Groomed For Love: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  CONTENTS

  Groomed For Love

  NEWSLETTER

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  NEWSLETTER

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  BRATVA BEAR SHIFTERS

  LAIRDS & LADIES

  RUSSIAN UNDERWORLD

  IRISH WOLF SHIFTERS

  Collaborations

  About the Author

  GROOMED FOR LOVE

  AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE

  _______________________

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 240

  FLORA FERRARI

  Copyright © 2021 by Flora Ferrari

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.

  GROOMED FOR LOVE

  NAOMI

  Dog groomer? I can do that.

  I did a course. Kind of almost finished it.

  It’s a job and I sure as hell need one right now.

  But almost killing my boss on the first day?

  I guess I can do that too. Although, I don’t exactly mean to.

  Okay, it’s complicated. Starts out as lunch and ends in… Well. I guess it ends in being the best two or three most mixed-up days of my life.

  It looks like I’m stuck looking after a huge police dog until Monday as well.

  None of it makes sense until I see Officer Parker though, the tall dark, and way beyond handsome cop who comes to collect his K9 partner.

  The man who comes to my rescue.

  A real man.

  I’ve never seen one in action. Always thought they were just in movies or books.

  But Parker? He’s all man.

  And there’s something inside me that’s suddenly feeling like it needs to be tamed by such a man.

  But would he even go for a younger, thicker girl like me?

  I can’t wait to find out.

  PARKER

  Leaving my police K9 partner Moose behind while I go upstate to visit family isn’t my idea of fun.

  It’s just for one weekend, and Sasha is the best.

  The only dog groomer who can handle Moose when he gets near water. Never his strong point.

  But then I get the call.

  Turns out he’s been left in the hands of someone I don’t know. Some girl apparently.

  It’s a small blessing really. I don’t get on with my aging mother and it gives me the perfect excuse to head back to town early.

  If I’d known though.

  If I even knew she existed, I would never have gone anywhere else but straight to her.

  She’s perfect.

  From the first second I see her, plus the fact Moose has already made his mind up about her I know she’s the one.

  Half my age and prettier than a peach, I know age is just a number and I’ll do everything in my power to keep her close to me from now on.

  She will be mine.

  *Groomed For Love is an insta-everything standalone instalove romance with a HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Naomi

  “I thought the police would have their own dog groomers?” I suggest nervously, not wanting to sound like I know it all on the first day on the job.

  Just trying to make conversation really.

  I’ve already made so many costly mistakes on my first day that anything that takes the focus off me is a freaking great idea in my mind.

  Sasha’s been so kind about everything though, not even minding when I used the wrong everything, cut a client’s poodle way too short, and to top it all off, dropped a hairdryer in an empty bath. But it’s still under warranty and should be covered by insurance.

  I’ve never been so clumsy, much. Just first day jitters and it feels like if anything can go wrong already has.

  “Best to get it all out of the way now, sweetie,” Sasha bubbles. The strain starting to show on her rosy cherub-like face that’s looking paler by the minute under her shock of dyed red hair.

  “And we are the city’s K9 groomers,” she adds with a creased smile.

  I can already tell she won’t let me touch the next pooch in her day’s lineup, ‘Moose’.

  A huge German shepherd who’s had his head cocked half the morning, observing my antics.

  I guess his name is because of his size. I’ve never seen a dog so big in the breed, but I can’t help wondering.

  “Maybe you could just tidy up some and then go pick up the lunch order?” Sasha says grimacing another tight smile, sipping her coffee I just made her.

  The least I could do.

  But I won’t be grooming Moose, obviously.

  A regular client like the city police K9 isn’t something she’d pass on to a first day on the job girl.

  That’s assuming I even have a second day of work lined up for tomorrow, given my efforts so far.

  I choke back a groan and nod my head. Eager to please and resolved to only try harder not to screw anything else up.

  The deli with our lunch is only a few doors down, so I manage to convince Sasha as well as myself I can handle that.

  It’s a busy Friday lunch and although we ordered in advance, the waitress tells me to wait like everyone else.

  I shrug and tell her it’s okay.

  “Great to see small business busy,” I hear myself remark to her back as she walks away from me.

  The whole place smells amazing, and so loud too that I’m grateful it covers up the sound of the whale song groaning loudly from my belly.

  Like a pod of Orcas zoning in on roast beef on rye, reminding me not to skip breakfast if I still have a job tomorrow.

  There’s the usual traffic noise from the street, but the piercing wail of emergency sirens makes everybody wince at first, and then finally crane their necks as the EMT’s pull up a few doors down.

