Hey.

It’s been...too long, I know.

Poor site just get completely neglected. I’d say I’ll do better this year, but new year’s resolutions are not my thing. *shrugs*

Anywhooo...

I’m working on my first release of the year. The series finale in volume 1 of the McAllister Security Series.

The original plan was for it to come out in the fall, as the previous ones have, but the Wild Knights came barreling through and took over. Such is the life of a writer, we just go with whomever is speaking the loudest. 

Remi and Paige were speaking.

And then Travis and Celeste were speaking.

And now Silas and Karen are kinda chatting...we’re working on some...logistics, if you will...but yeah.

This series is by far, one that I’ve had to work the hardest on, given that it’s romantic suspense. There are so many moving parts.

And also, I’ve just been...I don’t know...I’ve felt some kind of way, wanting to make sure I’ve done these characters justice. It started with Vicki. She was a character that I wanted to do justice. And as we come to a close with Silas I’m back to that feeling again. He’s always been a character who wasn’t much on words...just all about his work. Thankfully, he’s speaking finally...kinda of...I suppose it just took the right woman.

But I digress...Y’all wanna read this lil sample.

*If you haven’t read Vigilant Love yet, there is a bit of a spoiler so you may wanna wait, or go read that first.*

Are you still with me? Good, so boom, here’s the set up: 

If you recall from Vigilant Love, Silas was Karen’s bodyguard for a spell. This is kind of a peek at what happen during that time.

I’ve prattled on enough so here it is.


Unedited. Subject to (and parts probably will) change.



Saying this with all the love: Please, please, please, don’t ask me “when?” cause, chile I don’t know. I hope before Valentine’s Day. But for now...enjoy!




Karen Barnes let out a startled yelp as she lost her balance and landed on the ground with a thud.

“Fuck,” she ground out, wiping the sweat from her brow.

“That was sloppy as hell.”

Karen looked up as Silas Stone ambled over to her.

Her eyes slid up the length of his body and she blew out a frustrated breath throw her nostrils. How could someone so gorgeous be so damn insufferable she thought to herself as Silas towered over her.

Silas worked for McAllister Security has been assigned to be Karen’s bodyguard after an attempt on her sister, Trish’s life had been made. Trish was the local district attorney and was working a high profile case that had put her in danger. Which meant anyone directly connected to Trish was at risk as well.

Karen hadn’t argued when Boomer Thompson, Trish’s ex and Silas’s coworker, said it was best for all of Trish’s family be relocated and have round-the-clock protection until the trial was over. They were even having her parents, who lived on the other side of the country moved somewhere safe.

Karen had first met Silas the night her sister had been brought in to the hospital after Trish’s car had been bombed.

He hadn’t said much then.

He hadn’t said much since then.

His ‘strong, silent type’ vibe he had going on had begun to drive her a little bit crazy.

It wasn’t until he’d walked in on her watching a video on self-defense and she heard him scoff that they had any real communication beyond a few words here and there.

She’d convinced him to show her some techniques on how to defend herself, but she hadn’t expected for it to turn into a whole ass workout.

“You could go a little easy on me, you know?” Karen grumbled as she got back on her feet. “I’m tired.

“You think an attacker is gonna take it easy on you because you’re tired?” Silas asked, raising an eyebrow up at her.

She knew he was right, but rather than answer, she just rolled her eyes and grabbed her bottle of water.

“You ready to call it quits?” Silas asked.

Karen let out another frustrated breath as she put her water down.

“No. What’s next?”

Karen gasped slightly when she suddenly felt Silas’s large arms wrap around her body, locking her arms down by her sides.

“Protecting yourself from an attack from behind,” Silas said, close to her ear.

Karen swallowed and nodded and listened carefully as Silas began to explain.

“If they get their arms around you from behind,” Silas started. “You head butt them with the back of your head, and then you stomp their toe. Once you’ve done that, allow your body to go limp, dead weight and then lock your hands around their wrist so you can break their grip on you. Turn towards them and you can hit them with an elbow before shoving them away. By this point you should have done more than enough damage to turn and run for help.”

Karen tried to focus on Silas’s instructions, but why did it have to feel so good with his body wrapped around hers the way it was. And why did he have to smell so good.

“Did you get all of that?” Silas asked, causing Karen to blink.

“Yeah.”

“Show me,” Silas ordered, squeezing his arms around her a little tighter. “Just...please be careful and don’t really–shit!”

