Groomed For Love: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  He screams in agony and I flip him like a burger, hog tying him with cable tie cuffs I always carry.

  But the knife, the guy. They’re not what has me worried.

  It’s Naomi I care about.

  Moose can handle himself, and he stands guard over our suspect as I rush to Naomi, who throws herself into my arms.

  It’s the best feeling in the world, I only wish it could be under better, safer circumstances.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her firmly, enjoying her touch like nothing else but needing to know she’s unhurt. Needing to know I have her safe now.

  “Are you injured?” I ask her again louder this time, holding her at arm’s length as I ask, scanning her sweet body for any sign of injury.

  She shakes her head quickly, her lower lip trembling and against all my training. Against every instinct as a cop, I hug her.

  A proper, full body hug that sees every part of me pressed into every part of her.

  My instinct as a man to hold her and protect her winning out.

  I am off duty after all.

  Feeling both her hands move up my chest, clawing into me as I hold her tighter, they move back down to my waist and she grips me as hard as she can, her own chest pressed into me and giving me that familiar pressure in my pants.

  “I should never have left,” I murmur, stroking her hair back and looking down at her.

  “Moose never wanted to go. I should’ve trusted his judgment,” I remind myself.

  The rasping, growling voice speaks up at me from the floor.

  “You done smooching, asshole? You’ve made a big fucking mistake here, and once I get my lawyer you’re gonna be in a world of pain,” The perp snarls, struggling to be heard over Moose, whose snarling right back at him before letting out a deep bark that silences him.

  I kneel down, praising Moose and flipping my badge to what already looks like an hour or two of paperwork.

  “Officer Parker, K9 unit. You’re under arrest for assault, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault against a police officer… And that’s just what I can think of right now,” I add, promising there’s plenty more where that came from.

  “You don’t get it do you?” he spits. “I own this fucking building. You’re trespassing, and I’m trying to evict this bitch of a tenant… You’re gonna look like a fucking moron if you don’t-”

  I shoot a glance up to Naomi, who’s stopped crying but is red in the face now, staring down at her feet.

  “Is that true?” I ask her, cutting off shit lips mid sentence.

  She nods sheepishly.

  “She’s two weeks behind, signed a lease, and has broken every condition of it,” her landlord continues. “Not to mention having that fucking mutt in there all last night, I only got a complaint from her neighbor this morning.”

  My hand’s ball up into a fist. My own justice is just itching to be served on this piece of shit.

  If it was with anyone else, it wouldn’t matter so much. But anything involving Naomi has my caveman instinct on high alert.

  She’s mine now, just been set in stone and anyone or anything that gets in the way of that or tries to hurt her even looks at her sideways has me to answer to.

  Seeing her eyes though. How ashamed she looks. How embarrassed.

  I don’t want to add to her shame by making a fool out of myself either.

  She deserves more than this. And I’m man enough to help her, the right way.

  I read her landlord his rights and then let Naomi know I have to call the arrest in.

  “Maybe wait inside until the uniforms arrive?” I suggest, but she shakes her head in the negative.

  “I want to stay with you, with Moose,” she squeaks, and Moose moves over to her, nuzzling her leg and standing guard next to her.

  “Then maybe he can help you pack a bag?” I suggest. “You’re not staying here,” I inform her casually.

  She opens her mouth in protest, but it’s my turn to shake my head, pressing a finger to my lips as I make my call.

  No arguments. No, if’s, and’s, or but’s.

  She won’t spend another minute in this shit hole as long as I draw breath.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Naomi

  Just when I think I couldn’t cry any harder or feel any worse, there’s a firm knock at the door.

  My heart’s in my throat and I leap up off my bed, straightening my hair and sniffing back my tears.

  He’s back. I knew he would be. I knew he wouldn’t leave me.

  The knocking gets louder, more insistent and I hurry to try and make myself look presentable, but the urge to see him all over again is too much.

  I throw back the door, not even using the safety chains.

  “Parker!” I exclaim.

  But it’s not Parker.

  It’s my asshole landlord, Otis Canning.

  I feel my face fall, and my heart suddenly starts thumping for a different reason.

  His sour look matches the stale odor of sweat and tobacco mixed with booze that pours out off of him like fog off a swamp.

  He’s an ugly man, mean too, but today he looks meaner and uglier than ever as he thrusts a pink slip of paper so close to my face I can’t see what it says.

  But I can guess.

  “I hear you got a dog in there, and you’re two weeks past due on your rent today. This is an eviction notice and it says you’re out on your fat ass… today.”

  I open my mouth to explain, hoping something sensible will come out, but I can’t speak.

  I move back from the door suddenly, trying to close it enough to set the chain, but his foot is in the way.

  He’s evicted more tenants than he’s had triple whiskies recently, so I’m not surprised at how well he’s planned all this.

  He grabs my wrist when I try to push him away, pulling me closer so I can smell his garbage breath and see his black teeth as he hisses more threats.

  “You’ll get nothing from me, no security deposit no reference. Nothing!” he spits.

