She wasn’t sure what was taking so long behind the closed doors, and her anxiety for this event and day to be over started skyrocketing.
“Do you know who Mia paired me with?” she asked Allegra, who was seriously so beautiful and blonde, she didn’t seem real. And she and Phoenix had been married for six months now, and she always glowed with happiness.
Karly actually envied her sometimes, because she seemed to have to work, and claw, and bite for every ounce of joy she felt.
“Uh, let me go see.” Allegra flashed a smile at her and walked away, the light green dress on her frame much more flattering. She returned quickly and said, “Maverick Malone. He’s one of Declan’s best men.”
The name tickled something in the back of Karly’s mind, but she didn’t know what. The last year had been trying to say the least, and there were some things she simply couldn’t remember. It seemed like her life existed in layers of gray, and she couldn’t put them together into a whole picture sometimes.
“He’s the tall, handsome one over there,” Allegra said, twisting to her right. “Talking to Jon.”
Karly followed her gaze and saw the muscular man. He wasn’t wearing a tuxedo like her brothers, but a pair of pressed black slacks and a white shirt with the customary purple tie. He had shaggy, dark blond hair, and he must’ve been able to sense her watchful eye, because he looked in her direction.
She spun away, feeling foolish and out of sorts. “He has tattoos all over his arms,” she hissed to Allegra. “He’s one of those meatheads from the biker gang.”
“I think it’s a club,” Allegra said. “And I’ve heard they do good things in the community.” She shrugged. “Hey, he might give you a ride on his bike.”
“I don’t want a ride on his ridiculous bike,” Karly said. “It’s too loud, and I bet it stinks.” She wasn’t a fan of motorcycles, thank you very much. They seemed like personal death traps to her.
“Places, everyone,” the wedding planner called, and Karly got shuffled around while everyone got in line. They all seemed to know exactly where and how to line up, but she’d missed that memo.
She’d probably gotten it, but her brain could only hold so much information at once. She turned, stumbling into a very solid chest, and a pair of warm hands gripped her elbows, steadying her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, looking up into the brightest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Maverick had some seriously handsome genes in his family, because dang. He was gorgeous. He looked at her evenly, not an ounce of emotion in his eyes whatsoever.
“You’re Karly, right?” he asked, and a voice like that could paint pictures.
Karly had started taking a watercolor class over the summer, so she should know. She imagined his voice to be embodied with blues, and purples, and greens. Something soothing and cool and relaxing.
“Yes,” she managed to say.
“Great,” he said. “I’m your escort.”
He wished he was, but Karly didn’t say that. She just cocked her eyebrows and laced her arm through his offered elbow.
The line in front of them started to move, and he leaned down, his whispered tone twice as sexy as his regular speaking voice. “And honey, it’s called a motorcycle. Not a bike.”
“I—”
“I’ll take you for a ride anytime.” He faced the front of the line as they moved, and Karly put her plastic smile on her face, hoping that Maverick would keep her upright, because her legs felt like they were now made of gelatin.
* * *
Woot! More Forbidden Lake Romance is coming! I can’t wait to see what happens with Karly and Maverick!
Read MAKING A MOVE today. Available in Kindle Unlimited.
Leave a Review
Like this book?
Please leave a review for it on Amazon!
Join Elana’s romantic suspense newsletter stay up-to-date with new releases, news, and deals.
Join Elana’s romantic suspense newsletter here.
Join her Reader Group on Facebook here.
Want more info about her beach romances? Join her sweet beach romance newsletter too. They’re two different things, to hopefully deliver to you the type of romance you’re most excited about.
Read more by Elana
Want more secret, forbidden, delicious clean romance? Amazing! Read MAKING A MOVE today!
How about a sweet, fun beach romance that will make is summer year-round? Sweet, I have that too. Read BOYFRIEND BY MISTAKE, Book 1 in the Carter’s Cove Romance series.
Love beaches, brides, and sweet romance that’ll leave you wishing it was summer every day of the year? Go to Getaway Bay with the Beaches & Brides series and read THE HELICOPTER PILOT’S BRIDE today!
Want to try a clean billionaire romance on the beaches of Hawaii? THE BRAINY BILLIONAIRE is just that!
Like longer Hallmark-type romances? Second chance romance? Who doesn’t?! Start with THE PARAMEDIC’S SECOND CHANCE, Book 1 in the Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series.
Want to get stranded with a hot hero? Try STRANDED WITH THE HIDDEN BILLIONAIRE, and go to Getaway Bay for the best beach romance around!
About Elana
Elana Johnson is the USA Today bestselling author of dozens of novels, from YA contemporary romance to adult beach romances. Check out her sweet beach romances in the Hawthorne Harbor Romance series, the Clean Beach Club Billionaire Romance series, the Beaches & Brides Romance series, the Rebels of Forbidden Lake Romance series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance series and the Carter’s Cove Beach Romance series.
Find her on Facebook, BookBub, and her blog. Tap here to see all her books.
She also writes under the pen name Liz Isaacson, who is the USA Today bestselling author and Kindle All-Star Author of the Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, the #1 bestselling Horseshoe Home Ranch Romance series, the Brush Creek Brides series, the Steeple Ridge Romance series (Buttars Brothers novels), and the Grape Seed Falls Romance series, the Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series, the Quinn Valley Ranch Romance series, and the Last Chance Ranch Romance series.
If you liked this book, please take a few minutes to leave a review for it. Authors (Elana included!) really appreciate this, and it helps draw more readers to books they might like. Thanks!
RISKING IT ALL
Book Five, Rebels of Forbidden Lake Romance series
by Elana Johnson
Copyright © 2019 by AEJ Creative Works Inc, Elana Johnson
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover and interior design by AEJ Creative Works Inc.
Risking It All (Rebels 0f Forbidden Lake Book 5) Page 11