Karen turned when Silas’s grip loosened completely. She turned and her eyes went wide, when she realized he was grabbing his nose.

“Oh shit!” she exclaimed, as she watched blood began to drip everywhere.

It hadn’t been her intention on actually head butting him.

She grabbed his hand that wasn’t holding his nose and pulled him over into the kitchen. “Sit upright, lean forward slightly, breathe through your mouth.”

She’d instantly gone into doctor mode, inspecting his nose.

“It’s not broken,” she finally said, sighing with relief.

She took a step back as Silas stood from the chair.

“I’m gonna and get cleaned up,” he said, heading for his bedroom.

“Silas, I am so sorry,” she said.

He stopped and turned back to look at her. “Believe me, Doc. I’ve had injuries way worse than a busted nose.”

She could only imagine. She’d heard from Trish that before Silas and Boomer had started working in private security, they’d worked for the government and before that they’d been Navy SEALs.

“Still,” Karen sighed. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he assured her before disappearing into his room.

Karen stood in the kitchen slightly shocked, wondering if she’d imagined what she’d just seen. It had only been for a split second, but she could have sworn she’d seen a ghost of a smile around the corners of his mouth.

She shook her head, a smile of her own creeping onto her lips as she went to work cleaning up the mess from his bloody nose.

****

Silas finished washing his face, and grabbed a couple of aspirin, tossing them back before he stripped out of his clothes and got into the shower.

Karen Barnes was something else, he thought to himself.

Strong-willed and beautiful.

So fucking beautiful.

And totally off-limits, a voice in his head reminded him as he began to scrub his body with soap.

She was just a job to him. He had a very strict policy about not getting too close to clients.

The last time he’d done that, he’d lost way too much.

Silas finished up his shower, trying not to remember how good her body had felt pressed against his for that brief moment before she’d damn near broken his nose.

He shook his head and grinned.

Yeah, she was something else.

****

Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die.

Those words echoed in Karen’s mind over and over as applied pressure to Silas’s abdomen while the paramedics whisked them out to an ambulance.

They’d been in the court room watching as Trish won her biggest case, the Ivan Mendoza murder trial.

When the judge had ordered the bailiff to take Mendoza away, all hell had broken loose.

Mendoza managed to somehow snatch the gun from the bailiff’s holster, and the next thing Karen knew, Silas had shoved her to the ground as he, Boomer and their co-workers Zeke Bostick and Laila Stanton all pulled out their guns along with the police officers that were also in the court room.

Everything seems to slow down once the gun went off and Karen had frozen when she Silas nearly collapsed on top of her.

When she realized he’d been shot, she sprang into action.

They made it to the ambulance and Karen hopped off the stretcher, keeping her hand on the wound.

“We’re losing him,” one of the paramedics called out.

“Like hell we are,” Karen growled. She looked at the paramedic and ordered, “Charge the paddles.”

She snatched the defibrillator paddles up and when they were full charged, she yelled, “Clear!” and pressed them to his chest.

Thankfully once was enough and Silas’s heartbeat returned.

They arrived at the hospital and hurried out. Karen gave them a rundown of his injury and they immediately whisked him into surgery, leaving her standing in the middle of the E.R. waiting room.

She barely came out of her daze when she felt Trish pull her into a tight hug. She vaguely remembered Trish, along with Laila, taking her to the locker room to change out of the clothes that were covered with Silas’s blood.

As she stood in the shower, numbly watching as the blood ran down the drain, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that he survived the surgery.

****


“If you start feeling lightheaded or short of breath–”

“Doc,” Silas groaned. “I already told you. I got it.”

Karen stopped the wheelchair and Silas slowly stood and turned to face her. Boomer had just pulled up in his SUV to pick Silas up and take him home.

“Well,” Karen sighed. “I guess this is where we part ways.”

“Yeah.”

“I...thanks for...guarding my life,” Karen said.

He was taken by surprised when Karen suddenly moved to him and gently wrapped her arms around him, being considerate of his wound.

Silas hesitated for a moment before returning the hug.

“Thanks for saving mine,” he murmured to her

Silas had the hardest time turning and leaving, but he reminded himself, that protecting Karen was job and his job was done. It was time for him to move on.

“Goodbye, Karen,” he said finally as he released his hold on her.

“Bye, Silas,” Karen replied.

They both took a step back and Silas turned and got into Boomer’s car.

“You good, man?” Boomer asked.



“Yeah,” Silas said. “Let’s get out of here.”