AWAKENINGS
By Kacey Hammell
Book 2: In the Arms of the Law
(also includes bonus short story, WILD THUNDER)
Genres: Contemporary, Suspense, Paranormal (Seer),
Erotic, Romance
ISBN: 978-0-9877993-4-0
Word
Count: 58,000
Release
Date: February 24th, 2016
Author’s Note: Awakenings
was previously released with another publisher. It has received minor revisions
for reissue.
Also includes a bonus short story, Wild Thunder.
Protection. Adventure. Love.
It's all found within The Arms of the Law...
Detective Alicia Knowles
once believed good existed in everyone. But a traumatic experience changed her
entire world. Now dangerous and cynical, she moves through the darkness of her
once sunny world, unsure how to handle her pent up feelings of fear and anger.
Even her new boss, Cole
Douglass, spins her out of control. One night, years ago, he made her feel
things she'd never felt with any other man. Business comes first, however, a
child is missing and a murderer is on the run.
But old flames never die
out as Alicia quickly discovers when temperatures and passion flare. On the
trail of a killer, she is forced to deal with her past as she tries to make
decisions about her future.
Order your copy!
All Amazon Stores ~~ http://authl.it/B01C2WGGFG
All Romance eBooks ~~
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-awakeningsinthearmsofthelawbook2-1989913-149.html
Smashwords ~~ https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/617202
More buy links on the
Awakenings Book Page ~~
for Kobo & Nook
links as they become available.
Excerpt, Kacey Hammell, © 2016
Sweat coated
her skin as heat and fire rolled through her body at a massive rate. Her arms
felt like lead, and she sure as hell didn’t want to keep moving, but needed to.
She could barely move her legs side to side to keep her hips moving in time
with her arms. She felt the anger and adrenaline from the night she’d had and
wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.
But to sleep was to relive the memories. The cold, the fear,
the helplessness.
Even with strike after strike against the punching bag in
the basement of the precinct, Alicia still wanted to run and forget. To find
Monica Fuller dead in a similar manner to how she’d been tied that night,
months ago, made her feel like she’d once again lost control of her life. She
fought the memories regularly and barely lived day to day. To keep doing so was
more tiring than she could ever have imagined.
She and Ethan had been on the trail of Roy Fuller for days.
They’d secured proof he was the drug dealer selling to the kids outside the
Bergen County Kids’ Center. They’d had an ironclad case. The evidence was
stacked against him and the undercover officer he’d sold to was poised to put
the final nail in his coffin. All they’d had to do was pick the scumbag up.
They followed the leads and heard Roy was prowling around the home of his
estranged wife. They never imagined they would find her dead, her body barely
cold.
How a simple, open-and-closed drug case could lead to murder
and a missing child, Alicia didn’t know. Though they’d searched for Roger
Fuller, the couple’s ten-year-old son, for hours, it had been futile and a
great disappointment. Her heart bled for what the boy must be feeling. If he
was still alive….
They concluded he must have seen his father kill his mother.
The neighbor who’d been living beside Monica and Roger for over a year said
Monica’s routine was the same every day: working from home, errands on odd
days, and always picking her son up after school. The neighbor was sure Roger
had been home.
They’d ruled out the probability of Roy taking Roger, since
a foot chase had ensued with no sign of the child. Roy had managed to elude the
cops for a couple of hours. Where he’d holed up was yet to be determined.
Search parties were still on scene. She and Ethan had come
back to the station to make contact with their sources, discover if anyone had
seen Roy at any of his usual haunts. Those avenues had turned up zip.
After over two dozen calls, Alicia needed a break.
Frustration ate away at her soul. Helpless in her attempts to locate young
Roger Fuller, she needed to find refuge in something else. She could only hope
wherever he was, he was warm and safe and might contact her or Ethan. After
leaving both their cards on the table at the apartment and with the neighbor,
all she could do was pray he’d get in touch with one of them.
Drawing in a deep breath, she dropped her arms and hung her
head. Heart saddened by the shattered innocence of a young boy, she tried to
dispel the image of the scene she’d walked into. Those who had saved her had
seen more than she wished them to when they found her in the abandoned
warehouse. The memories were nearly her undoing.
She’d lost it for a few moments last night, but she couldn’t
leave Monica lying there for strangers to see. Alicia remembered the
embarrassment and fright she’d had the night of her attack, even though her
cousin Isabella had found her before any of the others. Izzy had cared enough
to wrap her in a man’s jacket before the troops dropped in and could see her…so
exposed.
She could only pay the same respect to Fuller’s victim. If
things had ended differently for her weeks ago, she would have wanted the cover
and to be put somewhere safe and warm.
Sighing deep, guilt threaded through her, and swamped her in
shame.