  “You can fuck off right now with what you can carry, or I’ll call the fuckin’ cops,” he says, threatening me as I wrestle to get away from his iron grip.

  Everything that happens next is kind of a blur.

  Like in slow motion.

  That part of the movie where the hero flies in to save the day.

  And today I have my heroes. Today is my day after all.

  The first thing I hear is Moose barking, then snarling as Otis is suckered away from me, Moose with his arm in his mouth as he pins the man to the ground.

  The next thing I hear is Parker’s booming voice, identifying himself as police.

  Hearing his strong voice and then seeing his even stronger body once he’s between me and the landlord makes me feel safe straight away.

  I know somehow, that all my problems are over.

  That I’ll never have to be afraid of anything or anyone ever again.

  Otis has a smug look for a second, figuring it’s him who’s been rescued by the police after a dog I had in my apartment has just savaged him, but his look turns once Parker lets him know that it’s Officer Parker and Officer Moose on the scene and that he’s under arrest.

  There’s a scuffle and I shriek when I see the knife, but it’s all in a day’s work for my heroes, and in no time the bastard is hogtied and wriggling to free himself. The plastic ties cutting deeper the more he struggles.

  Moose has his back, and I can’t help but hurl myself into Parker’s arms.

  Sobbing with relief, my emotions so mixed up but feeling like this is the only place I want to be in in the whole world from now on.

  In his embrace, feeling his hard body pressed up against all my softness as I struggle to get as much of him in my hands as I can, I feel so grateful.

  So relieved.

  So much…?

  Is it too soon to even say it?

  I’ve heard of love at first sight, head over heels, and all that. Especially when there’s a hero-victim situat
ion, but all this started long before Parker saved my ass just now.

  The minute I saw him, I knew I wanted to be his.

  I want him to want me like nothing else.

  Want him to want me like I need him now.

  Parker tells me to go inside, but I don’t want to go anywhere he’s not.

  He then adds I should go pack, with Moose as my guard, because I’m not staying here a day longer, eviction or no eviction.

  That’s all I need to hear, and I almost squeal with delight as I rush to pack what little I have.

  Mostly panties and track pants, if the effect Parker has on me is anything to go by… I’m gonna need a change of underclothes more than anything for sure.

  But what about my eviction notice. What about Otis the asshole landlord?

  Before I go, with a single glance and a nod, silencing me with a finger to his own lips, Parker instructs me everything is under his complete control from here on.

  Moose too nuzzles me softly telling me in his own way not to worry.

  I can almost hear his own doggy voice in my mind. “See? I told ya!”

  My hands tremble as I fish for things to take with me. My little backpack still looking half empty once I pack what I know I’ll need.

  My whole life up until today suddenly becoming crystal clear.

  I had no one and nothing until Parker.

  Even my older brother, the family I had growing up seems vacant, lackluster.

  Empty.

  It’s Parker and me from now on, I know it. That simple little gesture of his finger on his sweet lips; commanding me to go get ready while he does his job.

  While we both wait until the job’s done and he takes me away from here, so we can be alone again.

  That’s all that matters to me now.

  Moose watches with interest as I pack, then unpack.

  Change my clothes and then change again, his head cocked to one side as he quizzes me in his own special way.

  I want everything to be just right if I’m going with Parker.

  If only I knew his first damned name.

  I ask Moose what his partner’s first name is, but he only yawns, crouching down in front of me with his face on his paws as he looks up, waiting.

  It’s minutes but feels like seconds.

  The backup police arrive, and I can hear the muted conversation from behind my apartment door as Parker fills them in on what’s happened, hear my landlord cursing and resisting just that little bit more before he’s led away.

  “I’ll get a statement from the victim,” I hear Parker say.

  His voice is deep and rich with a certainty that makes me hope he’ll do much more than that when he gets me out of here.

  Where exactly are we going again?

  He knocks gently on my door and I open it, Moose snapping to attention with his tail wagging as he lets out another loud bark.

  “He’ll be locked up until a bail hearing. At least next week at this rate, I’m guessing, don’t care how good his lawyer is,” Parker tells me a matter of fact, meaning I don’t have to worry about my landlord anytime soon.

  “But I meant what I said, Naomi. You’re not staying here,” he adds firmly, kneeling to praise Moose one more time but recoiling as he makes a face.

  “We should probably head back to Sasha’s salon,” he insists.

  “To take down my note?” I ask, feeling stupid about the whole thing all over again.

  “Yeah…” Parker admits. “But mainly so Moose can have a bath. He stinks!” he exclaims, and we both laugh, but Moose isn’t laughing, letting out a low whine of embarrassment.

  I remember what Sasha said about not touching anything else, about locking up her salon and leaving it alone before she was taken in the ambulance.

  But with Parker there, it should be alright. He can help me with Moose and get him pampered.

  He deserves it after his heroics today.

  Plus I really should take down that note with my phone number and address on it.

  What the hell was I thinking?

  “It was my first day at the salon yesterday,” I confess to Parker, wincing as I recall the events leading up to Sasha being taken to hospital.

  He lifts his brow, but shrugs.

