by Karina Halle
It's perfect, actually. Not only does it bring us extra income, which is always needed on that damn ranch, but I finally feel like my skills are being used for the best. I'm able to create amazing advertisements and copy and make sure the place is consistently booked. In fact, I've heard from a few guests already that it's one of the best places to stay in the area, which is pretty amazing because it's only been going for a few months now.
So maybe the reason the town is better is because I'm better. I'm finally doing something I love and really love. Not something I thought I had to do because it was different, because I had something to prove. I never loved advertising, I just liked that I could do something that was hard. But there are plenty of things that challenge you because they are a labor of love.
Running the B&B is definitely that.
Shane, on the other hand, is not a challenge at all. Being with him, loving him, is the easiest thing in the world.
I know they say that you can't go home again and in some ways, I think that's true. Because when you leave, you change. But that doesn't mean a place can't be a home to you again, it just means it becomes a new one. We all carry this yearning in our hearts for a place for us to truly belong. Somewhere where we can be ourselves and give love and receive love and never have to worry about the cost.
North Ridge is that place to me. And I've made a home for myself right inside Shane's heart. I know now that I never have to be afraid or feel alone again, not while we're together.
A cold blast of air hits me as the door to the pub opens and I swing my head around to see a familiar sight. Not just Shane, shaking off snowflakes from his jacket, but Hank and my mother.
Hand in hand.
You think it would be weird to have my mother dating my boyfriend's father but the truth is, it feels right. Like it always should have been this way. My mother took a few wrong turns in life, fell for the wrong man, but even though what he did to us both was horrific, she was still able to find the man she always should have been with.
And Hank, wonderfully grumpy Hank, he turns into a smitten kitten when he's around her. It's adorable to see, especially since Dick has told me on more than a few occasions that he hasn't seen his son that happy since before Emily died. Both Hank and my mother have had to overcome loss of love in different forms and managed to find each other. They were broken but they loved with all their broken pieces until they were made whole.
When my mother and I decided to press charges against my father, we really weren’t sure what the outcome would be. In fact, the first lawyer that we hired had advised against it, telling us there was no point, since my father wasn’t going to be coming out of prison anytime soon.
Needless to say, we got another lawyer, one who completely agreed with our need for closure and for the correct justice to be served. It takes a long time for things to go through the courts here, but it’s been set in motion now and every day I’m more and more grateful that my mother decided to take a stand and proud that I had the courage to stand with her.
My mother waves at me cheerfully and comes over, gesturing to the empty bar stools beside me.
"Are these taken?" she asks me.
I roll my eyes. "Even if they were, I'm sure Del could get them to move in a second."
At that, Del flexes her biceps. They're actually pretty impressive.
"Sorry I'm late," Shane says, coming over to give me a kiss on the head before sitting down on the other side of me. "We had some trouble in the snow."
"Think it's about time to get a new truck," Hank grumbles. "Lord knows how you'll be able to afford it."
"Technically," I say to Hank as he sits beside my mother, "Dick promised Shane a truck for Christmas."
"And how would Dick afford a new truck?"
Hank grumbles again. "He has his ways. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a treasure chest hidden somewhere on the property. He told me when he was young he used to save every single penny his mother would give him for candy until he was finally able to buy his own damn pony."
"We'll see," Shane says as he gestures to the keg, nodding at Del. "I'm pretty sentimental about the old girl. I won't give up on her until she's truly done with me."
I can't help but smile. It sounds a lot like Shane's attitude toward me. And thank God he didn't give up. He was resilient in his love for me and didn't stop trying until I was finally brave enough to see the truth.
He loves me beyond reason, just as I love him. And love either makes you afraid or brave. I chose to be brave.
Del pours Shane a pint, gets Hank a glass of whisky and my mother a cider. I get another beer and lean against Shane, feeling all my worries slip away. There might be a snowstorm raging outside but beside Shane I feel as safe as can be.
Another cold blast comes in, a few snowflakes floating across the bar.
Everyone turns to look because that's what you do in a place like this, but instead of seeing Fox, who was supposed to come by tonight, or maybe even Maverick if he's off-duty, it's someone I've never seen before.
And she's fucking gorgeous. Fairly tall, slender and pale with long blonde hair, pouty lips and sweet green eyes. I mean, it's pretty rare you see a babe like that in North Ridge, let alone the Bear Trap pub.
Del doesn't seem to miss a beat though and smiles at the newcomer.
"What can I get for you tonight?" she asks.
"A glass of white wine, please," the girl says. Her accent sounds American.
I know none of us should be staring but we all watch as she goes and sits in a booth, takes out a paperback from her leather knapsack and starts reading. I guess she doesn't know that Del's not exactly a waitress.
