Rescue Me Read Free Page A

not particularly intimidating. He envisioned her comforting the little poodles, not wrestling with this muscular creature.
    Except the odds were not in his favor today.
    Mary Hannah appeared in the open doorframe, a catchpole held in a fierce grip. Her sleek dark hair slipped free from a low ponytail to brush the shoulders of her parka. Her wide brown eyes saw everything.
    But through pretty rose-colored glasses with heavy black frames.
    The woman was a whirlwind of naive perfection who seemed to think the world could be changed with sweet words and a soft touch. She might take a brief walk on the wild side now and again, but she hadn’t come close to seeing what he had. He’d witnessed firsthand that some evil just went to the core. There was no talking it down with a warm, fuzzy hug.
    He wasn’t judging. She just hadn’t seen what he had. She would get there someday if she kept assisting in these kinds of “rescues.”
    Someday.
    But right now she was all that stood between him and a wild-eyed animal high on meth fumes.
    *   *   *
    SMELLING THE METH made Mary Hannah’s mouth water, made her nose burn.
    And made her senses sing like sirens luring her back into the bottomless pit of addiction.
    Mary Hannah Gallo had made a lifetime’s worth of mistakes by twenty-four. She’d spent the next four years making sure she never screwed up again. Too bad Detective AJ Parker was a sexy, hot temptation begging her to break every one of her rules for a calm, structured future.
    One night. Just one weak night of mourning in a bar, thinking she could have a no-strings fling to ease some of the pain, grief, hunger, and now she was stuck bumping into temptation every time she turned around in this closet-sized town.
    Not that she had time to check out Detective No-Strings with a full-sized, growling boxer straining on a tether. The bolt in the floor inched upward.
    â€œParker . . .” She kept her voice soft and low-pitched. She peeled off her gloves so her grip would be more secure on the pole. “Keep your eyes averted from the dog until I loop the catchpole over its head.”
    She monitored the fawn-colored boxer out of the corners of her eyes, cataloging details about the animal. Her OCD came in handy sometimes. The dog was female, trembling, jittery, likely from living in this disgusting place. Mary Hannah took another step, assessing, inching warily until she was finally close enough. Slipping the loop at the end of the pole over the dog’s head would require finesse.
    The boxer lurched toward the door, away from the cop. The bolt in the floor wriggled at the strain. AJ’s hand twitched just over his gun. Mary Hannah winced. Shooting the animal would be a last resort, and one she prayed wouldn’t happen here. She couldn’t stomach the thought that this was the only life that poor dog would know. She had to give this animal a chance. Mary Hannah took another, final, step, extending her arm. The loop at the end was . . . almost . . .
    There.
    She tightened the loop until it was secure. The pole gave her distance from the dog for now.
    A sigh of relief shuddered through her, and she allowed herself an instant to breathe, just breathe a thankful prayer that AJ was okay. Her eyes skated to him as he stood slowly, taller, taller, taller still and filling out that cop uniform oh so very well.
    God, he was too sensually appealing for his own good. And for her sanity. It wasn’t about the handsome features, either, or the way his coal-black hair curled at the ends, just a little too long in a rebel kind of way. He epitomized tall, dark and studly in the manner that made teenage girls flock to vampire movies.
    It was his crystal-blue eyes that drew her in, those haunted windows to his soul that made her consider he and she might not be complete opposites after all.
    This wasn’t anywhere near an appropriate time to be thinking about