Excerpt: 'Black Dawn' by Cristin Harber

Cristin Harber shares a scene from the latest romantic suspense in her Titan series (book eight!), Black Dawn.

About the book (courtesy of Mill Creek Press):

What happens when nothing is as it seems?

Lexi Dare is on a one-woman mission to stay alive. Both at home and at work. Because how did she end up with a ring on her finger and an abuser in bed as she readies to hit the high point in her career? Everything should be perfect. Amazing job. Handsome fiancé. It's all a disaster.

Parker Black is the brains behind Titan Group, an elite security firm. In his world, everything is ordered and controlled, except what he feels for his buddy's girl. Something in her eye screams for help, but he has no idea what.

When Lexi disappears, Parker realizes what he should have known. The lines blur between friendships and work, and they must find each other to survive a terror attack that only Lexi can stop.

Black Dawn can be read as a standalone and does not have a cliffhanger.

Cristin sets the scene for us …

Cristin: Parker Black was not a character I planned to write when I first penned his dialogue in Winters Heat (Titan, #1). He was behind the scenes, and more of an intellectual fighter than a man who uses his fists (though as a Marine, he certainly can). As the series progressed, I began to enjoy Parker's banter and how the teams relied on him. It became screamingly obvious, smart was as sexy as his muscles. I suddenly realized that Parker Black was one of the best heroes I'd come across.

Apparently, I was one of the last to know, because as I looked around, I found that he had a near-cult following. Writing his story wasn't easy. Parker and Lexi took me out of my comfort zone. They made me swoon and fall in love as their story unfolded in Black Dawn, and in true Titan fashion, they manage to save the day (or in this case, the United States, from a potential terrorist attack that hits close to home).

EXCERPT

Jared walked in, giving Parker the eye that said he'd have to explain the lady reading a book in the war room. So this conversation was going to get so much worse.

"What's up?" Boss man grumbled.

Winters gave him a look long enough to answer, but he didn't, so he turned to Jared. "Parker's got problems."

"I don't have problems."

"Then he has a chick with a problem."

"Lady in my war room?" Jared's eyes sliced to him. "Fix it."

"Yeah. Working on it."

Winters chuckled.

Jared pushed, eyeing the dynamic between him and Winters. "Fixed soon? Fixed, when?"

Parker rubbed his temples. "Think I need some time off."

Jared's brows bit together. "You need time off for a problem that you haven't explained with a chick I know nothing about who is sitting in my war room?"

"Yeah. Basically." Though when it was laid out like that, it had a problematic vibe.

"No." Jared's boots turned and he pounded out of the room, growling as he went.

The headache punching at Parker's temples worsened. "Alright, wait."

Jared pivoted, hands on hips, and glared. "You have twenty seconds to try again."

"The Union Station attack, looks like… a buddy was the target but she lucked out and is now on the run."

"And that buddy is a woman," Winters added. "The woman."

Jared frowned. "And she was at the safe house I just had to send a clean-up team to?"

"Yup."

"She's your girl?" Jared looked a couple notches past his normal pissed off.

"No. Not my woman."

"Then what is this about?"

Parker pulled a breath through his teeth. Explaining the intricacies of something Jared didn't care for wouldn't help his case. "First, it's a hacker thing. Looks like she was targeted and she's on the run."

The line between Boss Man's brows deepened. "A hacker thing?"

"More or less."

"And your woman's involved."

"I don't have a woman."

"But still, she's the one in my war room that you had at a compromised safe house?"

Frustration wasn't making this explanation any easier. "Yeah—"

Winters, staring over Parker's shoulder, whistled low and long. "Tell me that's not her."

Parker followed his gaze but already knew what was there. The perfect beauty he'd pulled from security footage. Lexi Dare. The woman was all woman.

"That's her." He nodded, suddenly not interested in having either married man looking at her.

"Thought you were smart." Jared shook his head. "I was wrong."

"What?"

"Man, you do not think you need some time off. Something looking like that running free with some attack dog after her, you say call up the troops, we've got work to do."

Parker blinked. "This is off the books."

"Everything's off the books."

"This doesn't pay."

"The best jobs don't."

Parker leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his jaw. "I'm not sure what I'm getting into. Titan doesn't need that."

"If there is one person that knows what Titan gets into, it's you." Jared shook his head. "Get Rocco, debrief with him. Winters, sit in, keep your boy on point. You have whatever resources you need."

Parker stood. "Seriously, Boss Man—"

"What?" Jared growled.

"This is personal."

"Somehow, however long you've worked here, you missed this memo. If you have personal, we deal with personal. And, brother, you never have got personal. So when things pops up like it's done now—and there's a lady here to prove it—we go in and fix it."

"This isn't like that."

"Then whatever it's like, it's the only outside-of-Titan personal connection you have. Whatever the woman is to you, you make her day. That means you save her life, you kill some rogue shooter, you do a hacker thing, you get the job done. Read me?"

His stomach dropped. "Loud and clear."

Find out more about Cristin and her books at cristinharber.com.