True Colors Read Online Free

again?”
    Logan pictured the shy cocker spaniel cowering in the back of the closet to escape the aggressiveness of a high-energy wiener dog with a back so bad his hind legs had been paralyzed for years. The dachshund used his front legs to pull himself around on a tiny cart, but that didn’t stop him from stalking the other pooches in his version of playtime.
    During Logan’s first visit after she’d been released from the hospital, Alex had availed him of the cruel history of each of the pack. He admired the way she’d taken them in when no one else wanted them and loved them with all she had, gradually healing their wounds and their hearts. A part of him wondered whether he was drawn to her because he sensed she could do the same for him.
    Her triumphant voice interrupted his thoughts. “There you go, Artemis. You’re so brave. Look out, Dieter, you just tripped Gus. Geez.”
    Logan couldn’t help but smile as he pictured the playful German shepherd who’d just accosted him in the driveway getting in the way of Gus, a beagle-bloodhound mix with a shiny red coat and one eye. Squirrel-chasing incident, Alex had told him with a tender smile as she’d stroked Gus’s ears.
    Raquel, a brown and white corgi, had lost her floppy ears and half her tail while alerting her family to the fire fast-consuming their mobile home. Her family survived thanks to her, but the fire rendered the family homeless, including Raquel. Alex took her in the instant she heard the story and nursed the dog back to health.
    Phoebe, a brindle greyhound who was small for her breed at only fifty-five pounds, had lost her front right leg to amputation after a bad break at the dog track. That didn’t stop her from running like a jack rabbit, especially when a squirrel was involved.
    Alex returned to the kitchen then, curls caught in a bouncy ponytail and cheeks flushed from her morning jog. Her joy of life seemed to emanate from every pore, and damn, if he didn’t find that even more sexy than the toned curves of her compact body.
    “Mm, that coffee smells divine.” She gestured at the table. “Have a seat.”
    As he settled onto a chair, he took in the massive spread of newspapers. “Not much of a newshound, are you?” he teased.
    She grinned as she turned with coffee cups in hand. “More like a news whore.”
    While she grabbed napkins from a drawer, he flipped open the doughnut box. “You’re good enough to work for National Geographic , you know.”
    She beamed as she sat across from him. “Really?”
    “Hell, yeah. Have you ever sent them your portfolio?”
    She shook her head as she reached for a doughnut and sank her teeth into it all in one fluid motion. “I like it here,” she said as she chewed.
    The way she enjoyed the warm, gooey doughnut, her pink tongue chasing the sugary glaze clinging to her top lip, fanned a hunger inside him that had nothing to do with food. Jesus, this woman would drive him crazy if he didn’t get to kiss her soon.
    She stopped chewing suddenly and cocked her head. “What?”
    He realized he’d been staring. But how could he not? A flushed, sexy woman in shorts and a tank top . . . okay, focusing now. Or trying to. “Uh—”
    “Do you think it’s weird that I like it here?” she asked.
    “Why would I think that?”
    “I’m a small-town girl with small-town dreams and no desire to flee my family. Very uncool.”
    “Your devotion to your family and Lake Avalon is one of the things I like best about you.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes. Besides, I like it here, too.”
    She reached for a second doughnut. “What made you want to be a cop?”
    The change of subject threw him at first, but then he shrugged. “I wanted to help people. Make a difference.”
    “That’s not very specific.”
    He took a sip of coffee. No one had ever expressed a desire for more information than that, which had always suited him just fine. “I don’t know. It just happened. Why did you want to be a