Friday's special is..Smooth Lies!

Smooth Lies by Sara Thacker

Sara's books are available from The Wild Rose Press
If you're not lucky enough to win your copy here, then order one from The Wild Rose Press for the chance to win a Sony e-reader! More details and a book trailer can be found at Sara's blog.

Secrets are never a good thing. Especially between husbands and wives. Especially when they're dangerous secrets. The kind that put your life at risk.

Sophia and Jake Henley are caught between military secrets and the secrets of their marriage. With Jake's former commanding officer already having made an attempt on Jake's life, both Jake and Sophia are in danger. The problem is that Sophia's secret life is to blame - the secret life Jake doesn't know about. And telling him will only deepen the danger...

Here's an excerpt:

The door squeaked opened behind her. She crossed her arms covering her breasts, looking over her shoulder to find Jake standing in the doorway. “Can’t you knock?”

He cracked a smile and her legs grew weak. He’d lied to her. His job as a computer developer and sales person didn’t exist. If he had been truthful, maybe she would have understood. Hell, who was she kidding? She didn’t want to marry into the Army. She liked not being an Army wife. At the stores in town she would see those pathetic women carrying around a passel of kids, waiting for their husbands to make it home safely. But she had been different, detached from them and yet in the same position without even realizing it. Secretly, at one point, she had been jealous of the Army wives. They had support when their husbands took off for months at a time. She had nothing but a ring on her finger and no one at home.

Jake moved closer. Sophia gave her head a short shake, warning him to stay away, but he didn’t notice or didn’t care. His strong arms went around her shoulders, pulling her close. He spun her towards him and crushed her arms against his chest. His fingers ran down her spine, soothing the tired muscles in her back.

“I’m sorry you were put in the middle of this.”

Sophia hiccupped a sob. Her throat constricted and words failed her.

“Sophia, I know it’s hard to believe, but I was going to change. Just this last project, it had to be completed.”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses.” Sophia’s plea was weak. She did want to hear it. She strained to believe anything he could tell her so this entire mess would make sense.

“I need to get you to safety and then I have to stop this madness.”

“What? You’re just going to dump me somewhere and then run off again.”

“No, I’m not going to dump you anywhere. But these people are playing for keeps. They mean business. They already tried to kill me and almost succeeded.”

“Where have you been?”

Jake held Sophia away from him. His grey eyes had darkened and were hooded with worry. “I’ve been in Romania.”

“Why there?”

“Over a month ago, my CO dumped me into the Black Sea and expected me to die.”

“Oh my God, Jake, are you okay? Shit, of course you’re okay. You’re here.”

“I’m fine.” Jake swallowed the guilt of his lie. He wasn’t fine. His body ached. His bones were tired and his muscles throbbed from the exhaustive exercise today. He could last only a few more days at this pace before he started making major mistakes.

“You’re lying.”

“What?”

“Not telling the truth, you know, lying. That’s what you’re doing. Just like with your job. Did you ever love me?” Sophia’s voice rose with each word. Her body shook and her face flamed pink.

“Sophia, I do love you. I just don’t know how to be a husband.”

“Maybe you should work on figuring that out?”

* * *

And on to the questions...

1. What is the smoothest lie you've ever told?
2. What do you cover up when your spouse enters the room unexpectedly?
3. What does it take to be a good husband?

And do ask Sara about her SWAT experience...