Archer Read online

  Archer

  The Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team #7

  Laramie Briscoe

  Contents

  Also By Laramie Briscoe

  New Release Alerts

  Moonshine Task Force Members

  Summary

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  Declan - Chapter One

  Shadows - Chapter One

  About the Author

  Report Errors/Reviews

  Connect With Laramie

  Also By Laramie Briscoe

  Copyright © 2021 Laramie Briscoe

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and storylines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  * * *

  Editor: Elfwerks Editing

  Beta Readers: Danielle Wentworth

  Cover: Laramie Briscoe

  Cover Photography: Furious Fotog

  Formatting: Laramie Briscoe

  Created with Vellum

  Also By Laramie Briscoe

  The Haldonia Monarchy

  Royal Rebel

  Royal Chaos

  Royal Love

  * * *

  Heaven Hill Series

  Meant To Be

  Out of Darkness

  Losing Control

  Worth The Battle

  Dirty Little Secret

  Second Chance Love

  Rough Patch

  Beginning of Forever

  Home Free

  Shield My Heart

  A Heaven Hill Christmas

  * * *

  Heaven Hill Next Generation

  Hurricane

  Wild

  Fury

  Hollow

  Restraint

  Bishop

  * * *

  Heaven Hill Shorts

  Caelin

  Christine

  Justice

  Harley

  Jagger

  Charity

  Liam

  Drew

  Dalton

  Mandy

  * * *

  Rockin’ Country Series

  Only The Beginning

  The Price of Love

  Full Circle

  Hard To Love

  Reaper’s Love

  * * *

  The Nashvegas Trilogy

  Power Couple

  Breach of Contract

  Platinum

  * * *

  The Moonshine Task Force Series

  Renegade

  Tank

  Havoc

  Ace

  Menace

  Cruise

  * * *

  Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team

  Ransom

  Suppression

  Enigma

  Cutter

  Sullivan

  Devante

  Archer

  * * *

  The MVP Duet

  On the DL

  MVP

  * * *

  The Midnight Cove Series

  Inflame

  * * *

  Stand Alones

  My Confession

  Sketch

  Sass

  Trick

  Room 143

  2018 Laramie Briscoe Compilation

  2019 Laramie Briscoe Compilation

  New Release Alerts

  JOIN MY MAILING LIST

  http://sitel.ink/LBList

  * * *

  JOIN MY READERS GROUP

  fbl.ink/LaramiesLounge

  * * *

  TEXT LARAMIE TO 88202

  Moonshine Task Force Members

  Ryan “Renegade” Kepler – Married to Whitney and father to Stella and Nick. Best friend to Trevor.

  * * *

  Trevor “Tank” Trumboldt – Married to Blaze, brother to Whitney, uncle to Stella and Nick. Best friend to Ryan.

  * * *

  Holden “Havoc” Thompson – Married to Leighton, father to Ransom and Cutter. Best friend to Mason.

  * * *

  Anthony “Ace” Bailey – Married to Violet.

  * * *

  Mason “Menace” Harrison – Married to Karina, father to Caleb and Kelsea, grandfather to Molly and Levi. Best friend to Holden.

  * * *

  Caleb “Cruise” Harrison – Married to Ruby, father to Molly and Levi, son of Mason, brother to Kelsea.

  Summary

  Blurb

  The Nurse and The Hot Cop

  * * *

  Archer Gray

  * * *

  Being the new officer on the Laurel Springs Police Department has been a blessing. They've treated me like family since the moment I started my first shift. It's what I've wanted since I left home at eighteen. Life is going amazing, especially when I meet Alisa, a nurse at Laurel Springs Medical. She's saucy, but I suspect it hides a vulnerability not many get to see.

  * * *

  I want to see it, want to know everything about her. In a moment where she desperately needs someone, I'm there for her.

  * * *

  And I won't leave until she asks me to.

  * * *

  Alisa Hilligan

  * * *

  I've always been a transplant, searching for a home. I thought I found it in Calvert City, instead it's the neighboring town Laurel Springs.

  * * *

  Since I've been here I've met the new hot cop, Archer. He makes me want everything I shouldn't.

  * * *

  But when the reason I left Calvert City comes back with a vengeance; I'll need him more than I ever thought.

