She’ll trust him with her nephew,
but can she trust him with her heart?

Lacy DeGeorgio has always prided herself on her independence and self-reliance. She never expected to be responsible for anyone other than herself. However, when a tragic boating accident claims the life of her sister Hannah, Lacy finds herself thrust into a custody battle for her eleven-year-old nephew, Andy. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, she also has to contend with the persistent presence of State Trooper Frank Harmon. Despite her initial resistance, Frank begins to break down her defenses and awaken desires she never thought she would have. While Lacy is willing to trust Frank with the care of her nephew, she wonders if she can trust him with her own heart.

Frank Harmon is a dedicated New York State Trooper who believes in upholding the law and serving justice. He has always followed the rules and believes in the system. However, everything changes when he responds to a domestic disturbance call at the DeGeorgio trailer and is forced to walk away, knowing something terrible is about to happen. Two days later, he discovers Hannah DeGeorgio’s lifeless body in the icy waters of Lake George, forever altering his perspective. Driven by a need for justice, Frank becomes determined to find Hannah’s killer. In the process, he unexpectedly finds himself creating a home for a family he never thought he wanted, and his feelings for Lacy begin to blur the line between duty and personal desire.

Sergeant Frank Harmon is patrolling Lake George when he spots two jet skis and their riders throwing water balloons and spraying waves at a boat full of girls. Fun he could ignore but they were driving recklessly and had already almost caused a couple of accidents. One of the riders gets away, but Frank thinks he knows him. The other one, Andy, isn’t so lucky. He doesn’t want his aunt to know but that’s just not happening, and Frank follows him to his home dock. Frank’s thinking about stopping at the Lake Pub when he gets off in two hours hoping to see the new waitress, Lacy. They’ve been flirting for a couple of months now but nothing more than getting to know each other. She’s turned him down for a date but the last time he asked she said maybe so…challenge accepted. When they arrive, Frank tells him to get his aunt, but then he sees Lacy coming toward them.

The last thing Frank expected was for the aunt to be Lacy and the other thing to be the source of his guilt. The death of her sister Hannah. He also learns that Andy’s father is harassing Lacy, and, in her opinion, no one is doing anything about it. With what he knows about what happened to Hannah, Frank finds this to be concerning. He tells her he’ll look into it and gives her his card with his business number and writes down personal cell number as well. He also tells her call him if something happens and only to call 911 if it’s an emergency but to call him as well.

The next evening while Lacy is enjoying the relatively peaceful evening, reflecting on the changes in her life and how she’s going to fight the custody suit Taylor is filing. When someone throws a rock through their trailer window.

This is a favorite scene.

The good lawyers she needed to fight Taylor cost money. Money she didn’t have. Her job at The Beach Side Hotel wasn’t enough, and Andy certainly wasn’t helping with all his shenanigans making her look like an unfit guardian. Her best bet was someone like Frank who just might believe her story. Or at the very least, check it out. No one had ever suggested there might be some validity to her complaints.

She wanted to believe in Frank, but she didn’t trust cops. They lied to cover their own asses, and they shot innocent people like her father.

Loud music echoed in the night from another trailer, but that didn’t muffle the twig that snapped from somewhere behind her. She gripped her cell phone as the air in her lungs deflated. Slowly, she turned to look over her shoulder.

The house was dark except for the single nightlight glowing in the kitchen window. It had been at least an hour since Andy had fallen asleep, so it couldn’t have been him. She heard faint footsteps right before a loud bang, followed by shattering glass. Suddenly lights flashed in the grassy roadway. A pickup truck squealed its tires as it sped through the trailer park.

“Damn you,” she whispered, fiddling with the phone and digging in her pockets for Frank’s card. With trembling hands, she punched the numbers and ran toward the house.

“Aunt Lacy!” Andy cried out. “Where are you?”

“Right here,” she hollered back. “Are you hurt?” she questioned him as she bolted through the front door. “Did you see anything?”

“Harmon here,” Frank’s voice bellowed in her ear.

She jumped. “Shit, you scared me.”

“Hey, you called me. Who is this?”

“It’s Lacy. Could you come over? Something’s happened.”

“Aunt Lacy, look.” Andy pointed to a rock.

“Someone tossed a rock through my window,” she said, knowing it had to be Taylor. Who else would want to scare her?

“I’ll be there in ten. Hang tight and don’t touch anything.” The phone went dead.

“Was that the cop from yesterday?” Andy asked, his tone back to its normal negative pitch, but terror still lurked in his almond-colored eyes.