"Do you know her?" I ask Del as she pours her wine.
"Not really," she says, keeping her voice low. "She came in the other night. Ordered a wine, read a book. Her name is Riley, that's about all I know."
"Oh," Shane says slowly as Del goes over and drops off the drink at Riley's table. I hope she’s happy with the house wine because that’s all this place has.
"What?" I ask.
He looks over his shoulder at her and then back at me, nodding. "She's the new hire at the Search and Rescue."
"You mean with Maverick?"
"Yeah. Mav said they hired a woman from Colorado called Riley. He says he hasn't met her yet..." Shane trails off and starts grinning. "Man, he is going to hate this so much."
"Hate having to work around a hot piece of ass?"
"Rachel," my mother admonishes.
"What? She's got a good ass."
"I haven't noticed," Shane says, totally straight faced. "And anyway. Yes. Maverick is the head of the crew, he can't go around screwing the people he works with and believe me...he's going to fall head over heels for her."
I can't help but smirk. "Good. It's about time he can only look at something and not touch it."
"You're right about that. Oh man. If only I could be a fly on the wall."
I look back at Riley who seems to be totally engrossed in a book. "She's reading something with an Oprah Book Club sticker on it. She might even be smart enough to stay away from Maverick in the first place."
"Let's hope," Shane says.
We spend the next couple hours at the pub drinking, though Shane just has a glass or two because he's driving. The Riley chick stays for almost the whole time, giving us all a shy smile as she leaves and steps out into the cold.
"We should probably head back too," Shane says to me.
"We're going to stay for a bit longer," my mother suddenly says.
"Really?" My mom is not the type to stay long at a pub, in fact I'm kind of surprised she and Hank decided to come tonight to begin with.
"You two go ahead," Hank says and I swear to God he winks at me.
I glance at Shane, eyebrows raised. "Okay?"
"I'll give them a ride home later," Del speaks up.
"Suit yourself," I tell them as I get off the stool. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Don't
worry about us," Hank says. "Just go and enjoy yourself."
Go and enjoy ourselves? It's a Saturday night, nothing unusual about it at all. Usually we just go to the bar, then come back home, drink some whisky by the fire and have crazy sex and I’m pretty sure that’s not what he meant. If he did…well, maybe we’ve all gotten a little too close.
We open the door and step outside, the winter air hitting me right in the face. I shiver, pulling my toque down until it covers my eyebrows, tucking my scarf into the collar of my parka. Shane grabs my arm and helps me down the snowy steps to the parking lot where cars sit amongst snows drifts. Under the streetlamps, the snow dances with an orange glow, swirling together in time with the howling wind.
“Fuck it’s cold,” I say.
Shane doesn’t say anything and when we reach the truck, he reaches out and pulls me to a stop.
“Rachel,” he says and there’s a strange nervousness about him, the way his eyes are both hopeful and cagey, the way he’s pressing his lips together. Snowflakes gather in his brows, pile up on the shoulders of his coat.
“What?”
He’s either about to say something amazing to me or something totally horrible and I honestly can’t tell. I’ve never seen him this anxious before.
He closes his eyes, breathes in deep through his nose and gives his head a little shake.
“I’m going to make this short and sweet,” he eventually says.
Uh oh.
He goes on, managing a smile. “Mainly because it’s cold as fuck and when I originally had this all planned in my head it was the end of summer and everything was still sweltering hot. But anyway. Rachel, I know that this is just a parking lot to most but it’s more than a parking lot to us.”
I raise my brow, looking around. Looks like just a parking lot to me.
“This,” he says, grabbing my left hand and slowly pulling off my glove. “This is the place where we came apart, a distance that could have lasted forever had you not come back to North Ridge, had we both not found each other again. Had we not been brave enough to try again. I don’t want this parking lot to stand for that. I want it to be the place where we finally came together.”
Part of me wants to point out that he’s waxing poetic about a parking lot and the other part, well that part is yelling SHUT UP RACHEL AND LET HIM TALK!
“Rachel Waters,” he says, his voice shaking. He drops to one knee in the snow and looks up at me with so much love that I’ve got a universe expanding in my chest.
I can’t believe this is happening.
Is this even happening?
“I’ve loved you since forever and you have my whole heart for my whole life. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
He holds out a rose gold ring that glows amongst the snow.
Oh my god.
It’s so beautiful.
This is so beautiful and it’s going so fast and I need to hold onto this forever and—
“Are you going to say yes?” Shane asks. “Because I can’t feel my fingers anymore.”
I burst out laughing.
