BREAKING CHAINS RELEASE! Another EXCERPT. And another RELEASE IN JULY!!

It's MAY13th and the 8th full-length book in my  SEAL Team Heartbreakers series, Breaking Chains, is out!!  I'm really excited about the book and am hoping all my readers are too. It is the culmination of 7 other full-length books and 2 novellas. But it won't be the last book in the SEAL Team Heartbreakers series.  I have another SEAL team I introduced in Building Ties and they're going to be busy in the next book.  I'll keep you posted.






Ex-Navy SEAL Derrick Armstrong walks out of the Miramar military brig with a dishonorable discharge, a criminal record, and no prospects. The odds are against him being able to build a normal life after prison, but his training as a SEAL keeps him going.

Ella Bailey is struggling financially to raise her seven-year-old son alone. Life has dealt her some hard blows and when Derrick steps between her and another one, she’s both grateful and wary. She views men as obstacles to avoid, but she’s drawn to Derrick, and sees something special in him.

Derrick’s kept his past a secret. When Ella’s ex-boss is found dead and the cops question them both, he realizes, whether he’s done anything or not, he’s living on borrowed time. When they train their sights on Ella instead, he moves to protect her, and in the process exposes his past.

Will she kick him to the curb or will she allow him to build a life with her and her son?


AN EXCERPT:  
“Davis Morgan,” he extended his hand.