  * * *

  And he'll prove he's here for the long haul - something no one else ever has.

  Prologue

  Archer

  “Heading onto main and hopping the fence. I’m sending Rambo over, if anyone can meet over there, do so ASAP!”

  The inflection in Ransom’s voice over the radio causes my heart to pump faster. The adrenaline I’ve come to recognize flows through my veins. Tapping my radio, I answer. “Almost there.”

  As I come around the corner, there the suspect is. “Hands up.” It’s a direction, not a question. He glances at me, then at Rambo, before turning around and attempting to scale the next fence.

  Rambo barks wildly, running at full-speed to where he is, grabbing him by the leg.

  “Get him off me.” The runner screams.

  Hopping onto the fence to try and bring him dow
n, I get jostled. A stinging sensation starts at my eyebrow, and the feeling of blood is immediate. “Son of a bitch.”

  Once I get him down on the ground, and attempt to put him in cuffs, my gaze lifts upward. Barbed wire. That’s gonna leave a fucking mark.

  “Rambo, heel!”

  Ransom is here, taking control of his K-9 and the scene. Now that the suspect isn’t fighting against the jaws of a dog, he relaxes enough so cuffs can be placed around his wrists.

  “You okay?” Ransom asks when he gets a good look at me? “Your’e bleeding like a stuck pig.”

  “I know.” I wince, putting my hand up to try and staunch the flow. “Head wounds always do.”

  “Get a medic over here.”

  “Don’t need a medic,” I argue, but I might as well have been silent for all the good it did me.

  Other police cars roll up, as well as an ambulance from Laurel Springs Emergency Services. Cutter hops out, whistling when he sees my face. “Looks like Devante isn’t gonna have any more competition about who the cuter of the newcomers are. You’re gonna have a scar. That means you’ll be the mysterious one that all the women wanna get to know better.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you? You been watching Lifetime again?” I tease him as I take a seat on the back of the ambulance.

  He shrugs. “Hey, whatever my wife wants to watch, we watch. I don’t argue. No sense in it.”

  I shake my head. At this point in my life, I can’t believe that I’d ever willingly give up a piece of myself that much. Seems like a dangerous thing to do. If someone has that much power over someone else, they also have the means to hurt them in ways no one ever expects.

  “There’s not much I can do for you here, you’re gonna need some stitches,” Cutter mumbles as he tries to clean it as best he can. “We’ll transport you as soon as they give us the okay.”

  Which means I’m going to have to fill out a report, because this is an on the job incident. Everybody will make fun of me, and I’ll be getting even more shit because I’m the newest on the force. The biggest sigh comes from my chest as I lever myself up and head into the ambulance.

  “Look at the bright side.” Cutter gives me a grin. “Alisa’s on tonight.”

  Given to how she responds to me, I’m not so sure that is a bright side.’

  How’d this happen?”

  My head yanks toward the opening in the curtain as Alisa’s voice precedes her. “Was chasing a runner. Barbed wire caught me as we went over the fence.” She doesn’t have to know we weren’t actually trying to make it over the fence. Whatever gives me the leg up on her, I’ll take.

  She smirks, standing in front of me, placing gloves onto her hands. Her hair is perfectly put back in a braid, no tendrils escaping. What I wouldn’t give to mess her up. “Looks like somebody tried to ruin that pretty face of yours.”

  “Didn’t you tell me the last time I asked you out on a date that it was average, at best?”

  “A girl has to play things close to the vest, Archer.” She opens a disinfectant pack and goes to town.

  “Holy fuck that burns.”

  “Poor baby.” She leans in, blowing her hot breath against my skin.

  I’ve always had a reaction to Alisa, but this goes well beyond professional as I feel my length hardening and pressing against the zipper of my uniform pants. “Yeah, poor me,” I press out against tight vocal cords.

  “Are you okay? You’re looking a little red. Have they taken your blood pressure yet?”

  A harsh laugh works its way out of the back of my throat. “Oh, it’s sky-high right now, trust me.”

  “Are you in that much pain? I can see if the doctor will allow for a shot.”

  “Not from the cut.” I grab her hand, bringing it to the front of my pants. “From you blowing on my skin like the fucking sex kitten you are.”

