Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson

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Lovett, Texas #3

          I really liked this book. I laughed and cried. And, I'm very glad I had a couple of slow nights in a row at work so I could read it in big chunks. The characters are vivid - even the secondary characters are distinct and memorable.

          Mercedes Johanna Hollowell - Sadie Jo to everyone in the little town of Lovett, TX - escaped the cattle ranch where she grew up as soon as she could. Her momma died when she was five, and her father was a hard, distant sort of man. She wandered the country, taking classes at numerous colleges without earning a degree and working numerous jobs without creating a career. She likes men a lot, but is not good at relationships. She has not been home in five years when she is asked to be a bridesmaid at her cousin's wedding. It would be rude to say no, so she heads back toward Lovett with the intent of leaving again the moment the wedding is over.

          Vince Haven is a former Navy SEAL whose Aunt Lurleen owns the Gas and Go in Lovett. She has asked him to come down for a visit. Until very recently, Vince had been living in Seattle near his sister and her son, helping to raise the boy. It's been just Vince and his sister since their mother died a few years earlier. Their father walked out when they were very young. But now his sister’s baby daddy has reappeared wanting to be a part of their lives, and his she is planning her belated wedding. Vince is at loose ends at the moment and heads down to Texas to accept Aunt Lurleen’s invitation.

          Vince's truck breaks down near the turn off to the Hollowell ranch, and Sadie sees him on the side of the road as she approaches home. She gives him a lift into town. Sparks soon fly between the two, but since neither of them is planning to be in town long, they figure it is a match made in heaven.

          Events conspire to keep each of them in Lovett much longer than originally intended. Their no-strings fling becomes a friends-with-benefits deal and without their noticing turns into an actual relationship. Both panic when they realize what is happening, and they nearly blow their chance at happily ever after. But they manage to rescue each other in the end.