  “Everyone’s first day is a nightmare,” he consoles me, adding that he’s never seen Moose more at ease with anyone apart from himself.

  “Even Sasha?” I venture.

  “Even Sasha,” he confirms, and Moose barks again, almost winking at me as he agrees with his master.

  “Then let’s go,” I hear myself say. Feeling like I’m being reborn as I leave my apartment.

  A part of me is thrilled but also a little scared too once I feel deep down that I’ll never be coming back.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Parker

  I won’t have her here another minute, but I can’t just tell her what to do either.

  I want to take her home, to have her all to myself. Just me and her.

  Naomi.

  But I figure seeing as Moose still needs his bath pretty desperately, and that we still need to get that note off the salon window it might be best to start there instead of the hallway of her shitty landlord’s building.

  He’s going away for a while if I have anything to do with it. And I mean to make sure my report reflects that once I write it up.

  But for now, I want Naomi, Moose, and me to just get out of here.

  Uniforms don’t blink once I let them know I’ll get Naomi somewhere safe and hand in my own paperwork ASAP.

  It’s a typical call out for them, angry landlord taking matters into his own hands. And once they see the knife as evidence and I explain what happened, they’re happy to drag his sorry ass off to jail where it belongs.

  Moose, me, and Naomi? We’re headed back to the salon.

  Starting over where maybe things should have started in the first place if I hadn’t been sucked into visiting my mom for the weekend.

  “Why dog grooming?” I ask her as we weave through downtown traffic.

  Moose has settled on the back seat of my truck, happy now that all three of us are together and heading someplace I know he likes.

  Naomi shrugs. “It’s work, I guess…” she offers, and I can tell she’s uneasy about my asking about her employment.

  Hell. She’s just been evicted, probably homeless and here I am asking why she wants to work in a dog groomer’s salon.

  “I mean,” I tell her frankly. “Is there anything else you really want to do?” I ask her, meeting her gaze in the rearview.

  Losing myself in those baby blues as she gnaws at her puckered lip.

  I focus back on the road but take in as much of her as I can as I drive.

  Her voice, her eyes.

  That fucking chest.

  My greedy eyes scanning down to the space between her thick thighs once we stop at a set of lights, feeling my tent pole hard on bobbing to attention in a second.

  Telling myself to keep things professional, and failing.

  “I know Sasha will fire me,” she says, a matter of fact as she sighs and looks away. “Already has probably, just not able to tell me yet, I guess.”

  I feel my knuckles tense with the steering wheel under them.

  “You don’t know that,” I tell her, wishing she wouldn’t assume the worst when she has so many bright things ahead of her.

  Ahead of us.

  I’m here now. We can all go home once Moose is done.

  Wanting to just pull over and tell her how it’s gonna be from now on, but she kinda has to have her say so in things as well.

  I can’t just make someone love me, can’t force them to want to be with me.

  Still not really sure how she really does feel. I mean, love at first sight?

  An older guy like me with a younger girl like her. Especially someone so dammed perfect.

  As if that stuff even really happens.

  “Why can’t you wash Moose yourself again?” she asks me, b
reaking the silence as we get closer to the salon.

  Her question makes me smile, and Moose lets out a little whine.

  “Because…” I start to explain patiently, eyeballing him in the rearview. “Every time I get Moose in the bath he starts to disobey all his training. It’s like he turns into a puppy all over again,” I explain with a smile.

  Because it’s true.

  We should be grooming our own dogs at the precinct, and some handlers do. But with Moose, it’s different.

  Very different.

  “Sasha’s the one person who won’t take Moose’s shenanigans,” I explain further. Feeling bad for not mentioning straight up once again that Naomi is the only person I’ve seen Moose behave around one hundred percent, even including myself.

  “So what does happen if you bath him at home?” she asks innocently.

  I break into a wide smile at the most recent memory.

  “Water. Everywhere,” I inform her. “It’s like all his training goes out the window once he’s in the tub and I’m there… If I reported it he’d probably be taken off the force,” I caution my partner, narrowing my eyes as he drops his head, hiding his muzzle with his paws in the back seat.

  But it’s Naomi who laughs this time.

  The first time I’ve seen her smile let alone laugh so freely.

  And my god, what a smile it is.

  It feels like the whole world is brighter somehow.

  Like the sky is suddenly bluer and everything is perfect once I see her smile, once I hear her laughter in the space between us both.

  It’s the one thing I’ve heard and seen in my whole life that makes my own heart feel easy for once.

  It’s like coming home.

  I let our mood stay light once we reach the salon. Naomi’s had a bad day by anyone’s standards, but her fear of losing her home as well as her job still weighs heavy on me.

  And Moose.

  We’ve both seen trauma on the job but we also both know this is different. This is the one time we both get to make a permanent difference.

  I make a joke about Moose finally getting his bath as Naomi lets us into the salon. I tear down her note so no one else will ever see it again but treasure it from this moment as my own.

  “I’ll warm up the bath,” she squeaks, and I lock the doors behind us both. Moose following her eagerly to the large walk-in bath outback.