By
NY Times, Wall Street Journal &
USA Today Bestselling Author
Susan Stoker

Former military man turned government assassin Kellan “Eagle” Trowbridge isn’t looking for love. He’d rather keep his head down at his cover job as an employee of Silverstone Towing. That all changes, however, when he meets Taylor Cardin.

Beautiful, smart, and witty Taylor instantly falls for the mysterious tow truck driver, who comforts her both in the aftermath of the car crash she sees firsthand and when the police dismiss her as a credible witness because of her prosopagnosia, or face blindness. Eagle, on the other hand, can remember every person he’s ever met—and the two counterparts forge an immediate connection. But someone else is just as intrigued by Taylor’s unique condition as Eagle is…and his intentions are downright deadly.

Soon, Eagle and Taylor are too caught up in each other to see the danger that’s approaching. But as time runs out, they’ll discover their love isn’t the only thing fighting to survive.

Kellan ‘Eagle’ Trowbridge met Taylor Cardin under interesting circumstances. She’d witnessed an altercation in the grocery store parking lot and while she’d given what information she could, she wouldn’t be able to identify anyone later. She has a rare condition Prosopagnosia, she can’t remember faces, not even her own. Unlike the other witnesses she was off to the side waiting to be let go. Once they told her she could go all she wanted to do was get her shopping done fast. She hated it.

This is just one of my favorite scenes.

Instead of telling her what was on his list, he showed her. With Archer away, the employees took turns cooking, and they’d made a list of things for him to buy so they could put together meals. It was a hot mess, with ingredients scribbled in no particular order on the notepad kept on the refrigerator. Most of the time when he shopped, he just started at the top and worked his way down, having to backtrack several times throughout the store to get stuff from an aisle he’d already been down. It was a pain in the ass, and part of the reason he hated the chore.

“What is this?” Taylor asked, squinting at his list.

“Everything I need to buy,” Eagle replied, telling her something she obviously already knew. “The employees at the station write down what they want, and I shop.”

“Holy crap, this is awful,” she told him. “No wonder you hate shopping.”

Eagle couldn’t help it—he laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Okay, first things first, we need to put some order to this,” Taylor said, grabbing her cart and heading for an empty part of the produce section, out of the way of the other shoppers. She reached into her purse and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a pen and a receipt.

“This isn’t ideal, but it’ll have to do,” she mumbled. Then she propped his list on top of her purse, which was sitting in the child seat of the cart, and bent over the receipt. She’d turned it over and was writing on the blank back side.

“Okay, you’ve got muffin mix down twice, but they didn’t say what kind, so I think you should get blueberry and cinnamon raisin. If they don’t like it, tough, they should’ve specified. Eggs are on here three times, so maybe if you get two dozen, that should be good enough for a week. And if it’s too much, they’ll keep until next time. Fresh fruit? What kind? Jeez, they need to be more specific. No wonder you hate this; no one tells you exactly what they want, so they’re setting you up to fail. Fine . . . how about apples, peaches, and grapes? If they want something else, they’ll have to be more specific next time. Ground hamburger, chicken breasts, and shrimp . . . that’s easy enough.”

Eagle observed Taylor as she completely took over his list. She was scribbling furiously on the back of the receipt, and he couldn’t help but smile as she continually mumbled under her breath while she wrote. It was as if the rest of the world ceased to exist. It was cute as fuck—but it also concerned him as well.

“Taylor?” a voice called out, making her jerk in surprise.

Eagle turned and saw a middle-aged woman coming toward them, smiling brightly.

“I thought that was you. How are you? It’s been forever since I’ve seen you!” the woman enthused.

Glancing at Taylor, Eagle saw that she hadn’t been lying about her condition . . . not that he’d thought she had. She had absolutely no idea who the woman standing near them was—the woman who was waiting to be acknowledged.

It truly dawned on him for the first time how frustrating and difficult not recognizing anyone might be.

Plastering a smile on his face, he stepped forward and held out a hand to the woman. “I’m Eagle, a friend of Taylor’s. I don’t think we’ve met?”

And just as he knew she would, the woman turned her attention to him. “Oh, hi. I’m Wanda Wright.”

“Nice to meet you. How do you know Taylor?” Eagle asked as he shook her hand.

“We used to live in the same apartment complex,” the chatty woman volunteered. “I moved out last year to another complex closer to my son’s. His wife left him and their two kids, and I wanted to be closer to help out.”

“How are Gail and Bobby doing?” Taylor asked softly from behind him.

Eagle dropped the woman’s hand and took a step back.

“Oh, they’re doing great!” Wanda gushed. “They’re flourishing in school and are growing like weeds.”

“And your son? He’s okay?” Taylor asked.

“He had a hard time of it for a while, but I think he’s finally realized the bitch he married did him a favor by leaving. The divorce went through, and he got full custody . . . not that she contested it at all. She was more concerned with her new twenty-year-old boyfriend to want to deal with kids. Her loss. And how’re things going with you?”

Eagle tuned out the conversation and concentrated on observing Taylor. As soon as Wanda had approached, she’d tensed, her fingers curling into her palms. But she looked relaxed now. The two women talked about some of Taylor’s neighbors and commiserated about the woes of apartment living.

“I’ve taken up enough of your time,” Wanda said after a while. “It was great to see you again. I was happy to move closer to my grandbabies, but I was sorry to say goodbye to you.”

“I’m glad things are working out for you,” Taylor told her.

Wanda smiled huge and said her goodbyes.

After Wanda had pushed her cart away, Taylor turned to Eagle.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Eagle asked, playing dumb.

Taylor frowned. “You know what. I had no idea who that was, and you seamlessly stepped in and made her introduce herself.”

Eagle looked into her dark-brown eyes and said, “You don’t know me, and like you said, you have no reason to trust me. But you absolutely can. I’m going to prove it.”

She didn’t say anything, but didn’t drop her gaze either.
Stoker, Susan. Trusting Taylor (Silverstone). Kindle Locations (250-296). Montlake. Kindle Edition.

Now that they’ve bonded over the grocery store, Eagle is more than a little determined to have this awesome woman meet the rest of the crew. He’s certain she could use some friends that won’t judge her.

Then there’s that guy who’s watching Taylor for an entirely different and scary reason. We get glimpses of him throughout and dang this is nail-biting. All of that while Eagle and Taylor get closer and more into their relationship.

I truly love the way Susan takes on difficult, sometimes rare conditions with compassion and understanding. I know you won’t be able to put this book down.

5 Contented Purrs for Susan!

Susan Stoker

Susan Stoker is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Her series include Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, SEAL of Protection, Delta Force Heroes, and Mountain Mercenaries. Married to a retired Army non-commissioned officer, Stoker has lived all over the country—from Missouri and California to Colorado and Texas—and currently lives under the big skies of Tennessee. A true believer in happily ever after, Stoker enjoys writing novels in which romance turns to love. To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website, or find her on Facebook. Links below.