Code of Honor

CODE OF HONOR ONE OF OUR OWN SERIES, BOOK TWO T.S. ANKNEY STAY UP-TO-DATE Sign up for my monthly newsletter and download a FREE copy of my subscriber exclusive book, THE DADDY DEAL! Sometimes second chances are the biggest risk of all… When Navy SEAL Trace Michaels reappears in single dad Mark Riley’s life, not only is it unexpected. It’s inconvenient, and not only because Trace is his adopted daughter’s biological uncle. As a recent widower, Mark’s attraction to the strong, silent SEAL is way too dangerous to his broken heart. But Trace has his own problems. His recent mission ended in tragedy, with his commanding officer murdered. The Navy brass suspect foul play—and Trace is the prime suspect. Mark’s the only PI he knows who can help him clear his name before the clock runs out and he’s put on trial… When Mark agrees to help Trace on the case, their chemistry ignites into passion, but can they discover the truth in time to save Trace’s career and their possible future together? CONTENTS Back Cover Copy Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue About the Author Also by T.S. Ankney Sneak Peek of Trust in Truth BACK COVER COPY The unexpected lurks around every corner… but romance comes as the biggest surprise! Navy SEAL Sawyer Bennett has one weakness: nerdy men. But a long-term relationship? Not his style. All Sawyer wants is to find his teammate’s widower and clear the name of his teammates in murder. Then hacker extraordinaire Hayden Parker walks into his life. Hayden’s smart, cute, and more fascinating than anyone Sawyer has ever been with before. He can’t get Hayden out of his head, no matter how hard he tries. Hayden is shocked to find that he and Sawyer are searching for the same person. And he’s not so sure that Sawyer and his teammates are as innocent as they claim. Yet despite his doubts, Hayden can’t help but be attracted to the sexy SEAL. That chiseled body, those dreamy blue eyes… It’s only a matter of time before he gives in to smoldering temptation. But when the two find themselves fighting for their lives, they both begin to wonder… will they live long enough to confess their real feelings for each other? 1 If Sawyer Bennett didn’t know better, he’d think he was in a fairy tale and not a suburban Washington, DC street with the birds singing and the sun shining through the tiny buds peppering the tree limbs, making them glow night-vision green. But his purpose here was far from idyllic, and he sure as hell wasn’t Prince Charming. Before he even climbed out of the rental SUV he’d parked at the curb, he did a quick recon of the exterior of the surrounding area to make sure he hadn’t been followed—these days you couldn’t be too careful—then focused on the two-story ahead of him, the paint peeling around the edges. The mailbox bulged and the yard grew wild with weeds. No one had been there for a while. Oddly, that made him feel more optimistic that his mission today might not be a complete failure after all. His sources had given Sawyer this address as the last known location of his fallen SEAL teammate Ryker Mills and his partner, Liam McCallister. Unfortunately, Ryker had been killed six months prior under suspicious circumstances while on a mission. And his partner, Liam, had disappeared around the same time. It all added up to far more questions and answers at this point. God, he missed Ryker more and more each day. The man had been too young, too good, to go down with a bullet to the back of his head, assassination style. He’d had his whole future ahead of him, then one sniper shot ended it all… Sawyer shook off the horrible memories of that night and instead focused on the task ahead. Officially, he and his other three teammates were on suspension while the Navy brass examined their actions on the mission that had resulted in Ryker’s death. Unofficially, however, they were investigating on their own, under the direct supervision of their CO, Commander Brighton. Honestly, none of them trusted the government not to try to cover up the whole thing to make themselves look better in the eyes of the public. Hell, they’d already uncovered one fuck-up by someone in a powerful position in the Navy in the form of one Bex Monroe—a former SEAL who’d been reported dead along with his entire team in the jungles of Bangui during a fire. But Bex hadn’t died. And now he’d resurfaced, horribly scarred, and looking for vengeance. In fact, he’d recently kidnapped the partner of one of Sawyer’s teammates, John Dexter, looking for files that might or might not contain names of non-official cover operatives for the CIA. It was all turning into a huge conspiracy and possible international crisis. And only muddied the water around Ryker’s murder even more. Their fallen teammate deserved justice and his team deserved to know the truth. So, Sawyer was here, doing his part to find out what had really happened. And that started with Liam McCallister. The guy hadn’t been seen or heard from by anyone since right after Ryker’s death and now they were worried someone might have taken Liam out too. Or worse, Liam was involved in all this somehow. After all, the top-secret lists Bex had wanted were found encrypted in the romance novels Liam wrote, so… Shit. Each time they found something new on the case, it seemed they got knocked sideways again by some unexpected revelation. It was almost enough to make a guy want to bury his head in the sand somewhere and not resurface until all of this was long over. Almost. A stiff breeze carrying the sharp scent