Book picks similar to
Protecting Mari by Cara Carnes


romantic-suspense
romance
military
contemporary-romance

Ruckus


Zoe Dawson - 2017
    Navy SEAL, Bowie “Ruckus” Cooper, going on a mission into the most dangerous place on earth wasn’t new, neither were the orders to tag and bag an international criminal, but when Bowie finds a captive American reporter, that wasn’t exactly run of the mill. Neither was getting separated from his team, teaming up with her or protecting her against all odds, while working to keep his hands from around her neck and off her delectable body. Fearless and bold photojournalist, Dana Sorenson never backed down from a fight or to showcase her dedication to reporting on the human condition. That’s what she thought until she meets Bowie and big, bad, and tough takes on a whole new meaning. Gratitude for saving her ass gets lost in his demanding orders and fighting for her life takes a back seat to falling for this alpha male who’ll risk everything to see her safe.

Ethan


Dale Mayer - 2019
    When he connects with Badger and the rest of his Titanium Corp. group of former SEALs, Badger offers Ethan an opportunity he can’t refuse. A chance to do the work he used to do … with a twist.Cinnamon works from home as a project manager plus is heavily involved in global dog rescues—dogs of all kinds. When Ethan walks into the next door’s vet’s office with an injured shepherd in his arms, she sees another lost soul—just like the canine ones she helps.Ethan knows he’s about to take a dangerous step, but he’s on the job, and no one—on the job or not—hurts animals while he’s around. This poor shepherd has taken enough abuse, and Ethan fears she is only the tip of a nightmare he’s determined to uncover. But he knows she’s going to lead him in the right direction. He has his sights set on saving one dog in particular, Sentry: K9 File 01.

Talon


Sybil Bartel - 2016
    I fuck. I pretend to smile. Two years ago my life was perfect, until it wasn’t. I scattered my wife’s ashes then walked away from the Marines. I didn’t think I had anything left to lose. I was wrong. The blonde showed up on my doorstep beaten and stabbed. I did what I was trained to do — I stitched her up. I didn’t have a clue who she was and I told myself I didn’t care. Until they came looking for her. I swore I’d take my last breath before I let anyone else hurt her, except I didn’t know she was keeping a deadly secret. Now I had two choices, her life or mine. Marriage and combat taught me the same thing — I was no one’s hero. And I was about to prove it. Warning: This book contains offensive language, violence and sexual situations. Mature audiences only.

Keeping 6


Freya Barker - 2018
    Her failure of a marriage firmly in her rearview mirror and her recent business expansion a success, she is in charge of her own future. One that is looking better than ever. The sight of the tall man, with the familiar salt and pepper goatee pushing open the door of her store, sets her hair on end. He doesn’t exactly bring good memories. FBI Special Agent in Charge Damian Gomez is just looking for a decent cup of coffee when he walks into the small store offering books and brew. The pretty, feisty woman behind the counter is an unexpected surprise. Not at all unpleasant, especially since her finger that used to hold a wedding ring is now bare. Her wild hair, boho style and silvery grey eyes suddenly hold a lot of promise. But when his office is pulled into an international investigation into the trafficking of rare books and manuscripts, the straight-laced SAC realizes he has to keep his distance from the woman who might well be involved. Easier said than done, since fate seems determined to throw them together.

The Officer's Promise


K. Langston - 2016
    New York Police Officer Ryker Cunningham comes from a family of men committed to upholding every letter of the law. But when he crosses paths with MaryAnn Glover, a troubled woman who not only tempts his heart but also his self-control, his need to protect her overrides everything he’s ever believed in. With a promise to keep her safe at any cost, Ryker shows MaryAnn what it means to live without fear…and love without regret.

