BLACK HEARTED
Black Knight Inc: Reloaded, #2
by Julie Ann Walker
Release Date: September 26th 2023
BLURB
The Black Knights are back and better than ever!
Samuel Harwood has spent his entire career working in the black and gray areas of international intrigue. Living in the shadows or so long has made him forget who he was and where he came from. Then a blast from the past, in the form of his ex-girlfriend’s kid sister, arrives on the front steps of Black Knights Inc, reminding him of everything he left behind. Except, she’s no longer a kid. And she’s in serious trouble.
Hannah Blue has been in love with Sam Harwood since she was in braces. When someone sabotages her entire life, he’s the first person she turns to. She has critical information about a potential cyber-attack on the U.S. power grid that could end in catastrophic financial damage and loss of life. But the FBI thinks she’s a traitor. And now she’s on the run to save herself and the fate of the entire nation.
Who does Samuel trust? The smart, sexy woman he’s known since he was a teenager? Or the government authorities who give him his orders and cut his paychecks? He’ll make one desperate play to find out. A play that could cost him everything…including his heart.
EXCERPT
They say you can’t go home again…
When I finished authoring the final novel in my original 12-book Black Knights Inc. series, I was done.
Or so I thought…
I’d been writing in that world for years. Had been living with those characters in my head for even longer than that. And I was glad to pen the final “The End” and move on to something new.
I stayed happy writing something new for a handful of years. And then the funniest thing happened. I missed the world I’d created. I missed the characters I’d grown to know and love, and I kept imagining what their lives were like now. But most importantly—at least from a writer’s perspective—new characters kept popping into my head. And I found myself daydreaming about new stories set back in that old world.
So I bit the bullet and jumped in.
You know what? It was like coming home. And every line I wrote felt like flexing muscle memory—deliciously comfortable while still giving me that shot of adrenaline.
I’ve had so much fun returning to the world of motorcycles and mayhem. And I hope my readers feel the same.
(Author note: You don’t have to have read the original 12-book series to jump into the Reloaded series. All books can be read as standalones.)
“Don’t worry,” she teased. “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before. Although, dat ass?” She winked. “Top ten, for sure. Probably top five.” He made a face. “I don’t wanna think of you seeing other men in the raw. You’re too young. You should be playing D and D and eating cheese puffs by the fistful.” She threw back her head and laughed. He didn’t notice how it made her pale neck look totally lickable. No he did not. When she lowered her chin, she was still grinning. “Oh, I still play D and D and eat cheese puffs. But I also like to—” “Lah, lah, lah!” he sang over her, wishing he could plug his ears. But that would require letting go of his junk and that was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. She shook her head. “I swear, Sam, I’ll be sixty and you’ll still look at me and see an eighth grader.” He could’ve countered with you have no idea how wrong you are. But he didn’t want to encourage further conversation considering…you know…he was standing there in his birthday suit. “I…uh…I can bring you those dry clothes if you’ll give me a minute.” He hitched his chin toward the bathroom door, indicating she should slide back inside and close it behind her. “I came out to ask about Band-Aids.” She gestured toward her injured toe. “There’s a first aid kit under the sink.” “Great. Thanks.” She nodded and turned away. His covert sigh of relief was cut short when she swung back. Biting the inside of her cheek, she gestured up and down his length. “It’s not just the ass that’s top five. The whole kit and kaboodle is pretty damn good. Maybe good enough to rate top two.” Two? That meant there was some sonofabitch out there whom she thought was better looking than— No. He shook his head. He wasn’t going to think about that. And he definitely wasn’t going to address the little spurt of jealousy he felt. No, he was not. “I think you’re enjoying having me at a disadvantage just a little too much,” he grumbled. “Nonsense.” She shook her head. “When it comes to enjoyment, there’s no such thing as too much.” Then, with a flirty wink, she disappeared inside the bathroom.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Julie grew up in a house full of women – she has three older sisters. As you can imagine, there was no lack of drama… or romance. Her mother enrolled her in a book club as soon as she began to read and it was the small spark that ignited her voracious appetite for the written word.
Because of Julie’s early immersion in literature, she found writing came quite naturally. In high school, she won multiple writing contests and was the proud senior editor of The Tiger’s Tale – her school newspaper.
During her college years, however, she longed for a challenge. “Reading and writing felt like second nature to me, so I looked for a way to flex my mental muscles,” she recalls. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, Julie began teaching advanced high school mathematics.
“I loved working with the students and facing the challenges of the classroom, but I longed for the occasional snow day when I could race to the local book store, buy two or three new novels, and curl up in front of the fire to read.”
It wasn’t until a fortuitous move to Chicago that Julie once more returned to her first passion.
Now Julie loves to travel the world looking for views to compete with her deadlines. When she’s not writing, she enjoys camping, hiking, cycling, cooking, petting every dog that walks by her, and… reading, of course!
Website: https://julieannwalker.com/
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