Summary:
The heart’s a resilient beast
Eight months after the car crash that changed everything, FBI agent Aidan Talley is back at work. New department, new case and a new partner. Smart, athletic and handsome, Jameson Walker is twelve years his junior. Even if Aidan was ready to move on—and he's not—Jamie is off-limits.
Jamie's lusted after Aidan for three years, and the chance to work with San Francisco's top agent directly is too good to pass up. Aidan is prickly—to put it mildly—but a growing cyber threat soon proves Jamie's skills invaluable.
Jamie's talents paint a target on his back, and Aidan is determined to protect him. But with hack after hack threatening a high-security biocontainment facility, time is running out to thwart a deadly terrorist attack. They'll have to filter out distractions, on the case and in their partnership, to identify the real enemy, solve the case and save thousands of lives, including their own.
Summary:
Professionally, the FBI team of Aidan "Irish" Talley and Jameson "Whiskey" Walker is as good as it gets, closing cases faster than any team at the Bureau. Personally, it’s a different story. Aidan’s feelings for Jamie scare the hell out of him: he won’t risk losing another love no matter how heart-tripping the intimacy between them. And loss is a grim reality with the terrorist Renaud still on their trail, leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.
Going undercover on a new case gets them out of town and off the killer's radar. They're assigned to investigate an identity theft ring involving a college basketball team in Jamie's home state, where Jamie's past makes him perfect for the role of coach. But returning to the court brings more than old memories.
As secrets and shocking betrayals abound, none may be more dangerous than the one Jamie’s been keeping: a secret about the death of Aidan’s husband that could blow his partner's world apart and destroy forever the fragile bonds of trust and love building between them.
Summary:
FBI agents Aidan "Irish" Talley and Jameson "Whiskey" Walker can't get a moment's peace. Their hunt for the terrorist Renaud seems to be nearing an end, until a fire allows him to slip through their fingers—and puts Jamie's life in danger. When Jamie is nearly killed, Aidan learns how many forms loss can take.
Aidan says I love you just moments before learning that Jamie's been keeping a devastating secret about Aidan's late husband. How quickly trust and love can go up in flames. When Aidan requests a solo undercover assignment, Jamie hopes Aidan will find a way to forgive him.
But the explosions are far from over. Aidan's cover lands him in the heart of the terrorist's conspiracy, and Jamie will have to put his life, his career and his freedom on the line to save the man who has become his entire world. Partners, always is a promise he intends to keep.
Summary:
True love perseveres in this Agents Irish and Whiskey spin-off novella from author Layla Reyne
Former FBI agent Melissa “Mel” Cruz spent years skirting the line between life and death, knowing the next assignment might be her last. Back from overseas and eager to enjoy life outside the Bureau, she's ready to give Danny Talley a Christmas Eve he'll never forget.
A proven asset in high stakes missions, Danny's known for having the skill and brains to get the job done. When the Talley Flag Ship is hijacked during the company holiday party, he’ll do anything to save his family, his love, and everything they’ve all worked so hard to build. But their enemies have a secondary protocol—leave no survivors—and that plan is already in play.
Navigating through a tangled web of lies and betrayal, Mel and Danny race against the clock to retake the ship before their future goes up in flames. As the seconds tick down, they're forced to face their greatest fear—losing each other.
Summary:
You’re Invited
Aidan “Irish” Talley
and
Jameson “Whiskey” Walker
together with their family and friends
request the honor of your presence
at their wedding
Saturday, the Seventeenth of March
Two Thousand and Eighteen
at High Noon
Half Moon Bay, California
Single Malt #1
Walker’s hand covered his where it lay on the bar, and Aidan was captivated by its size and warmth, by the blanket of comfort it provided. When he withdrew it a moment later, Aidan instantly missed the contact, not realizing until then how desperately he’d needed it after the awful day. But then Walker turned on his stool, propped an elbow on the bar behind him, and their shoulders brushed, renewing the connection. “This is such a cool place.”
“Been here before?”
“Once, on a date.”
Aidan laughed, and Walker twisted, angling toward him. “Something funny?”
“My first date was here,” he confessed, staring into his bourbon glass. “If you consider a quinceañera after-party with my family and hers a real date.”
“So you’ve dated both, then—men and women?”
Aidan’s head jerked up, meeting Walker’s curious eyes. Not the question he’d anticipated. It wasn’t a stretch to say they’d become friends, but he didn’t fancy a gossip about his love life with Walker any more than he had with his sisters. Not today, on his wedding anniversary that wasn’t.
“When I was younger.” He intended to leave it at that, then the bourbon got the better of him again. “And you?”
Gaze steady, Walker answered, “Only men.”
And Aidan’s world tilted, thrown off balance yet again by Jameson Walker. He’d have fallen off his stool too if Walker hadn’t shot out a hand and grasped him by the arm, keeping him upright. “You okay, Irish?”
“You’re not straight?”
“Nope.” He dropped his hand and looked away. “Never have been, never will be.”
Aidan cast his mind back over the past couple weeks. To how those same eyes darkened tonight as Aidan blatantly checked him out. To Walker’s abrupt movements and deflections whenever Aidan flashed him a grin, to his sharp, inhaled breaths if they passed too close, to the blush that colored his cheeks when Aidan favored him with a compliment, and the wounded look when he called him kid. To the way Walker had dropped his voice and described his eyes that first day together in the cave.
He’d been flirting. Walker was gay. And interested, in him.
And down goes Frazier, he heard Chloe cheer in his head.
Shit. And fuck and damn while he was at it.
