Padme's Library: Virtues by Megan Mitcham

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Virtues by Megan Mitcham

Title: Virtues

Author: Megan Mitcham

Series: Base Branch #8

Genre: Adult, Romantic Suspense

Release Date: September 6, 2016

Summary:
Once they’re gone, can you ever get them back?

As a CIA spy turned traitor to her country, Cara Lee kissed her virtues goodbye long ago. After seventeen years, her retribution ended with the burial of her enemy and a fresh start with her daughter. If only she could forgive herself enough to rebuild their relationship.

Luck—her daughter’s fiancé—wasn’t Cara’s only attempt at atonement. She took Marina Sorensen off a Swedish street corner and schooled her in the art of survival. Too bad the girl sold her and Luck out to the thugs of Brödraskapet.

Her disciplined nature prods Cara to tie the loose end—one way or the other. But the commander of the UN’s special forces has other plans. The last thing she wants is another government job. Given an ultimatum—and a babysitter—she plays along.

Tyler Grace should have been a farmer in east Texas, but the universe had other plans. A tactical expert for the Base Branch, when he finds a problem, he seeks the best way to fix it. Cara presents an obstacle he’s ill prepared to conquer—but he’ll die trying.

Struggling to sort through her past, Cara clings to the one virtue she has left, while Tyler dares to prove she never lost them.

Tyler's POV:
“That’s enough, fellas,” Tyler rumbled.

“A gentleman once more?” Cara said the first thing since he’d presented her with the black bags and made her place one over her daughter’s and apprentice's heads. “Funny how that comes and goes, along with the sound of your boots.”

“Glad to see you’re still breathing. Since we made it here without incident—incident meaning me bleeding out on the side of the road or suffocating to death—I wasn’t sure.”

Hunter retrieved Rin from the SUV and ushered her to the elevator. Oliver talked with Damien in a hushed tone. The capable man slid out of the car and shuffled forward. Shackles around his ankles rattled with each step. When they’d pulled out the restraints at the SUVs, which they’d parked in the alley outside the warehouse, Cara had nearly bounded the border of sane. They’d explained it was for all their safety. She hadn’t given a shit. The only way they’d gotten them in the things without blood and sweat was bargaining. Rin hadn’t had to wear them.

“Yet you didn’t stop to check on my well-being. I’m hurt.”

“You look it,” he said with a chuckle.

Cara looked hot as tar at 3:00 p.m. on an August day. As dangerous too. The cuffs he, himself, had fastened at the ankles of her long, lean legs and her svelte wrists sat in a pile on her lap under her daintily folded hands.

“What? They were chaffing.” When she shrugged, the black bag on her head bobbed.

She’d had to wait until they stopped and Hunter’s and Oliver’s attention was averted, but even then, she hadn’t been out of sight for a full minute. Cara Lee wouldn’t run. They had her daughter. This was a statement, and he could appreciate it.

“By all means, allow me.” He scooped the heap of metal into his palm. The heat of her thighs seeped through his skin before he lifted the cuffs and tossed them onto the seat next to her.

“Why, thank you.” Her sweet reply got his back up. She was up to something. He’d calculated all the angles and knew from here she could attack in multiple ways. It was what he did. Assessed risk. Mapped schemes. Minimized the good guys’ exposure. It was why he wasn’t a cattle rancher back home.

Cara turned toward him. The edge of her thigh brushed the front of his pants. She recoiled quickly, as though she hadn’t meant to dry stroke him.

Not damn likely.

Her every action had a motive behind it. It was how she was wired and how she’d lived for so long on the run from the unrelenting remnants of the Soviet Union and the very active CIA.

Even so. He knew exactly how those toned legs looked without baggy tactical pants. The hot jolt of desire he’d battled while inspecting her for concealed weapons roared to life in the form of an unmistakable boner. Thank fuck she wore the bag. Too bad for his boner it was all part of her hook.

“Give me your pick,” he demanded.

“I’d rather give you something else,” she purred.

“Yeah, my balls as a nose plug. Nothing's wrong with my memory. Now, hand it over or I’ll hog-tie you and find it myself.”

Author Bio:
Megan was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor’s degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and worked for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.

In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And Oh Mercy, she was hooked!

Megan lives in Southern Arkansas where she pens sizzling suspense novels. For news, giveaways, and exclusive offers sign up for her newsletter on her website.