HONOR, LOYALTY, LOVE
David Cruz is good at two things: war and training dogs. The ex-soldier's toughest case is Atlas, a Belgian Malinois whose handler died in combat. Nobody at Hope's Crossing kennel can break through the animal's grief. That is, until dog whisperer Evelyn Jones walks into the facility . . . and into Atlas's heart. David hates to admit that the curvy blonde's mesmerizing effect isn't limited to canines. But when Lyn's work with Atlas puts her in danger, David will do anything to protect her.
Lyn realizes that David's own battle scars make him uniquely qualified for his job as a trainer. Tough as nails yet gentle when it counts, he's gotten closer to Atlas than anyone else-and he's willing to put his hard-wired suspicion aside to let her do the same. But someone desperate enough to kill doesn't want Lyn working with Atlas. Now only teamwork, trust, and courage can save two troubled hearts and the dog who loves them both . . .
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.
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His kiss wasn’t light or gentle or teasing. His lips came down on hers with heat and firm pressure. His hand moved from her chin to cup the back of her head, urging her to tilt for him. She did, opening her mouth and giving him access, too. His tongue swept in, hot and searching. She answered in kind and they explored each other.
This
was . . .wow. More than wow. Heat
swept through her and she reveled in the sensation he sent coursing throughout
her body with his kissing.
It
was a long time before he let her up for air and when he did, she realized she
was clutching the front of his shirt with both hands. Oh hey. How about that?
“You
need to get over this.”
What?
Shocked,
she started to step back but David’s hand was still on the back of her head and
his other arm came around her waist. Tucked against him, she looked up to see
him glaring at Atlas through the chain-link fence.
The
big dog had reared up and put his front paws on the fence.
“You
can deal,” David said to Atlas. “Don’t even tell me you gave Calhoun this kind
of interference when he was with somebody.”
Butterflies
tickled her and she buried her face in David’s chest as she giggled.
“What?
That’s seventy-five pounds of canine jumping up on me if it weren’t for this
fence.” Despite his words, amusement colored his tone and his arm remained
firmly around her waist.
“With
the two of you, there isn’t anything that can keep me worried.” She smiled up
at him, enjoying the fit of their bodies against each other.
David
gave her a lopsided grin. “Good. I’d like to say we make a solid team but Atlas
here is working for you but not with me, if you get what I mean.”
“Ah
well, he’s a free agent for the time being.” She didn’t want to ruin the mood.
But it’d be stupid to pretend Atlas wouldn’t be returned to duty once they’d
gotten him back to one hundred percent responsiveness. The big dog was too good
to retire yet.
“True.”
David pressed a kiss to her temple. “So.” She could barely believe her own
audacity but the last few days, the last few minutes in particular, were all
about personal evolution, apparently. “Where were we before Atlas expressed his
opinion?”
Because
she’d like to get back to that. And explore. In detail.
Okay,
maybe she wasn’t as daring as she could be. Yet.
“Here.”
David caught her mouth for another hot, fantastically mind-blowing kiss.
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