?Cover Reveal for Intrepid by Keri Lake! ? Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway!

The stranger stepped into my view, his hand outstretched.  “So you did it.”
In spite of the ache in my back, I allowed him to pull me up to a stand.
The echo of pain lingered in my ankle, knocking me back a step, but he yanked tight, and wrapped his hand around my waist to steady me.
“You need me to carry you?”
“No.  This is humiliating enough.  I’ll suffer the walk, thanks.”
We rounded the building—ungracefully hobbled, in my case—to find a fire truck, police cars, and a crowd of people corralled together.
Though, that didn’t shock me quite as much as seeing the long, sturdy-looking fire escape snaking down the side of the building.
“You said there wasn’t a fire escape!  Why did you lie?”
He shot a glance over his shoulder, but kept on down the side street.  “You said you couldn’t climb down the chimney.  You lied, too.”
“I had no choice!  I could’ve died up there!”
“Everyone has a choice.  So, how does it feel?”
“How does what feel?” I hissed, and at a sharp throb along my shin, I winced.
“To conquer your fear.”
I paused, dumbfounded, and looked back to the building and the chimney I’d just climbed down.  Ninety feet high inside a cramped space.  Something I wouldn’t have willingly done, had someone paid me.
“Offer’s still there, if you want a ride home.”  Twisting around to face me, he walked backwards, sliding a pair of gloves onto his hands. “Or you can wait for your Uber.  Your choice.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Ty.”
“I’m Sera.  As in Serafina.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Rearing back, I frowned, folding my arms as I followed after him.  “Um.  How?”
“Bea!  Simone!  It’s Sera!  Wait for me!”  His hands waved dramatically in the air, mocking me.
Biting the inside of my cheek stifled the urge to laugh.  “Right.”
“So, Serafina.  Named after the angels.”  He came to a stop in front of a sleek black motorcycle hidden in the brush, and handed me a helmet he pulled from somewhere on the other side of it.
“What are you, a religion major?”
He smirked and looked past me for a moment, as if checking to make sure no one had followed us.
Paranoid, I checked, too, before shifting my attention back to the impressive machinery standing before me.  “I’ve never been on a bike before.”
Lips screwed to a wry smile, he mounted the bike and jerked his head for me to get on behind him.  “Well, this night just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it, Sera?”