SEALed with a Kiss

Excerpt from Chapter 1

Sometimes, even the most dedicated workaholic needs to unwind in a low-class dive. Jax
Graham signaled the bar girl to bring him and Do-Lord two more beers. The Sea Shanty, as neon grunge on the inside as it was dilapidated on the outside, could always be trusted to live down to its name. A smart man would be grateful that darkness hid the dirt, and the odors of beer and ancient cigarette smoke obliterated smells even less savory. Nobody who gave a damn would see him, a lieutenant, having a drink with his best friend, Caleb “Do-Lord” Dulaude, a Chief Petty Officer.

The beer joint would fill up later with a volatile mix of bikers, SEALs, and Marines, but it was early now. Only a few tables were occupied. In one corner a couple of SEAL groupies used a lazy game of pool to offer generous displays of,tits and ass, occasionally casting acquisitive eyes in Jax and Do-Lord’s direction. The tall blonde wasn’t bad, Jax mused in unconscious, automatic assessment, but neither girl was anything special. Still, neither one would leave alone at closing time—not that he’d be here to see it.

Picking up groupies or closing down bars wasn’t something he did much anymore. He’d done plenty of both almost five years ago after Danielle left him, taking his baby son. But it didn’t take him long to learn all he achieved was a hangover. Hard work and dedication turned out to be more effective for blotting out the pain. And paid off in career advancement. Since his latest deployment to Afghanistan his superiors had recommended him for early promotion to lieutenant commander.

Ironic. Danielle left him because being a SEAL claimed most of his time. But after she took Tyler, the only thing that eased his grief was spending even more time at work. Danielle’s death last month wouldn’t really impact his life now. Not at all. It gave him a hollow feeling, but it was the truth.

“You haven’t said much.” Do-Lord’s soft Alabama drawl slid easily through the happy hour chatter. “You worried about Commander Kohn chewing you out?” That his friend knew what had taken place behind closed doors between him and his mentor didn’t surprise Jax. Chiefs knew everything.

“Nah.” Jax used the bottom of his beer mug to press interlocking rings of condensation on the tabletop until he made an Olympics symbol. “It’s not a problem.”

Do-Lord made a dubious rumbling sound and raised one reddish eyebrow.

“Okay, yeah, I was ticked. Kohn questions whether I really know what I’m doing about my son. He kept asking how often I see Tyler. Shit. How much does any SEAL see his kids? And because Danielle and I were divorced, I saw him even less.”
“He thinks you should bring Tyler to live with you?”

“No, he didn’t tell me what to do, except to make sure I spent some time with Tyler—more than a couple of days—before I made up my mind.” Jax scrubbed at his hairline with a fist, a habit when he was frustrated—a habit he thought he’d broken. “But here’s the deal. Sure, custody reverted to me at Danielle’s death, but I know what it’s like to be raised by housekeepers and babysitters. Screw ’im. I’m doing what I think is right.”

Jax could feel Do-Lord listening, though he said nothing. Jax went on, a little calmer. “Giving custody of Tyler to his grandmother is the only plan that makes any sense. I’m not palming him off. She wants him. I don’t like her, but Lauren loves Tyler and he’s already living with her.”

Do-Lord’s sympathetic smile said he understood the bad blood that existed between Jax and his ex–mother-in-law. But his raw-boned face immediately turned serious again. “Maybe you ought to be worried, though.” Do-Lord’s lightgreen eyes leveled a look at Jax. “Face it, man, it ain’t natural for commanders to chew out lieutenants over filling out child care forms. He coulda and he shoulda passed that duty down the chain of command. Kohn could have you discharged if he’s not happy with the provisions you make for Tyler. And I think he’d do it.”

Jax grinned inwardly. Do-Lord’s homespun manner fooled a lot of people. Like his sandy-red hair and slow speech, it made effective camouflage for his incisive intelligence. In fact, he was an omnivorous reader, and holder of several advanced degrees. The only person Jax had ever known who was as smart as Do-Lord had been his boyhood friend Corey. Jax had frequently found Do-Lord’s ability to see patterns—where other people saw only chaos—useful. But he was taking Kohn’s threats too seriously.

