NEW RELEASE - HERE WITH ME BY BOBI SEXTUN

TITLE: Here With Me

AUTHOR: Bobi Sextun

PUBLISHER: Targheda Press

GENRE: Military Romance

AMAZON 

Sergeant First Class Deke Rawlings is stateside after three tours in Iraq.  He left the Sandbox a decorated but broken soldier.  His scars are deep, but none is more painful and haunting than the invisible gash that slashes across his heart.  Driven by loneliness and a devastating secret that takes him to the brink of suicide, he must find a way to rejoin the living.  When he is called to investigate his uncle’s mysterious death, he encounters Maria Castillo—the most alluring and relentlessly adorable woman to ever walk the earth.  From the moment he lays eyes on her, he fears she will open the wounds he has spent six years closing.  It takes all of his strength and willpower to resist her and the heartbreak he is certain she will bring him.

Maria Castillo hasn’t had the best of luck with men.  But when she meets the powerful, sexy but distant Deke Rawlings, she is determined to crack the hard armor he has erected around his heart.  Will she be able to reach him before he destroys himself and any hope of their future happiness? Can she restore him to the man she is certain dwells behind the unspeakable hurt? Or will a mistake from her own past prevent them from ever belonging to each other?

She held out her hand. Taking it, he hopped down. His momentum brought his body squarely against hers, their faces practically nose to nose. It was six years since he’d been this close to a woman—or let a woman be this close—but his hands fell naturally around her small waist. With her breasts crushed against his chest, he found himself staring into sultry eyes the light brown of cognac. It required an effort to disengage his stare from them. His drifted down to full, pale lips that begged to be kissed.

But he could not. Not now. Not ever.

Quickly, he stepped back from her, clearing his throat. “I take it this is your first time talking a man down from a ledge.”

Up close, Deke could see just how beautiful the woman was. The cognac-colored eyes sparkled beneath long, black lashes; her shoulder-length black hair was glossy and straight, her cheeks deeply-dimpled.

Letting out a shuddering breath, she rubbed her bare shoulders and glanced furtively away. He was instantly sorry that he had upset her by joking around on the wall.

“It’s not covered in the secretarial manual.” She exhaled deeply, her face etched with relief. “I’m Maria Castillo. I’m so sorry about Houston.”

“Thanks. You were his secretary?”

“No. He hired me to be a permanent temp, pardon the oxymoron. I float around, filling in where I’m needed. But he spoke to me every day and was very kind.” Maria shook her head. “I knew something was going to happen to him the day he died. I’m not saying I’m psychic or anything—”

“Good, because there’s no such thing. You’re just very alert and aware. Nice trait to have. It can save your life.”

“I understand you’ve been working in the London office since you left Iraq.”

“Warehouse. Houston wanted me to start me off as an exec, but I don’t want to be the recipient of nepotism. I thought I should start off on the ground floor.”

“How long were you overseas?”

“Three tours. We got back eight months ago.”

“We?”

“Me and three guys from my command. I wanted to stop by here first before I went looking for them. I’m hoping they’ll help me figure out what really happened down there and why.”

“Oh, so you guys were like the NCIS or something.”

Deke laughed. “That’s navy. We were army. Not investigators. Soldiers. What made you think something might happen to my uncle?”

She gazed out across the bay, pushing her wind-whipped hair out of her eyes. It was such a natural thing for a woman to do, but it struck Deke as extraordinarily provocative. So far, everything this lady did—a simple shrug, a cant of her head, the purse of those luscious lips—thumped against some vital part of him. Even her voice was like a tuning fork vibrating into the deepest recesses of his deadened heart.

“Houston was acting different,” she said. “Preoccupied. I asked him about it in the break room, but he just said it was a headache. Headaches didn’t make Mr. Rawlings frown and mumble. When he had one of those, he would—”

“Make a low groan and close one eye.”

“Yes,” Maria said, smiling. “Something was troubling him.”

She had one of those sexy, mischievous smiles that seemed to be hiding a secret. That made a man crazy to delve into the intrigue behind those innocent yet promising eyes. If he were someone else, if the past did not follow him like a black storm cloud he couldn’t outrun—if he were whole—he might take her in his arms right now for the sheer pleasure of discovering the enticing mystery behind that smile.

But he was who he was.

“Something or someone. I want to gather a few of the higher-ups for a face-to-face tomorrow. With the position of CEO at stake, one of them would benefit greatly with my uncle out of the picture. Maybe I can pick up on a vibe.”

“What are you, like, The Mentalist?”

“Somebody watches a lot of TV. Actually, that’s not a bad analogy. When you’re in the Sandbox, you learn to size people up very quickly or get yourself dead.”

“I can help you with that. Getting everybody together for you to talk to, I mean. How about tomorrow morning at ten o’clock in the top-floor conference room?”

“Good. See you in the morning,” he said, turning toward the glass doors across the patio.

“Maybe I can help with the sizing up part, too.” When she very casually touched his arm, it coursed like electric current through his body.

“Maybe,” he said, moving away. It was best to always keep moving in that direction. Especially since he could feel something forcefully tugging him toward this alluring woman. “See you then.”

“What about now?”

“Now?”

“You said you were going to find your buddies. Let me go with you.”

The seemingly innocent words arrowed into his heart. His smile faded, and his stomach lurched. In the enigmatic way the past and present mingled in his mind now, he was staring at a stunning Hispanic woman with the face of a sexy angel and the body of a centerfold; but, sharing that vision was the cruel image of a nine-year-old boy named Malik.

“No.”

“What the hell do you mean no?”

Deke laughed. In the space of a few seconds, Maria Castillo had gone from shyly trying to tag along with him to profanely demanding to know why she couldn’t. “The word should be self-explanatory even to someone without paranormal perception.”

“You owe me. I talked you down from the ledge.”

“I never intended to jump.”

“That’s not how it looked to me.”

Deke blinked. Maybe this immensely appealing woman was psychic.

“I won’t get in the way,” Maria said. “You won’t even notice I’m there.”

“Helen Keller would notice you,” he said, surprised by his compliment. He chalked up his out-of-character boldness to jetlag and lack of sleep.

“Thanks,” she said, beaming.

With an effort, he turned away again and said, “See you in the morning.”

“Wait. I know the city. I can help you find your friends. Let me be your guide.”

“My rental car has OnStar. Take care.”

“Fine. Gather your own suspects.”

“I will. See you on the flip side.”

“You know, a lot of men find me attractive, not to mention charming company.”

“Copy that.”

“What are you afraid of?”

The answer plunged an ice pick into his heart.

Deke stared off into the ocean against the afternoon horizon. A dull prism of yellow-orange and pink and purple smearing and sinking into the blue-black sea. There had been times when sharing such a spectacle made him weep with happiness. Put never-ending hope in his heart and childlike laughter on his lips.

Those times were long behind him and best forgotten.

Author Bio:

By the age of 23, I had studied accounting in college and set my sights on being a C.P.A. I was on my way to an interview when one of those 18-wheel trucks ran a stop light and creamed my little Honda. I was knocked into a coma.

Three months later, when I opened my eyes, I couldn't bear the thought of double-entry ledgers and accounts receivable. I wanted to tell stories. Tales that contain characters that you care about placed in universal, relatable situations woven with heart-stopping romance. My novels, short stories and novellas are chock full of humor, mystery, suspense and intrigue as well.