Stacking the Deck

English

Ex-Special Forces Communications Sergeant Jacopo “Jack” Constantino heads the cybersecurity department at Four Kings Security, working with his tech-savvy team to provide clients with state-of-the-art security systems. But life for Jack is pretty uneventful—despite the exploits with his brothers-in-arms—and he finds himself longing for a little more excitement.

Be careful what you wish for.

Two years ago, Fitz Harlow captured Jack’s heart and walked away with it. Now he’s back.

Fitz spent the last two years picking up the pieces of his life after a disastrous relationship. After much therapy, and ice cream, Fitz leaves the fashion world behind and returns home to St. Augustine to open his own high-end salon, Hair Comes Trouble. Now Fitz finally has the quiet, peaceful life he’s wanted for so long. There’s only one thing missing, or rather, one man missing, but Fitz has his doubts. With Jack, he’s not just gaining a boyfriend—he’s gaining a boyfriend, his family of mischief-magnet ex-Green Berets, and one highly opinionated Belgian Malinois.

Fitz and Jack discover their connection has only grown stronger over time, thanks in part to meddling friends, but just as they start to pick up where they left off, someone takes exception to their reunion. Danger hides in the shadows, a stalker determined to keep Fitz out of Jack’s life, no matter the cost. With the odds stacked against them, can Jack and Fitz win a battle against an unknown enemy, or will Jack lose Fitz forever?

The Kings: Wild Cards series is a spin-off of the Four Kings Security series.

FROM CHAPTER ONE

Jack settled in his office and spent the afternoon catching up on invoices, reports, and checking in with his staff, some of whom were on job installations. Just after lunch, he was doing some routine system checks when Ace walked into his office.

“You’re up.” Ace tossed an elegant-looking black envelope adorned with a gold crown in the center onto Jack’s desk.

“What’s this?” Jack picked up the envelope and removed the fancy invite inside. “Four Kings Security cordially invites you to our fifth annual black-tie dinner and charity auction event benefiting military veterans and their families. Join us for cocktails, dinner, dancing, and a—” Jack’s head shot up. “No.”

Ace’s grin was pure evil. The bastard. He waggled his eyebrows at Jack. “Oh yes.”

“Are you doing this?”

The fucker pretended to look disappointed as he placed a hand over his heart. “Alas, I’m no longer an eligible bachelor.” His evil grin returned. “But you are.”

“A bachelor auction? Really?” Jack narrowed his eyes. “Wait, so none of you are being auctioned?”

Ace shrugged.

“But it’s just a date. For charity. We both know Colton would be fine with that.”

“King, Red, Lucky, and I discussed it. We decided we didn’t want to take the focus off the charity event or overshadow the rest of the guys on auction. I mean,…