Protecting Cheyenne

Book 5: SEAL of Protection

by Susan Stoker

Genres: Military Romance; Romantic Suspense; Romance; Action & Adventure Romance; Contemporary Romance; Later in Life Romance; BDSM; BDSM; kidnap; bomb; kidnapping; dispatcher

Synopsis

Living in Southern California, Cheyenne was used to seeing hot military men as she went about her daily business. An anonymous encounter at the grocery store cemented her crush on one such man. He was big, built, and incredibly easy on the eyes, but it wasn't as if he would ever really notice her.

Always in control of any situation, Faulkner “Dude” Cooper knows explosives. As a bomb expert, he's lived through many high pressure situations. Disfigured by a bomb while on a mission, he's used to being looked at with pity. When he's called to a local supermarket to assist the local PD, the last thing he expects to find is a generous act of kindness performed by a beautiful, amazing woman. Enchanted by her selflessness in the face of danger and intrigued by her actions to save civilians she didn't know, Dude’s hooked.

Dude was able to save Cheyenne from the group of thugs trying to take her life, but when the past comes back to haunt them both, sometimes having the knowledge and the desire isn't enough to beat the countdown of the clock.

**Protecting Cheyenne is the 5th book in the SEAL of Protection Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it’s recommended you read the books in order to get maximum enjoyment out of the series.

Release date: May 5, 2015

Print pages: 290

Sample

Chapter One

 

 

“911, what is your emergency?” “Is this the police?” “Yes, this is 911, what is your emergency?”

 

“My cable went out and I can’t get my shows.” “Ma’am, this line is for emergencies only.” “Yeah, I know. This is an emergency. My DVR isn’t working and I have to see what happens to Toni tonight.”

 

Cheyenne sighed. Jesus, she hated these calls. “Have you tried calling your cable company?” “Yeah, but they weren’t answering.”

 

“What do you want me to do?” Cheyenne was shorter than she probably should’ve been, but this was an emergency line and she was exhausted. She didn’t have the time or patience for this crap.

 

“Can you see if you can get through to them for me? I need them to fix this now.”

“Okay, hold on. Let me see what I can do.” Cheyenne put the woman on hold and plunked her head on the desk in front of her. She took three deep breaths then sat up straight again and clicked the caller back on. “Okay, I got a hold of them and they said you should call them back. They’ll see what they can do for you.”

 

“Oh my God, thank you so much! I appreciate it.” “Have a good night, ma’am, and I hope Toni is all right.” Yeah me too! Thanks again. I’ll call them right now.”

 

Cheyenne clicked off the phone again and sighed deeply. Working as a 911 operator sounded much more glamourous than it was in reality. Most nights she had at least one or two people calling in with the most ridiculous “emergencies.” Technically, she was supposed to report them and give the info to her supervisor, but it was usually just as easy to get the person off the phone, quickly and politely, than try to report them and get them in trouble.

 

It never made sense to Cheyenne to take up a police officer’s time to go out and give a warning to these types of people when the officer could instead be concentrating on finding bad guys or helping people that honestly needed assistance.

 

Cheyenne turned back to her laptop sitting next to the other computer and electronic equipment on her desk and clicked back on the movie she’d been watching.

 

Typically, Cheyenne was the only phone operator on duty for her small section. She worked the second shift, which she loved, but she could go hours with no calls at all. She learned quickly to bring something to do, otherwise she’d die of boredom. She wasn’t typically a “night” person, but working from three in the afternoon to eleven at night suited her. She could sleep in, do errands in the mornings, and still have time to get to work in the afternoons.

 

The job was much harder than Cheyenne had thought it’d be when she’d first applied. She didn’t mind talking to people. Giving out basic first aid advice was kind of exhilarating; she enjoyed being able to help keep someone alive or even simply calm them down until the paramedics or police officers could get there. Lately, however, Cheyenne had been feeling antsy and discontented. It wasn’t until she read an article online about post-traumatic stress, that she understood her feelings.

 

Every time she answered the phone was potentially a life and death situation. Cheyenne would spend anywhere from three to twenty minutes on the phone with someone, helping them, working through whatever issue they had…only to hang up once the police or paramedics arrived, not knowing what the final outcome was.

 

Oh, sometimes she’d see a story on the news and recognize the situation as one she assisted with on the phone, but most of the time she had no idea how things turned out. Was anyone arrested? Did anyone die? Were they okay? By the end of each night Cheyenne was so full of adrenaline, that it’d take quite a while to get to sleep when she got home.

 

Perhaps even worse than the not knowing, was that Cheyenne was lonely. She spent her time at work talking with others, but she never really got to know them. She spoke with people on what many times was the worst day of their life. Only once in the five years she’d had her job, had someone tracked her down to thank her. Once.

 

Working second shift made it hard to make and keep friends, never mind finding time for romance. She worked five days on and four days off. She wasn’t really a party girl and usually didn’t go to the bars. She knew people from her station at work, but they typically had opposite schedules than she did, so they couldn’t exactly socialize together outside of work.

 

Cheyenne recalled a conversation she’d once had with her mom. She’d called to try to get some sympathy after a hard day at work where she’d had to try to console a woman who’d found her husband dead in their home. It had been emotional and Cheyenne had cried at the woman’s grief after she’d hung up. She should’ve known better than to try to get any sympathy from her mother.

 

“I don’t know why you get so worked up over people you don’t even know, Cheyenne,” her mom had scolded.

 

“Mom, they call me when they need help. Most of the time they’re freaked out and just need someone to tell them it’ll be okay. That’s me.”

 

“But, honey, you’re always getting emotional over your job. Why can’t you find a normal job, like your sister?”

 

Cheyenne had just sighed. She knew most people didn’t understand what she did or why she did it, but she’d always hoped her family would come to understand and support, rather than mock, her.

 

She wished she was closer to her sister, but ever since they’d been little, Karen had been ultra-competitive with her. Cheyenne never understood it because she couldn’t care less about competing with her sister, but since Cheyenne had been a “surprise” when Karen had been five, she supposed the adjustment of being an only child to being the big sister of a baby, hadn’t been a smooth one.

 

Karen was a paralegal to a criminal lawyer in town and Cheyenne knew her mom loved to brag to her friends about her “successful” daughter. Cheyenne had learned to keep her hurt about how her mom treated her to herself. There was no use trying to change her now, she’d never understand.

 

The phone rang, startling Cheyenne out of her reverie, and her heart rate immediately skyrocketed. There was no way to tell what kind of situation she’d be trying to help the caller with. She pushed “pause” on her movie, and picked up the phone.