1 Night Stand: Can I be Your Hero?

By D. C. Stone

Being a professional in the law enforcement industry for over fifteen years, I’m often asked how my two worlds—that of a romance author and one of a criminal investigator—together. Working around alpha-bearing, macho federal agents, investigators, and police officers, I also get another type of response when they learn just what I write, followed by the no longer surprising, “Can you write a story with me as your hero?”

A few years ago, I had to balk at this question. Now? I just laugh and agree. Because the truth is, nearly every one of my heroes are based on some sorta alphy, edgy, law enforcement individual. If I’m not dabbling in the world of kick-ass heroes who want to conquer the latest round of crime, I digging into my former life as a military member, and bringing those guys into their honorable roles.

Creating a detective, federal agent, police officer, investigator, or military member isn’t something entirely too difficult, but capturing a believable persona of those individuals is something the author must know.

With any one of the above, it’s all about the details. These men and every law enforcement/military member that I’ve encountered have one thing in common. It’s not the need to fight crime, nor is it the need to go blow “shit” up. It’s about everything they see, things they notice, details they take in that go far beyond any other regular person.

Cops and military members are trained to notice everything going on around them. They see the threat before others see it, they notice someone who has walked into a restaurant that may be looking a little nervous, they can see the shift in someone’s mood just from a simple question, and capturing those details have been ingrained into their minds through their training not once, not twice, but over and over again. It’s a routine part of these individuals’ lives. They train monthly, sometimes weekly in order to have it simply be a part of their regular everyday actions. These are the guys (or gals) who will react in a dangerous situation before even realizing they’ve moved.

In Armed and Desired, both Nate and Alyssa are cops, and the details they pick up on bring their desire for one another just one step higher. When I was writing this story I had a blast discovering just how far I could push them, and more so, just how much I could draw on their details they noticed, in order to bring the tension between them to a full spark of undeniable need.

Excerpt:

Nate waited at the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel room and stared out across downtown San Diego. Tall skyscrapers soared around the city, their tops dusted with popping colors of green, blue, and red. Cars passed by in a blur, and with dusk only minutes past and the weekend kicking off, nightlife began to bloom along with his own anticipation.

He tucked his hands inside the charcoal dress pants and rocked back and forth in the uncomfortable black dress shoes. After spending days in his boots and uniform, the toes of the shoes pinched at his toes, and the soles unforgiving. He did not miss them. At all.

The door behind him clicked and a brush of air alerted him someone entered the room. He stilled, his heartbeat kicking out an erratic tempo in his throat, but he didn’t turn, instead watching a woman cross the threshold in the window’s reflection. She assessed the larger-than-normal hotel suite before her gaze settled on his back.

Perplexed, he tipped his head, recognizing her familiar features. She progressed with a lethal grace only a trained law enforcement officer would know, her steps purposeful, but silent, even in heels higher than he’d ever seen her in.

Standing to the side, she set her purse and a small black bag on a table, giving him her profile. A flash of deep red hair grabbed his attention. He sucked in a breath and pivoted in slow motion, refusing to allow hope to grow any more than it had, yet at the same time, fear sliced through. The one person he needed to get out of his system stood in the same room as he.

The night was about to go to hell.

Facing away from him, she took in the overwhelming luxury of the room. Desire slammed into him, he came to life with a kick against his fly.

Alyssa.

About DC: D.C. Stone is an e-book author and full-time fraud investigator when she isn’t diving into the world of Fiction.

She lives in the northeast with her incredibly supporting husband, two kids, and while she’ll deny any association with the grumpy cat, he is there never-the-less.

After serving eight years of service with the United States Air Force, she went on to transition into the world of Financial Crimes and became a lead investigator for many years.

Reading has always been a passion of hers, getting lost in a good, steamy romance one of her favorite past times. That passion took a back seat as soon as she discovered her own love for writing and recreating her own stories and characters.

Now, when she isn’t trying to solve a new puzzle in the world of fraud, she is engulfed with coffee, her laptop, and all those crazy characters in her head. Trying to keep up with that crazy bunch is a skill many would yearn to have.

She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, New Jersey Romance Writers, Kiss of Death, and the Liberty State Fiction Writers. Come stop by on Facebook, Twitter or her website and say hello!

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Website: http://www.authordcstone.com