Blurb:
In the blink of an eye, two lives are changed forever —
Army Lieutenant Kit Vail has finally escaped the loving protection of her older brother, although it has taken a tour in Iraq to accomplish it. Meanwhile, at an AF Base several hours away, lone wolf Hawk Hawkins is yanked out of his perfect lifestyle by a call from his long-time friend, Kit’s older brother. Capt. Mark Vail calls in a marker and demands that Hawk drop everything and make a trip to Camp Taji to check on his baby sister, a woman Hawk has never met. Despite their initial animosity, there is an underlying attraction, but sparks fly when neither is prepared to give up his or her independence. Then fate intervenes in the form of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device)
Excerpt:
Hawk rolled out of bed and planted his feet on the floor. He rubbed his hand over his short hair and down over the rough stubble of black beard. Another morning in Iraq. He’d head for the shower and then get some coffee. Halfway across the room, his cell phone rang, and he changed direction. Who in the hell would be calling him on his cell? Must be from the States–calls from his outfit, and other local calls, came in over the land phone.
He snatched up the phone and flipped it open. “Hawkins.”
“Hawk, old buddy.”
He almost groaned. Mark Vail was probably his best friend in the world, and they’d known each other since both were learning to fly F-16’s, but when Mark called him “Old Buddy,” it always meant–get ready for a request–usually something he’d prefer not to do.
“Mark!”
“Long time, no see.”
“You still at Hill?”
“Yeah. What’s up Buddy? I hear you get a lot of flying time over there.”
“Cut to the chase, Mark. I know you didn’t call me in Iraq just to shoot the breeze. What do you want?”
“What do you mean, what do I want? Do I have to want something?”
“Mark.”
When his buddy didn’t answer, he repeated the question. “You still there, Mark?”
“Hawk, do you remember Kit?”
“I remember you have a sister named Kit, and I seem to recall you took great pains to make sure none of us ever met the girl.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic . . . and . . . well, she’s not a girl any more, and she’s
there . . . “
“There where?”
Hawk struggled to remember anything Mark had ever said about his sister. She’d been in college the last he’d heard–no, not college, West Point. Uh oh–he suddenly had a feeling he knew what was coming.
“She’s there in Iraq. I’m sure I told you she went to the Academy. She’s a lieutenant–been in Iraq about six months. Naturally, when I heard you were in Iraq too, I thought . . . “
“Oh no you don’t. Keep me out of this, Mark. I’m not looking up your little sister . . . “
“Aren’t you even curious to meet her?”
“I’m more curious to know why you’re suddenly so anxious for me to meet her–after six years of making sure I didn’t get anywhere near her.”
“Hawk, I never did that–it just never worked out.”
“Right. Well, I’m not interested.”
“Come on Hawk. You have to help me out here.”
Here it comes, Hawk thought. Mark is finally getting to the point. “Why?”
“Come on Hawk. She’s my baby sister, and I need to know if she’s all right. She’s at Camp Taji, commander of a small Transportation outfit there.”
He couldn’t picture Mark’s little sister as CO of a company of soldiers. Not the way Mark had always given the impression that he and his brothers had to look after her, protect her. He scrubbed his hand over his hair and let out a breath. “So?”
About D. K. Taylor
Worked at Dover Air Force Base for seven years before transferring to Chateauroux Air Station in France, where she met and married her husband, an Air Force Staff Sergeant. In the next ten years, he had eight assignments, they had two children, and she set up homes in six different quarters. With her husband retiring from the USAF, her son from the U.S. Army, and her son-in-law from the U.S. Navy, she has an unending source for the military romances she loves to write.
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