Read If She Dares (Contemporary Romance) for Free Online

thing like you probably has an owner, right?” The dog, though fretful, didn’t seem malnourished or filthy. “I just have to keep you out of the storm for tonight, then we’ll see about finding out if you belong to anyone.”
    The puppy made another noise, but this one was more warble than whimper, as if she was just trying to keep up her end of the conversation.
    As Riley backed out of her parking spot, she resisted the urge to think up names for the adorable canine.
Stick to the plan. Put a roof over her head for tonight, then find her owner
. Of course, even a single night was risky. If she got busted with a dog after the tenant board had specifically refused her pet request, there would be hell to pay.
    An unexpected grin tugged at Riley’s lips. This was rebellious and utterly spontaneous, the most she’d felt like herself in months—not counting her teasing exchange with Jack in the elevator.
You weren’t going to think about him anymore today.
    Right. Good policy...even if it was proving difficult to maintain.
    * * *
    J ACK LEANED BACK in the driver seat, glad to be home but so drained it took him a moment to summon the energy to climb out of his car. He’d worked several crime scenes today, but the last one had been emotionally grueling. The only witness to the shooting had been a neighborhood kid. Jack had tried to patiently coax details from the shaken child while mentally cursing the unfairness of life.
    Childhood shouldn’t include murder. It should be all ice cream cones and...amusement parks or something. Granted, his own upbringing had included more criminal activity than family vacations. That kid today must have really got to him, because usually Jack was more of a realist. He knew he couldn’t magically make the world fair—but he could help take down the bastards who were messing it up for everyone else. Bolstered by the hope that his composites would generate hits and ultimately lead to stopping more bad guys, he opened his door.
    A few spaces down, another car was pulling in, and he recognized it as the same blue compact Riley had driven away in on Saturday. His mood unexpectedly lightened. He should ask her if she’d taken any steps to challenging Mrs. Tyler’s Reign of Tenant Terror. He headed in Riley’s direction, ignoring the rain that pelted him. It had been raining all damn month—what were a few more drops at this point?
    Before he reached her, Riley got out of her car, darted around to the passenger side and shrugged out of her jacket. Beneath it was an athletic top that momentarily stopped him in his tracks. He’d wondered previously if she wore dark clothes to avoid notice. The fitted racerback tank was black, with the exception of some turquoise piping, but with a silhouette like hers and beautifully sculpted shoulders, she might as well have been wearing neon. He drank in the sight of her.
    Plenty of his art classes had included study of the human form—not to mention his ongoing, informal study of women in more intimate settings—so why did he feel poleaxed at the sight of Riley in an athletic top?
    She was such a sexy combination of strength and delicate femininity.
Strength she’s going to use to kick your ass if she catches you leering
. He ducked his gaze, but she was too busy fidgeting with something to have noticed him yet. As he got closer, he realized she was positioning her jacket through the straps of a bag, draping it as if to protect the bag’s contents from the rain.
    “Hey,” he greeted her. “Need help with something?”
    She glanced up, looking momentarily startled by his presence, then breaking into a wide grin. “Nah, I think I got this. But—”
    “Miss Kendrick!” Anna Tyler emerged from the building’s exit. Her shrill voice carried across the lot, only partially obscured by the whipping wind. She stopped to wrestle with an ugly paisley umbrella that was blown inside out.
    Riley cursed under her breath. “What was she doing, lying in wait