UPDATE: The winner is…Siobhan Dilks!
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Thank you, thank you, Powers That Be. I’m almost there. Well, I got to The End last night. Today, I sweep through my book, and hopefully, catch any last typos my beta readers (Thank you Fedora, Laura, and Reina!) didn’t find or I added when I revised.

I love the last line, and I hope it works. I think I’ll share it here. It probably won’t make any sense, but that’s because YOU HAVE TO READ THE BOOK for it to mean anything.

They fell asleep like that. Connected. Dreaming of big fish and the life they’d share.

Big fish? Yeah. Made me smile anyway. I always wonder if anyone else will laugh, chuckle, or at least grin when they read something in my stories.

I don’t try to write a funny scene, but then characters start “talking” in my head, and my fingers fly to try to keep up because they’re going so fast. Sometimes, I don’t even know what I’m writing until it flows off my fingers. I know. It’s the writer’s schizophrenia. It’s an actual thing. Swear.

Anyways, I hope you’ve pre-ordered your copy of Jackson. If you haven’t, you could always pick up a story inside either of my two series, Montana Bounty Hunters and Montana Bounty Hunters: We Are Dead Horse, MT, and start there.

I don’t know how many more bounty hunters my Dead Horse office of the Montana Bounty Hunters can hire, but I’ll try to come up with something plausible so they can all stay happily ever after there. I’d hate to leave Nadine behind. Although, I do think there needs to be a southern bounty hunters story somewhere…

For a chance to win a FREE download of one of my bounty hunter stories, imagine what a Big Fish might have to do with a romance story. Share your wildest idea. Doesn’t have to be good to win!

UPDATE: The winner is…BN!
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I haven’t been this close to a deadline in forever, but here I am, typing my little fingers to the bone this week to make sure Jackson is ready to load tomorrow afternoon! Wish me luck! I’ll be sprinting to the finish!

It’s a good thing I’m having fun with the story or this would be torture. My hero and heroine, Jackson and Rachel, have been a joy to “get inside.” And whoo-ee, the story’s hot!

I thought it might be fun for you to get ready for the release next Tuesday, too. So, as part of my countdown, here’s a puzzle with some words related to the story. I’m a word nerd and love crosswords and word searches. If you’re anything like me, these little challenges are a great way to keep your mind sharp. Calisthenics for the brain! (I’m using a lot of exclamation points so I can “use them all up” before I head back into the story. 🙂 )

Word Search Puzzle: Jackson

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC, let me know whether you’ve read some of my bounty hunter stories, and where you might like to see hunters hunt in the future! Do you have any ideas for adventures? Have fun!

I love writing my bounty hunters. They have the best adventures with criminals who could all compete for top honors in the Darwin Awards. I love finding out who my heroes are while they are in the midst of a new hunt. Jackson is no different. If you’ve enjoyed the stories so far, you’ll love this one, too. If you’d like a peek inside Jackson’s adventure, read on!

The games begin when a lone bounty hunter, who likes working alone, clashes with a cable TV showrunner who’s determined to make him a part of her show…

Long Excerpt from Jackson…

Jackson Black crept closer to the encampment, going to his belly as he neared the clearing where the group was partying. Light from a fire penetrated the foliage, giving him enough illumination that he could clearly see the occupants of the campsite.

Pulling his miniature binoculars from a pocket on his vest, he peered around the group ringing the open fire. They were all drinking beer and passing a blunt, person-to-person, around the loop. They were laughing, mostly looking droopy-eyed and chill. They made enough noise that it masked the sounds of him crawling toward their clearing.

Sweeping the group with his lenses, he paused when he found her. Christine Pollack. Mud-colored, curly hair cut chin-length. Pale eyes. Slim. Not bad-looking, just generally unkempt. She wore a tank top, cutoff jeans, and short hiking boots with slouchy socks. A tattoo of a spider’s web trailed from her right shoulder up the side of her neck. Another of a dragon snaked up her left thigh.

His target was seated on the ground between the spread knees of a male who sat on a camp stool. The male was scrawny but hard-faced. A long scar stretched from one eyebrow down his cheek and disappeared into his beard. He was the boyfriend Chrissy’s mother had described. The one who’d led her “down a fool’s path, straight to the devil.”

Jackson didn’t believe in devils or righteous paths—or following the rules. Certainly, neither Chrissy nor Nate Stritch liked following rules. However, they’d bent them until they’d broken, robbing a gas station outside Butte before joining this group of losers squatting inside the Bitterroot National Forest on the Montana side of the park.

What looked like a tiny deer was roasting on a spit over the fire. The scent of roasting meat and marijuana burning was what had given Jackson his first break of the day. After slipping a hundred to a friend of Chrissy’s who’d known they were heading toward the forest and getting the approximate area they’d be camped, he’d been looking for a needle in a haystack until he’d smelled the roasted meat and sagey weed.

Jackson had plenty of paper on Chrissy. How she’d been granted bail when she’d already had a date for another charge was beyond him. Nate, he’d leave for another day when the bondsman who’d handled his bail got really worried. Chrissy had a prior charge for taking a joyride in a stolen front loader. The two-time loser was worth more to him. Although getting them both would’ve been nice, he knew taking Chrissy, when he was working alone, was the smart thing to do.

