Mission: Impossible to Love
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Make it a double, please ~ An excerpt from 'Mission: Impossible to Love'
His plans to shout and demand were silenced by the sleepy, tousled woman. Her thick, straight hair hung loosely around her shoulders, making her look sexy and vulnerable. His eyes didn’t waver, but he had great peripheral vision to take in the way her pert nipples poked against the t-shirt.
“I’ll get a cup of coffee and be downstairs in a few minutes.”
“Go get changed.” Pissed at himself for allowing his mind to wander to the idea of how easy it would be to run his hand under the t-shirt, Sten’s order came out colder than he intended. “I’ll brew the coffee. Dean has a super fancy espresso machine.”
“Great. Make it a double, please. And I’m sorry that I missed our meeting. But once I have some caffeine, I’ll be good to go.”
He turned and walked to the kitchen, trying to understand his irrational reaction to this one woman. And how he ended up doing exactly the opposite of what he planned when it came to Izzy Benson. In addition to being her bodyguard, now he was her private barista. Shaking his head, he tried to close down the thoughts of what other roles he’d like to play for Izzy.
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One Woman ~ Excerpt from 'Mission: Impossible to Love'
Sten’s day had gone from one clusterfuck to the next. And it all centered around one woman. He stepped into the conference room to interrogate his newest team member, one he didn’t trust or want.
A team member he was responsible for. He had a lot of questions for the child prodigy, starting with her violent boyfriend and why she got antsy when speaking about her hacking.
He was trained in asking unpleasant questions, and he planned to ask her every single one.
Maybe it was time to rethink his transfer to CC since dealing with soldiers trained in warfare was a lot easier than dealing with a woman genius with enough secrets to keep the CIA busy for weeks.
The slender woman stood gazing out at the gray, misty skies. Something stirred in him as he saw the dejected set of her shoulders and the way her oversized coat hung on her like she was a waif out of a Dickens novel.
“Hey, are you hungry?” What happened to interrogating subjects when they were vulnerable?
Click here to keep reading Mission: Impossible to Love, the Impossible Mission series Book 3,
Too Hot to be a Hacker ~ Excerpt from 'Mission: Impossible to Love'
“You? A cracker?” Izzy covered her mouth. Did she just say that aloud? Okay, she was having a bit of trouble adjusting to the idea that Charles’s cousin or whatever wanted her for a government job—not for a prison sentence. Or maybe this was a trap to convict her?
Sten’s eyes and voice turned icy. “Why couldn’t I be a hacker?”
She shrugged her shoulders since it was too hard to raise her eyebrows. “You’re going to try to convince the seller that you hacked into a classified military program for a criminal organization or one of our country’s enemies? No one would believe it.”
The tense silence in the room reverberated against the glass walls. If that was physically possible.
PO’d alpha Man shifted his weight, leaning forward, closing the distance between them at the table. “And why is that?”
“Really, you need to ask?”
Reeves kicked her under the table. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she liked irritating Sten Jenkins with his dismissive attitude and cool control when she had none. “Because you’re not a chill stoner type. Nor do you have the angry edge of a rebel.” Izzy chose not to mention that his cover model face, his intense virile confidence, and his erect military posture shouted narc, not criminal.
“And you are?” His voice, laced with amusement, had Izzy edging closer to her adversary. Always underestimated by males because of her size and her age, Sten Jenkins had just thrown down the gauntlet.
“Let’s just say in the world of hackers, as a woman, I’m still unique.” She didn’t mention that gender disparity in pay and job advancement made her ripe for defying mainstream. “You’re not. And geeks who spend their entire lives in front of computers don’t have bodies that look like yours.” Izzy now wished she didn’t have the pale skin and freckles that went with her red hair. Because her skin was burning hot—like the color of a stop sign. OMG! Why was she commenting on Sten Jenkins’s body, and in front of Richard Dean?
Reeves was nodding in agreement. “It’s true, Sten. You have the whole military mojo going.”
Mr. Dean cleared his throat. “Well, I’m glad we have that clarified. Sten is going undercover as your bodyguard, Izzy, It will be the perfect cover. Sten will be running the mission but will also act as your bodyguard and accompany you when you hopefully do the buy. You might not know it, but Sten has skills in international cybercrime besides his military skills.”
Izzy didn’t like the way Sten’s full lips lifted into a smirk.
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5 Reasons Readers Love Navy SEALs
Romance readers love Navy SEALs. Just search Amazon and you’ll see how many books feature military heroes, many of whom are SEALs.