“Yes!” I cry out. “Yes, of course, yes. I will be your wife. I will marry the hell out of you.”
I expect him to slide the ring on my finger but he just holds it out to me. “Read the inscription.”
I peer inside the ring.
It’s engraved: This was what I wished for.
And the tiny symbol of a wishbone.
I glance at Shane and now the tears are coming, though they’re freezing on my cheeks. “That’s what you wished for all those years ago, when we were nine?”
He nods. “I wished I’d marry you one day,” he says earnestly. “And I spent a long time holding out for it to be true. I still have that half a wishbone saved, tucked away in my closet. I don’t need it anymore.”
“No, you don’t,” I say, wiping away my tears while he slides the ring on. A perfect fit. “My mother gave me a wishbone before her surgery and I saved it, too afraid to wish on it. Now I don’t need to. Shane, I’m yours forever.”
“My wish come true.”
Suddenly applause and hoots and hollers fill the air and Shane gets to his feet as we turn and see everyone crowded at the entrance to the pub. Hank, Vernalee, Del, even Old Joe.
“Way to go, cowboy!” Del yells.
“We’re so happy for you!” shouts my mother.
“Beers are on me,” says Old Joe, attempting to light a cigarette that Del snatches out of his fingers and tosses into the snow.
“Now will you two get back inside here before you get frostbite and we can celebrate?” Hank mutters, shaking his head. “Sheesh. Young kids these days, you know?”
“Oh I know,” Vernalee says, kissing him happily before they go back inside.
“Come with me, future Mrs. Shane Nelson,” Shane says, taking my hand in his and holding tight.
“Whatever you wish,” I tell him and let him lead me home.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Wild Card! Stay tuned for Maverick, North Ridge #2, coming in September 2017. You can stay in touch and receive updates for the book by following me on Instagram or join my super cool Facebook Reader Group.
Reviews really make my world go round! If you loved the book and wish to leave a review, please email me ([email protected]) with your link to the review and I’ll make sure to respond with a note. Thanks again for reading!! For the blurb of Maverick read on!
Maverick
Coming September 2017
Forget playing it safe.
John “Maverick” Nelson likes to live his life on the edge – literally. A crucial member of the search and rescue team in the mountainous British Columbian town of North Ridge, Maverick’s brash and bold attitude means he’s the first one to ascend into danger, no matter the risk.
When it comes to women, though, Maverick errs on the side of caution. For all his cocky charm, rugged good looks and sexual swagger, he remains as unreachable as the surrounding peaks. Hot, wild sex? He’ll tell you there’s no better way to spend a cold, wintry night. Relationships? He’d rather freeze.
That is until he lays his eyes on American Riley Clarke. Trading in the crippling expenses of Aspen for BC, Riley is North Ridge’s newest member of their search and rescue team and the only woman on the job, which means spending a lot of time with Mav in adrenaline-pumping situations.
With the chemistry between them hot enough to melt snow, keeping their hands off each other is detriment to the success of their team. Besides, Maverick’s her boss and she didn’t work her ass off in Colorado just to throw it all away for some mind-blowing sex.
But when the worst winter in years sweeps in, Riley and Maverick will have to battle the elements along with their attraction for each other. And if either of them slip up, both of them will be in for a deep freeze.
Add Maverick to your Goodreads here.
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About the Author
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.
Also by karina halle
You can find all of these books by clicking HERE.
&n
bsp; Contemporary Romances
Love, in English
Love, in Spanish
Where Sea Meets Sky (from Atria Books)
Racing the Sun (from Atria Books)
The Pact
The Offer
The Play
Winter Wishes
The Lie
The Debt
Smut
Heat Wave
Before I Ever Met You
Rocked Up
After All
Wild Card (North Ridge #1)
Romantic Suspense Novels by Karina Halle
Sins and Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1)
On Every Street (An Artists Trilogy Novella #0.5)
Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2)
Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)
Dirty Angels (Dirty Angels #1)
Dirty Deeds (Dirty Angels #2)
Dirty Promises (Dirty Angels #3)
Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)
Dirty Souls (Sins Duet #2)
Horror Romance
Darkhouse (EIT #1)
Red Fox (EIT #2)
The Benson (EIT #2.5)
Dead Sky Morning (EIT #3)
Lying Season (EIT #4)
On Demon Wings (EIT #5)
Old Blood (EIT #5.5)
The Dex-Files (EIT #5.7)
Into the Hollow (EIT #6)
And With Madness Comes the Light (EIT #6.5)
Come Alive (EIT #7)
Ashes to Ashes (EIT #8)
Dust to Dust (EIT #9)
The Devil’s Duology
Donners of the Dead
Veiled