Four years ago, Krystal Collier caved to her fears and chose to leave behind her first love in order to secure her future. Now, she has returned to the small town of Pinecone Valley to begin a new job. Unfortunately, she finds she’s required to work with the one man she thought she could forget. She fights the urge to be near Josh knowing he’s found someone new, but it’s a losing battle.
Only one woman has ever owned Josh Vansant's heart, and it’s not his supposed new girlfriend. Krystal’s constant presence torments him with what he can’t have. He searches for a way to convince her to leave Pinecone before she discovers his girlfriend is only a ruse to keep him from bleeding from the heart.
If Krystal can’t look beyond her fears, realign her priorities, and see Josh for the man he has become, she’ll lose the greatest love of her life.
EXCERPT:
“Krystal.”
The sound of her name
transported her back several years to a younger, more carefree time in her
life. Josh’s voice had always reminded her of smooth whiskey, dark with the
power to swirl her senses and steal her rationality. With apprehension, she
lifted her gaze.
Sweet sugar, he looked
good. She raked her thirsty gaze over his short, dark hair, trailing across his
broad shoulders, and faltering on midnight eyes that set her smoldering with
one look. He was rougher around the edges than Rob Matthews, but damn if she
didn’t like her men rugged.
“Josh.” Krystal’s
heart tightened. What did she say to the man whose heart she’d broken? “It’s
good to see you.” Such every day, mundane words for someone who’d meant so much
to her.
“What are you doing
here?” Tension sharpened his words. “I thought you’d be in Salt Lake or Denver
by now.”
She shrugged, trying
to keep her own tentative emotions at bay. After they’d separated, she’d
avoided the singles’ scene and most community events, choosing to focus on
school and hoping to miss exactly what she faced now. For his sake and hers.
“I graduated last
December and didn’t intend to stay in Pinecone, but this job came open, and it
seemed like a good springboard to my career.” It would be pointless to tell him
about her mom’s problems, the reason she’d returned home. The time when she and
Josh had shared their lives with each other was over.
He stared at her, and
she yearned to find warmth in his eyes. “I thought maybe you’d decided our
little town was big enough for you after all.”
Familiar
disappointment and heartbreak washed over her. “I had a right to my dreams,
Josh.”
“I never said you
didn’t. Just never understood why it had to be me or them.”
Learn more about Cindy
Sign up for her newsletter at www.CindyStark.com
Friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.stark.96780?fref=ts
Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CindyStark19
Just .99, get your copy!!