Ella studied his weathered face a moment before offering hers in return. “Ella Bailey.”
“Come back and talk to me for a few minutes. I’d like to take some quick shots of you.”
“I don’t think I’m model material, Mr. Morgan.”
He studied her a moment, his gaze speculative. “I bet you are, and I know the camera is going to love you.”
Ella glanced at the receptionist, then back at him.
“Give it a try,” the receptionist urged. “What have you got to lose?”
That’s what she was wondering.
Davis motioned for her to precede him down the hall. With him at her back, her heart hammered in her throat and her breathing was shaky. She paused by the open office door.
“I promise it’s completely painless, and if you don’t like the photos, I’ll delete them.”
She should have done more research into the company. She should have looked up the owner and all their photographers. She walked into the office and went directly to one of the photographs on the wall. The actress looked into the camera, a lush, furry top pulled up to cover her breasts, leaving her shoulders bare. She’d seen that shot at the grocery store four months ago on a national magazine. The only way he could have blown it up like this was if he’d taken it himself.
Some of her anxiety eased. What was she being so damn skittish about? This guy was a professional, she could see that. And this office wasn’t some backroom porn set.
She drew a deep, cleansing breath and turned to face him. “Spectacular shot.”
“Thanks.”
“What do you do for a living?” he asked. He crossed the room and reached for a camera on a glass shelf behind his desk.
“I tend bar.”
“Where?”
She’d be honest with him. It might help her land a gig. “Nowhere right now. I lost my job a couple of days ago. I saw the advertisements about models on the net and thought…maybe I could do it.”
“But you almost left.”
“I’m not blond, tall, and drop-dead gorgeous.”
“You’re not blond and tall, but I’d argue the latter.” He shoved a battery into the camera, checked something else, then took the lens cap off. “Go ahead and look around the room.” She heard the click of the camera as she went to the shelves to look at the cameras there.
“How long have you been doing this?” she asked.
“Twenty years.”
She turned to look at him, and he took her picture. She looked down, embarrassed. “I haven’t had my picture taken since my last driver’s license photo.”
“A lot of people have a phobia about having their picture taken.”
She must be one of them. She felt naked every time he pushed the button. “Why do you think that is?”
“I think they’re afraid the camera might pick up more about them than they want people to know.”
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That could be true. Could he see her desperation for a job? “I don’t have to take my clothes off for this gig, do I?”
He lowered the camera. “No. You’ll be wearing the clothing we choose for you.”
“Good.” Some of her tension drained away and she finally relaxed enough to smile.
He raised the camera again and caught the shot.
“What would the hours be?”
“That would be determined by the shooting location. The beach, the mountains, the desert, inside a car, inside a building.”
“I have a son. He’s seven. I’d have to know ahead of time so I could make arrangements for him.” Patsy could pick him up after school.
“Is it just the two of you?”
“Yes.” Me and him against the world. She studied Morgan’s face for any hint of subterfuge. She couldn’t be too careful.
He snapped her picture. “You don’t look old enough to have a seven-year-old.”
“I was young.”
“Have you trained as a dancer?”
“When I was younger and through high school.” She should tell him about the stripping. If they found out later it could cost her the job. If she told him, it could cost her the job now.
“You still walk and stand like a dancer. What made you give it up?”
“I had my son, and my priority was him. It still is.”
“That’s understandable.”
“Do you dance for pleasure?”
“Sometimes.” Rarely. After stripping, the pleasure had gone out of it for her.
“Walking the runway is like a dance. You dance up the runway then back down.”
“I didn’t realize I was applying for runway work.”
“We don’t really specialize in that, though I have photographed the shows for publications. But if you get an agent, you could do that. You have the build for it.”
An agent?
He kept up the conversational style of the meeting, pumping her for information about herself. Some questions she could be honest about and others she deflected.
Eager to end the interview, she dropped into one of the chairs in front of his desk. Morgan extracted the digital card from the camera and placed it on the desk. He took a seat behind it, slid the laptop on the desk close to her, pushed the card into the drive and hit a few keys.
He picked up the computer and came around the desk to sit down beside her. “Let’s look at these together.”
Her stomach cramped and her nerves revved up again. She clamped her hands between her knees.
The first shot was her in profile. She was surprised by the clarity of the image. Her normally sharp-edged cheekbones only looked like cheekbones. She was looking up and her eyelashes looked longer somehow.
“You’re looking at it with a critical eye of someone who looks in the mirror every day. I’m looking at it as a marketable image I can shop around and sell to a magazine or corporation. But with a little more makeup this could be a cosmetic ad. We do quite a few of those, and the models they choose get free samples. And are paid very well.”
“We also take photos that can be used to illustrate magazine articles. If it’s for a nursing home, you’d be visiting your grandmother, smiling down at her with sincere affection.” He hit the key to progress the photos to the one where she was smiling. “Or a restaurant ad, where you’re enjoying a meal. Just another customer visiting the location. But even in those, they want attractive people, because attractive people sell their product.”
“So, I’d be doing mostly this kind of thing?”
“Yes, unless you want to do more commercial work. You have an Audrey Hepburn look and poise about you, so I know they’d be very interested in you. But you’d have to invest in some headshots.”
Would any of the men who’d seen her strip recognize her in any of those photos? The thought grabbed her by the throat.
How many would be looking at ads in magazines? That thought almost made her smile. She couldn’t picture the kind of clientele she’d served or danced for cracking a newspaper, let alone a magazine. Maybe Sports Illustrated or Popular Mechanics, but nothing like he was talking about.
She looked up into his face. “Why are you giving me the full court press?”
“Because you have the look. My receptionist recognized it. She’s been at this for a while, not as long as I have, but long enough. She texted me as soon as you sat down to fill out the application.”
Ella pushed free of the chair and went to the window to look out. He seemed straightforward, professional. “Okay. I’ll give it a try. When and where?”
“Tomorrow. Here. Nine a.m. We’ll be doing some preliminary shots before we change location to a restaurant in Old Town.”
She nodded and picked up the small purse she’d left lying on the edge of his desk.
“There’s just one other thing.”
She looked up.
“It’s none of my business, but who left those bruises on you?”
She fought the urge to touch her neck, but her cheeks burned. “My ex-boss. That’s why I no longer work for him. He made a pass, and I dealt with it, but it cost me my job.”
Davis’s jaw tensed. “I hope you’re pressing charges. I can guarantee no one will be harassing you here.”
“I appreciate that.” She met his eyes with a short nod so he’d know she meant it. “Thanks.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow at nine.”
His voice followed her down the hall. “Sign the paperwork before you leave.”
“I will.” She pivoted and took two steps backward. “Thanks.”
Angela, the receptionist, smiled as she extended the form. “I think you’ll like working here. Mr. Morgan is very talented.”
Yes, he was.
-->
She made it back to the car before a fresh wave of anxiety hit and she leaned back against the quarter panel. That was way too easy. She wasn’t used to easy. Something would happen to spoil it. Something always did.


 BREAKING CHAINS  LINKS : 


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JULY 2ND my second SEALS IN PARADISE book HOT SEAL, Roman Nights will be released.
I'll be putting out more information about it later.  But in the meantime here's the cover and the blurb:





--> On leave after a difficult mission, Navy SEAL Tony Gallo steps off the plane in Rome and tumbles right into the arms of the woman who dumped him nine years ago, and they're both there for family events. He discovers Darcy's attending the wedding they planned but never had, but now it's someone else's.

Darcy Moreau is traveling for the first time and fulfilling a dream. She's in Rome to be her best friend's Maid of Honor. But she's also there to bury the past and start a new life.

When she and Tony meet again, she wonders if the past might not be such a bad thing if her future can include the man she left behind. But can she make amends and convince him to give her another chance?


HOT SEAL, Roman Nights is available for preorder and will be released JULY 2nd!!


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AND ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
I'll be in Washington DC for KALLYPSO CON this year. If you want info about the conference you can go to Kally's site. http://kallypsomasters.com/kallypsocon-2019/


Conference Date
June 20-23, 2019
Book Signing
June 22, 2019
The booksigning is open to the public!
I'd love to see you there!!!
READ ON!
TERESA REASOR 

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