Enjoy, and happy reading!

I have a book coming out in 3 days! Cue all the nerves and excitement! Dangerous Past is the second full novel in the Fatal Instincts series, but there is a novella before it (Dreams of the Past).
I'm so excited and I wanted to share an excerpt, and the way it came about.
I dedicated this book to my 2 dogs--you'll see why.

A few years ago, my husband was walking our dogs when our girl Lily took off chasing a rabbit. She didn't usually do that, but it was so close! She was still leashed though and hurt her knee. My husband had to carry her back down the trail in the nearby canyon and my dogs are not small. Her 120lbs was a lot to carry home about a mile or so. Meanwhile our male, Conan, was trotting along having the time of his doggie life. It turned out Lily had torn a ligament. She did have surgery and her new bionic knee was only one-upped when my son tore something in his knee. The two of them are twins now! lol
Here's the opening to Dangerous Past, and I bet you can see some similarities:

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Lark Seawell had never realized how heavy her dog was until she’d had to carry her. Good grief, Daisy was heavy. As soon as she was healed, Daisy would be going on a diet. Light doggy kibbles only. The mountain trail felt uphill both ways, and she still had a quarter of a mile to go.
She looked down at her other dog, Bandit. “And you’re no help,” she grumbled. “All you’re doing is peeing on things.” He wagged his tail and marked a tree; his goofy doggy smile made her grin for a moment, before Daisy’s weight forced her to stop again. Lark set her down gently. The poor girl didn’t even whimper.
Lark was pretty sure her dog had twisted her knee chasing a squirrel. She was praying nothing was torn or broken. Unfortunately, she didn’t have her phone with her. She grimaced. Not that it would matter; she had no one to call.
She was just passing through on her way to Oregon, and Chester, California had looked like a nice small town where she could grab some food, a coffee, and let her dogs out to stretch their legs. Too bad one of them had other ideas.
“Okay, break time’s over,” she announced to the dogs, arching her back to stretch it. She bent down to pick up Daisy once more when her back protested. Aw crap. Stretching it some more, she wondered if she could get her SUV up here. The path was too small, maybe an ATV, but definitely not her car.
Looking down at Bandit, the idiot was trying to wrestle Daisy. Maybe she could tie Daisy off, and jog Bandit back to the car, so at least she’d only have to worry about one dog? Daisy wasn’t going anywhere with that knee, so Lark tied the leash to the tree, and with a scritch behind the ear, she told her she’d only be a minute, and jogged off. The half a mile felt incredibly long with her sore back, but she covered it quickly. Loading Bandit into the back seat, she cracked the window and hoped no one thought she was a bad dog owner for leaving him there.
Glancing up, she saw three men talking in front of the coffee shop she was parked across from. The Coffee Chaser, she noticed. She was in the same old yoga pants she had worn yesterday and a tank top, her honey blonde hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, but hopefully, she didn’t smell, and she prayed they would help her anyway.
She could use the help, her back could use the break, and they looked strong. This was a logging town after all; they were probably very fit lumberjacks. Although they didn’t look like any lumberjacks she’d seen around. Her instincts were usually pretty good, though, and for some reason, when she looked at them, she saw men who would help her.
She jogged over to them, “Hi, My name’s Lark, and I was wondering if you’d like to help me rescue my dog?” As they looked past her to her car, she stammered, “Umm, my other dog.”
“Of course,” one of them answered. He was tall—they all were, come to think of it. But it was his eyes that she stared into, and it was him she replied to.
“Thank you.”
She led them to where she’d tied her girl off, and luckily, none of them minded jogging.
“Who’s mommy’s good girl? You’re such a good girl,” she crooned to her dog as they got close. The poor dear tried to stand, but Lark was there in an instant. “Oh no you don’t, baby girl.”
“Can one of you guys carry her? I’ve carried her from the top of the trail, and I think I’m tapped out.”
“You carried her?” The man with short dark hair and mocha skin didn’t look as if he believed her.
“Yep.”
They eyed her doubtfully. Lark knew what they saw. A five-and-a-half-foot girl who didn’t look like she could carry a hundred-pound dog down a mountain trail. But adrenaline and stress helped the body do amazing things.
“I’ll probably have to live off Advil for the next month,” she joked, “but yeah, I got her this far down the trail.”
The same man-, the one who’d doubted she could carry her own dog, hefted Daisy up and carried her while Lark chattered.
The hike to her car seemed like it took forever, and since Lark knew how heavy her dog was, she kept glancing at the man carrying her. He didn’t pause once to adjust the weight. He didn’t even look out of breath. Of course, the guy was over six feet tall and looked pretty built. But still, a hundred-pound dog for almost half a mile seemed like he should at least break a sweat.
“Thank you so much!” Lark chirped. She babbled when she was nervous, or anxious, or happy, okay the point was that Lark babbled. And she knew it, so she was trying extra hard not to chatter these men’s ears off. They’d helped her, and the last thing they needed was her chewing their ears off.
But she did need to know if there was a local vet she could see. This would mean her savings took a hit, but her pup needed an x-ray, well, hopefully that’s all she needed. An x-ray she could afford, but something like an MRI would be out of her budget. Ugh, she’d have to make it work.
“So, can I buy you amazing dog rescuers a coffee and perhaps get the local vet’s number while I’m at it?” Coffee for her personal heroes was absolutely in the budget, though.
The man who had held Daisy hadn’t stopped staring at her. It was either creepy or cute, she hadn’t decided yet. Maybe he recognized her?
“Yes, thank you,” the other man said, drawing her attention back.
He didn’t seem to recognize her so at least there was that.
“Great!” Lark hesitated and looked back at her car. “I don’t want to leave my dogs, though,” Lark murmured, more to herself than the men.
“How about vet first, coffee after?”
Lark bit her lip. “I don’t actually know where the vet is.” Her big eyes met his. “Do you?”
He laughed. “I don’t. How about while we very quickly get coffee, we ask them where the vet is.”
That would work. “It’s a plan!”
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