Book Title: BLACK WIDOW
Character Name: Hewitt Birch aka Hew
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Not much of a childhood to speak of, honestly. I grew up in the system, shuffled around between fosters and group homes until I aged out and had to find my own way.
For kids like me, that meant one of two things: slingin’ dope or joinin’ up. I walked into that Army recruiter’s office and didn’t walk back out of the military until I was offered the job at Black Knights Inc. And the rest, as they say, is history.
What was your greatest talent?
Can’t say for sure it’s a talent so much as a skill, but I can fly anything with rotors or wings. If she’s capable of soaring through the great blue yonder, I’m the guy who can get her up there and keep her up there.
Significant other?
I’ve never really thought of that phrase until you just used it. Not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. Significant is right. There’s nothin’ in my life that matters more. But other? Naw. That feels all wrong. She’s a part of me. There’s no me without her. And her name is Sabrina Greenlee. Sabrina…like the river goddess. Only she’s flesh and blood, and yet she’d the closest I’ll ever come to touchin’ Heaven.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
For me, it’s havin’ to leave her when my teammates and I are called away on a mission. I’d live inside her skin with her if I could.
Damn. That sounded creepy as hell, huh?
But you know what I mean. I just wanna be with her all the time. I didn’t know what it was to miss someone until I started missin’ her.
Where do you live?
The City of Broad Shoulders. Chicago, Illinois. If you can survive the winters, you’re graced with some of the most beautiful summer nights you can imagine.
I reckon that’s the beauty of places like Chi-Town. They’re not all rainbow glitter and unicorn farts. They’re good and bad, and they make you work to love ’em.
Do you have any enemies?
Likely more than I’d ever wanna think about. In my line of work, makin’ enemies is par for the course. But I’m proud to say I’ve never pointed a pistol at a man who wasn’t first pointin’ a pistol at me.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
Black Knights Inc? I love it. It’s the first place I ever called home. The only place I ever called home. And it’s filled with folks who are more than coworkers and teammates. They’re family by bond instead of blood. But they’re family all the same.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
No kids. Yet. I’m hopin’ once I’m not dancin’ with danger on the regular that I might talk Sabrina into startin’ a family of our own. Sometimes I dream of a little girl with her mile-wide smile and a little boy with her laughin’ brown eyes.
What do you do for a living?
As far as the world at large knows, I build custom motorcycles at the famous chopper shop known as Black Knights Inc. But if you were to get a hold of some files buried deep in the belly of the Pentagon, you’d see I’m actually a covert government defense operator. The rest of the team and I take on the jobs that are too hot or too internationally tricky for traditional forces.
Greatest disappointment?
That I never got to know my folks. I would’ve liked to meet the two people who made me. It would be nice to know if I have my mother’s laugh or my father’s sense of humor.
Greatest source of joy?
That’s easy. It’s Sabrina. She makes me feel whole. She’s given me the roots I never had growin’ up. I’m my full self, my best self, because of her. And I can’t think of a single thing that makes me happier than that.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Read.
As a kid, I used to escape the horrors of my real life by divin’ nose-first into a book. Now, I still like to disappear into the depths of a good novel. And, as luck would have it, Sabrina likes readin’, too. She’s recently gotten me hooked on this romantasy series about dragons and wars between realms. (smiles) I tell her I like the battles and the balls-to-the-wall action sequences. But secretly, I think it’s the spicy scenes that are my favorite.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Back when I was still with the Army, when I was a Nightstalker, I missed an LZ—that’s landin’ zone for the readers who don’t speak military—by half a click. It wasn’t much. But it was enough to give the enemy time to catch up to my squad. A young private took a round that shattered his tibia. The saw bones back at base had to amputate the kid’s leg from the knee down. It ended his military career.
I still think about that day and go over in my head what I could’ve done differently.
What keeps you awake at night?
The thought of losin’ the people who’ve become my family. The thought of losin’ Sabrina.
Now that I know what it is to be part of somethin’ bigger than myself, I don’t think I could survive goin’ back to the man I was before.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Ha! Well, it’s that I’m sittin’ here havin’ this talk with you when I could be back home convincin’ Sabrina to join me for a little afternoon delight. (wiggles eyebrows)
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
Truth be told, I have everything I want. Good friends, a place to belong, and a woman who loves me for all that I am and overlooks all that I’m not.
If there were an entry in the dictionary for Luckiest Man Alive, you’d see my name and a picture of my smilin’ face next to it.
BLACK WIDOW by Julie Ann Walker
A missing woman. A deadly conspiracy. A love worth fighting for.
The Black Knights are back and better than ever!
Marketing specialist Sabrina Greenlee knows she’s playing with fire when it comes to her feelings for Hewitt Birch. When masked men kidnap her, her very survival depends on the team she calls family…Hew included…and she willingly welcomes the flames.
Hewitt Birch has spent a lifetime controlling his emotions. But when Sabrina disappears, his carefully maintained self-discipline shatters. He vows to bring Sabrina home, even when it becomes clear her kidnapping is a smokescreen. The real target? BKI itself.
Sabrina and Hew are left reeling from the lingering danger and the passion ignited between them when the rescue mission goes sideways. With enemies closing in and betrayal lurking around every corner, they’ll have to decide if they can afford to risk their hearts while they fight for their lives…
Romance Suspense [ Limerence Publications, On Sale: January 27, 2026, e-Book, ISBN: 2940184438177 / eISBN: 9781950100217 ]
Buy BLACK WIDOW: Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Julie Ann Walker
A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Julie loves to travel the world looking for views to compete with her deadlines. And if those views happen to come with a blue sky and sunshine? All the better! When she’s not writing, Julie enjoys camping, hiking, cycling, fishing, cooking, petting every dog that walks by her, and… reading, of course!
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