My life was just like any other girl’s until the Maxwell corporate empire ruined my family and stole my future. I’d given up hoping to see justice done, but then the way to right this wrong was dropped in my lap. My job with an event planner can get me into the home of one of Maxwell’s business partners. I can find evidence of what they did to my father. I can make sure they pay.I wasn’t expecting Sebastian.Sebastian has been hired for security, but he is also the son of the man I despise. I should hate Sebastian purely on principle. I shouldn’t care that he’s sweet and funny and sexy as hell. He’ll always be a Maxwell, and that means he’s my enemy.
I can’t help but want him anyway.
He seems to want me too, but only for a good time. He’s the son of privilege, and he’ll never be serious about me. He’ll also never betray his family. If he finds out what I’m really doing here, he’ll turn on me in an instant. He’ll keep me from finding justice.
It’s just that I keep finding him instead.
Have you read the first book in The Protectors Series?
Title: Duty Bound (The Protectors #1)
Authors: Samantha Chase and Noelle Adams
Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance
I used to think I could be a hero, but one deadly night destroyed that delusion. So I’ve come home defeated. My military career, my best friend, my purpose—all of it is lost.
What I find is her.
She’s my best friend’s sister, and she’s everything I shouldn’t want. She’s on a hopeless quest for answers about her brother’s death, but those are secrets that can never come to light. She’s always been a fighter, and she desperately wants the truth.
I desperately want her.
Someone is trying to kill her now, and she won’t let me keep her safe. I have to do it anyway, even if she doesn’t trust me, even if she hates me for it. A man protects what’s precious to him, whether or not he can ever claim her for his own. So she becomes my purpose.
I’ll become a hero for her.
He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, turning me around so my whole body was facing him. “Ali? What’s wrong? What’s going on?” He sounded more urgent, worried.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I finally managed to say, his concern pushing me into speaking at last. “I’m sorry to just show up. I just wanted to…to…”
“To what?” His face changed, softened somehow in that way I’d seen before, that way that made my heart clench strangely.
“To say thank you. For helping me out earlier. I would have been in big trouble. Lost my job or even worse. I don’t know why you helped me, but I wanted to thank you. I’d done nothing to deserve it, so…so thank you.”
His face softened even more, this time into a smile. His green eyes warmed into an almost intimate look. “You’re welcome.”
I stared at him, suddenly wanting to kiss him again, fighting a compulsion to reach out and touch his chest, his face. “So why did you?”
He seemed to be distracted by our shared gaze too. He blinked at my question. “Why did I what?”
“Why did you help me?”
“Oh.” The corner of his mouth quirked up briefly. “I make a point of rescuing beautiful women whenever I can.”
“Oh.” It was nice to be called beautiful, but the words were somehow disappointing. I’d thought he’d helped me for me, but maybe he would just help anyone who needed it.
I liked that he had a good heart, but I wanted him to feel like I was someone special. I looked down at the floor, realizing there was no reason for me to assume he would think anything of the kind, that he would treat me differently than anyone else.
He reached over and cupped my face, raising it so I was looking at him again. His expression had changed. It wasn’t amused anymore. It looked deep, meaningful, and it took my breath away. “I didn’t want you to get in trouble, Ali. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you. I feel this urge to take care of you, and I have no idea where it has come from.”
I swallowed hard, a rush of emotion drowning any rational thoughts I might have had. “I’m glad,” I said, very softly, my hands lifting of their own accord to flatten against his strong chest. I couldn’t seem to look away from him.
“So am I.”
I couldn’t exactly follow his words, but it didn’t really matter. I knew exactly what he meant, what he was feeling. I could see it in the blaze that suddenly consumed his eyes, his expression. He leaned down toward me at the same time I was stretched up toward him.
Then his lips claimed mined, moving against them gently at first—his tongue playing along the line of my mouth—and then a little harder, deeper. I responded eagerly, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my body into his. He was big and strong and hot, and his heart was so kind.
I wanted him. All of him.
My head was spinning when he finally pulled away, a little smile on his mouth. “That was a very nice surprise to have show up on my doorstep.”
I blushed and dropped my eyes, although I was still clinging to his shirt. “I just came here to thank you. Not to kiss you.”
“Well, I for one have no objection to the change of plans.”
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan’s Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40’s to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina. For more information visit her website at www.chasing-romance.com.
No, I haven’t read the first book in the series. I would love to, though. Hope to win.
wife’s a total reading nerd, sent it to her
Wife likes a good read, sent her a link