When a cop and a newly released convict cross paths, few cons can expect anything positive. Struggling toward a home he knows no longer exists, Ike Hernandez meets a cop who seems different. He isn’t sure he can believe the kindness, but he wants to learn to trust again and regain his lost self-respect.<br><br>Perry Parker became a law enforcement officer to help people. He learned there wasn’t much he could do, but now and then he found someone he could help. Would the lost man with the little dog that he picked up one stormy night be one of them?<br><br>Pursuing tales about a new drug dealer, Perry starts to doubt the man he’s befriended, but something inside him still feels Ike is a decent person. When the real dealers take advantage of the convict’s past, Perry, his unofficial canine partner, and the little stray Ike adopted save the day. Can a cop, a con, and two dogs make an unorthodox family?

A Cop and a Con

Perry stopped just inside the door. He took off his gear belt and hung it up in the usual place. All the time, his gaze never left Ike’s face. Although Ike had stood, he didn’t move away from the table. He had to wait.


“Damn it, get your ass over here!” Perry’s eyes twinkled as he issued the order, a laugh lurking behind the words.


He can’t be very mad.That flashed through Ike’s mind as he started across the ten feet between them. He stopped one stride away. For a dozen breaths, they just looked at each other. Ike saw Perry’s changeable eyes had gone green.


Finally, Perry reached out. His hands skimmed up Ike’s arms, rested on his shoulders for a few seconds, and then rose to cup Ike’s face. Fingers traced over the lines and angles, nose and cheekbones, brows and lips in feather-light touches. Ike went hard even as a shiver skittered over his body. The touch was so erotic and so evocative. Too much emotion flowed from that strange caress.


Chapter 26