Excerpt 1:
When no one answered, she stepped inside and reached for the light switch she knew was on the wall.

“Alex? I’m not leaving until I make sure you’re okay, so you might as well answer me.”

She cocked an ear and heard water running. He wouldn’t try to drown himself, would he? Olivia tossed off her coat, set the ice cream and cookies on the counter in the kitchen, and was just headed down the hall to the master suite when a light flicked on and Alex stood there wearing nothing but a towel.

The wise thing for her to do would have been to spin around and give him his privacy. However, she was too worried about him and still too keyed up from what had happened to listen to the voice telling her to retreat.

She walked the rest of the way into the room, fisted her hands on her hips, and studied him from the top of his head where water droplets clung to the tips of his hair, down his stoic face, past that delectable cleft in his chin, and along the impressive muscles in his arms, chest, and abs. The physician in her categorized his scars, making note of several burn marks and one spot on his side that looked like a gunshot wound. She walked around him, convinced the corresponding wound on his back was the exit point.

What terrors had this man survived?

Her admiration for him climbed several notches. Alex was a survivor, whether he realized it or not.

“Hi,” she said softly, walking back around to face him. His nearly naked state left her feeling wave after wave of things better left alone, but despite how much it unsettled her, she wasn’t quite ready to return to the kitchen.

Excerpt 2:
“Have you been in Pinehill before?” Olivia asked as she drove through town. Thank goodness, it was fairly quiet, being a weekday evening. There were some tourists in town, just not the hordes that descended each weekend.

“Once. I spent the summer with my aunt and uncle and cousins at the cabin when I was eleven. It was one of the best summers I ever had.” Alex looked out the window, and Olivia wondered what he saw. A small town with big dreams? A place he could get lost in the crowds?

Hundreds of lights graced storefronts, businesses, and homes, twinkling against the snow and making Pinehill look like a magical winter wonderland. Despite how much she detested the cold and snow, she loved seeing the town with all the lights aglow. She always found something so hopeful and cheerful in the soft glow they created against the twilight.

“Do you have many cousins? Or siblings?” Olivia asked, trying to keep the conversation going. She really wasn’t great at small talk.

Alex emitted a sound that could have been a laugh or a scoff. She wasn’t sure which.

“Two older sisters who think they know everything. And I do have a lot of cousins. My mom has four sisters, and my dad has two brothers. So I have six aunts, six uncles, three great-aunts, one great-uncle, and forty-seven cousins if I count my cousins’ spouses and their offspring.”

Olivia grinned. “That’s a lot of relatives.”

“It is. Sometimes I’d like to share them with someone who doesn’t have any.” Alex smiled, and Olivia thought he should do it more often. It transformed his face from stoic to incredibly attractive. “How about you?”

“How about me, what?” she asked, slowing as she neared the edge of town, ready to make the turn onto the road Alex indicated.

“Do you have many cousins? Aunts? Uncles? Husbands?”

Olivia tossed him a disparaging glance. “Husbands? Now that was smooth, Mr. Adams. Thought you’d just work that right into the conversation, did you?”

“I’m not one who likes to beat around the bush.” He shrugged. “So are you? Married, I mean?”

“Only to my work.” Olivia sighed.

Excerpt 3: 
“I’m Doctor Burton, and this is Nurse Milleson,” the lovely blonde said as she pulled on gloves and picked up a penlight in one hand and a pair of long tweezers in the other. “What’s your dog’s name?”

“Dude,” Alex said, keeping his arms protectively around the dog. He could feel Dude trembling as his wheezing grew raspier.

“Dude? Good grief!” The nurse gaped at Alex like he’d left most of his brain cells somewhere outside in the snow.

“He had that name when I got him,” he explained, then looked to the doctor again.

“I can’t make any promises, but let’s see what we can find. What’s your name?” She slowly moved closer to him and Dude.

“Alex. Alex Adams. I just got into town this afternoon. Maybe this is a sign I should go home instead of spending the rest of the winter here.”

“Believe in signs, do you?” the nurse asked, quirking her eyebrow as she bent down and gave the dog a shot just above his shoulder blades. “This will help him relax.” To his credit, Dude didn’t react to the prick he’d surely felt.

“Actually, I don’t, believe in signs, I mean.” Alex held Dude steady as the nurse moved back, then took the flashlight from the doctor.

“Try to hold his mouth open,” the doctor said as she bent down with the tweezers in her right hand. The nurse edged in close beside her and held the light as Alex lifted Dude’s head and tried to open the dog’s mouth wider.

“Can you tip his head back a little bit more?” the doctor asked as she tentatively stuck her fingers inside Dude’s mouth.

“Come on, boy. You can do this,” Alex said, uncertain if he was trying to bolster the dog’s confidence or his own.

Doctor Burton leaned closer, took the light from the nurse, and stuck the tweezers into Dude’s mouth. He could tell she was guiding them into Dude’s throat.

Alex heard the dog gag about the time the doctor said, “Got it!” She held up what appeared to be a bone from a chicken leg. Dude hacked a few times, like a cat trying to dislodge a furball, then flopped onto his belly, as though he needed a rest.

“Get him some water,” Doctor Burton said to the nurse, then carried the bone to a garbage can and dropped it in.

Nurse Milleson returned with a dishpan of water and set it in front of Dude, who lapped greedily at the liquid.

Much to Alex’s surprise, the doctor knelt by the dog and buried her fingers in Dude’s thick fur, giving him gentle attention. “You’re a good boy, Dude. Such a good boy.”

The dog turned and looked at her with puppy love in his eyes, dripping water on her fancy high-heeled boot from his wet chin.

She smiled at Dude, scratched behind his ears, then stood. Her gaze swiveled to Alex, and her smile faded. “Remember, you were never here, and I did not touch this dog.”

“Dude will never tell,” Alex winked at her.

She frowned and took a step back. “Where are you staying?”

“My uncle has a cabin on the edge of town.”

“I see,” Doctor Burton said, back to being prickly and professional. “Well, just make sure your dog rests this evening. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let him eat out of the garbage. You’re lucky that chicken bone didn’t puncture his insides or kill him.”

“I don’t let him eat out of the garbage. We were on a walk, and the old gents at the barbershop stopped me. They are a talkative bunch. Anyway, Dude found the bone before I realized he was eating garbage.”

Alex thought he heard the doctor utter something about gossiping old geezers, then she offered him a chagrined look. “Pretend you didn’t hear that.” She removed the plastic gloves she wore and held out a hand to him. “Welcome to Pinehill.”

Alex stood and took her delicate hand in his, feeling a zap tingle up his arm at the contact. Unsettled, he released her hand and took a step back, almost tripping over Dude. He kept from falling to the floor only by catching himself on one of the waiting room chairs.

As Doctor Burton and the nurse fought to hide their laughter, Alex sighed. What a way to make a first impression.