Experience had taught her to never move a victim or
contaminate a crime scene. Years of training had made her one of Trenton’s good
detectives. But today, all common sense had fled. In her mind, she’d wanted to maybe
change the outcome of what had happened to her. No matter how foolhardy and
stupid her actions, she’d done the unthinkable and completely crossed the line.
Lifting her arm, she wiped the sweat from her brow and
glared at the red punching bag. If Roy Fuller stood in front of her, she’d beat
the shit out of him.
To take days of endless frustration, fear, and loss of sleep
out on someone like him would be satisfying,
Unfortunately, the bag would have to do. For now.
“Detective Knowles.”
Alicia jerked at the sound of his voice.
I really
don’t need this now.
The voice, like the man, was strong and proud. Nothing ever
seemed to get close to Cole Douglass. He was her boss and someone she wanted to
loathe instead of remembering the feel of his hands on her, his breathlessness
in her ear as he sheathed himself in her over and over again.
She dropped her arms to her sides, kept her back to him, and
walked to the bench a few feet away. Picking up a red towel, she wiped her
forehead and neck before turning to face him.
“What brings you down here, Captain?” The last word dripped
sarcasm and disrespect. She resented his presence, and that he’d taken over her
father’s job.
She had to wonder if he was tired of sitting behind her
dad’s desk by now.
She’d done her best to stay away from him, to not show how
much she disliked his occupying her father’s office, but today she was ready to
dispel some of her anger and frustration at this man.
To take it all out on him would make her feel better and
gave her something to do with all the emotions bubbling inside her. It seemed
justified, since he was the only man who’d ever made her feel. Her pulse raced,
her palms sweated, and her body shook inside whenever she was with Cole. She’d
had lovers in the past, men she’d cared for, but he was different. All other
men paled in comparison.
Alicia knew she’d hit the mark as the darkness of his brown
eyes smoldered with anger. She never got a rise out of him, but she savored how
much he could feel, and she could hit him where it hurt. She relished the fact
she could see it, there in the depths of his eyes, every time she wounded him.
“I’ve been looking for you.” Cole advanced farther into the
room. She glanced down at his hands. His fists clenched and unclenched at his
sides.
The man is pissed.
Before she could register the fact she was seeing a
definitive anger, which seemed to be blistering off his skin, he stood
toe-to-toe with her. She didn’t have a chance to back up or prepare herself.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about what
happened tonight, Detective? Though she tried, your cousin can’t keep
everything quiet, now can she?”
Alicia felt the air leave her lungs as reality sunk in.
Dammit, someone had squealed and she expected a reprimand was coming.
Bring it on.
I’m ready for anything you can dish out.
“What’s your problem, Captain? I don’t know what you’re
talking about.” She started to turn around to grab her water bottle, hoped to
purge her suddenly dry mouth, but his hand on her elbow stopped her mid-turn.
Surprised he would touch her, Alicia’s gave him a wide-eyed
stare, sure he’d lost his freaking mind. “Get your hands off me. I didn’t give
you permission to touch me.” Pulling her arm away, she placed her hands on her
hips and reveled in the adrenaline burst rushing through her body.
“Don’t mess with me right now, Detective. You know exactly
what I’m talking about. You and your partner tried to move a homicide victim
before the M.E. got there. You know that is against standard operating
procedure.”
Cole’s face was turning a shade of red that Alicia had never
seen on him before. He was one of the sexiest men she’d ever known, but seeing
his ire raised clouded her judgment and threw her off-track.
“The woman was almost fully exposed. We couldn’t just leave
her there for everyone to gawk at. It’s cruel, disgusting, and I wouldn’t have
it.”
“You? You wouldn’t have it? Who gave you permission to make
your own rules? You’ve been on this job long enough to know the god damn
protocol!” Cole turned away from her and placed his hands on his hips.
“Look, I thought—”
In the blink of an eye, Cole whipped around to face her once
more. “That’s the point! Alicia—Detective, you didn’t think. Not at all. I
won’t have this in my house. You follow the rules, as they’ve been followed for
decades, and follow them to the letter.”
“Your house? Let me tell you something….”
Until March 15th, ILLUSIONS (Book 1) is on sale for $0.99!!
BIO:
Avid
Reader. Romance Author. Redhead…
Canadian-born author Kacey Hammell is definitely a book-a-holic. A
romance reader from a young age, she fell in love with happily ever afters.
These days, as a multi- published erotic romance author, she enjoys adding a
lot of heat, sass, and emotion to the many genres she writes.
Mom
of three, Kacey lives her own happily ever
after with her perfect hero in Ontario, Canada.
Connect with Kacey…
Website / Newsletter / Facebook / Facebook Reader Group / Twitter / Amazon / Goodreads / Pinterest / Instagram
1 comment:
Thank you for hosting Awakenings!
Post a Comment