Cask Strength #2
The door swung closed behind him and Aidan rounded on Walker. “That wasn’t smart. He—”
The rest of his words were silenced by a searing openmouthed kiss that was anything but smart and everything Aidan needed after the day they’d had.
After another close call.
Walker moved between his legs, the hand at his neck drawing him up while the one on his ass lifted him against his strong, hard body. Powerless to resist, Aidan curled his legs around the backs of Walker’s thighs and, despite the pain in his back, curled his arms over Walker’s shoulders, locking him in a tight embrace. Fingers tunneling through silky brown locks, Aidan scraped his nails over Walker’s scalp, eliciting a growl of a different sort. He licked into Walker’s mouth, tongues tangling, tasting and savoring, swept under by the force of everything in his partner’s kiss.
Relief, life, need, love.
Terrifying love.
Wrenching their mouths apart, Aidan gasped for breath and rested his forehead against Walker’s.
“You okay to leave?” Walker asked.
Aidan nodded, bringing their lips in brushing distance again. “All clear.”
“Good. Let’s go home.”
Aidan’s panic ballooned, making him lightheaded.
Home.
His mind instantly went to the three-story Edwardian in Bernal Heights. Walker’s house, not his. Aidan knew the place as well as his own. Just like his intimate knowledge of Walker’s body. How fingers trailed over his scalp guaranteed a moan. How he liked fingers and teeth sinking into the tattoo on his chest. How he preferred to be taken hard and rough. Walker had the same knowledge of his wants and desires. How he liked to be kissed hungrily, blanketed by a big body, and touched possessively.
Home, body, life, love.
All of it could have been torn away today.
As the chief rightly stated, people had a nasty habit of dying around him.
Nelson and Rollins weren’t the only targets. He had the mottled bruise on his back to prove it.
Three attempts on his life. Two that could have also claimed Walker’s and the tattered remains of Aidan’s heart. He couldn’t go there again.
Time to throw up blockades.
Barrel Proof #3
Aidan snatched his hands away. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She ordered me not to.”
“Wrong answer.” He rocketed out of the chair, snatched a tumbler off the table by the door and hurled it at the opposite wall, glass shattering.
“Aidan, please, stop.” Jamie used a bedpost to haul himself to standing, swaying. He moved toward his partner, putting as little weight as possible on the braced leg, the pain excruciating but not as unbearable as the thought of losing Aidan. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Aidan grabbed another glass and heaved again, keeping him back. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to break your heart until I knew the whole story.”
“Too late, baby.” He spat the cherished endearment, full of spite and hatred.
The verbal punch landed right where he intended, robbing Jamie of breath. “Irish, please,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m sorry.”
Aidan shot forward, forcing Jamie back to seated. “I trusted you, with my back and my heart, and you lied to me for months.”
“I’m sorry, I thought I was protecting you.” Jamie reached for him, and Aidan batted his hand away.
“Wrong! We protect each other. Keeping critical information from me about our case, about Gabe and Tom, about my family, is not protection. It’s lying. And me not knowing the full story means I can’t protect them or you.” His shrill voice pained Jamie’s ears.
“Baby, please.”
“Renaud came after my husband, he came after my partner, he came after me. Fuck, Jamie, he keeps coming after me, and now he’s coming after you too. And my brother and my best friend. Maybe even my goddaughter. You didn’t think I needed to know that? I could lose them. I could lose you! I told you what would happen if I loved and lost you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Jamie stood and reached for Aidan’s arm again.
Aidan wrestled him off, shoving his chest two-handed and sending him splaying back on the bed. “I can’t, Whiskey.” Chest heaving, his harsh breaths and harsher words came out a strangled blow. “I can’t do this.”
Tequila Sunrise #4
The first time Mel tied him up, she did so to make an assessment of her own.
He was feeling smug after his date with a paralegal who’d taken over for one of the suspects on Aidan and Jamie’s case. He’d charmed, he’d distracted, he’d followed Jamie’s install instructions to a T. The next time she logged on to her firm’s VPN server, the files Jamie needed would automatically copy and download to his probably very unsanctioned remote server.
Give him a secret society badge. He was official.
What he got instead was a pair of handcuffs hurled at his chest as soon as he walked through the cabin door of his private yacht. His hands shot up, instinctively catching the cold metal cuffs, which were nowhere near as cold as the voice that followed.
“Chair. Now,” Mel ordered.
He glanced up and across the main cabin to the eating area next to the kitchen. Beneath the crystal chandelier, Mel sat with her side to the dining table, one elbow resting on the glass top. Dressed in a pencil skirt and sleeveless blouse, miles of flawless brown skin were on display, glowing enticingly under the chandelier’s low, seductive light. Using her foot, encased in a stiletto that should be illegal in all fifty states, she pushed out the wrought-iron chair beside hers. “Daniel!” she snapped, redirecting his gaze from where it’d roamed up her bare calf. “Sit. And cuff yourself to the chair. Now.”
He smirked. “Kinky, I like it.”
Mel liked to exert control during sex. He’d expected as much when he’d finally grown the balls to pursue her. And he’d had no objections, the sex being out of this world. But she’d never gone so far as to restrain him before.
Layla Reyne is the author of the Fog City, Agents Irish and Whiskey, Trouble Brewing, and Changing Lanes series. A Carolina Tar Heel who now calls the San Francisco Bay Area home, Layla enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart pounding romance.
WEBSITE / NEWSLETTER / KOBO
EMAIL: laylareyne@gmail.com
Single Malt #1
Cask Strength #2
Barrel Proof #3
Tequila Sunrise #4
Blended Whiskey #4.5
