Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) (24 page)

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Authors: Zoe York

Tags: #reunited lovers, #divorce, #re-marriage, #romance series, #second chances

BOOK: Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1)

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AN EXCERPT FROM

LOVE IN A

— SNOW STORM —

— PROLOGUE —

Five years earlier

N
OTHING said unnecessary risk exposure like a man nearing his thirties wading into a teenage house party.

“You need to lighten up, man.”

Jake Foster gave his brother Matt a scathing glare. If one of them needed to do anything, it was Matt, and the thing was grow up. “Let’s just get Sean and drag him home before the Colonel gets wind of him getting blitzed again.”

“Dad needs to lighten up, too.”

“Maybe I should call Dean and get him to shut this party down.” Their older brother was an OPP officer. He wasn’t quite the stick-in-the-mud that Jake knew he’d become, but the two of them were the more responsible pair by far. Matt and Sean, four and eight years younger respectively, were unapologetic party animals.

They sat in the cab of Jake’s truck, staring at each other for a minute in a futile game of chicken—Jake wasn’t going to call the cops. Matt wasn’t going to push further. Neither of them was happy about having to pick up their drunk-ass brother on a Saturday night.

“Come on, let’s get this over with.” Jake hopped out of the truck and strode up the long country drive of the oversized farmhouse, heading toward the sights and sounds of a party falling apart. Intoxicated, belligerent young people spilled out on the veranda and across the lawn. None of them looked like high school students—mostly college-aged kids. And it sounded like the party had definitely gone awry. Bitter noises filled the air around him about stolen money and not enough beer. He scanned the faces, many of them familiar to him, and a sick feeling filled his gut. Halfway up the drive, he turned around and shoved Matt hard in the chest. “We’re not just picking up Sean, are we? Is Dani in there?”

Matt winced, caught in his half-truth. “She’s the one that called, not Sean. They’re hanging out back where it’s quieter.”

Jake swore under his breath and took off at a run, swerving around two former football players shoving each other. Idiots.

The din faded as they hit the backyard. A smaller group of people sat in a circle, passing a bottle around. One guy had his guitar out. Jake’s heart pounded as he scanned for her face.

“Over here.” Her voice lifted into the air behind him and he spun around. They sat on the porch, Sean leaning heavily against her shoulder. She had a hoodie draped awkwardly over half her body, but underneath that she was wearing a tiny tank top. He was sure that when she stood up there’d be a few inches of bare skin between her shirt and her snug-as-fuck blue jeans that she always wore, and then he’d be screwed.

At least it was dark. There was a passing chance no one would notice that he was turned on by his best friend’s little sister.

THE PINE HARBOUR SERIES

Love in a Small Town

Love in a Snow Storm (coming December 2014)

Love on a Spring Morning (expected Spring 2015)

Love on a Winter’s Night (expected Fall 2015)

AN EXCERPT FROM

WHAT ONCE WAS

— PERFECT —

The Wardham Series #1

T
HEY sat like that for almost an hour. At one point, Kyle was convinced that she had fallen asleep, but he didn’t want to risk losing the moment, and he couldn’t see her face without shifting. Her head was tucked under his chin, and he didn’t mind, because her hair smelled amazing, an intoxicating blend of honey and some kind of fruit. Thank god her ass was perched high on his thigh and her legs were bent over his other arm, because in the space beneath he had developed a brutal erection. He couldn’t remember ever being this turned on by cuddling before, except maybe in those first few weeks of dating when they were still working on rounding all the bases.

He remembered every single day of that spring, the long string of her firsts: Laney slowly peeling off her t-shirt in the barn, then crossing her arms against her chest; her sliding across the bench in his truck, straddling him, grinding her jean-clad pussy against his cock; getting completely naked in a hotel room after the Science Society Formal Ball, wanting to punch a hole in the wall after their only condom broke. Laney had made that night worthwhile anyway, sliding his cock between their bodies, holding herself open, rubbing against the length of him until they both shattered apart. They’d spent the night twisted up in each other, and when Laney wrapped her warm little hand around him in the shower the next morning, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. He returned the pleasure before check out, and two weeks later when he moved into his first apartment, they had an entire box of condoms at the ready.

She lifted her head and he was torn between wanting her to see where he had wandered in his mind, and hoping she’d return to her original position so he could keep smelling her hair like a pervert. He didn’t dare think that she might be wandering around the same spots on memory lane, even when she pressed her forehead against his chin, then rubbed up his face until her lips connected with his jaw. Kyle stifled a groan and eased her legs down to the ground, freeing his arm to press between their bodies.