What makes these dedicated men worthy of a leading role in romantic fiction? Here are my top five reasons.
Navy SEALs are selfless. These dedicated warriors pledge their service and loyalty to team members and their country. Every woman dreams of falling in love with a man who pledges his loyalty and dedication.
Navy SEALs are prime male specimens. SEAL candidates must pass a strict physical fitness exam that includes swimming, pushups (50 in two minutes), situps, pullups and running. They must then remain in top physical condition. The washboard abs and rock-hard muscles are a bonus that fuel readers’ vivid imaginations.
Navy SEALs are special. No, really. Candidates are among the top 1% of service members. There are about 2,500 active duty SEALs and less than 250 pass the training each year.
Navy SEALs never quit. Those who make it through BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demotion/SEAL) training, a grueling regimen which only about 20% complete, prove they have grit, perseverance, focus and commitment.
Navy SEALs are selective. It takes a special woman to penetrate the tough-guy shell most Navy SEALs wear. Who else but a strong, sexy, intelligent woman is worthy of a hero?
What I learned about military drones researching 'Mission: Impossible to Love'
In my new release, Mission: Impossible to Love, coming July 25, Elizabeth “Izzy” Benson is a tech genius whose Artificial Intelligence drone technology has been stolen and is being sold on the dark web. When I was writing the book,I spent a lot of time researching technology, including drones, AI, the dark web and hackers.
There is so much interesting research, and obviously not all of it can be included in a book. Here are a few facts I learned about drones that didn’t make it into Mission: Impossible to Love...but are still fascinating.
- Drone technology is also called “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV) technology.
- Drones (unmanned crafts) are built of lightweight composite materials, which enables military drones to fly at high altitudes, and are controlled from a ground-based system. Many drones are equipped with state of the art technology such as GPS, infrared cameras, and lasers.
- Applications for drones are becoming widespread in both the public and military sector. They come in a variety of sizes. The largest military UAV is the Predator drone. Click here to watch a video of a Predator drone taking off.
- Use of drones in the public sector is expanding. While you can’t yet have a pizza delivered by drone, this technology is widely used by companies for film, photo and video, as well as surveying and mapping land areas and inspecting and monitoring physical structures.
Here’s an excerpt from Mission: Impossible to Love. Enjoy this scene with Sten and Izzy and then preorder your copy to keep reading on release day!
Sten never stopped staring at her. “Avantus is using machine-learning algorithms to interpret drone-surveillance imagery. The company has managed to stay out of the controversy of using Artificial Intelligence in military operations. You have DOD security clearance, Ms. Benson?”
Why was he asking about her security clearance? What had he discovered about her? Paranoid fantasies of being dragged out of Dean’s office in handcuffs flashed before her. Now she could never ask Reeves for help in clearing her name. She had only planned to share her algorithm with him if she couldn’t stop Charles from selling it to North Korea or Russia.
“I have top secret level security clearance from my work at both Google and Avantus.” She didn’t add, “which you are totally aware of,” since she had been vetted before joining Dean’s software company.
All male eyes were now on her, and she felt the heat moving up her neck and across her chest. Darn her pale skin—it acted like a lie detector, preventing her from any subterfuge.
“But why leave Avantus?” Dean persisted. No wonder the man was a success. He was as tenacious as a colony of busy ants.
She gulped down the burning acid from her stomach moving upward. The noose was tightening around her neck. They didn’t still hang traitors, did they?
“I discovered that my work interests lie elsewhere.” Away from her cheating, conniving, criminal boyfriend.
“But I thought your second Ph.D. thesis was on machine learning?” Dean asked.
Izzy could feel the scorch of Sten’s intense focus zeroing in on her. It was as if he were slowly undressing her, leaving her sitting naked with every secret exposed. She could feel herself unraveling, wanting to believe that she’d soon wake up and be relieved that this was a bad dream.
“I never finished that Ph.D.”
Dean laughed. “At twenty-five, you still have plenty of time to finish it. Now, my daughter Sophie would say your arrival in Seattle was serendipitous. And I must agree. We need your help.”
“My help?” Izzy’s voice quivered. “How could I possibly help you?”
Mission: Impossible to Love ~ Releasing 7.25.19
Sources:
How Do Drones Work And What Is Drone Technology
Drones Are Doing More In U.S. Than You May Know, As These 3 Companies Show
