I read a lot. In fact, since I have started writing, I read even more. And a LOT of what I read is from independent authors… those hardy souls that make a go of it without the backing of a publishing house. And it isn’t easy. I fully recognize it… probably now much more than I did as I was writing that first book a year and a half ago. Read More

But I don’t wish to buy reviews.

What I do wish is to get more reviews. That’s what YOU can do. If you’ve read any of my books, PLEASE drop a review of it on Amazon. Goodreads, too, if you are feeling generous. But those Amazon reviews, even if they aren’t perfect 5-star reviews, are immensely helpful.

Thank you!

It started yesterday… and was announced on the blog Tuesday. Triple Cross is FREE for a few days. I’d LOVE for you to grab your Kindle copy while it is FREE. This is the first time this book has been promo’d, and even if I wanted to, I won’t be able to do it again until sometime in the summer or later.

Here are a couple of clips: Read More

Jason “JD” Ross stepped off the plane in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.  It had been surreal.  Wearing his Dress Greens, when the plane pulled up to the gate, the flight crew invited him to walk to the front of the aircraft before the seatbelt light went off, so he would be first off the plane. 

He exited the jetway into the concourse choked with people of every description.  Stepping into the main hallway of Concourse C, he turned and started walking toward the hub where he would take the escalator down to the tram toward baggage claim. 

And then he thought of when “she” dropped him off in almost the exact same spot two and a half years later when he had to return to duty after burying his parents. 

Was that really over eight years ago?  It felt like forever, and like it was just yesterday, he thought to himself.

Christi. 

He’d thought he wanted to marry her then.  He’d asked.  She’d told him “not yet.”  That was the last time he saw her.  Eight years, eight months, nineteen days.  Her long, auburn hair waved in the breeze.  Her bright green eyes glinted, like she knew a joke nobody else was in on.  She was one of the most beautiful girls he’d ever seen.  Tall, slender and the way she wrinkled her nose when she laughed.  He thought again about her eyes.  They danced when she looked at him and made his heart race.  She had been “the one” he’d thought, when he was under her spell.

But she disappeared after that. 

He’d been back home several times.  She was gone.  Her family was gone.  None of his friends knew anything.  None of her friends knew anything.  It was like she never existed.  He’d even gone to Russia to search for her.  Christina Tatyna Nova. 

The crowd jostled around him as he slowed to a crawl, lost in the past. A man bumped into him, shocking him back into the present.  He turned and looked for carousel E.  He quickly spotted it, then he saw his luggage coming around. 

JD moved up to grab his bags, two big duffles.  He carried them away from the crush of passengers looking for their own bags, hoisted one to his shoulder and carried the other with his left hand.

“I should have shipped at least one of these,” he said out loud, although really just for his own benefit. 

“Need help, soldier?” he heard over his shoulder. 

JD froze, then slowly turned to face the familiar voice, flooded with equal parts of excitement, hope and dread. 

Words stuck in his throat as he looked down into her bright green eyes. 

“Christi.”

“Jason,” she said.  She was one of only three people that ever called him Jason.  His mother was gone.  The others were Christi and Ellen.  Everyone else called him JD.

Before he could react, her arms were draped around him, one wrapped behind his neck, and the other pulling him closer to her, wrapped around his back.  As he looked into her eyes, he could feel her spell take hold. 

“Where…” he began to stammer, but she shushed him and silenced him with a soft, passionate kiss.

“I’ve missed you, Jason” she said breathlessly as their lips parted. 

“Nobody knew I was coming home today.  How did you know I was here?  And what happened?  You disappeared.  I looked for you,” he said quietly, while examining her lips with his eyes.

“We’ll have time for all that later.  For now, let’s get you home.  And then we can get a nice dinner and talk.  Ok?”

Despite her slender build, she easily swung a duffle bag up to her shoulder.  She’d always surprised him with her strength.  She didn’t look like a woman that could swing a fifty-pound pack onto her back and walk away like it was nothing, but that was just what she was doing. 

“Are you coming?” she said as she turned and smiled at him over her shoulder.

And another…

Christi pulled the Focus into a shopping mall parking deck.  She was able to quickly back into a spot near the door.  Grabbing her purse, she left the keys dangling in the ignition and the engine running.  Once through the door, she made a bee line for the Victoria’s Secret store she knew was in the mall.  She slipped in and moved to the rear of the store.

“Excuse me,” she said to the clerk, while she kept glancing at the door, “my ex is out there and he isn’t supposed to be anywhere near me.”  She looked out again and could see one of the men that had been following her looking around.  The cashier was able to spot him, too. 

“Do you want to go out the back into the service hallway?” the young woman offered. 

“That would be perfect.  Thanks,” Christi said to her. 

A moment later she was behind the store in the service hallway.  She pulled off her jacket and reversed it, going from red to black.  She tucked her hair into the hood and pulled off the skirt she was wearing over her leggings… they looked like black yoga pants. 

The service corridor snaked around the whole side of the mall and let out near one of the other entrances.  She pulled out her phone and pulled up an Uber that was only a few minutes away. 

Ten minutes later, wardrobe changed, she was in the Uber and on the way to another location where she had a safe house and a car stashed.  She glanced out the back window to make sure she wasn’t being followed and checked through her purse to make sure nothing had been slipped in to track her.  She also took a moment to upload the audio from her meeting with Maxin.  It wouldn’t be enough for an insurance policy, but with everything else she’d managed to collect, she was getting there. 

Finally, just before getting out of the car, she slipped her phone under the seat. 

She slipped out of the back seat of the Maxima that her Uber driver was in and into the apartment building.  It had a secured entrance, so she used her keycard and got through the door and into the elevator. 

Fifteen minutes later, she was in the parking garage.  She changed all her clothes, dropping them into the trash chute, and picked up a new phone from the safehouse.  Christi dropped into the seat of a black 2015 Corvette ZO6, tossed her new purse onto the seat next to her, and fired up the supercharged V8.  She would have preferred the manual, but still liked the eight-speed, paddle-shifted automatic.