“He’s going to help us.” She hoped. A sense of desperation had forced her to call.

“All he wants is to get into your pants.” Andy turned to leave.

“Oh, no, you don’t, buster. Sit your ass down in that chair and wait for Sergeant Harmon. And you’re going to be polite.” She opted to ignore Andy’s other comment. She knew he’d only said it to get a rise out of her. The shrink told her to focus on his attitude, not his words. “And change your tone.” Besides, she wanted to believe that Frank was being genuine, but he was a cop. And a man. Two strikes against him in her book.

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

She stared at him, trying to ignore the urge to throttle him. Rarely did he call her Aunt Lacy. It usually happened when he wanted something, when he was in trouble, or when he had the nightmare. She hated the nightmare because she couldn’t figure out the parts he yelled out, and he wouldn’t clue her in on the dream. He always said it was nothing, but she knew better. That dream held some of the answers to their problems.

“What happened to you?” she whispered, but by the way Andy flinched, she knew he had heard her.

“You spend too much time talking with that doctor. She thinks I’m suffering from some post-bad-thing or something.”

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

“Whatever.” Andy plopped down on the couch, grabbed the remote, and started flipping through the channels. “Maybe if you just let me be, I’d be normal.”

Normal? Was he serious? There wasn’t anything normal about their situation. Mentally counting to ten so she didn’t say something she’d regret later, Lacy stepped out onto the front stoop. She leaned against the side of the house and waited until she could see red lights flickering from the main road. A State Trooper car rolled to a stop in front of her, and Frank stepped from the vehicle.

She tried not to notice Frank, or the reaction her body had to him, but from the moment she’d first met him, she thought he was attractive. More like damn hot. He had blue eyes, dark hair, and tanned skin. His body was long and lean, not bulky like some cops. She’d never seen him in anything other than a white T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap, until yesterday, when he showed up in uniform, which changed everything.

“Thanks for coming.” She pushed herself from the house and pointed to the window. “Andy was asleep on the couch. He says he didn’t see anything. All I saw was a dark pickup race away. I know it had to be Taylor.”

“Does Taylor see Andy regularly?”

“What does that have to do with a rock in my window?”

“It might go to motive,” Frank responded as he scanned the area in true cop form.

She wasn’t sure what he meant by motive, but it couldn’t hurt to answer the question. “Taylor isn’t supposed to have any contact with Andy unless it’s planned and supervised by the social worker in charge of the case.”

“I see.” Frank peered in the window and then took a few steps backward, hands on his hips as he looked around. “Who had custody before Hannah died, and why is there an issue now?”

“Hannah had custody, and Taylor rarely forced the minimal visitation he had a right to. I was named Andy’s guardian, but Taylor has all of a sudden decided he wants to be a father.” She pushed open the door and let Frank in, mentally giving herself a kick in the ass for checking him out, but he looked damn good in the uniform.

“Where’s Andy now?”

“Back on the couch, sulking.” She sighed, propping herself against the doorjamb. She was tired of seeing Andy upset and on edge all the time, but she didn’t know what to do to help him. “Things had been going well enough until the papers came indicating that visitation by Taylor would be mandatory soon,” she heard herself say. Shut up, Lacy.

Frank glanced at her. “Could Andy have done this?”

“No,” she snapped. “Or did you already forget the truck burning rubber out of here moments after it happened?” She took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Andy might be a troubled kid, but he wouldn’t do this. She had to believe that.

“Just asking,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of buddies coming.” Frank made some notes on a pad while he looked around the kitchen. “Can you give me a description of the vehicle?”

“Dark pickup, like Taylor’s.” She folded her arms across her chest. There was no stopping the fury pumping through her veins. Damn cops were all the same.

“I know at least ten people with dark trucks. Did you actually see him? Anyone?” Frank snapped on plastic gloves as he scanned the room. He seemed intent and focused. Very different from the laid-back, easygoing guy she’d met at the restaurant.

“I heard him but didn’t actually see him.” She so wanted to lie and say she’d seen the license plate number, or saw him, or something, but if she got caught, it would only make her look bad.

He turned to face her, his eyes narrow and his jaw set in a determined line. “Anyone ever hear him threaten you? Say bad things about you?”

She paused, unsure of the turn in conversation. Why would he care? Did he believe her? “Not that I know of. Why?”

“What about Andy?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not sure.” All these questions were throwing her for a loop. The last time cops where here, they hadn’t seemed interested in her problem with Taylor, and had just placed the blame on Andy and his punk friends.

“Mind if I talk with Andy?”

