by Rhyll Biest
Stacey took the wet bundle. ‘Poor thing, what happened?’
‘Car went through the guard rail, ended up in the river. Dog and passenger were trapped in the car as it sank.’
‘Holy hydatids,’ Stacey murmured, eyes widening. ‘It’s a wonder they both weren’t killed.’
‘I know, and the only reason they weren’t was because Luka pulled off a real-life fucking miracle, first by stopping the car from sinking too fast, and then by resuscitating Boo.’
Luka stood quietly, watching her without interrupting.
‘You resuscitated the dog?’ Stacey blinked.
‘It was like Baywatch but with more hair and legs. And less boobs.’ Kat’s glance swept the waiting room, daring anyone to contradict her.
‘Okay, let’s take this guy to the clinic and check him out.’ Stacey led the way through the fortified doors. They passed through the yard where Mack, a dog trainer, lean and dark-skinned, threw a tennis ball for several dogs. He gave them a casual wave before throwing again, and the pack charged off as one after the ball, except for two dogs.
Mad Max—who’d filled out and grown a less crazed expression since Kat had last seen him—remained seated, a trembling Chihuahua huddled between his front legs. They resembled a penguin chick huddled against its mother.
The sight hit her at gut-level.
If Mad Max—who the world would surely decry as a savage killer because of his bull terrier blood and biting habit—could change, what was to stop her from doing the same?
Because the dogs are less likely to turn on one another, Galenka insisted.
But Kat refused to listen to that wild, frightened fifteen-year-old self any longer. Galenka had served her well growing up, kept her safe in the wild terrain of her parents’ guerrilla warfare, but now she was holding Kat back.
Luka had proven his trustworthiness, and his trust in her. If he thought her capable of signing a truce with life then perhaps she could. There had to be other ways of feeling safe.
Galenka had always rejected all soft feelings—unless they were for animals—as a trap, believed love was a parasite that chewed the heart out from the inside. But Kat needed nourishment.
She couldn’t fence that part of herself off any more and survive, no matter how good her situational awareness or her self-defence skills.
You ungrateful bitch, Galenka hissed.
There’s still a place for you. I’ll need your wildness and your boldness even more now that I’ve decided not to play it safe and solitary anymore.
What about what I need?
We’ll both get what we need.
Galenka maintained a sulky silence before running away.
Kat shrugged. She would come round.
Stacey opened the door to her demountable building and Kat was embraced by chilly air-conditioning as she stepped in, Luka at her back.
The shivering Boo was placed on an examination table so that Stacey could do her thing. Kat played with her necklace, saw Luka watching and stopped.
‘I thought you were going back to Sydney.’ Stacey glanced at Kat while shining a light into Boo’s eyes.
‘I was.’
‘But?’
‘But then Luka forced some lady’s car off the bridge just so he could impress me by saving the driver and her dog. What can I say? I was impressed.’
Stacey stared at Luka.
He grinned.
She picked up a box of latex gloves, her gaze switching to Kat. ‘How impressed were you?’
‘Pretty damn impressed.’
‘Yeah?’ Stacey snapped a pair of latex gloves on. ‘Does that mean you might stay, after all?’
Kat met Luka’s eyes. ‘Maybe. I’ll give it a go at least.’
Stacey took the shaking Boo’s temperature. Her gaze dropped to the ring on a chain around Kat’s neck. ‘You gonna keep that fake engagement ring?’
‘How did you—?’ Kat narrowed her eyes at Luka. ‘Blabbermouth.’
He shrugged. ‘She has a point, it just doesn’t seem right for you to keep wearing it.’
Kat’s hands went to her hips. Christ he was bossy. ‘Maybe I want to keep it, repurpose it as a cock ring.’
‘Pretty small cock ring.’ Stacey put the thermometer aside.
‘Jesus,’ Luka muttered.
Stacey looked up from her patient. ‘What? Am I wrong?’
Luka grabbed Kat by the hand to drag her outside the demountable. She allowed it but found it hard to suppress a laugh at the haunted expression in his eyes.
‘What are you laughing at, witch?’ He muttered the question as he pressed her up against the side of the demountable, the heat of the steel soaking through her shirt.
‘Your reluctance to talk cock rings with Stacey.’
‘Don’t think I didn’t notice who started that topic.’
Before she could reply his lips descended, and he kissed her so soundly, so thoroughly, that it put an end to any conversation for a good few minutes.
They stood gasping and recovering their breath until Luka tugged at her necklace and undid the clasp.
She permitted it, even admired the lean strength of his fingers as he did so. Humoured him when he dropped the band on its chain into her breast pocket and patted it. Patted her breast pocket for much longer than was strictly decent, in fact.
‘Hey, eyes up here, Bozo.’
‘That’s Officer Bozo to you.’
The hand on her breast and the glint in his eyes belied his stern tone.
‘So, do we have a shot at something here, Daily?’ His look reassured her she could do it, told her to go for it.
‘I think we do.’
‘So …’ He gave her a hopeful look. ‘Want to come back to my place and help me knock some pears out of trees?’
She feigned eye rolling. ‘God no, anything but that.’
A flash of good humour lit his eyes just before Kat was forced to endure yet another round of punitive kisses.
Thanks for reading Shelter. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage www.biestbooks.com, follow me on Twitter @rhyllbiest, or like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/biestfiction.
You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here www.escapepublishing.com.au
Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
If you liked this book, here are my other books: Hell on Wheels, Unrestrained, and Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty – Skye.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
BESTSELLING TITLES BY ESCAPE PUBLISHING…
Unrestrained
Rhyll Biest
A guarded recluse, some dirty pictures and a spark of curiosity that leads to a dangerous attraction.
When the reclusive Holly accidentally finds some very naughty photos, both the star – all inked muscle and attitude – and the way he’s tied his lady friend to his four-poster bed make her more than a little curious.
But to get to know the big, built stonemason better, she’ll have to overcome his vengeful ex and her own inhibitions – and pray that the walls she’s built around her guarded heart and dark secret remain safe from a man who has a way with stone.
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dshed and Slaughter, a royal bastard with blood black as night whose passion for her might prove as dangerous as the war with her brother. Valeda is going to need all of her wits, treachery and cunning—and some lessons learned through demon roller derby—to overcome her past, defeat the enemy, and survive her marriage.
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Before she knows it, Rachel is corralled into helping with the Tidy Town competition by the Dramatic Society widows who have a tendency to gossip and take charge. It’s not in her plan, but she finds herself allowing friendships to develop. She’s even more surprised by her growing attraction to the town’s engaging senior police officer.
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Travis Bailey may as well be Wongan Creek. His family has farmed canola for generations, and he sometimes feels like he holds the community together with his bare, dirt-stained hands. Between caring for the farm, his orphaned niece and his elderly, ailing neighbour, he doesn’t have time for himself. He doesn’t have time to fall in love.
Social worker Heather Penney is living on borrowed time. When her mother died of Motor Neurone Disease, she took the initial blood tests and now nothing is guaranteed, let alone a future with a family and a home and a child. Wongan Creek, and its resident protector, might be getting under her skin, but she can’t afford to get attached.
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ISBN: 9781489237606
Title: Shelter
Copyright © 2017 by Rhyll Biest
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