He placed his binoculars back into his vest and then pulled out his camera to film the rest of the group. He was sure he’d see them again, and it was good to remember faces and the places folks like this thought were safe to hide out. Now, he just had to wait until she headed into the shadows to take a piss. He’d take her then.

Rustling sounded to his side, and he lowered his head, peering under the brush to see whether it was more of Chrissy’s friends or an animal approaching.

Instead, he caught the silhouette of a man and the glint of something shiny on his belt.

Fuck, had the law found them, too? Or was someone here to scoop his bounty out from under him?

He remained still, waiting to see what would unfold while keeping his eye on Chrissy because she was his target, and no one was getting to her first. He got to his knees, ready to spring into the clearing.

“Stand down,” came a whisper to his left. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winner is Kerry Pruitt!
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This is just a reminder that Along Came a Spider will release on Tuesday! It’s a very sexy, action-filled story with SEALs coming to the rescue. Should be right up your alley!

All this SEAL wants is time alone to recharge after a grueling mission, but what he gets is caught in the crossfire of passion and danger.

After Spider follows a fellow SEAL’s advice to take some downtime and try fishing to get over his restlessness after back-to-back missions, he finds himself even more irritated until his fishing lure gets caught in the bushes, and while trying to free it, he notices men armed with tactical equipment moving through the forest. Curiosity piqued, he follows and is just in time to prevent the men from harming a lone female camper.

Jessie Tamberlin hoped to hide out in the woods until after her wedding to a billionaire, following her discovery that he is an illegal arms dealer. However, she knows secrets he’s determined to keep silent; he’s never going to let her go. When she finds an ally in the woods, who helps her escape, she has to make an on-the-spot decision to trust him.

Together, they work to stay one step ahead of her ex-fiancé while trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other.

Note: This novella was previously published in the Men in Uniform anthology.

Pre-order your copy here! 

Saturday Puzzle-Contest

 For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card: 1 ) Solve the puzzle (share your time, if you like!), and 2) Tell me a story about what you see. The story doesn’t have to be long, or even good. Just have fun with the challenge!

UPDATE: The winner is…Ellen Wulf!
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I know… Silver Soldiers released less than a month ago (and I hope you’ve all read it!), but it’s time for me to think about the next one because these things take time to pull together.

Last week, I asked for you all to offer up ideas for the theme for the next volume of sexy Boys Behaving Badly short stories. Below, I have a poll with some of those ideas listed. I’m not married to any of them, although some already have ideas percolating in my head…

I need themes that authors can take and run with. Themes that are broad enough that authors won’t be writing the same stories—meaning, something that would lend itself to different genres (contemporary, historical, sci-fi, paranormal) and settings (earthly places, outer space).

Not only do I need to appeal to readers, but I also have to attract writers to the project. So, help me out as I consider which themes will intrigue both readers and writers.

The Poll

Vote for your favorite themes. You can choose up to three. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know which appealed the most and if you can “see” possible stories! Also, if there’s a theme not mentioned here, but that you think might work, tell me about it!

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I struggled for a few months at the end of last year and the beginning of 2023. I wasn’t feeling well, broke a hand. Wasn’t motivated. I missed a couple of releases. One, I’m not sure I’ll ever write. The other, Hard Knox, felt…off. I wasn’t ready to write it because it wasn’t where I needed to start my We Are Dead Horse, MT series. So, I took the hit for Hard Knox and moved on to Mica, which I loved writing. I was back with my bounty hunters in my comfort zone. Only then was I ready to tackle Cold Hard Cash, which became the first book in the new series centered around the “townies.” In Cash’s story, you see plenty of Knox and Carleen who are the stars of Hard Knox. I hope you’ll be ready for them because it’s going to be HAWT! It’s out on pre-order now! AGAIN.

Remember, I have the next bounty hunter book, Jackson, coming out in July! I’m writing that story as we speak, and you know what you get with the hunters—lots of action, humor, and sexiness!

A few days ago, I was also given back the rights to a novella that had appeared in the Men in Uniform anthology, published by Entangled a few years ago. My sister, Elle James, put together a new cover for the book, and now, it’s up for pre-order. If you love Navy SEALs, this story is for you. There’s some military complex criming going on, perpetrated by the heroine’s billionaire ex-fiancé, who’s building some high-tech armor for the battlefield—but you’ll need to read the story to see how it all goes down.

Coming June 27th!

Pre-order your copy now!

Coming July 11th!

Pre-order now!

Coming September 12th!

Pre-order Now!

UPDATE: The winner is…Kerry Jo Pruett!
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I’m getting back the rights to a story that lived inside an Entangled anthology. It’s called Along Came a Spider. My Navy SEAL hero is “Spider” to his teammates. The story has a suspense plot involving a tech billionaire making exoskeleton armor for soldiers. I plan to release the story later this month, so as soon as I have the pre-order up, I’ll let you know—if you haven’t already read it! Anyways, today’s puzzle is a futuristic soldier in full body armor in keeping with my Spider theme. Enjoy!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know if you’d like more SEAL/military hero stories from me. More Brotherhood Protectors? My own series?  Any suggestions?