“About what?” Even if Andy did see something, he’d never turn in his father. And she didn’t really want Frank to upset him more.

“He might be able to offer a clue, even if he doesn’t think he saw or heard anything. You never know.” Frank’s expression softened as he made eye contact with her, almost as if he cared.

“Go ahead.” She waved Frank toward the back of the trailer. “Just be careful; he can be a tad testy.”

“So, I’ve seen.”

She stifled her chuckle. It wouldn’t be appropriate, but Frank hadn’t seen anything yet. Whatever had happened to Andy had changed his soul. She watched Frank move the ten steps from the kitchen to the family room. Maybe this is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Maybe Frank, uniform and all, could break down the barriers Andy had built up, and just maybe she’d be able to figure out what Andy was hiding.

And put Taylor where he belonged.
Talty, Jen. Dark Water (New York State Trooper Series Book 2). Kindle Locations (230-300). Jupiter Press. Kindle Edition.

Frank is walking a thin line as he helps Lacy while keeping his involvement with the events leading to her sister’s death a secret from her.

I really love the way Frank works with Andy, and I really wish he had been more open from the beginning with Lacy. There’s plenty of twists in this book as Frank investigates what he can, but he also hires a private investigator in Lacy’s name to do what he can’t. Andy is a master of deflection when it comes to answering things he doesn’t want to which doesn’t help either. He’s also falling head over heels for Lacy and she for him, but his secret could destroy it all.

5 Contented Purrs for Jen!

Jen Talty

Welcome to my World! I’m a USA Today Bestseller of Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.

I first started writing while carting my kids to one hockey rink after the other, averaging 170 games per year between 3 kids in 2 countries and 5 states. My first book, IN TWO WEEKS was originally published in 2007. In 2010 I helped form a publishing company (Cool Gus Publishing) with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer where I ran the technical side of the business through 2016.

I’m currently enjoying the next phase of my life…the empty NESTER! My husband and I spend our winters in Jupiter, Florida and our summers in Rochester, NY. We have three amazing children who have all gone off to carve out their places in the world, while I continue to craft stories that I hope will make you readers feel good and put a smile on your face.

Everyone needs a safe harbor to sail into.

In this gripping tale of mystery, suspense, and the power of love, Miles and Liberty will face unimaginable challenges and make sacrifices to bring justice to Lighthouse Cove.

Miles Kirby leads a double life. By day, he’s a skilled mechanic, fixing engines and tinkering with gadgets. But by night, he becomes a relentless private investigator, delving into the shadows to uncover the truth.

Living next door to Miles is Liberty Blue, a young woman burdened with caring for her younger brother, who is on the autism spectrum. Their lives intersect unexpectedly when Liberty’s brother mysteriously vanishes without a trace.

Driven by compassion and a sense of duty, Miles takes it upon himself to find Liberty’s missing brother. As he dives deeper into the investigation, he uncovers a web of secrets and dangerous connections that threaten to unravel the very fabric of Lighthouse Cove.

As the stakes rise and danger lurks at every turn, Miles and Liberty must confront their fears and face the truth that sometimes, the ones we trust the most may be hiding the darkest secrets. In a race against the clock, they must rely on their wits, resilience, and the unexpected bond that forms between them.

This book opens with Miles attending his brother Emmerson’s wedding to Rumor. Once again, he’s without a date, but that’s typical for him at family events. As the bride and groom cut the cake, he’s ready to get away from the crowd and relax.

Meanwhile, Liberty Blue, Mile’s neighbor, is having a confrontation with her ex-husband Charlie. She moved to Lighthouse Cove with her brother to start over and now he’s here and unannounced. Gabriel sees Charlie when he comes inside to tell Liberty that Miles is here. He’s surprised because usually Charlie lets them know he’s coming over.

Charlie has often used her brother Gabriel to manipulate her, and today, it seemed he was going to try the same tactics. First by inviting Gabriel for a ride in his new car.

While they’re gone Miles and Liberty discuss her issue, and he offers her a solution, one that isn’t ideal but one she needs to take. Her concern is Gabriel. He’s twenty-two and on the autism spectrum, he handles learning and emotions differently. He works for Miles who has figured out how he learns best and he’s taking to working on cars well, dealing with customers not so much.

They have dinner together and afterwards Liberty tells Gabriel she’s told Charlie not to come around or contact them anymore. When he storms from the table, Miles asks her to let him handle it.

This is a favorite scene.

Liberty jumped to her feet and lunged forward. “Gabriel. Come back here.”

Miles stepped in front of her, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. “Let me go.”

“You don’t know how to handle him when he gets like this.” She glared.