Stitched Up Heart


Tarina Deaton - 2016
    Now a physical therapist, she uses her experience to help other veterans heal from their physical wounds; while she battles her own emotional damage. Blaming himself for his best friend’s suicide, former Army Ranger Jase Larken, retreated from life. To honor his best friend’s memory and assuage his guilt, he started an outdoor adventure company to help veterans with PTSD. Bree had better things to do than catch her cheating fiancé in bed with another woman. Jase is something better - for a night at least. For the first time in years, Jase wanted more. When he finds her again, he doesn’t give her another chance to run.Jase’s possessiveness grates on Bree’s independent nature. She’s dealt with her fair share of alpha-male, door kickers and doesn’t need one telling her what to do now. But as a new danger emerges, Bree and Jase must face their pasts, before someone's obsession with Bree destroys any chance they have of a future.

A Little Bit of Hot


Elle Kennedy - 2014
    Instead, his SEAL teammates have all found love, while he’s still playing the field. And to be honest? The field is full of certifiable nutcases.When his teammates offer to set him up, Jackson figures what the hell? It’s not as if he has anything to lose. Several overeager, overdone, or just plain oversexed women later, he’s almost wishing for a long deployment—maybe to Mars—to escape the parade of disasters sent his way.That’s when the denim-clad rear end of his neighbor’s smart, sassy, green-eyed gardener catches his eye. Except she wants nothing to do with him. Little does she know a SEAL knows a thing or two about playing in the dirt…Warning: This very short freebie does not include a happily ever after. Be prepared to commiserate with a sexy SEAL on his journey for love. But don’t worry—he’ll find it soon!

Conceit


Alana Albertson - 2014
    Five hours a day I've trained to go undercover to learn the truth.Four plastic surgeries to transform into a pinup to gain access to their world.Three shots of tequila I down before I take off my clothes to dance for the SEALs.Two years since I'd left my soul mate Grant, the only man who can help me now.One dead stripper found strangled and drugged.Zero room for error. I'm Joaquín's only hope for freedom. No sin is too depraved, no challenge is too great. Even if it means destroying my soul.Conceit is a novella of 25,000 - the first of Se7en episodes in the Se7en Deadly SEALs series.Chronic: Se7en Deadly SEALs Episode Two releases February 2015

Coming Back


Emma South - 2015
    Learning to live and love again is going to be so much harder.After being abducted and vanishing without a trace, she was presumed dead. But Christie isn’t the kind of girl that goes down without a fight. When she crawls out of the forest almost two years later, bruised and bleeding, she is confronted by a world that seems to have moved on and left her behind.Dean Hawking returned to Warfields after a terrible tragedy on the job shook his faith in humanity. The cop’s transfer home wasn't the cure-all he hoped for until the best thing about it, the girl he loved since high school, Christie Jayne, turns up alive.Their worlds are thrust together again for the first time in years. Though still reeling from her ordeal, in Dean she finds a fathomless love that reminds her there are still beautiful things in the world. In Christie, he sees his chance at redemption…Then Dean uncovers some startling information about Christie’s case, revealing that she might be in imminent danger, and their second chance at love will be put to the test when the full story of her escape is revealed. Can there be any coming back from what she’s had to do?

Breaking His Code


Patricia D. Eddy - 2017
    We never leave anyone behind." West is alone. Drifting. Battling his demons every night when the fallen haunt his dreams.When a ghost from his past comes calling, he can't answer, and the pain threatens to tear him apart.His Krav Maga studio is in trouble, and his only reprieve from the darkness? His online gaming sessions.Cam was an explosives expert in Afghanistan until one wrong move left her scarred for life.Now she hides behind her keyboard—and her cane—until the guy she's been flirting with online convinces her to give him a chance in the real world.Timing is everything, and caught between looming threats and the first stirrings of love, Cam bolts so she doesn't have to admit she's broken.Can West convince her that broken is beautiful?Breaking His Code is the start of the best-selling Away From Keyboard military romance series.Each book is a complete standalone featuring found family, beautifully broken men and women, and emotions so real, you'll be reaching for the tissues.