  I feel my heart freeze in my chest.

  It couldn’t be me. I’m not even there. It must be something else.

  Before long, there’s a bigger line at the door to see what’s going on and I’m pushed back to the counter, glad at least that our food’s finally ready.

  “It’s on Sasha’s account,” the same waitress says, looking me up and down. Totally disinterested in me now.

  It could be worse. I could have land
ed a waitressing job.

  Yikes.

  Shoving my way past the lunch crowd, I make a low sound as everything feels like it’s going in slow motion.

  The ambulance, fire truck, and other first responders are all blocking the street out front of Sasha’s dog parlor.

  Gripping the paper sacks, I use my size instead of my height to push through everyone I can, explaining I work there to the burly cop blocking the door.

  Then I see her.

  Sasha.

  At least, I think it’s Sasha. She looks so… swollen.

  “I… I’m Naomi, the new dog groomer,” I announce. A paramedic looking up at me before glancing at the coffee cup shattered on the floor by the counter.

  “You make that?” he asks, sounding like he’s cross-examining a suspect already, but I feel my head nodding.

  “You use nut milk by any chance?” he asks, his own face creasing on one side as I watch Sasha puff up even more.

  Guilty!

  “Uh huh,” I stammer.

  “I always use Almond milk, the chocolate kind that’s already sweetened. I thought…” I try to finish, but his back is to me as well, it looks like Sasha’s maybe not doing so good all of a sudden.

  Turns out Sasha has a nut allergy that I didn’t even ask about before loading up her latte with almond chocolatey goodness.

  I hear my heart crack as I try to swallow.

  My god, what have I done?

  “She had an epi-pen and we were right around the block when she called,” the medic assures me, finally looking up at me, registering my look of horror.

  “I was just getting our lunch,” I squeak.

  “Not nut loaf, I hope,” he remarks and breaks out into a sarcastic belly laugh he shares all to himself for a second before standing up and coming over to me.

  “You better sit over here, miss. Lemee check you out too for a second. You’ve had quite a shock yourself,” he adds calmly and makes sure I’m okay before his partner announces that Sasha is stable and ready to be taken to the hospital.

  Hospital?

  Jesus Christ.

  The other first responders nod and agree to move on to their next crisis, gradually emptying the dog parlor and shooing away the rubberneckers until it’s just me and Sasha with her saviors, wheeling her out to the waiting ambulance.

  She grips my arm suddenly, and I’m sure she’s gonna fire me, or worse.

  But Sasha being Sasha, it’s all about her clients.

  Her real clients.

  The pooches.

  “Moose was supposed to come home with me for the weekend after his treatment,” she rasps, and I lean in closer to hear her better through her oxygen mask.

  “Officer Parker… He’s out of town… You’ll have to babysit Moose ‘til Monday,” she says, struggling for breath still but not looking so puffy now.

  “Don’t lose that dog before Monday and for god’s sake, close the store … and don’t do anything else today,” she adds feverishly, trying to sound calm, but her eyes roll back as she moans before I’m held back by the medic.

  The cop from the front door overhears us, stepping forward and blocking me from seeing Sasha into the ambulance.

  “I know Officer Parker, and Moose,” he says with a frown. “Buddy of mine works the K9 unit. Used to be a detective,” he adds matter of fact. As though I should be impressed to even hear the guy’s name.

  My blank expression leaves a dozen questions I have open.

  “I can let him know you have his K9, is what I mean,” he explains as if he’s talking to a simpleton.

  After what’s just happened I can’t blame him.

  “Moose is picky though,” he says. “Doesn’t take to anyone except Parker, usually. If you get in trouble, give me a call,” he adds as he hands me a card and cocks his head.

  Radio chatter and the fresh blast of sirens mean that the show’s over.

  The shift goes on for the first responders, but my day, my job most likely is well and truly over.

  I swivel the sign to ‘closed’ and lock the front door once they’ve left.

  Puffing air out through my cheeks before I sink down into the nearest chair and proceed to start to cry.

  I can hear Moose whining from the back and stepping over the broken coffee mug to get a broom and a mop to clean this mess up, I notice him looking at me intently before he lets out a loud bark which makes me jump.

  “Don’t take to strangers kindly, huh?” I ask him, sniffing back my tears.

  “Me neither,” I hear myself agreeing with my own question.

  I clean up the smashed cup, along with the whole salon floor before I realize a dog the size of Moose isn’t going to like being cooped up too much longer.

  He’ll need a walk.

  Feeding.

  And then somewhere to stay until Monday.

