by Em Petrova
North hadn’t been selected to go.
He scoured the list. As he stared at the names, an addition popped onto his screen.
“Incoming,” he announced.
Oz pivoted in his own chair to look at North’s screen. “Who’s closest in position to her right now?”
North pulled up a map that contained small blinking arrows everywhere in the world that a member of The Guard stood, including the three in this room. The microchips inserted in each of their wrists tracked them and afforded that doors opened whenever they required.
North returned his focus to the name on the screen. Sloane Sailor.
His brow crinkled, and the split stung. He’d only dabbed it with toilet paper in the restroom and slapped a bandage over.
“Sloane Sailor. Is that the actress?” Madeline asked.
He nodded. “Pretty sure.” He’d just spent a whole day in recovery watching Sloane Sailor’s movie marathon on cable with his foot propped on two pillows and a beer in his hand. The action movie heroine had a virile sexiness that drew audiences to her, and in his opinion, her acting skills surpassed many silly women in the industry.
“What happened to her?” Oz asked from beside him.
Madeline released a low whistle. “Her latest movie has people stirred up. Activist groups and union workers. It’s a movie about an oil rig with dangerous practices that break environmental codes. Looks like it’s hit too close to the truth, and some workers in the Gulf of Mexico walked off the job.”
Oz leaned over Madeline’s shoulder to stare at her screen, where interviews about the movie and the trailer rolled along with headlines about yesterday’s huge uproar in the Gulf.
North searched the screen, his mind working over the issues he’d deal with on his end, behind his screen, following maps.
Or I could take the mission.
He’d been hiding too long.
“I’ll take her on,” he heard himself say.
Madeline and Oz turned to him in the same motion. Their stares cut through him.
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you, North.” Lines bracketed Oz’s mouth.
He narrowed his eyes. “About what?”
Oz leaned on Madeline’s desk and faced him. “You sustained some major injuries with that leg. It’s never going to be totally right again. And you’re too valuable right here in this chair. When we almost lost you, we realized how necessary your skills are. Nobody knows tech like you do, especially when it comes to locating people and moving them on the chessboard.”
North darted a look at Madeline. She stared back. Jesus Christ, she already knew what Oz was going to say.
Anger welled in his chest. “What the fuck are you saying, Oz?”
“That if you step down from missions, you have a permanent place right here. Then you’re out of the main action and we won’t be in danger of losing a man.”
Irritation steamrollered over him. He pushed away from the desk and stood, huffing against the need to roar. They’d already decided to shelf him? Put him on desk duty alone, and not even give him another shot to prove that he could still guard a human being like the best of them?
1-click HIS TO PROTECT
Em Petrova
Em Petrova was raised by hippies in the wilds of Pennsylvania but told her parents at the age of four she wanted to be a gypsy when she grew up. She has a soft spot for babies, puppies and 90s Grunge music and believes in Bigfoot and aliens. She started writing at the age of twelve and prides herself on making her characters larger than life and her sex scenes hotter than hot.
She burst into the world of publishing in 2010 after having five beautiful bambinos and figuring they were old enough to get their own snacks while she pounds away at the keys. In her not-so-spare time, she is fur-mommy to a Labradoodle named Daisy Hasselhoff.
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Other Titles by Em Petrova
The Guard
HIS TO SHELTER
HIS TO DEFEND
HIS TO PROTECT
HIS TO SHIELD
HIS TO FIGHT FOR
Crossroads
BAD IN BOOTS
COCKY IN A COWBOY HAT
CONFIDENT IN CHAPS
SAVAGE IN A STETSON
SHOW-OFF IN SPURS
Moon Ranch
TOUGH AND TAMED
SCREWED AND SATISFIED
CHISELED AND CHERISHED
Ranger Ops
AT CLOSE RANGE
WITHIN RANGE
POINT BLANK RANGE
RANGE OF MOTION
TARGET IN RANGE
OUT OF RANGE
Knight Ops Series
ALL KNIGHTER
HEAT OF THE KNIGHT
HOT LOUISIANA KNIGHT
AFTER MIDKNIGHT
KNIGHT SHIFT
O’ CHRISTMAS KNIGHT
ANGEL OF THE KNIGHT
6-Pack Cowboys Series
6-PACK RANCHER
6-PACK WRANGLER
Wild West Series
SOMETHING ABOUT A LAWMAN
SOMETHING ABOUT A SHERIFF
SOMETHING ABOUT A BOUNTY HUNTER
SOMETHING ABOUT A MOUNTAIN MAN
Operation Cowboy Series
KICKIN’ UP DUST
SPURS & SURRENDER
The Boot Knockers Ranch Series
PUSHIN’ BUTTONS
BODY LANGUAGE
REINING MEN
ROPIN’ HEARTS
ROPE BURN
COWBOY NOT INCLUDED
CUPID COWBOYS
COWBOY BY CANDLELIGHT
THE BOOT KNOCKER’S BABY
ROPIN’ A ROMEO
Ménage à Trouble Series
WRANGLED UP
UP FOR GRABS
HOOKING UP
ALL WOUND UP
DOUBLED UP novella duet
STIRRED UP
GETTING WARMED UP
Another Shot at Love Series
GRIFFIN
BRANT
AXEL
Rope ‘n Ride Series
BUCK
RYDER
RIDGE
WEST
LANE
WYNONNA
The Dalton Boys
COWBOY CRAZY Hank’s story
COWBOY BARGAIN Cash’s story
COWBOY CRUSHIN’ Witt’s story
COWBOY SECRET Beck’s story
COWBOY RUSH Kade’s Story
COWBOY MISTLETOE a Christmas novella
COWBOY FLIRTATION Ford’s Story
COWBOY TEMPTATION Easton’s Story
COWBOY SURPRISE Justus’s Story
COWGIRL DREAMER Gracie’s Story
COWGIRL MIRACLE Jessamine’s Story
COWGIRL HEART Kezziah’s Story
Single Titles and Boxes
THE DALTON BOYS BOX SET BOOKS 1-5
BOOT KNOCKERS RANCH SERIES BOOKS 1-6 PLUS BONUS
SINFUL HEARTS
JINGLE BOOTS
A COWBOY FOR CHRISTMAS
FULL RIDE
Firehouse 5 Series
ONE FIERY NIGHT
CONTROLLED BURN
SMOLDERING HEARTS
Club Ties Series
LOVE TIES
HEART TIES
MARKED AS HIS
SOUL TIES
ACE’S WILD
Hardworking Heroes Novellas
STRANDED AND STRADDLED
DALLAS NIGHTS
SLICK RIDER
SPURRED ON
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