"Vivid and charming." —CHARLAINE HARRIS, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
He's always been a haven:
For the lost. The sick. The injured.
But when a hunted woman takes shelter in his arms, this gentle giant swears he'll do more than heal her battered spirit—he'll defend her with his life.
K9 Officer Otto Gunnersen always had a soft spot for anyone in need. As Monroe's very own Dr. Doolittle, he dedicates himself to rehabilitating the injured souls that cross his path—but for all his big heart, he's never been in love.
Until he meets Sarah Clifton's haunted eyes. Until he realizes he'll do anything to save her.
All Sarah wants is to escape a life caught between ambitious crime families, but there's no outrunning her past. Her power-mad brother would hunt her to the ends of the earth…but he'd never expect Sarah to fight back. With Otto and the whole of Monroe, Colorado by her side, Sarah's finally ready to face whatever comes her way.
It's time to take a stand.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2DGS67t
iBooks: https://apple.co/2DEKeDf
As she walked through the aisles, Sarah knew she was beaming like an
idiot. She couldn’t help it. This place was amazing. It was part farm-supply,
part hardware store, part department store. According to Jules, it was one of
the few businesses in Monroe that stayed open all year round. Most of the shops
and services closed for the winter.
They cut through a car-part aisle. Rounding the corner, Sarah sucked
in a sharp breath.
“What?” Jules grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the aisle
they’d just left. Grace followed, her expression concerned. “Is it someone you
know? Do we need to go out the back?”
“No,” Sarah said hastily, embarrassed by her overreaction. “Sorry. I
just saw…” Otto. The name rang in her head, but she didn’t
want to admit that she remembered it. She hadn’t shared the details of her
eventful morning walk three days earlier. Since Grace and Jules weren’t aware
of the garage-roof conversation, Sarah knowing Otto’s name after so brief an
introduction seemed like evidence of her budding, illogical crush. Her cheeks
got hot, but she tried very hard to ignore that she was blushing—and the reason
for her red face. “I just saw that cop I met last week. It was dumb. I just
overreacted.”
“Otto?” Grace asked, and Sarah nodded, feeling her face heat even
more at the sound of his name. Seriously, something was wrong with her. “Oh,
he’s harmless. Really. I mean, so are Hugh and Theo, but they just come off a
little more…harshly?” Grace gave Jules a help me look
before turning back to Sarah. “You don’t need to be afraid of any of the cops
here. We just didn’t want to overwhelm you by introducing you to all of them.
They can be…” She looked at Jules again.
“Intimidating,” Jules supplied helpfully, and Grace nodded. “Otto
really is the easiest to get along with of all three of them. You’ll love him
once you get to know him.” Sarah tried not to grimace at the phrasing. She
couldn’t admit that was why she was so nervous around Otto. The big cop was
already in her thoughts much too often, and they’d exchanged just a few words.
If she got to know him, she had a feeling she’d be in serious trouble.
Linking arms with Sarah, Grace started to lead her out of the aisle.
Even though she was freaking out at the thought of talking with Otto again,
Sarah tried to hide it. Her feet wanted to drag, but she forced her body to
cooperate. She’d only known Grace and Jules a week, and they’d been nicer to
her than anyone she’d ever known before. She didn’t want to admit her weird
issues to them…not yet, at least.
“Otto!” Jules forged ahead, waving as she hurried over to the cop.
He gave her a small smile before looking past her. When his gaze locked on
Sarah, his expression stilled.
What does that mean? Why is he looking at me like
that? she asked herself frantically. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an
answer. Her previous life had kept her isolated, her social interactions
limited to employees and business associates of first her father and then her
brother. Sarah wasn’t sure how to read the big, blond cop, but she guessed that
the frozen look was not a good sign.
He didn’t look away as they approached. Sarah couldn’t hold his gaze
and dropped her eyes to the floor. It was impossible not to look at him,
though, and she kept darting furtive glances in his direction. His hair was nearly
white blond, cut short in a no-nonsense style. He wasn’t just a Viking
lumberjack; he was like a Viking and a lumberjack had a baby, and that baby
grew up to serve in the army and then become a Monroe police officer.
“Milk replacer? What orphans are you feeding now?” Jules asked,
breaking what was turning into another awkward silence.
He finally looked away from Sarah to focus on Jules. “Puppies.
Curtis Trammel’s shepherd was hit by a car.”
“He brought them to you?” Before he answered, Grace spoke again. “Of
course he did. You’re the Dr. Doolittle around here, after all.”
Otto gave an uncomfortable half shrug, but Sarah had stopped
pretending not to stare at him. He was a Viking lumberjack cop who bottle-fed
orphaned puppies? If he’d spent years trying to think of the most effective
punch to the ovaries, he couldn’t have come up with a better plan.
“Juju!” Ty called from across the store. “We’re going to get these
guns, okay?”
“What? What guns? No, not okay.” Jules immediately charged toward
the sporting goods section.
Grace grinned. Following after a stressed-looking Jules, she said
over her shoulder, “This should be good. They probably want to mount them on
their homemade drone.”
The two women disappeared around the corner of an aisle, and the
realization hit Sarah—she and Otto were alone. Together. Sure, they weren’t
really alone, since it was a public place with several people, including
children, nearby, but…still. Alone. Together. Again. Her scalp prickled with
sweat.
She tried desperately to think of something to talk about, but her
mind was blank. There wasn’t a nearby herd of elk to supply a handy topic of
conversation. It had been the same every time they’d met. Otto seemed to be a
huge walking magnet, wiping her brain’s hard drive whenever he got near.
“Um…how many puppies?”
He just stared at her, and uncertainty started to set in. Her
question had made sense, hadn’t it? Maybe she should’ve clarified. But Sarah
was afraid that, if she spoke again, she’d rush into a waterfall of babbly
explanation, and that would just make her seem even more unbalanced.
“Your mouth…” He trailed off, his eyes fixed on her lips.
“My mouth…?” she echoed, and then horror hit her. There had to be
something on her mouth. They had all just eaten lunch at the VFW-turned-diner
where Jules worked. Was there something green and slimy in her teeth? Did she
have residual barbeque sauce on her face? If so, she was going to kill Jules,
Grace, and every last one of the kids for not telling her before she came
face-to-face with a lumberjack Viking puppy rescuer. Sarah wiped frantically at
her lips, feeling her cheeks heat. “What about my mouth?”
“It’s pretty.” His tanned face flushed to the color of brick.
Abruptly, he turned and walked away.
Sarah went still, her hand still over her lips. There was a strange
feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t the anxious dread she was used to, though.
This was more of a hopeful fluttering, a funny little squeeze of happiness.
Dropping her hand to her side, she smiled at Otto’s broad, quickly departing
back.
He thinks I’m pretty.
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