Running On Empty


Christy Reece - 2014
    That was before she watched the love of her life die before her very eyes. Brokenhearted, her emotions on lockdown, she finds purpose and hope as an LCR elite operative rescuing victims from some of the most volatile places in the world.As a covert ops agent, Declan Steele was used to a life of danger and distrust, but when the one person he trusted and believed in above all others sets him up, he’ll stop at nothing to make her pay. Finally rescued from his hellish prison, Declan has one priority—hunt down Sabrina Fox and exact his revenge.Trusting no one is a lonely, perilous path. Sabrina swears she’s innocent and Declan must make a decision--trust his heart or his head. As memories of their life together returns, he realizes just how treacherous his torture had been and the target of his revenge shifts. But when Sabrina is taken, retribution is the last thing on his mind. With the assistance of Last Chance Rescue Elite, Declan races to rescue the only woman he has ever loved before it’s too late.

Protecting Ainsley


Jen Talty - 2019
    He finds himself in the arms of a gorgeous woman in the sun and sand in Mexico thinking he doesn’t have a care in the world. That is until his superiors inform him that she’s a terrorist and he’s ordered to bring her back to the states.

 When Ainsley Emerson let her twin sister take her place in a scuba dive, she had no way of knowing that would be the last time she’d see her sister again. Nor could she predict that months later, she’d be accused of treason. After waking up in Mexico, broken and without identification, she begs a total stranger to help her get back to the states so she can prove her innocence. 

 When Keanu’s plan to bring Ainsley in ends in tragedy, he seeks the help of old friends, only to find out he is now considered a traitor to his country. 

 Keanu and Ainsley will have to work together to prove they are innocent of all crimes and in the process, they will uncover a sinister plan with an unlikely twist that will change their world forever.

Fine Line


A.D. Justice - 2019
    Alone.   It was a simple request, right? Just stroll into the coffee shop on the corner, grab my usual cup of liquid nitrogen, and walk back out.   All while minding my own business.   But I had to walk in at that exact moment. Not ten minutes earlier. Not ten minutes later. Precisely when Savannah Fields needed someone to help her. When no one except me had the courage to stand up for her.   After the incident, she looked at me like I was her hero. But I’m no hero. I don’t even know who or what I am anymore. Who is Nick Tucker? A DEA agent? A criminal? Both? Neither? The lines I crossed while undercover blurred my staunch sense of morality.   Then the auburn-haired beauty showed up at my apartment, begging for my help. I couldn’t turn her away.   The more I lost myself in her, the more I found myself again. Or so I thought. Even a broken clock gets to be right twice a day. There's a fine line between right and wrong, love and hate, heaven and hell.

Wilde Nights in Paradise


Tonya Burrows - 2013
    Although she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with Jude, they’re forced to fake a relationship for her safety. He can’t ignore the heat still simmering between them, and when her stalker’s threats escalate to attempted murder, he’s left with no choice but to whisk her away to a friend’s safe house in Key West, FL. Cooped up in paradise together, Jude begins to chip away at Libby’s resolve to hate him. But even as she gives in to his proximity and her body’s demands for his, she refuses to fall for his charms again. Maybe a torrid affair in the sun is exactly what she needs to get him out of her system. But when her stalker tracks them down, can they escape the steamy Key West night without anyone getting hurt?

Handling Haven


Samantha A. Cole - 2017
    Traveling around the globe, hobnobbing with the elite, she did things other people could only dream of, but it was all a cover. As a covert operative of Deimos, a US black-ops agency that has more secrets than the CIA, she knew how to handle herself in any given situation, even if it required killing someone. But when her latest mission goes awry, leaving her in a wheelchair, she feels she has nothing left to live for. Delta Force member, Sergeant First Class Lucas “Frisco” Ingram, will never forget the day he met the pretty spy whose life was turned upside down in a split second. Torn and bleeding, she begged him to leave her to die, but he couldn’t do it. Now he can’t get her out of his head, and she wants nothing to do with him. But when a terrorist threatens an attack on American soil, Haven might be the only one who can help him and his teammates stop it. While forced to work together, can Lucas convince Haven his feelings for her are not a result of guilt or pity and he has truly fallen for her? Will Haven figure out she has something worth fighting for staring her right in the face? Or will their chance for a happy-ever-after be blown to hell? 
In addition to being part of Susan Stoker's Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World, Handling Haven is Book 1 in the Deimos series, which is a spinoff of Samantha A. Cole's popular Trident Security series.