Navy Nurse Avery Nelson never dreamed she’d be taken hostage during her deployment in Afghanistan. She’s assisting local women with healthcare, not fighting in a war. But digging her way out of her would-be grave turns out to be the battle of her life. She’s not the type to simply lay down and die, or sit around crying, waiting for someone to save her…though Avery can’t deny it’s a massive relief when the very SEAL she’s been flirting with for months comes to her rescue.

Cole “Rex” Kingston has saved his fair share of women over his time as a SEAL, but no mission has ever seemed as important as the one to find Avery Nelson. Digging the woman out of the rubble of a mountainside in Afghanistan hammers home to them both just how short life is, and they waste no time acting on their attraction, getting closer as Cole helps Avery deal with the aftermath of her ordeal.

But someone isn’t happy that Avery didn’t die in the mountains…and they’ll do anything to make sure she doesn’t live long enough to talk about what she might’ve heard and seen while deployed.

NOTE:
** Securing Avery is the 5th book in the SEAL of Protection: Legacy Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

These books always have strong women and damn Avery is so much more than that. From the very beginning she’s fighting to live, digging her way out stone by stone after being left to die. Her one regret, not encouraging Cole ‘Rex’ Kingston to ask her out, something she would do something about if she manages to get free of this mess.

Rex has been hanging at the hospital where Avery works as much as he can get away with. He finally was going to ask her out but she was being deployed. When his team is sent to rescue drivers and a woman taken when a convoy of weapons is hijacked he finds out the woman is Avery. Nothing will stop him from finding her and he knows his team will have his back.

When they do find her some very interesting things happen.

This is one of them and a favorite scene.

“If you can keep me from falling over, I’m ready to get out of here,” she stated.

Rex stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Is this okay?” he asked, not wanting to contribute to any horrible memories she might have of what had been done to her while a captive.

She nodded and wrapped her own arm around him, keeping her head down and grabbing onto his shirt with surprising strength. “Yeah. Look, we’re the perfect height to win a three-legged race,” she quipped.

Rex snorted. It wasn’t quite a laugh, he couldn’t bring himself to laugh at a time like this, but he agreed with her assessment. They fit together perfectly. He walked them over to the hole where he’d entered the cave.

She was squinting and doing her best to look through the hole, toward the bright sunshine outside, but it was obvious it was causing her pain.

“Hang on,” he told her, then raised his head and yelled, “Phantom?”

“Right here,” his friend said.

“I need your sunglasses.” Without a word of question, a hand thrust a pair of sunglasses down the hole. Rex grabbed them and turned to Avery. “Here, these will help until your eyes can adjust.” Then he slipped them onto her face, brushing her hair behind her ears in the process.

He heard her sigh in relief. “Thank you, you have no idea how…” Her voice trailed off when she finally looked at his face.

“What?”

“Cole?” she whispered.

Rex did chuckle this time; he couldn’t help it. “Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone call me that. How’d you know my name?”

She shrugged. “I may or may not have asked around,” she admitted freely.

“You can call me Rex,” he said, flattered beyond belief that she’d wanted to find out more about him. He knew she wouldn’t have learned anything but the basics. Because of his top-secret clearance and the secrecy surrounding the SEALs, anything said about him would’ve been general knowledge.

“Thanks, but I think I like Cole better. I can’t believe you’re here,” she said quietly. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the dark lenses of the sunglasses, but he could feel her gaze boring into him nonetheless.

“Wanna go out sometime?” she blurted.

Rex knew his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

“I mean…” She began to falter at his obvious astonishment. “I just…I made a promise to myself that if I got out of this hole in the mountain, I’d go after what I wanted.”

“And what you wanted was me?” Rex couldn’t help but ask.

He saw her cheeks pinken, and it was a welcome sight. She was way too pale for his peace of mind.

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

“You should know, I was kicking my own ass for chickening out and not asking you out for coffee before you were deployed,” Rex told her honestly.

They smiled at each other for a long, quiet moment before Avery swayed.

And just like that, Rex recalled where they were and what the hell they were doing.
Stoker, Susan. Securing Avery (SEAL of Protection: Legacy Book 5) (pp. 26-28). Stoker Aces Production, LLC. Kindle Edition.

So many hold your breath moments, and Avery takes no crap from anyone. Rex and his team and a few of those Delta guys are awesome. The fact that Phantom remembers the thing he couldn’t and many more OMG moments, add to the suspense. There were times I had tears running down my face even as I laughed out loud.

I really wish I had the will power to not start reading these books when they hit my kindle, I couldn’t put this book aside and now I need a nap or three.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series!

5 Contented Purrs for Susan!

Susan Stoker

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Susan Stoker has a heart as big as the state of Tennessee where she lives, but this all American girl has also spent the last fourteen years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee. She’s married to a retired Army man who now gets to follow her around the country.