“Let me try.”

“He’s my little brother and he’s… fine, but if he’s self-harming, you have to promise to get me.”

“I will.” Miles squeezed her shoulder before leaning in and kissing her cheek, letting his lips linger longer than he should have, but he wanted her to know he was on her side as much as he was Gabriel’s. He turned and made his way outside where he found Gabriel pacing across the front yard, tugging at his hair and calling himself names.

Damn, that broke his heart.

“Gabriel. Come sit with me.” Miles took a seat on the last two steps of the porch.

“I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About it.” Gabriel gave his head a good pound.

Shit. “I don’t either,” Miles said. “And I’m not asking you to tell me anything. Just to come take a load off.”

“Okay.” Gabriel kicked the grass before stomping over, at least with his hands at his sides.

With a big huff, he fell back on the steps. “She treats me like a baby. I’m not a child. I’m a man.”

“That you are.” Miles leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “But are you angry because of how she talked to you or that she told Charlie not to come around anymore?”

“Both,” Gabriel whispered in a small, childlike voice. “But I still don’t want to talk about it.”

“I can’t force you to do that.” Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “However, I’d like to give you some advice.”

“What’s that?” “I think you should tell your sister that it bothers you when she babies you like that. Let her know that you understand she’s only trying to protect your reactions, but that how she’s doing it makes it worse. That you’d rather she just tell you.”

“It makes me so angry. I get I’m different, but she knows how to really make me feel that way.”

“She loves you and only wants what’s best for you.” Miles gave Gabriel a little punch in the arm. “You know, sometimes when we’re different from others, the people who love us the most, in an attempt to protect us or make things easier for us or even to teach us the hard lessons in life, they do the dumbest things. Trust me, I know a little about that.”

“You’re not different. You’re cool.”

Miles burst out laughing. “I’m glad you think so, but growing up, I wasn’t. I was the dumb kid. The one who all the other kids picked on.” He tapped his temple. “Because I don’t process information the way everyone else does.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I have a couple learning disabilities that made school incredibly difficult. I had to repeat second grade, putting me in the same grade as my younger brother, Jameson. But it got worse. I flunked most of my classes my junior year and that meant I wasn’t going to graduate with Jameson. Not only wasn’t I down with that, but neither was my mother. Her approach was forcing me into summer school and tutors and drilling it into my head that I was going to be a big fat loser if I didn’t get my shit together.”

“Your mother said that to you?”

Miles cringed at the memory of the words his mom actually used. Twenty-odd years later, his mother looked at him very differently. And his learning disabilities. But back then, she honestly believed someone could wave a magic wand and they’d vanish. If it hadn’t been for Nathan, Seth, and his dad, he’d surely have been a bum. They had been the ones to sit their mom down and get her to agree to let him go to trade school. Becoming a grease monkey had been the best thing that had ever happened to him because it had given him purpose.

He became good at something other than being the dumb kid.

“Pretty much,” Miles said. “Honestly, my mom did mean well, even if it was misguided. She wanted me to be successful in life.”

“But you own your own business.”

Jesus, Gabriel was good for his ego.

“I do. However, it took me a long while to get there between the pressure my mom put on me and the fact I struggled with the way I learn. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it’s still not.”

Gabriel started rocking.

“You’re not understanding, are you?”

He shook his head.

“Can you do me a favor and take in a few deep breaths? That always helps me relax.”

Gabriel did as Miles asked. The rocking slowed, but it didn’t go away.

Progress, that’s all Miles could ask for. “You know how you sometimes process emotions differently than your sister. Or me?”

Gabriel nodded.

“Well, it’s like that for me with information. I struggle with reading. I’m dyslexic, among other things.”

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

“It’s a big word to describe someone who sees words on the page different from everyone else. It’s so bad for me, that it’s easier for me to listen to a book. Or to learn by doing something rather than have to try to read it. My mother always believed that in time, I’d simply overcome it.”

“Haven’t you?” Gabriel glanced up.

“Nope. Letters and numbers are still all jumbled on the page. It’s why I almost never deal with the money at the shop and why Trinity has to run the business side of things. It’s why I never became a cop like my brothers because I would have never been able to pass the entrance exam. Add that to something called ADD and what a psychologist would describe as generalized social anxiety, I was lucky to go to trade school and learn how to tinker with cars.”

“But you’re so good at doing that. The best. And you’re good with people.” Gabriel blinked his big blue eyes. “You’re so smart when it comes to all that.”

