“Are you ready for us, Ms. Barlow?”
Maggie plastered a serious expression on her face and gripped the sides of the podium. “Yes, please come in.”
Three men, all over fifty if they were even that young, filed into the room and took their seats. Not one of them offered an introduction or a handshake. They assumed she knew who they were, which she did, and that was fine with her. She preferred thinking of them as the pointy-nose general, the stone-faced one, and the pudgy one.
The stone-faced man closest to the podium looked up at her. “We’re expecting two more.”
As if on cue, the door creaked open.
“Ms. Barlow, this is Lieutenant Colonel Walt Johnson from Fort Campbell in Tennessee, and Chief Warrant Officer Hunter Cross from the Army Ranger’s 75th Division. Provided we like what we hear today, Chief Cross will act as your liaison while you conduct your interviews.”
The trailer door closed behind the man who’d knelt between her spread legs and given her the most powerful orgasm of her life. Hunter. Maggie’s face burned and her knees turned to noodles.
“Ms. Barlow,” Hunter said, his eyes wide with surprise and something else she couldn’t quite read.
Dear God, that voice sent shock waves through her body down to her core, and a place deep inside her that had no business attending a meeting in her conservative suit melted. Then she came crashing back to reality.
Hunter, her one-night stand, was her Army liaison? This man, who’d spent Saturday night fulfilling her sexual fantasies, held the key to her success?
Oh, hell. Oh, holy crap.
Maggie closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. He wouldn’t say a word. Not Hunter, the man who held doors and pulled out chairs. The man she’d met at the car show would never open his mouth and say, “Hey Maggie, thanks for Saturday night. I hope you got all the orgasms you needed.” No, he would not do that.
She hoped. She prayed.
But he didn’t need to say anything to throw her off her presentation. Just the sight of him made her think of sex. Okay, so she wouldn’t look at him. She’d pretend he wasn’t there. She could do this. She had to do this. If she ran out of the trailer now, she’d never get another meeting with these men.
Opening her eyes, Maggie plastered a serious smile on her face, not too big or too charming, but just enough so that she did not appear combative. Gripping the sides of the podium, she waited for Chief Hunter Cross and Lieutenant Colonel what’s- his-name to take their seats. Then she looked down at the podium and began the most important presentation of her career.
Subject: Chief Warrant Officer Hunter Cross
Mission: Keep Margaret Barlow distracted…using any means necessary!
Ranger Hunter Cross is the army poster child—excitement, danger and no strings in sight. And he's been in town exactly three hours before a curvy blonde named Maggie flashes him a look that says "You belong in my bed." It's a night of wicked satisfaction. And it's a night they can never repeat….
All Professor Maggie Barlow wanted was an orgasm—or three— from the dead-sexy Ranger. Having him as her official army liaison while she works on her new book? That wasn't in the plan. Especially when she learns that Hunter has orders to "control" her. Little does the army know that when it comes to their deliciously naughty nighttime activities, Hunter is at Maggie's complete command….
Uniformly Hot! The Few. The Proud. The Sexy as Hell.
Sara Jane: I recently sat down again with the heroine of COMMAND PERFORMANCE, Maggie Barlow. I spent many long months with her, but now that I’ve moved on to other projects, it was great to catch up and take another look at her thoughts on her journey down the road to happy-ever-after.
Sara Jane: Maggie! I’ve missed you. It seems like just yesterday I was typing “the end” on the first draft of your story while on hospital bed rest awaiting the birth of my daughter. Many sleepless nights (thanks to both you and my baby) and many revisions later, your story is finally on shelves and ereaders! How does it feel?
Maggie: You know I like to be in control of everything. And this? Letting readers into my life—some of the most intimate and steamy moments of my life? It makes me feel a little out of control to say the least. But Hunter’s helping me relax. At least, I was relaxed until I came here. (She leans closer and drops her voice.) You do know that there are some bestselling characters on Riverina Romantics. To be featured on the same blog—it’s an honor for a debut heroine. My nervous nelly hands are moving a mile a minute. I mean, I’ve stood up in front of a room full of generals before and demanded they support my book. But being here still makes me nervous.
Sara Jane: Speaking of generals, the exclsuive excerpt posted here is from that scene.
Maggie: Thank goodness! I was afraid you were going to share a snippet from our first night together at the hotel, or from that time Hunter turned the tables on me and said it was time to explore his fantasies. Or that time in Tennessee, when I thought for sure it was our last night together and Hunter—
Sara Jane: Careful, you don’t want to give away too much! After reading the excerpt, I bet readers are curious about what drove you to pick up a man for one wild night of sex at a car show.
Maggie: After I caught my ex cheating, I naturally called Olivia, my best friend. I expected her to show up with chocolate. Instead, she brought heels I could barely walk in and dragged me to a car show.
Sara Jane: Olivia dragged you?
Maggie: Well, not exactly. She made me realize that I was tired of being the girl who was too afraid to voice her desires. So I decided to go after what I wanted—one night with a man who could make my sexual fantasies come true. That first night with Hunter . . . he took control, allowing me to just be and feel. It was just what I needed from a one-night stand.
Sara Jane: But not what you were looking for in your Army-issued liaison?
Maggie: No. When it comes to my work, I’m a total control-freak. And this book? It had the potential to take my career to news levels, including a tenured position. After my unstable childhood with my alcoholic father, I needed the stability that promotion would provide. But then Hunter stared trying to “control” the message of my book and as you can imagine that caused some problems.
Sara Jane: It didn’t help that you couldn’t keep your hands off each other.
Maggie: I hold you responbile for that. After that first night when he promised to teach me things that would blow my fantasies out of the water, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I let him.
Sara Jane: And did he? Blow your fantasies away?
Maggie: I guess you’ll have to read and find outJ
You can buy Command Performance, here.
Author Bio:
After several years on the other side of the publishing industry, Sara Jane Stone bid goodbye to her sales career to pursue her dream—writing romance novels. Sara Jane currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her very supportive real-life hero, two lively young children and a lazy Burmese cat. Author Links:
