Engaging The Officer
As an officer devoted to protecting animals, Samantha Finley saves the innocent. Her weak spot? Opening herself up to people in her hometown of Paradise. Enter Dylan Turner, director of a local animal rescue. Something about him makes her trust in happily-ever-afters, but Sam knows thereâs no sense in trusting a guy who looks, walks and talks like a heartbreakerâ¦
Dylan agrees eagerly when Sam proposes to a relationship of convenience so she can reenter Paradise society. But the more he falls for her, the more Dylan knows he must tame the wild woman heâs come to adoreâfor good! If he has his way, their next date will be at the altarâ¦
âNow you tell me. Where were you a minute ago?â
âFantasizing about you in nothing but a pair of glassesâ probably wasnât the right answer, so he just shrugged and bit into the now cooler appetizer. The slightly sweet and chewy conch contrasted perfectly with the spice of peppers and crisp batter. âDo you know there are people who have never had a conch fritter?â
She shook her head in mock sadness. âItâs a tragedy, really.â
âIt is. I guess they donât know what theyâre missing. But still, life canât quite be complete if you donât have good seafood.â
A wistful look shadowed her face. âThereâs a lot to be thankful about in Paradise.â
Dylan wanted to punch himself. Sheâd lived most of her life away from this, and it was obvious sheâd missed out on a lot more than seafood while she was gone. He couldnât give her that time back or fix everything that had gone wrong for her, but he could at least try to make her return as welcome as possible. And the more he got to know her, the more determined he was to do just that.
Proposals in Paradise: True love on bended knee!
KATIE MEYER is a Florida native with a firm belief in happy endings. A former veterinary technician and dog trainer, she now spends her days homeschooling her children, writing and snuggling with her pets. Her guilty pleasures include good chocolate, Downton Abbey and cheap champagne. Preferably all at once. She looks to her parentsâ whirlwind romance and her own happy marriage for her romantic inspiration.
My friends, who try to keep me sane, and my family who love me even when Iâm not.
The Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, a very special place doing great work.
And Tara, Luke, Stripes and âTiny Catââ¦my animal inspirations.
And most of all, to coffee.
Chapter One
Usually, the small island town of Paradise lived up to its heavenly name. Today was not one of those days.
Dylan Turner had spent most of the day patching a leaking roof during one of Floridaâs notorious summer storms, only to have the skies clear the minute he climbed back down onto solid ground. Soaked to the skin and covered in globs of roofing compound that stuck more to his skin than it did to the shingles, heâd done something completely unprecedented in his time as director of the Paradise Wildlife Rehabilitation Centerâleave work early.
Now he was headed home smelling like tar, trying to navigate the water-filled ruts in the gravel road ahead of him. Wrenching the wheel hard to the right, he let the four-wheel drive take him up onto the soft shoulder and around a particularly washed-out section. Damn, he might have been better off staying at work after all. In a few hours, the water would have gone down, and there was always more work to do. More than heâd ever imagined when heâd taken the job over a year ago.
Fresh off an MBA from Harvard and ready to return to his home state, heâd thought the job would be a cakewalk, something politically correct to put on his résumé while leaving him plenty of time to surf and hike. Instead heâd found himself working eighty hours a week, often doing things conveniently left off the job description. Things like scooping panther spoor or chopping hundreds of pounds of vegetables. Or roofing repair. Luckily, heâd grown up on a ranch and wasnât afraid of getting his hands dirty.
But the crazy workload wasnât the biggest surprise. No, what had shocked him to the core was how darned much heâd come to love the jobâthe challenge and the responsibility. He could have worked at a big firm somewhere, but here what he did made a difference. Every dollar he raised, every penny he wrangled for the budget, meant food or shelter for an animal in need, and that was something he could feel good about at the end of the day.
Most days, anyway.
Scratching at a patch of tar behind his ear, he slowed for another puddle, the dirty gray water splashing his windshield and blinding him. He flipped on the wipers and grabbed a swig of the bottled water in the console. Soon heâd be at the turnoff for his cabin, a small two-bedroom right on the edge of the Paradise National Wildlife Refuge. Just a few minutes more and he could have a cold beer and a hot shower.