Keep reading for a sneak peek
at the next book in the
K19 Security Solutions Series,
Gunner
Want more from Heather Slade?
Keep reading for a short excerpt from
Fall for Me
the first book in
the Cowboys of Crested Butte Series.
Gunner
It wasn’t just his name that Gunner wanted to change, it was just about everything else in his life—except what he did for a living. Although, there were times he wanted to change that too.
The day that he’d decided he could never allow anyone to refer to him as “Paps” again, was the worst one he could remember. That was saying something, given in his line of work, he’d experienced a lot of shitty days.
But that day, he was forced to kill a woman who had been under K19 Security Solution’s protection since the day he and his three partners opened for business.
Prior to that, her detail had been the responsibility of an elite team comprised of active duty service members and CIA agents, called the Special Activities Division of the agency’s National Clandestine Service, or NCS.
Had he loved her? For a while he thought maybe he could. In what felt like the briefest of moments, he’d seen the bright light of the woman she’d once been, before darkness reigned over her life. And in an instant, she was gone again, unable to pull herself out of what they now knew was mental illness.
If only they’d known how to help her…but that didn’t matter now. It was too late. She was dead—and he’d killed her, and ever since, she played a starring role in his every nightmare.
The other memories that had once invaded his dreams had been wiped out by that one event. Before that they’d varied, featuring one horrific reenactment after another of harrowing escapes, hostile gunfire, exploding IEDs, and other forms of death and destruction.
Now, every time he closed his eyes, he’d hear her say, “Paps, I thought you loved me.”
Lena had never actually uttered those words to him. They were only spoken in his nightmares when her eyes met his at the very moment she realized he’d killed her.
“Don’t do this, Lena. If you think I won’t shoot, you’re wrong,” he shouted.
Her eyes darted between him and his business partner—a man like a brother to him—who w
as on the ground, holding his leg, with his gun still pointed at her.
Gunner watched as she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tightened her finger on the trigger. Before she could get the shot off, he fired. He ran toward her, catching her before her head hit the concrete.
There was no question she was dead; he’d hit her square in the chest with a .45. No one could survive a shot like that.
“Goddammit,” he cried, cursing her for forcing his hand.
As he’d watched Lena’s lifeless body being taken away, he’d made two decisions. First, that “Paps” would be buried with her. Second, the man who remained, Gunner Godet, would be taking a long sabbatical from women.
His resolve had lasted less than a handful of hours, when the woman he was now risking his life to rescue, wound up in his bed.
He’d sworn off Zaryana “Raketa” Ivashov, one of United Russia’s best and most deadly operatives, so many times in the last few years, each time thinking whatever the hell the dysfunctional bullshit between them was, was finally over.
And then, when he’d least expected it, she’d gone undercover on the same op that resulted in Lena’s death.
Initially, Raketa had posed as Lena’s nurse and caregiver after an accident had left her blind and amnesic.