Jennifer Johnson

  Rescue Me
Available now from Turquoise Morning Press
Buy it HERE digitally and HERE in print. It's also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.

Sitting in a U Haul truck of her parents’ front yard at midnight, Amy Mann decides it’s time to break it to them she’s divorced from her husband and moving back home with her seven year old son Toby. As Amy settles into her hometown, she has a plan to get out of debt, get her college degree, and put her life together.

Enter Captain Riley Pennimon, local firefighter and superhero to Amy’s son. Riley is kind, brave, and civic-minded. The captain does not fit into Amy’s putting-her-life-together plan, and yet he looks way too good looking without a shirt. Toby has decided Riley is just what they need for a happily-ever-after.

Can Amy make peace with the demons of her mistakes and let the captain rescue her?

Can Riley let go of the pain of his past and grab onto the family he’s always wanted?

Excerpt:

“It doesn’t have to be like this, you know,” Riley said in a casual manner as he turned the key in the lock.

“Like what?”

He turned his attention from the lock to her. “You biting my head off every time you get within snapping distance.”

“Look. I know what this is all about. My dad wants to fix us up. If you hadn’t noticed, he invents reasons for you to come over. Toby and I do just fine, and I am not interested.”

“Okay.” The door swung open, and Riley motioned for her to go in.

His acquiescent attitude stole a bit of her nerve. “It’s not that…you know…I mean…you’re good-looking in a hot-kind-of way, but I’m not into sex with a man…”

Riley bit his lip, mirth on his face and a dimple in his cheek.

“Or anybody. I don’t have any sex drive. I haven’t for a long time since Toby was a baby, so it’s nothing personal, and it’s NOT FUNNY!” She shut her stupid mouth wishing she could take back every single embarrassing word. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to be humiliated further by seeing Riley laugh at her. A moment later when she opened her eyes ready to glare at him, her heart skipped a beat at the hungry expression on Riley’s face and not for food-for her!

In all the moments that she had with Riley, his attitude toward her had been congenial and friendly except for the night he took her home from Pizza Paradise. She had witnessed his frustration stemming from his concern for her welfare. Not that she fooled herself it was about her personally-only because of Riley’s relationship with her dad, even his relationship with Toby. If something had happened to her, Lon and Toby would be hurt. Because he cared about them, he had made sure she had gotten home safely. But this look, this look was all for her. It was the look of the lion as he caught sight of the gazelle. Fear fluttered in her stomach, and something else, too. A long forgotten urge budded and opened. The air crackled between them. Amy reached her hands up to feel the heat of her face and recognized the urge. Lust. Desire.

Oh, no.

Time for the gazelle to run.

Riley’s eyes narrowed as if he knew she was about to flee. He took the two steps which separated them, put his arms around her, lowered his head, and touched his lips to hers.

ZING! ZING! ZING! Nerve endings throughout Amy’s body fired rapidly, deliciously. Riley’s mouth moved over hers, and Amy greedily returned the kiss, testing, tasting, awaking. She groped his back, feeling the firm flesh she had spied from her bedroom window. Riley’s masculine scent surrounded her. His large frame engulfed her, giving her a sense of power and yet, his touch was careful, cherishing.

 With his hands on her upper arms, Riley gently pushed her away. Through a passion-hazed eyes, Amy blinked at him.

Huh?

Riley dropped his hands leaving Amy’s heated skin bereft. She took a shuttering breath.

Riley shook his head as he studied her. “No. It’s not funny, but it’s also not true.”

He strode toward the firehouse, and Amy watched him leave noticing his rumpled and untucked shirt. Her hands had bunched up the material and kneaded the bare skin of his back. She was the culprit. Oh, boy, was she ever.

Rescue Me is my first book with Turquoise Morning Press. Order Rescue Me from the Turquoise Morning bookstore, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Paperback, other web stores.