  Not to mention all the Moose-sized bombs that will need picking up.

  I groan loudly.

  My pigeonhole apartment is no place for a dog his size, and my landlord is already on my case about missing two weeks’ rent.

  Then there’s the delicate issue of strictly no pets allowed…

  I groan louder, wishing I had someone I could call to help.

  You could call Chet. He’d have an answer for you, although it wouldn’t be the one you like.

  Uh. No thanks, pass.

  Chet is my big brother. He looked out for us both since my dad left us when we were kids, but his way of looking out for me was keeping me under his thumb. Until I turned twenty last year and told him where to stick his legal guardianship before moving to the city.

  Moose is looking at me with searching eyes, whining that he wants out of the cage I know is too small to hold him much longer.

  Once the floor’s dry, I let him out, and to my surprise, he nuzzles up against me straight away.

  I’ve always been easy around animals, but by his size, plus what that cop said, I figured Moose was a hard case.

  Strict police training and all that stuff.

  Not true.

  He really is just like a huge baby.

  In no time at all, we’re like old pals, with his huge tongue lolling about happily as I feed him one treat snack after the other as I sit in the salon, pretending I know what I’ll do next.

  Thumbing the card the cop gave me, I gnaw at my lip.

  Sasha told me to do one thing, look after Moose until Monday.

  How hard could that be?

  “Where’s your dad, Moose?” I ask him hopelessly. “Maybe he can come to rescue us both?” I suggest.

  Jumping again as Moose barks loudly in agreement.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Parker

  “But you just got here, how can you be going already?” My mom shouts from her kitchen, confused and upset as I head back to the guest room to re-pack.

  “Because some idiot’s been left in charge of Moose,” I growl to myself, throwing my clothes back in the bag, feeling an unpleasant knot in my stomach and a familiar twinge in my throwing arm.

  I should never have left him.

  Should never have come up here.

  “Dammit!” I growl even louder, knowing now I have to explain myself to my mom now as well as drive back down to the city, ruining our plans for the weekend.

  Anywhere else, I’d bring Moose with me. He’s my working partner as well as my best buddy after all.

  But Mom and her allergies… And the fact that Moose can’t stand her.

  Hates her guts for some reason, which is so unlike him. But not unusual for a dog with supreme instincts.

  Like seriously, he almost wants to bite her every time he sees her or even hears her on the phone.

  I take a couple of deep breaths, deciding I may as well stay for dinner at least and then head back.

  It’ll give me a chance to explain things to mom, who isn’t getting any younger.

  Any disruption to her plans or her routines. It really rattles her.

  Especially now t
hat dad’s gone.

  The memory of him makes my shoulder sting with pain again and I wince a little as I tell myself it’s because I’ve been tossing clothes around like a child, not because it’s where I took the bullet all those years ago.

  Dad used to be my partner on the force. Back when I was detective Parker.

  The greatest father-son cop team the precinct’s ever had.

  After what happened, he took early retirement. Moved upstate with my mom and made sure I was looked after by leaving me the house they both shared for almost forty years.

  The look I get when I front up to the dinner table for duty says it all.

  If only your father was here. He’d know what to do.

  But he’s not here.

  He lived a good life, and god rest his soul, left mom and me very comfortable thanks to sound investments and his own family’s money.

  “I just can’t leave Moose alone is all, Mom.” I remind her, pretending to be hurt when she won’t meet my eyes, stacking my plate higher with mashed potatoes and corned beef.

  Willing me to stay longer by feeding me to death.

  “Ma?” I protest, moving my head until our eyes meet, and moving over to comfort her when I see she’s crying.

  Truth is, we’ve never been close.

  I was closer to my dad, and since being reassigned to K9 duty, my life with Moose is all I know.

  “That damned dog!” she sniffs. “It’s like since your father left us he’s all you really care about…”

  I take some more of those calming breaths, careful not to say anything to upset her any more than she already is.

  “Why can’t you just settle down, get a wife and give me some grandbabies to worry about. Instead, I’m up most nights, thinking about you racing around in the dark with that animal… Just waiting to get…” But she stops herself.

  Just waiting to get shot again is what she means.

  Dad was the same once he retired. Always wanting me to quit the force, settle down and focus on being a family man.

  The kind he never was. We only became close once we were partners on the job, dad and me.

  This job.

  This life.

  Once a cop, always a cop. And it takes over everything sooner or later. Like it’s in the blood or something.

  “Won’t you at least stay just one night?” she asks, finally settling herself down to watch me eat the mountain of food she’s prepared.