Password to Her Heart

The American Soldier Collection 9: Password to Her Heart

Shawna James is struggling through life. Her only family, her brother Keith, comes to visit her when he gets involved in a mission gone awry. Shawna gets thrust into danger like she's never experienced before. Even the fear she sustained most of her childhood with abusive parents doesn't compare to being abducted by terrorists, held hostage in a Mexican make-shift prison, or having to kill in order to survive. Everything her brother has taught her comes into play, except falling in love with the five members of his team, including their gunnery sergeant. These men are older, risked their lives to save hers and Keith's, and now she questions whether they want her out of loyalty to Keith, or if they in fact truly care. They need to prove it to her quickly, because the terrorists they helped her and Keith escape from want revenge, and they'll take it by abducting Shawna once and for all.

Genre:
Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

Length:
53,258 words
 

Dixie Lynn Dwyer

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Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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THE AMERICAN SOLDIER COLLECTION 9: PASSWORD TO HER HEART

Copyright © 2014 by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-997-0

First E-book Publication: July 2014

Cover design by Les Byerley

All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of
The American Soldier Collection 9: Password to Her Heart
by Dixie Lynn Dwyer from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

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The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

This is Dixie Lynn Dwyer’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Dwyer’s right to earn a living from her work.

Amanda Hilton, Publisher

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Could you imagine, conditioning yourself to the point of not allowing another person close enough to you because such a chance scared you so terribly that it was easier to be alone? How does a person live without love, without relationships, without allowing any connections to last more than momentarily?

It will take some seriously charismatic, assertive, and determined soldiers to get Shawna James to open up her heart. But they have some weapons of their own. A bit of fate, a dash of destiny, and ultimately the password to her heart that starts it all.

May you enjoy their story. Thank you for being such loyal reading fans.

Happy reading.

Hugs!

~Dixie~

THE AMERICAN SOLDIER COLLECTION 9: PASSWORD TO HER HEART

DIXIE LYNN DWYER

Copyright © 2014

“I can’t believe you’re sitting here in my kitchen. It’s been over a year. I was so worried about you. Are you out of the service?” Shawna James asked her brother, Keith, as he looked around the place. He appeared tired, yet on edge since he arrived fifteen minutes ago. He had visited her over the years. He also made sure she was well trained in self-defense and other moves. He loved her, but his military career was his life.

His brown hair was to his shoulders, his beard looked patchy and unkempt. Something was wrong. She just knew it.

He leaned forward, the muscles in his forearm visible with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his biceps.

“Baby, listen to me. It’s important that you listen to every word I say, and don’t ask any questions.” He looked around the small apartment. Hell, she was embarrassed, but it was hers. She paid the rent. She worked at the club behind the bar. She was the one finishing college. Shawna was a survivor and trust didn’t come easy. In fact, her brother was the only man, never mind the only person, she trusted.

She stared at him, her heart filled with so much sadness and bad memories of their childhood.

“What’s going on?”

He looked to the right and then back at her. He did just tell her to not ask any questions. She raised her stubborn shoulders as well as her eyebrows in challenge.

“I need you to listen to everything I tell you and keep it in the back of your mind just in case people come looking for me.”

“People? Who?”

“Shawna, I can’t tell you who, but I can tell you that these men are bad. They want things from me. Things that they can’t have. My cover could have gotten blown on a recent mission. It was supposed to be my last.”

“Your last mission? What about the team? Your commander? The other four men?”

Men she never met. Men she didn’t even know the names of, just men her brother referred to as his team and family.

He took a deep breath and released it. “I was solo on this one. It’s important that you know the possible danger you could be in. These men will stop at nothing to get what I have. I came here because you’re my only family. I had to warn you and set up a plan to help you survive. If they come here, and they find you, they’ll use you to get to me and to get this information.”

“Well then, why did you come here? Who are these people and how come the government isn’t helping you?”

He looked down at the table and then back into her eyes. She knew that look whether he was thirteen or thirty. He had done something he wasn’t supposed to do.

He lifted up a black bag from the floor. He had arrived with it. A backpack.

He unzipped it and showed her the contents.

“There’s twenty thousand dollars in here. You take it, its unmarked bills, and you use it to get as far from here as possible. Don’t stay in one place too long. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t go to the police or even the feds. You understand me?”

“No. If you did something so wrong that you can’t even rely on help from a government you dedicated your life to, then this must be very illegal. Why are you dragging me into your problems, Keith? Jesus! Like I haven’t been through a hard enough life as is?”

“Damn it, Shawna, I’m trying to save your life because of all that. I know our childhood sucked. Hell, I got out as fast as I could. Don’t you realize all those times I showed up over the years, and taught you all those self-defense moves, and signed you up for the martial arts training and shooting instructions on guns that it might have been to prepare you?”

“Prepare me for what? I’m not a soldier. I have shit, and I work at a freaking bar. I’m struggling to pay for college and finish up so I can have a real job, a real career, and a life. I don’t even have a boyfriend because of my fears from the past. Look at this shithole I live in because I have no choice.”

She was standing now and pacing in her small kitchen.

Keith stood up and laid the bag on the table. He walked closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her brother had always protected her when things got rough, but he did leave her to deal with the mess at home. She took off when she finished high school and never looked back. Keith was her only family.

“I know you’ve been through some rough times. It was why I kept coming back to train you, to prepare you to be safe. My job in the military has taken a turn along the way that I didn’t expect. There are some very evil people out there, Shawna. People that would think nothing of taking you and raping and torturing you to get to me. So please just forget about the fucked-up shit from the past and take me seriously. They will come for you. I need you to be ready.”

“Oh God, Keith. I can’t believe this is happening. Where am I supposed to go?”

I know my life isn’t perfect. I know the apartment is shitty and I live in an unsafe neighborhood, but it’s my life, my apartment. I worked hard to get here, and I’ve been studying and working to get that degree so I can make more money and get out of here. Why is this happening?

“Bounce around from place to place. There is a passport in there but once you choose a country to relocate to you can’t come back here. That’s your last resort. If they come for you, you must not let them catch you. Use your training, your skills to evade their capture, Shawna.”