Hot military heroes, the women who love them, and the dogs who always have their backs. ABSOLUTE TRUST is the third book in a high-adrenaline romantic suspense series from Piper J. Drake.
LOVE IS THE GREATEST RISK OF ALL
After multiple tours of duty, Brandon Forte returns to his hometown on a personal mission: to open a facility for military service dogs like Haydn, a German shepherd who's seen his share of combat and loss. It also brings him back to Sophie Kim, a beacon of light in his life . . . and the one woman he can't have. But Forte's success means he's made enemies in high places. Enemies who are now after Sophie . . .
When Forte enlisted and left without saying goodbye, Sophie did her best to move on. But with her first love back in town, looking sexier than ever, she's constantly reminded of what they could have had. Then after he risks himself for her, Sophie realizes she'll have to put her life in the hands of the man who broke her heart, knowing the danger—and the sparks between them—could consume them both.
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THE SERIES
EXTREME HONOR, #1
ULTIMATE COURAGE, #2
ABSOLUTE TRUST, #3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Piper J. Drake (or "PJ") spent her
childhood pretending to study for the SATs by reading every interesting novel
she could find at the library. After being introduced to the wonderful world of
romance by her best friend, she dove into the genre.
PJ began her writing career as PJ Schnyder,
writing sci-fi & paranormal romance and steampunk, for which she won the
FF&P PRISM award as well as the NJRW Golden Leaf award and Parsec award.
PJ's romantic suspense novels incorporate her
interests in mixed martial arts and the military. The True Heroes series is
inspired by her experience rescuing, owning and training a variety of retired
working dogs, including Kaiser, a former guard dog, and Mozart, who was trained
to detect explosives.
EXCERPT
Sophie Kim must’ve
come directly from work because, under her very sleek, black trench coat, she wore
a matching pencil skirt. Three-inch red heels popped in contrast to the severe
black of the rest of her outfit. Which did all sorts of things to him. Naughty
things. The kind of things that were so good that they were really bad.
Especially when a woman was off limits.
“Hey! Is that the
new guy?” Sophie slowed her approach, keeping her gaze locked on Forte’s face.
She’d been around
tiny dogs all her life, but she’d spent enough time at Hope’s Crossing Kennels
over the last couple of years to have learned how to meet the much bigger dogs
in Forte’s care. Training working dogs was his thing. Or in Haydn’s case, retraining.
Always a work in
progress.
Sophie had been here
when Forte had come back from active duty, too battle weary to continue
deploying. She’d helped him with the accounting when he’d established Hope’s
Crossing Kennels and had generally integrated herself into the private world
he’d created for himself, Rojas, and Cruz while they all rebuilt lives for
themselves.
Sophie’s bright
smile faded as she waited for him to answer. She always sensed when he got too
caught up inside his own head.
“Yeah.” Forte came
to a halt and murmured the command for Haydn to sit.
Instant obedience.
Despite his injury, surgery, and current need for recovery, the dog was as
sharp as he’d been on active duty. The mind was eager, ready to work. The body,
not so much.
Sophie’s smile
renewed, the brilliant expression stopping his heart, the way it had every time
he’d seen her since they’d first met way back in high school. She came to a
stop in front of them, barely within arm’s reach. “He must be doing well if
you’ve got him out here for some field work.”
While they spoke,
Haydn watched them both. Then he sniffed the back of Sophie’s hand, which she’d
been holding conveniently within reach.
Usually, he
preferred if a person asked to be introduced, but this was Sophie. If she’d approached
anyone else, she’d have requested permission to say “Hi” to the dog. But between
the two of them, everything was an exception.
It showed how well
she’d come to know the way he worked in the last few years. He’d changed with
every deployment. It happened. And she’d adjusted and accepted those changes in
him without a word when he came back. She was the steadfast, forever friend.
He’d never told her
why he’d left in the first place or why he’d come back. She was so good at just
accepting him that she might never know. And he was a coward for not telling
her.
“What’s your plan
for him?” Sophie glanced down at the dog, now that he’d sniffed her hand. “Haydn,
right?”
“Yeah.” Forte cleared his throat. “He’s got a
couple of weeks of physical therapy first. Then we need to coordinate with the
Air Force on his adoption.”
“Ah.” Understanding
in one syllable. She had the kind of caring heart to fill in the gaps when
something went unsaid. “His handler didn’t make it.”
Part of why Sophie
was one of the only people Forte felt easy around was because she got it. Only
needed to explain once. And she listened the first time. Sometimes no
explanation was required at all.
“Where’s your car? We’ll walk you.”
“Right across the
street.” Sophie jerked her head in the direction of the small parking lot.
They headed over,
Sophie falling into step next to Forte. She didn’t try to take his hand or tuck
her own around his arm. They weren’t like that. Besides, she knew he didn’t
like to be all wound up with a person when walking out in the open.
As they approached her car, Sophie juggled her
shopping bag to pull her keys out of her purse and triggered the trunk.
“Need help?” Forte
came up alongside the car, scanning the area around the parking lot out of
habit.
“No worries.” Sophie
lifted the trunk door and carefully placed her shopping bag inside the deep
space, leaning in to move things around to where she wanted. “I need to make
sure this is arranged so stuff doesn’t shift. It's delicate!”
He was not going to
admit to anyone, ever, how much he was willing to stretch his neck to catch
sight of her backside while she was leaning over.
Haydn sniffed the
side of the car. The big dog was very engaged, his relaxed attitude changing to
a sharper set of movements. Forte tore his attention from Sophie.
Haydn had detected
something out of place. Something wrong. Forte’s stomach tightened into a hard
knot. Nothing wrong should be anywhere near his Sophie. It didn’t matter that
they were in a sleepy town on the edge of a river in the middle of a peaceful
country. It didn’t matter that there shouldn’t be any real danger here.
Haydn deliberately
sat and looked up at Forte. It was a clear signal. One Haydn had been
specifically trained to give as a military explosives detection dog.
Shit.
“Sophie. Step away
from your car.” He’d explain later. Be afraid later. Rage. Worry.
Later.
She popped up from
the trunk. “Huh?”
“Do it.”
They had to move
now.
She complied, thank
god. He gave Haydn a terse command, circled around to grab Sophie and get more
distance. He steered her across the parking lot toward a big dumpster. It’d
serve as good cover. Then he reached for his smart phone.
They got a couple of
yards away, and Sophie craned her neck to look back at her car, even as she
kept moving with him. She always did as he asked immediately, but she had a
brain, and she insisted on explanations after she complied. “What—?”
Behind them, the
trunk hatch came down with a solid thunk.
Forte let out a
curse and grabbed her, pulling them down to the ground and rolling for the cover
of other cars as an explosion lifted the entire driver’s side of her car.
