Today’s December 29, and my middle son—‘the wayward one— turns 29. It’s called a golden birthday. I’m so proud of him and the man he’s become.

As a mom, I love my three sons, but at Christmas dinner this year, I realized that I also like, respect, and admire all my ‘boys’. During my short lifetime, I’ve set tons of goals and achieved most of them—run a successful business, managed our immigration to the U.S. without any major mishaps, did a buddy-parachute-jump, flown a fighter jet, but there are two things I’m most proud of. The Viking and I still love, like, and enjoy each other after thirty-eight years of marriage. And I’ve raised three incredible men.

Feeling incredibly lucky this last marvelous Monday of 2014!

Oh, and I just received the cover art for Sinner, book #1 of The Hades Squad. Isn’t the cover hot??? Here’s a teaser excerpt from Sinner.

Sinner Excerpt (not final version):

Linc suppressed the anger boiling and bubbling in his veins. Tipping her chin with a finger, the pressure slight but firm, he promised, “I’d never betray your confidence, Destiny. I’m honored you trusted me. And when you decide to confront your father, I’ll be right by your side. Got that?”

Mist shimmered in her eyes; her lower lip quivered. The muscles in her throat worked and she ducked her head.

“What?” He jiggled her hands, her flesh now toast warm. “Talk to me, Destiny Driven.”

“I, um. You’ll be by my side when I decide to confront my father?” Her eyes darted to his face, and then she focused on a spot near the fridge.

“Yeah,” he rasped, and the effort to not say any more nearly killed him. “You’ll have to give me a couple days’ warning. I’ll need to work off some energy. No one. No one hurts my woman. Got that?”

“You’ve known me for less than two days,” she pointed out.

“You’ve been mine since the minute I laid eyes on you.” Time to change tactics. “Did you find the popcorn?”

Her eyes crossed. She smacked his forearm. “I hate it when you do that.”

“What?” Lincoln tried for an innocent, “I wasn’t even in the room when it happened” look, but couldn’t hold it together, angled his head back, and roared with laughter. “Your eyes cross when you get frustrated. You look adorable.”

“I’m five-seven. Adorable works on petite women.”

He tweaked her nose. “Uh-uh. You. Are. Adorable.”

The beak of a flamingo slipper sprawled on the floor tickled his knee. He grabbed the bird. “Only an adorable woman could wear these with such flair.”

“Linc?” A fingernail tapped his forearm when he fitted the fuzzy slippers on her feet.

“Destiny?”

“Where do you go after you finish with the fire?”

He stood, hauled her up with him, and draped an arm over her shoulders. “This was my last mission. I’m heading back to Long Island.”

“You’re quitting?”

“Yeah, Satan, Lucifer, Demon, Devil, and I are venturing into the security business. Piracy on the high seas is rampant, especially in the Indian Ocean area. Satan’s family is Greek, and he has contacts in the shipping industry. We’ve secured contracts to protect three shipping lines.”

“You have to explain the nicknames.”

“We’re the Hades Squad.” He formed quotation marks around the name. “When we’re not deployed, we do aerial shows around the country. Mostly charity gigs. There’re a few more team members. Most are still on active duty. A few are due to retire soon, and we’re hoping they’ll join us. Actually, we’ve pretty much decided to actively recruit from our current and ex-members.”

“Why the Hades Squad?”

“In Afghanistan, the enemy collectively referred to any American in uniform as the great American Satan. Our Senior Chief decided to use the term to intimidate the shit out of the locals. At first we called ourselves The Devil’s Squad, but the bureaucrats and brass decided the word ‘Devil’ wasn’t politically correct. Hades was the Greek God of the Underworld, so we settled on The Hades Squad.”

“That’s actually very clever. Just how did you get the moniker, Sinner?”

“Senior Chief Googled alternatives for Devil and antonyms for Saint and put all the names into his helmet. I picked Sinner.”

“And Lorcan picked Satan. Demon, the guy who loaned me the cabin, is one of you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

Emotions churned in her eyes, and she tapped one foot on the floor; the flamingo’s obsidian beak danced like a drunken domino.

He cupped her jaw and turned her gaze to his. “You do that whenever you want to ask me something but won’t. What?”

“What happens when the blizzard stops?”

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a magnificent Monday!

Cheers,

Jianne