Impossible End (Unchecked Book 3) by Sybil Bartel Page B

“Okay.”
    Joy surged through my heart. I crushed her lips to mine and I kissed my wife.

    Turn the page for an excerpt from TALON (Uncompromising Series: Book One) by Sybil Bartel, coming March 1 st , 2016.

TALON
    By Sybil Bartel
    Uncompromising Series: Book One
     
    Talon
    I surf. I fuck. I pretend to smile.
    Two years ago my life had been perfect…until it wasn’t. I’d scattered my wife’s ashes then walked away from the Marines. Marriage and combat taught me the same thing—I was no one’s hero.
    She showed up on my doorstep beaten and stabbed. I did what I was trained to do. I stitched her up. I didn’t have a clue who she was and I told myself I didn’t care. Until they came looking for her.
    I swore to her I’d take my last breath before I let anything else happen to her. Except when everything went to hell, I was the one left holding the gun. I thought being a twenty-six-year-old widower was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even close.

Chapter One
    I swirled the ice in my glass. The moonlight glimmered on the bride’s dark hair and the past two years disappeared. I was no longer watching my best friend dance with his new wife. I was remembering the feeling of my wife’s hair as it slipped through my fingers and drowning in her deep brown gaze as she said two simple words.
    “Another?”
    I blinked and the image of my dead wife was gone. I looked up at the waitress. “Sorry, darlin’. Come again?”
    Blonde, cute, she glanced at the bride and groom then looked back at me and smiled. “They make a beautiful couple.”
    “No denyin’ that.” I tossed back the last of my whiskey.
    “Would you like another drink?” she asked sweetly.
    I dragged my eyes the length of her and smiled a smile that usually got me what I wanted. “That depends.”
    Heat flushed her cheeks but she didn’t drop my gaze. “On what?”
    I stared at her tits then her lips. “You.”
    A small giggle escaped and she fluttered her eyelashes like she thought it’d make a difference. “You’re forward.”
    “I’m single,” I stated, already irritated with this conversation. “What time you get off?”
    “Half hour,” she said coyly.
    I stood and placed my glass on her tray then leaned down to her ear. “Then grab me another whiskey while I wait for you, darlin’.”
    She shivered but she didn’t move.
    “Now,” I commanded.
    “Yes, sir,” she giggled, hightailing it back to the bar.
    I watched her ass as André walked up beside me.
    Glancing over his shoulder at her, he chuckled. “Fifty bucks says you don’t know her name.”
    I didn’t need to, I nicknamed them all anyway. “Hundred bucks says she’ll know mine in an hour.”
    “I’m not stupid enough to take that bet.” He inclined his head toward Blaze and Layna on the dance floor. “Blaze asked me for a security detail while they’re on their honeymoon. Know what that’s about?”
    I scanned the perimeter out of habit. “I thought we took care of that.”
    “Me too.” André casually glanced across the lanai then looked up and down the beach.
    I knew what he was thinking. Beyond the small lights strung up around the tables, it was dark as fuck. Lots of places someone could hide. “What’d Blaze say?”
    “He didn’t. Just that he wanted two of my men and he doesn’t want Layna to know about it.”
    A memory of my wife on our honeymoon played in my mind like a cruel joke. No amount of security could’ve saved her life. “Can’t blame a man for bein’ cautious.”
    The waitress walked up and I shoved the memory away.
    “Here you go.” Holding out my drink, her smile was no longer shy.
    I took the glass, my fingers purposely grazing hers. “Thanks, butterfly.”
    André grinned. “Yes, thank you, butterfly .”
    She looked between us with a confused expression.
    “Ignore him, darlin’. Hurry and finish up. Won’t take me a half hour to drink this.” I winked.
    André laughed after she walked off.