best.” He puffed out his chest. “What do you have in Southwest Philly?”
“Drive-by shootings.”
She winced. Way to go, stupid. How could she say shooting again? She was seriously off her game around Hunter.
But
a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “You’re a cop. People like
the PD around here. They might even put you on a float.”
“Not if I still have my service weapon.”
Broslin Creek Series (each can be read as a standalone novel):
(free on Kindle at the time of this post preparation!)
#2 Deathscape
#3 Deathtrap
#4 Deathblow
#6 DeathwishNew York Times and USA Today bestselling author Dana Marton has thrilled and entertained millions of readers around the globe with her fast-paced stories about strong women and honorable men who fight side by side for justice and survival.
Kirkus Reviews calls her writing “compelling and honest.” RT Book Review Magazine said, “Marton knows what makes a hero…her characters are sure to become reader favorites.” Her writing has been acclaimed by critics, called, “gripping,” “intense and chilling,” “full of action,” “a thrilling adventure,” and wholeheartedly recommended to readers. Dana is the winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Readers’ Choice Award, and Best Intrigue, among other awards. Her book, Tall, Dark and Lethal
was nominated for the prestigious Rita Award. Deathscape reached the #1 spot on Amazon’s Romantic Suspense Bestseller list.Dana has a Master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and is continuously studying the art and craft of writing, attending several workshops, seminars and conferences each year. Her number one goal is to bring the best books she possibly can to her readers.
Keeping in touch with readers is Dana’s favorite part of being an author. Please connect with her via her website or her Facebook page.
Having lived around the world, Dana currently creates her compelling stories in a small and lovely little town in Pennsylvania. The fictional town of her bestselling Broslin Creek series is based on her real life home where she fights her addictions to reading, garage sales, coffee and chocolate. If you know a good twelve-step program to help her with any of that, she’d be interested in hearing about it!
***Visit Dana’s website to read the first chapters of her books!
Links:
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Twitter: @DanaMarton
**************************
My post about Deathwatch, is at this link
My post about Deathscape
, the mesmerizing and eerie story that started my interest in the series, is at this linkAnd, my review of Deathtrap
is at this link(can you tell I really enjoy this series? Treat yourself and start with the first one and get captivated, like I was!)
Broslin Creek Boxed Set (Books 1-3) (Amazon link)
Deathblow
Broslin Bride
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