Jax shook his head. “You know how Kohn is when he gets the family responsibility bug up his ass. Tyler’s already lost his mother. Why should he be ripped from the one person he really knows? Tyler’s going to be taken care of. It’s essentially the same custody agreement I had with Danielle. Now, it’s just a matter of signing the papers.”

Do-Lord tilted his head and looked at Jax through narrowed eyes. “You really think it will be that easy?” he inquired softly.

Do-Lord’s question fell into one of those conversational lulls. For a moment the bar was so quiet Jax could hear the click of billiard balls in the corner.

“My lawyer’s ex-Navy. He’ll make sure everything is regulation,” he said, but he knew that wasn’t what his friend was asking.

Finally he said the thing he hadn’t said to Kohn, or even to himself. “It’s like this: I don’t see that I’m losing anything I ever had.”

Uncomfortable at revealing so much, Jax pressed a wet circle on the battered tabletop, then bisected it with another circle.

Do-Lord pointed to the wet circles. “You made a vesica piscis.”

Good friend that he was, Do-Lord was offering this odd little factoid culled from his voracious reading as a change of subject. It was a mark of the trust between them that Do-Lord would reveal what an information sponge his brain was. Conscious of his affection and grateful for the shift away from a conversation that had gotten too touchy-feely too fast, Jax canted an eyebrow. “You know the damnedest things. Okay, what the hell is a … a whatever you said?”

“Vesica piscis. It’s a sacred geometric symbol representing enlightenment through union with the Divine Feminine principle. See?” Do-Lord pointed to the lens shape formed where the two circles intersected. “It looks sort of like,” Do-Lord’s eyes twinkled with deadpan humor, “the feminine portal.”

“Feminine portal!” Jax hooted. “You know what, I’m worried about you. You’ve been talking funny ever since you read all those romance novels while we were in Afghanistan.”

SEALs teased one another relentlessly to ease the inevitable friction among team members— alpha males, every one—whose natural tendency was to compete for dominance rather than to cooperate. Do-Lord refused to take the bait, though. “Nothing else I could do, once I’d been through all the paperback thrillers.”

“I think you’re trying to say it looks like pussy.” Jax laughed again, then tilted his head one way and then the other to study the shape he’d made. “Well, damn! It sort of does. Okay, such a symbol is important to know about … why?”

“You see it in Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings, representations of the Virgin Mary—lots of places, even tabletops in beer joints. It’s a clue to interpretation.”

“You’re the guy with the psych degree. How do you interpret my spontaneous work of art?”

“Me?” Do-Lord took a thoughtful swig of beer. “I think it means you need to get laid.”

Both men chuckled and settled deeper into the scarred wooden armchairs. After a moment Jax broke the easy silence.

“I was just thinking about something the Commander said. Do you think a lot of men wonder if their children are really theirs?” Do- Lord had never been married and had no children, but there wasn’t another man on earth Jax would have shared his musings with.

SEALed With A Kiss: In his tenure as a SEAL, Jax Graham has faced many impossible situations, but none more difficult than trying to connect with his four-year old son, Tyler. The product of a brief marriage, Tyler lived full-time with his mother until she died unexpectedly as a result of cosmetic surgery. Now living with his maternal grandmother, Tyler is a quiet, sad boy, and no matter how Jax tries to relate to this child he now has full technical custody of, the boy barely responds. Of course, Jax doesn’t know much about relating to children, and his brusque manner doesn’t help.

As soon as family therapist Pickett Sessoms sees the man and boy down at the North Carolina beach, she knows how easy it would be for the father to engage his young son. Introducing herself to Jax, Pickett only needs a few minutes to change the atmosphere between father and son entirely. Walking away she thinks about how attractive Jax was, not knowing Jax was thinking exactly the same thing. What neither anticipates is that the coming hurricane will leave Tyler and Jax without a place to stay (some bad luck, bad timing, and bad parenting to blame there). But thanks to Jax’s sharp memory and ingenious skills, father and son show up at Pickett’s mainland house needing a place to wait out the storm.