“I had some good teachers who understood that I didn’t process information the same way. But people. Not so much. I do well with one-on-one situations, but I hate crowds. Despise them,” Miles said. “Your sister totally gets you and how you deal with emotions. I get that she doesn’t always go about talking to you the right way, but cut her a little slack when it comes to Charlie. While she might not want him in her life and you need to respect that, she doesn’t want to hurt you in the process.”

“That does make sense.” Gabriel sighed. “I’m tired. Do you mind if I go to bed now?”

“Not at all. I’ll see you first thing in the morning for work.” Miles held out his fist.

Gabriel pounded it.

Miles leaned back on his elbows and let out a long breath. While he got Gabriel to understand his sister meant well and that maybe a conversation might be in order, Miles still had no idea what had upset the man in the first place.

And it wasn’t being spoken to like a child because it wasn’t that bad. Not to mention that it was all in the tone because of his emotions. Change the tone, and he wouldn’t feel like he was being treated differently.

But that was all beside the point.

Charlie had put Gabriel between a rock and a hard place and that was what had gotten Gabriel upset.

The floorboards rattled under his ass. He turned his head. “Hey,” he said, staring at Liberty’s sexy legs as she made her way down the steps.

He’d been instantly attracted to her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her two months ago. Lots of women turned his head, but not like Liberty and that was odd. He never went for women who had baggage and he could tell just by looking at her that she carried a few suitcases full.

For an entire month, he admired her from a distance while he got to know Gabriel. He sort of felt like a shithead for doing that. But then in walked her asshole ex-husband, reminding him of why he didn’t do women with a checkered past.

Only, he couldn’t keep his distance if he tried.

And he hadn’t tried all that much.

“I owe you an apology.” Liberty stretched out her legs.

“For what?”

“Eavesdropping.” She smiled sheepishly.

He shook his head. “Didn’t trust that I could calm him down?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve told you about every issue he’s had at work.” Slowly, he rose. “I said I wouldn’t meddle. But fuck it. You’ve got to stop treating him like a child.” He held up his hand. “Stop coddling him. He’s been dealing with who he is for as long as you have. He’s got some coping skills. Let him use them and when he’s off the deep end, redirect.”

“He’s my brother.” She raised her hands and slapped them on her legs. “I love him and I watched him cry for months after our parents abandoned him. And again after I told him Charlie and I were getting divorced. I hate hurting him this way. So excuse me if I want to ease that pain for him and absorb it on myself.” She let out a long breath. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you. I wouldn’t be sending him off to work with you if I didn’t. There’s an adult program one town over that deals with adults on the low end of the spectrum, but I know he’s higher functioning than that and I didn’t want to do that to him. It’s what Charlie’s family did and honestly, Gabriel hated it.”

“Then why did you listen in on a private conversation?” Miles cocked his head.

“It started off as simply watching, but I became fascinated by how quickly you got Gabriel to sit with you. Not many people can do that. And then there was the conversation.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I have to know. Was all that stuff true?”

“Jesus. You honestly think I’d make that up?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Don’t answer that. It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll see Gabriel at six for breakfast since I know you have the early shift.” He spun on his heel and strolled across the yards to his home. He no longer had the bandwidth to deal with her, or his attraction to her, a second longer.
Jen Talty. Mine to Love – Jen Talty (Kindle Locations 591-673). Kindle Edition.

Charlie doesn’t like taking no for an answer and Liberty does get the police involved when he shows up at Mile’s garage to see Gabriel.

Miles and his brother investigate more into Charlie and his family finding interesting information.

The relationship between Liberty and Miles also heats up in spite of her initial resistance.

There’s love, romance, family and sizzle in this book as the mystery surrounding Charlie’s relentless pursuit of Liberty come unraveled.

I also love the way this book educates us on the levels of autism and dyslexia. The subject is handled with grace, care and a place of love.

I will miss these characters as this is the last book in the series, but I can’t wait to see what Jen has in store for us next!

5 Contented Purrs for Jen!

Jen Talty

Welcome to my World! I’m a USA Today Bestseller of Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.

I first started writing while carting my kids to one hockey rink after the other, averaging 170 games per year between 3 kids in 2 countries and 5 states. My first book, IN TWO WEEKS was originally published in 2007. In 2010 I helped form a publishing company (Cool Gus Publishing) with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer where I ran the technical side of the business through 2016.

I’m currently enjoying the next phase of my life…the empty NESTER! My husband and I spend our winters in Jupiter, Florida and our summers in Rochester, NY. We have three amazing children who have all gone off to carve out their places in the world, while I continue to craft stories that I hope will make you readers feel good and put a smile on your face.