by AJ Alexander
Breaking from the kiss, both of us breathing heavily, I bring my head down to hers. Gently connecting at the forehead, I say with a smile, “Now that we have that taken care of, let's go find that doctor. It’s time for us to go home.”
“Home, I like the sound of that.” Layla says with a smile as she pulls away.
Before she has a chance, I pull her back in, placing a chaste kiss on her forehead.
“Mama, none of this matters. You and me, that is all I need. I have no family, my parents are both dead, you have met my crazy family already. We aren’t all related by blood, but we love each other fiercely. Faults and all. I won’t tell you their stories, but not one of us is perfect. All I need is you, we can be broken and imperfect together. It’s you that makes me the man that I want to be, someone that I can be proud of. “
Tears begin to run down her cheeks as she smiles. “You know if you keep saying things like this I may think you want to keep me forever.”
“Forever isn’t long enough, I will love you until my last breath.”
She leans in, giving me a kiss. “Forever and always, Danny?”
“Forever and always, Layla.”
Layla and I may not have had the most conventional start, but I can’t help but think that we were destined to meet. We need each other to become better versions of ourselves. Together we are two parts of a whole, a beautiful disaster.
Exclusive Excerpt
of Faith (Sealed #5) available December 2018
PROLOGUE
JUSTIN
I’ve been in the military for a long time, I’ve devoted my life too it. When I joined the Navy, I decided I was all in, I would retire after 20 years of serving my country – then I became a SEAL. Being a SEAL encompasses my entire world. I haven’t been back home to Iowa in close to ten years, girlfriends are few and far between since I don’t have time for them. I have my team and that’s been enough, I’ve been happy. Until one day I wasn’t.
Suddenly, my team of young, single, hell raisers had girlfriends, wives, kids. I found that I wanted that too, except I didn’t know how to be that guy anymore. I’ve been a SEAL for so long that I no longer really know how to be a civilian. Even with my own little sister, I talk to her like a subordinate; like I’ve forgotten how to be normal.
Letting out a sigh, I search for sites online to sign up for that will help match up deployed service members with a pen-pal back home in the States. Clicking on the first link that pops up, I create an account and fill out the profile assessment. This feels more like a dating website then pen-pal site, not that I have any experience with dating websites. I’m gone too much, out of communication for weeks if not months at a time, most chicks just want a quick fuck and bounce.
Fuck it, I’m signing up.
BECCA
Dropping Olivia off at day care this morning was horrible. The only time she’s been away from me, she was with my family. I know it’s normal for kids to cry and even scream the first few times they go to day care or school, but it was heart wrenching. When I left the building, I sat in my car and cried.
Now I’m sitting in class, listening to the professor tell us what we can expect for the term, upcoming projects, tests, and homework. It’s going to be difficult juggling all this while caring for Olivia by myself.
A tear escapes my eye when I think about her father. He was such an amazing man; sweet, thoughtful, loyal with the best laugh. He was my best friend in high school, you never saw one of us without the other. We started dating our senior year, we were each other’s first everything.
Our first time together was awkward and didn’t last long, but it was wonderful for what it was. He proposed to me that night, told me that he was going to sign up to join the Navy the next day. He wanted to help protect the country, to help stop the people that wanted to hurt the innocent people that live here. I was so proud of him, I said yes and that I would follow him anywhere.
It wasn’t long into his enlistment that he was deployed to the Middle East, he was there two weeks and was hit by a car while crossing a street and died. I found out I was pregnant a week later, he never knew about her, but I make sure that she knows about him.
AVAILABLE DECEMBER 2018
Also by Andi Jaxon
Standalone
Craze
The Good Doctor
SEAL’ed Series
Honor
Love
Fate
Also by AJ Alexander
Standalone
The Good Doctor
Fetch
SEAL’ed Series
Honor
Love
Fate
Acknowledgments
We are coming to the end of our journey with the SEAL’ed series and as you can tell this is nothing like the first three books. As do all authors, we feel that both together and separately we have grown, and so have our characters. We hope that shown through in the story of Layla and Danny.
We are very aware that this story is probably not the cup of tea for everyone, and may even turn a lot of you off in completing the rest of the series, but we want to thank you for sticking through to the end with us.
To our editor, Jenny Dillion from Prologue and Prose and our proofreader Liv Moore from Liv’s Shoppe, we would be lost without you! You polish our stories to make them shine like no other. Never leave us!
To all our beta-readers: Nicole Townsend Brown, Kayla Bellamy, Jennifer, Rachel Hubbard, and Courtney Swinson. Our beta bitches, we know this was not most of your cup of tea and that honestly you could all have probably pasted on what we original sent you. We hope that you are proud of the finished product and the changes we made. None of these stories would be the products that finally hit print if it wasn’t for all of you. We may not always like what you have to say, but we do appreciate it!
The most important thank you of all goes to the readers, we couldn’t do this without you.
About Andi Jaxon
Raised in California, I’m a crunchy mom, save the whales and the rain forests, hippy. I married a sexy man in uniform who let me spawn and am now raising a mutinous army of hell raisers that I created myself, all while he defends our country. I drink too much coffee until it's late enough to drink too much wine and am sexually frustrated for your freedom. If you see me online, I'm probably sitting in a closet, hiding from my kids.
If you would like to be notified when I release new works sign up here. I would really love to hear from all of you! Feel free to contact me via any of my social media sites.
About AJ Alexander
Fluent in sarcasm, Supernatural, and song lyrics, I like talking to people and finding what makes them tick, though that probably has to do with the Psychology degree. I’m up before the sun because my kids don’t sleep, chugging tea and coffee to keep my eyes open and my brain semi functional.
I love to write messed up psychos with lots of angst, happily ever afters that have to be worked for. Women with sass and backbone, men with a twisted hero complex and the need to control are my favorite to read as well as write.
If you would like to be notified when I release new works sign up here. I would really love to hear from all of you! Feel free to contact me via any of my social media sites.