Julie Ann Walker | The Stars of THRILL RIDE!

Meet Richard "Rock" Babineaux and Vanessa Cordero

The Stars of THRILL RIDE!

This is Richard "Rock" Babineaux.  And he comes by his nickname honestly.  He's the cornerstone, the dependable one, the guy everyone wants at their backs in the custom motorcycle shop that provides the cover for the clandestine government defense firm known as Black Knights Incorporated.  A former Navy SEAL, Rock spends the time he's not on super-secret missions for Uncle Sam either strumming his guitar, polishing the chrome on his tricked-out, handcrafted Harley chopper, or trying to avoid the advances of the ever-intrepid Vanessa Cordero.  Sometimes stoic, always philosophical, and equipped with a sexy Cajun accent, Rock is just the kind of man women tend to swoon over - including Vanessa.  But he's got a secret.  One so big it threatens to destroy everything and everyone he knows and loves...

Meet Vanessa Cordero. But don't let her soft, dainty exterior fool you.  She's got the heart of a lioness.  A renowned military communications specialist, Vanessa is the newest member of Black Knights Inc. and is fluent in multiple languages.  Perhaps it's her advanced ear for dialects and accents that makes her belly fill with butterflies whenever Rock starts talking in that smooth, drawling Cajun French of his, or maybe it's just the heat she sees shining out at her from his lovely hazel eyes.  She prides herself on being tough, tenacious, and, above all else, true-hearted.  So, when Rock is accused by the U.S. government of turning rogue, she relies on what her heart is telling her and refuses to believe the charges leveled against him...

And now that you've met the dynamic duo of THRILL RIDE, read on for an excerpt!

He was going to shoot her!

She could see his pistol silhouetted against the thin beam of light and for a heartbeat of time, before fear had a chance to kick in, she felt one and only one emotion...

Indignity. She could not believe he was actually going to—

Boom!

His 9mm sounded like a cannon explosion, so loud it rattled Vanessa's teeth. She waited for the punch of mind-numbing pain, for the specter of death to follow quickly on its heels, but all she felt was something fall into the leaves beside her feet.

Instinctively she jumped away, glancing down as Rock pointed his flashlight at the forest floor, spotlighting the writhing, yellow body of the fatally wounded snake. He was at her side in two steps, grabbing the snake by one of its bloody coils and neatly severing its head with the 10-inch bowie knife he'd had hidden somewhere on his person.

"I..." she tried to swallow her heart, which had leapt into her throat the instant she'd seen that big, black pistol pointed at her head. "I thought you were going to..." She couldn't continue. The darkness around her was spinning and if she didn't do something fast she knew she was going to be sucked down into its vortex.

Head between your knees. Put your head between your knees...

She bent at the waist and grabbed the backs of her legs, pulling herself down in a long stretch that impeded the rapid contractions of her diaphragm and kept her from hyperventilating and passing out.

And wouldn't that impress him? If she keeled over in a dead faint?

Um, no. The answer to that was a definite N.O.

She remained like that, doing her best impression of a human taco, for a couple of seconds, pressing her cheek to her kneecaps until the stars stopped spinning in front of her eyes, and then she straightened. In the dim circle of illumination cast by the flashlight, she could just make out Rock's concerned frown.

"Y'okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I—" She raked in a calming breath, appalled to discover her entire body was shaking. So much for the whole hard-ass operator persona she'd been working on since starting at BKI. "I'm all right," she finally managed.

"What did you think I was gonna do?"

"Oh, uh..." She bit her lip and squinted when he shined the light in her face.

"You actually thought I was gonna shoot you, didn't you?"

"Stop shining that thing in my eyes," she barked, holding a hand up in front of her face. It was a good excuse to one, hide her expression from him because she was so totally busted, and two, change the subject.

