We're so happy to share a sneak peek of bestselling author Sandra Brown's latest release—STING!
Check out Sandra's dream cast and don't miss the awesome giveaway—just enter below for a chance to win a Coach Tote + autographed copy of STING + $50 Visa Gift Card!
by Sandra Brown
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: August 16, 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense
Synopsis:
When Shaw Kinnard encounters the incongruously elegant Jordie Bennet in a seen-better-days bayou bar, it’s not love at first sight. He’s there to kill her. Instead, he abducts her, eager to get hold of the $30 million her brother has pocketed from his badly bent boss. Now they are on the run from said boss—and the FBI.
Burning for answers-and for each other-this unlikely pair ultimately make a desperate move that could be their last.
With nonstop plot twists and the tantalizing sexual tension that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best-loved authors, STING will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final pages.
* An Exclusive Sneak Peek! *
Mickey wedged himself into the passenger seat. As subordinate partner on this job, it fell to Shaw to drive. Which was okay by him. He hated riding shotgun. If and when a situation went tits-up, he liked having control of the vehicle.
He put the key in the ignition, but Mickey said, “Hold on. We’re not going anywhere yet.”
Shaw’s heart bumped. “Why not?”
“We’re doing it here.”
Shaw just looked at him, then, “You joking?”
“No. Panella said there’s no time like the present.”
“Hell, there isn’t,” Shaw hissed, gesturing back toward the bar. “We were seen in there.”
“Which is another reason why Panella said to go ahead.”
“That doesn’t makes sense.”
“Makes perfect sense.”
“Only if you want to get caught. Speaking for myself, I don’t.”
“So then don’t get caught.” Mickey grunted with the effort of extracting his pistol from the holster lodged between the folds of his belly. “Panella advises against it, too.”
“Easy for him to say. It’s not his ass that’s exposed, is it?”
Mickey gave him a sidelong glance. “First time out and you’re going soft on me.”
“Not soft, old man. Sensible. I don’t see why the fucking hurry.”
“I explained that.”
“Yeah, but tomorrow would be soon enough.”
“Not anymore. Panella has changed his mind. Small town like this, where everybody knows everybody? Word gets around quick that there’s two ‘strangers’ in town.”
“Okay. So we wait to do it till she goes back to New Orleans.”
“That could be days. She doesn’t go into the city on a regular basis. Works out of her house here a lot. Anyhow, it’s not our decision to make. Panella says get her done, especially now that we happened to be caught under the same roof as the target.”
Shaw understood the reasoning, but he still didn’t like it. Not at all.
Mickey kept talking. “Like you, Panella is scared that maybe her showing up here tonight isn’t a coincidence.”
“That’s what I said, but I was only mouthing off. Her coming here has gotta be a fluke. There’s no way she could know about us.”
“Well, whatever, Panella said to do it now, so . . . ” For punctuation, Mickey used the slide of his 9mm to chamber a bullet.
Shaw realized two things: His vote didn’t count, and further argument was pointless. “Shit.” He pulled his pistol from its holster and glanced back toward the door with the crackling neon sign above it. “So how do you want to do it?”
“We wait here till she comes out. If the redneck asshole leaves with her, you pop him. I’ll take care of her.”
“If she comes out alone?”
“I’ll do the honors,” Mickey said as he worked his hands into latex gloves. He passed a pair to Shaw. “You take her purse. Panella says to make it look like a robbery gone bad. A random crime.”
“With no connection to either him or her brother.”
“With no connection to anything.”
Shaw scoffed. “Like anybody will believe that.”
Mickey chuckled. “Not your problem who believes what. You’ll be far and away, enjoying your half of two hundred grand.”
“That’ll buy a nice boat.”
“That’ll buy nice pussy.”
“Your mind’s in the gutter, Mickey.”
He chuckled again. “Where it feels right at home.”
Noticing motion from the corner of his eye, Shaw took another look through the rear window. “Here she comes.”
“By herself?”
Shaw waited to answer until the door had closed behind Jordie Bennett and no one followed her out. “Yep.”
Since the building didn’t have any exterior lighting, the parking lot was almost in complete darkness. A pale, slender moon was obscured by the moss-bearded branches of an oak that extended across three-quarters of the lot. There were no approaching headlights from either direction of the narrow state road.
Seizing the opportunity, Mickey opened his car door and got out, moving with more alacrity than Shaw would have thought him capable of. The fat man was jazzed. Mickey Bolden relished his line of work.
But so did Shaw. The tequila shots hadn’t given him near the rush that straight-up adrenaline did now.
Being as light-footed as possible, they followed Jordie Bennett as she wended her way through the parking lot. It was jammed with dented pickup trucks and salt-water-corroded heaps. Her recent model sedan was a shiny, sleek standout. She used a key fob to unlock the driver’s door.
Shaw captured another drift of that seductive fragrance as she suddenly did an about-face.
Apparently his and Mickey’s footfalls on the crushed shells hadn’t been as light as they’d thought. Or maybe animal instinct had alerted her to mortal danger. In any case, when she saw them rushing toward her, her lips parted on a quick inhale, her eyes went wide with alarm.
As Mickey swiftly closed the distance between them, his right hand snapped up from his side with precision and deadly purpose.
The sound suppressor on the pistol muffled the shot, but in the surrounding stillness, the spitting noise seemed as loud to Shaw’s ears as a fire alarm.
Mickey dropped like a sack of cement, his ravaged head hemorrhaging a red tide over the crushed shells.
Jordie Bennett watched in horror as a stream of blood funneled toward her sandals. Then she looked up at Shaw, who still held his pistol shoulder high and extended toward her. He said, “My half just doubled.”
STING Anecdote:
Even though it’s almost thirty years old, the movie
“Top Gun” and its characters are referred to several times. If the soundtrack followed the relationship between Shaw and Jordie, it would start out with “Danger Zone” and end with “Take My Breath Away.”
If you’re on
Spotify, you can find the TOP GUN soundtrack
here:
Sandra's Dream Cast!
Shaw – Tom Hardy
Jordie – Jaimie Alexander
About the Author:
Sandra Brown is the author of more than sixty New York Times bestsellers, including DEADLINE (2013), LOW PRESSURE (2012), LETHAL (2011), TOUGH CUSTOMER (2010), SMASH CUT (2009), SMOKE SCREEN (2008), PLAY DIRTY (2007), RICOCHET (2006), CHILL FACTOR (2005), WHITE HOT (2004), & HELLO, DARKNESS (2003).
Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published over seventy novels, bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to upwards of eighty million. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages.
A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Texas Christian University, majoring in English. Before embarking on her writing career, she worked as a model at the Dallas Apparel Mart, and in television, including weathercasting for WFAA-TV in Dallas, and feature reporting on the nationally syndicated program “PM Magazine.”
In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write, Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.
Brown recently was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University. She was named Thriller Master for 2008, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer’s Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
* Giveaway! *