“Laney, sweetheart, that’s not a good idea.”
It’s brilliant, asshole, shut up.
He could barely grind out the words. His body was not on board with being noble.

“Probably not.” She pressed against his hand, flat against her upper chest, stretching her body to reconnect with his face, and the upper swell of her breast filled his palm. This time the groan was louder. “Tell me to stop.”

“We’re going to regret this.” Freud would have a field day with what was going in his head. Baser instincts were definitely gaining traction.

“Probably. Tell me to stop.” Her lips found the corner of his mouth, at an angle, and then her face turned again and they were sharing the barest of open mouth kisses, her bottom lip resting on his, pressing it down. Her eyes were wide, pupils dark and full of want. He didn’t see any hesitation, only heat, and his resolve slipped.
One kiss
. He let her breath slip into his mouth, hot and moist, and he was lost, disoriented in a mixed fog of memories and unfulfilled fantasies.

With a slight jerk, his extended arm relaxed, allowing Laney to crawl back on his lap, straddling his hips this time, and she looked down at his erection with a smirk. “I knew you didn’t want me to stop.”

“Wanting you to stop and knowing you should are two different things. Hell no, I don’t want you to stop.” He dragged a ragged breath into his chest and ran his hands down the sides of her body, squeezing her hips, tracing over her thighs and then up again, harder this time, sliding his palms under her sweater and over the thin cotton tank top hiding underneath. “But I don’t want you to hate me, either.”

“I’m not an innocent college kid anymore, Kyle.” She wiggled her hips, trying to slide closer to the bulge in his jeans. “I like sex. You make me think of sex. I’m all fired up from fighting. Let’s go.”

It should have been an ardour-dousing wakeup call, the casual offer of something that was once so special to her, to them. The higher-thinking part of his brain protested that something was wrong, that Laney couldn’t possibly want a booty call, but all Kyle could focus on was the easy confidence that she had gained, how she must have gained it, and his primal need to re-possess that which he had lost. He could hear raspy need in his voice and he didn’t care. “Now it’s your turn to tell me to stop, sweetheart.”

CONTINUE READING
WHAT ONCE WAS PERFECT
RIGHT NOW!

THE WARDHAM SERIES

Between Then and Now

What Once Was Perfect

Where Their Hearts Collide

When They Weren’t Looking

Beyond Love and Hate

— ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS —

aka The People Who Have All the Faith In Me

I
N May I made the decision to try writing full-time. A leap of faith that I couldn’t have made without the love and support of some amazing people.

Natalie, you’re the best friend a girl could ever ask for. Thank you for driving me to Best Buy to pick up my MacBook Air even if you thought I was a little crazy.

My Viking…I know how scary this change was for you. Goodbye, security. Hello, dreams. Your support means the world to me. All my heroes have a piece of you in them.

Cate, Cora, Molly and Anne, who read my books first and tell me where to make them better.

Mary and Shelly, for catching my mistakes.

The Ink Heart Authors, a brilliant group of women whom I am blessed to just orbit around. A special thanks to Lauren Hawkeye, Melanie Shawn, Carly Phillips and Nina Lane.

Romance Divas.

The Self-Publishing Roundtable crew, both official and unofficial.

My mother-in-law, who makes me coffee and picks up her red pen every time I ask.

All the baristas at the Byron Starbucks. I’ve missed you over the summer holidays, but trust me, you don’t want the little Vikings hanging around.

My street team. The Wardham Ambassadors embraced Pine Harbour, Rafe and Olivia and were the best cheerleading squad ever!

Lori, for letting me ignore you while I type at your kitchen table.

Rachel, Hannah, Andraena, Mandie…the original street team. Sorry it took me so long to organize a book signing.

All the readers who have signed up for my mailing list, liked me on Facebook, followed me on Twitter. There are literally thousands of you now, and that just blows my mind. Thank you for believing in second chances, and picking up a book about love in small town Ontario.

I love you all,

Zoe

— ABOUT THE AUTHOR —

Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family. She’s currently chugging Americanos, wiping sticky fingers, and dreaming of heroes in and out of uniform.

www.zoeyork.com

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— COPYRIGHT —

ISBN-13: 9780993667565

ISBN-10: 0-9936675-6-2

Table of Contents