  Her eyes flare with recognition and a smirk curls up the edges of her mouth. “Maybe you should ask me out on a date again.”

  “Oh, you think so? How do I know your answer is gonna be different?”

  She leans in. “Archer, I’ve been playing hard to get, and now that I know you want - like seriously want it - I’m willing to drop the pretense.”

  I’m trying to figure out if she’s playing me, but I’ll never know unless I ask. “Alisa, come out with me? Friday?”

  “I’d love to.” She pulls on my hand, putting the palm facing her. Grabbing a pen out of her scrubs pocket, she starts writing on my skin. “There’s my number. Text me, and we’ll make plans.”

  Before I can utter another word, the doctor comes in. “Officer Gray, looks like you’re gonna need some stitches.”

  The entire time my face is being sewn back together, my eyes and mind don’t deviate from the petite brunette standing next to the doctor.

  If there’s one thing I know for sure - Laurel Springs is about to get wild.

  Chapter One

  Alisa

  “You’re really doing it, huh?” Stella questions as she takes a seat next to me at the nurses station.

  “Doing what?” I lift my shoulder up, in an innocent gesture.

  She cuts her eyes to me, a smirk crossing her face. “Must be the full moon, right? That’s why you agreed to go out on a date with Archer.”

  Sighing, I bite my lip, my stomach doing this stupid fluttery thing it does when I think about him. “That’s totally it. Has nothing to do with the fact he’s lean, hot, and inked in places you can’t see without a shirt on.”

  “Famous last words.” Stella laughs.

  Glancing at her slightly rounded stomach, I give her a look. “You’d know. Number two on the way with a hot, lean, and inked K-9 handler.”

  “What can I say? Since the first date we went out on, I haven’t been able to say no when it comes to him.”

  That’s exactly what I’m afraid of with Archer. I’ve been there before, with a man I couldn’t say no to. It got me in way more trouble than I’d ever imagined it could have. That, however, is the old Alisa, not this one. “Does he know? That you can’t tell him no?”

  “Of course, and uses it to his advantage at every turn. But I love it. There’s something freeing about being able to trust the man you’re with. If you haven’t been able to experience the feeling. I hope you do soon.”

  I gave myself over to a man previously who didn’t believe me when I needed help. When what I needed more than anything was for someone to stand in my corner. “Me too.” I whisper. Glancing at Archer’s chart, I see the doctor has signed off. “Better go get him discharged.”

  Walking into the room, I smile at him. “You ready to get discharged?”

  “Yes.” He sighs, rolling his eyes skyward. “Being in here without you wasn’t nearly as fun.”

  I smirk. “Sorry I wasn’t able to hang out in here with you. Other patients, ya know?”

  “Trust me, I get it. You’re not going to back out on me are you? Now that you know I’m going to live and get to keep this pretty face.”

  A giggle rips out of my throat. “I’m not going to back out, I promise. If I get a chance later in my shift, I’ll text you. If not, it’ll be when I leave. Is that okay? It’ll be late.”

  “Whenever you have time, I’ll be ready. You know I keep a crazy schedule just like you.”

  Inhaling deeply, I give him a grin. “There aren’t many who can understand it.”

  He reaches forward, grabbing hold of my hand with his. This is the first time he’s touched me like this. The skin is warm, the easy strength in the grip is more than I imagined. My breath catches as his thumb rubs over my knuckles. “I understand more than you know.”

  Realizing where I am, I clear my throat as a way to bring myself out of the haze he’s unknowingly lured me into. “So, be sure and keep it clean, take your antibiotics with food, and there’s two pain pills just in case. Later on, after the adrenaline goes away, you’re going to hurt. The stitches should dissolve, but if you’re worried about a scar, the attending did re
commend a plastic surgeon.”

  The edge of his mouth tilts up. “What do you think about scars?”

  “Kinda tough, sexy.”

  “Then I’m definitely keeping it.”

  “Alisa we need you out here when you get done.” One of the male nurses sticks his head in. “It’s Heaven.”

  “Be right there.” I’m not flirting anymore. This is someone I know, someone who when they come in, requests me. I’m one of the only people who can keep her calm.

  “Guess we don’t need to keep messing around, huh? Sounds like you’re needed.”