"Sonofabitch! You did!" His tone was incredulous. He spun around, stomping a few feet away. She blinked against the darkness—which was made even worse by the fact that she'd just had a flashlight directed in her eyes—and tracked his movements only by following the thin, bouncing beam of illumination. Then, suddenly, he had the thing aimed at her face, and she was blinded again. "So you believe all that stuff you're hearing about me? You think I—"

"No," she cut him off. Taking a step toward him, imploring him with outstretched hands. "I don't believe it."

He was silent for a long, pregnant moment. The chorus of frogs and the drone of nighttime insects struggled to fill the void, then, "You're a terrible liar."

"Rock, I—"

"Save it."

She snapped her mouth shut. What more could she say? For a split second there, she had thought he was going to shoot her.

"You think you can keep up?" The question, so sudden and so far off topic, momentarily befuddled her.

"I—I've done okay so far, haven't I?"

A resonant grunt was his only response. And then there wasn't any time for words, because she was too busy trying to stay close to him and the light in his hand.

The darkness, that stygian, black abyss...It brought back too many memories.

She shivered and tripped over a large root. Flailing, she tried to keep her balance and failed. But before she oh-so-gracefully face-planted into the ground, he was there, grabbing her under her arms, hoisting her up against his solid chest.

And time came to a screeching halt.

It was like someone tipped the hourglass on its side and the grains of sand stopped falling. The sounds of the forest faded away. The oppressive humidity faded away. The unbearable darkness faded away. There was nothing but the two of them, locked in an embrace, faces inches apart, ragged breath mingling.

Kiss me.

The thought slid through her mind, unwelcome and startling. She knew it wasn't right. Knew he wasn't going to change his mind about what he could offer her. Knew she was only wasting her time hoping that he would. But right now, in this moment, that wasn't really a moment at all since it was a brief instant out of time, she wanted to know what it was to hold him in her arms. To feel his passion, taste his essence, and share with him those same things in herself.

He bent just slightly, his full lips so close, his sweet breath so warm...

And then he set her away from him, pressing the penlight into her palm.

"You take the light," he instructed. "Just make sure to shine it at my feet."

that, he turned away, and she was left with no recourse but to follow him on knees that'd turned to jelly.

Thank you Fresh Fiction for having me on today!  As always, it's an honor and privilege!

THRILL RIDE BY JULIE ANN WALKER - IN STORES APRIL 2013

He's Gone Rogue...

Ex-navy SEAL Rock Babineaux is as Cajun as they come—spicy, sexy, and more than a bit wicked. But would he actually betray his country? Even his best friends on the special-ops Black Knights team aren't sure they can trust him. Now the target of a massive manhunt, Rock knows the only way to protect the team—especially his partner, Vanessa—is to run...

She Won't Back Down...

Rock might think he can outmaneuver them all, but he hasn't counted on how stubborn Vanessa Cordero can be. And she refuses to cut him loose. Sure, her partner has his secrets, but there's no one in the world she'd rather have by her side in a tight spot. Which is good because she and Rock are about to get very tight...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Black Knights Inc. romantic suspense series. She is prone to spouting movie quotes and song lyrics. She'll never say no to sharing a glass of wine or going for a long walk. She prefers impromptu travel over the scheduled kind, and she takes her coffee with milk. You can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission. Look for the first four books in her fast-paced series: HELL ON WHEELS (August 2012) IN RIDES TROUBLE (September 2012) REV IT UP (October 2012) and THRILL RIDE (April 2013). For more information, please visit www.julieannwalker.com or follow her on Facebook www.facebook.com/jawalkerauthor and/or Twitter @JAWalkerAuthor.

To Purchase THRILL RIDE

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Target | Sourcebooks | Discover a New Love

Black Knights, Inc.

(All photos used in the post, I either own outright or purchased the right to use through Dreamstime Stock Photos)

What do you think of the "stars" of THRILL RIDE? One commenter will win a copy of REV IT UP, the (Book 3 in the Black Knights Inc. Series, and where readers first meet Rock and Vanessa, hero and heroine of THRILL RIDE).