Excerpt of Deadly Abandon by Kallie Lane

She rounded the corner and smacked into two-hundred-plus pounds of raw power. He was a tall man—maybe six three or four—wide-shouldered, narrow hipped, easy on the eyes and impossible to ignore. His frame lean and hard, he wore thigh-gloving jeans and a Harley Davidson T-shirt tattooed across a rock-solid chest. A black bandanna wrapped around an arm. Fashion statement or injury? Before she had time to decide, he snaked a hand out to restrain her. “Stand still,” he said, when she struggled in his grasp. Voice deep, the rich baritone rumbled through the room with quiet authority. “Who are you? How did you get in here?” His grip eased a fraction. She drew in a breath as the heat of his strong fingers loosened around her bicep. Then she shifted back a few paces to look him in the eye. He was a man used to being obeyed. Squaring her shoulders and gritting her teeth, she flipped him a get real glower. She also ordered her legs to stop shaking. “I’m the veterinarian, Breeana McGill. I was called here for a police emergency, to treat an injured dog.” His gaze missed nothing as it raked her over, apparently trying to decide if she was legit. She knew how she must look in her frou-frou gym gear, wanted to sink through the floor and disappear from view… “You’re the vet? Really?” He cocked an eyebrow, pressed his lips together as if stifling a laugh. “Get some booties on your feet before you destroy more evidence.” “What? I don’t care about you and your booties. I have a sick animal to deal with. Step aside.” A full-blown smile edged his lips as he grabbed a pair of blue shoe coverings from a box on the kitchen table and waited for her to slip them over her Nikes. Only then did he reach behind her and touch the handle on the laundry room door. “Cookie, this I gotta see.”