As far-fetched as the set-up for this book sounds, the story itself – the growing romance between Jax and Pickett and the equally strong relationship developing between Jax and Tyler – is sweet, smart, and down-to-earth. Pickett is a woman content with her path in life, with her independence and her obligations. She is slowly renovating and refurnishing her home, and while she struggles financially, she is not looking for someone else to save her. Jax is equally satisfied with his life, and initially believes that he will simply spend a few days with Tyler and then send him back to his grandmother, Lauren, whom he does not really like but assumes will be a better parent to Tyler. Over the course of the story, though, Jax realizes that he wants to bond with his son, who does not really want to go live with his grandmother, although Jax cannot get a straight answer from him as to why (it’s nothing horrifying, but significant enough to make Jax think twice).

The attraction between Pickett and Jax is immediate and visceral:



The salt breeze carried the scent of his sun-warmed skin overlaid with coconut oil sunscreen, and she inhaled reflexively. She ignored the way her heart was beating much too hard and told herself to get a grip. Working at a Marine base, Pickett dealt with well-built, thoroughly masculine men all the time. How different could this one be? Resolutely she held her hair out of her eyes with her left hand, and thrust out her right.

“Hey.” She infused her tone with a combination of friendliness and authority. “I’m Pickett Sessoms. I noticed y’all from the deck of the Howells’ cottage. I thought I should warn you two that both of you are wasting that sand over there,” she indicated the strip of firm sand beyond the reach of the breakers, “and that’s wrong. In fact, it’s a crime.”

Jax’s smile broadened at her cheerfully imperious tone. As a pickup line, it was a little thin, but he’d give her points for originality. He still wished for the bikini, but he would settle for shorts. Nobody needed to be that formally dressed on a beach.

Her hand in his was slightly cool, tiny, and soft. So soft. She was tiny all over. He wondered if she was this soft all over.



Often in Romance, children present an obstacle to a developing relationship, but in this case it is the opposite – Tyler both brings Jax and Pickett together and offers them the opportunity to formalize their relationship much more quickly than they might otherwise have done. And it is this aspect of the story that is the most interesting – for Jax to secure custody of Tyler, he is going to have to be more stable than he currently is, and that most likely means marriage. In many ways, Jax and Pickett are well-suited to one another, but neither has had much time to know if they are in love or not, and while Jax doesn’t really care about that, Pickett certainly does. Watching these two negotiate their strong attraction in the midst of these difficult issues around Tyler and Jax’s life as a SEAL make for a surprisingly touching and insightful book. Neither character is perfect, nor does either hesitate to rely on the other’s strengths when the occasion calls for it. And Jax’s SEALness is not the sum total of his character, nor a gimmick. Likewise, Pickett is a nurturer, but she’s no pushover, nor an innocent woman in awe of the big, bad SEAL.

There are some elements of the story that seem clichéd. Pickett is one of those near virgins you meet in many Contemporary Romances, and Tyler is the cute little urchin who literally blooms under Pickett’s nurturing guidance (I also had a hard time remembering he was only supposed to be 4). There is also a lot of therapy-speak in the book, as Pickett instructs Jax on how to handle Tyler more effectively. On the flip side, though, there is frank treatment of Pickett’s celiac disease, which is something I cannot remember seeing in Romance, and which makes Jax initially think Pickett is unreasonably picky about food.

Of all four books, SEALed With A Kiss is my favorite, both for its often fresh phrasing and its thoughtful attention to the poignant and mundane aspects of the protagonists’ relationship. B

What an incredibly powerful book!



SEALED WITH A KISS astounded me with its sensitivity, the connection between Jax and Pickett, and their love for a lost, scared little boy. If Navy SEALS, romance, and a great and extraordinary story are what you are looking for, give SEALED WITH A KISS a try.


SEALED WITH A KISS is a wonderful story that will have readers experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and culminating with an awesome scene that will have your pulse pounding.


When I first heard about SEALed with a Kiss, I was told that it's touching, has a little boy who needs a family, dogs, and a muscle-y hero. I'm a sucker for strong men dealing with new challenge and needing a strong woman's help... I wanted to read more about the new little family, but books have to end sometime. I can't wait to read the next SEALs romance!



[I]t delivers in a huge way... a heart-touching story that will keep you smiling and cheering for the characters clear through to the happy ending.


Mary Margaret Daughtridge [is] a compelling new voice whose gift for storytelling makes her an author to watch.

Format: Paperback

Dimensions
Length: 6.875 in
Width: 4.1875 in
Weight: 7.44 oz
Page Count: 432 pages