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Book Excerpt – Feels Like Love

Book Excerpt – Feels Like Love

Feels Like Love

by Jeanette Lewis (All rights reserved)

When they got off the Tidal Wave, April glanced at her phone and was startled to see how late it had become. “I’d better get Em and Trevor home,” she said regretfully. She began texting Trevor, but Wade plucked the phone from her grasp. She looked up.

“Wait,” he said in a low tone. “Talk for a minute?”

Her pulse sped up and she nodded.

They sought privacy behind the tractor trailers that held the mazes, spook alleys, and fun houses. When they reached the shadows, Wade stopped abruptly and she almost crashed into him as he turned to face her. The urge to wrap her arms around his waist was so strong it left her aching and breathless. She took a few steps back to put some distance between them and for a long moment they stared at each other.

“You can’t marry him,” Wade finally said.

Her throat was dry and her heart pounded in her ears.

“I mean it, April. I still love you. And you still love me – I can see it in your eyes.”

She took a shaky breath, trying to think, trying to sort through the emotions crashing through her. What was nostalgia and what was real?

“Well?” he pressed.

“Please, don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“Why?”

“Because I can’t … I don’t know how to respond to that.”

“Yes, you do. You still love me, don’t you?”

All she had to say was no. No, Wade, I don’t love you anymore. He would go away and she could go back to her life, back to Scott, and pretend none of this had happened.

I don’t love you anymore.

She looked into his brown eyes. “I still love you,” she whispered.

He closed the distance between them in two quick strides and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. They were both wearing down filled coats and for a moment she felt like two marshmallows trying to hug. It would have been funny if she hadn’t been trembling at his closeness, his familiarity, the way he was the perfect height to rest her cheek against his chest. If not for the coat, she would have been able to hear his heartbeat.

Finally, he loosened his hold, but didn’t let her go. “Did you mean it? You’re not saying what you think I want to hear?”

“Do you think I’d start this much turmoil if I didn’t mean it?” she said. Things were tense before … now what? She’d just tossed a grenade into the ring.

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Starlight Kisses is Free – today and tomorrow!!

Starlight Kisses is Free – today and tomorrow!!

Mariah Lacoste has come to Snow Valley to help her cousin revive Artisan’s Knack, a boutique on Main Street that has definitely seen better days. Yeah, the timing might not be great—a major overhaul of the store plus maid of honor duties for a wedding, all during the worst winter Snow Valley has seen in a decade—but Mariah is confident she can handle it.

But can she handle Riker Carmichael, the best man and rumored player, who sets out to steal her heart?

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Book Excerpt – Starlight Kisses

Book Excerpt – Starlight Kisses

Starlight Kisses

by Jeanette Lewis

(c)All Right Reserved

She stepped off the road and her boots broke through the thin crust of ice to send her sinking to mid-thigh into the snow. With a little squeak of protest, Mariah pushed forward, heaving herself through the drifts until she was deeper into the trees where, thankfully, the snow only came halfway up her calves. Even so, her leather boots were going to be ruined.

“Ow!” She stubbed her toe on a fallen tree lying buried in the snow and stumbled, only managing to stay upright by grabbing the limbs of a pine that towered overhead. As the branch bent, it unleashed its burden of snow and Mariah gasped loudly as it showered over her head and shoulders.

“Stupid trees!” she hissed in a whisper, glaring at the forest. She brushed as much snow off as possible, but some had already slithered down her collar. The cold penetrated her coat and seeped through her gloves. Jake’s truck was faintly visible through the trees and looked to be parked in a clearing. Shivering, Mariah stood still, considering her options.

“What are you doing?” A man’s deep voice shattered the silence.

Mariah whipped around and froze. Fear pulsed through her, making her legs shake. She hadn’t even heard the man coming up behind her, which was amazing—he was so big there was no possible way he could have moved silently. A thick green camo coat covered broad shoulders and the matching camo pants hinted at long, muscular legs, ending in sturdy black boots. His mouth turned down in a scowl and his eyes glittered menacingly beneath a black ball cap. Clutched in one hand was a large rifle, the metal barrel glinting in the pale light.

Mariah sucked in a breath of the frigid air and screamed—a loud, piercing shriek that echoed through the forest.

The man jumped back. “Geeze, lady! What’re you doing?”

“What are you doing?” Now that she’d knocked him off guard, her fear was turning to anger. Mariah drew herself up to her full height and glared at him. “Don’t you threaten me with that thing.” She pointed wildly at the rifle.

The man dropped his eyes to his rifle and then looked back at her incredulously. “I’m not threatening you. What are you doing lurking in my trees?”

“I’m not lurking,” Mariah protested. “I’m just … hiking.”

He cast a bemused look at her four-inch-heeled leather boots and the rather thin pink coat. “Uh-huh, sure.”

A door opened somewhere nearby and Jake’s voice filtered through the trees. “Riker?”

Mariah’s eyes widened. This had to be Riker Carmichael, Jake’s best friend and his soon-to-be best man. She’d heard all about him from Amy, but they hadn’t met yet. Then again, she’d only been in Snow Valley a couple of weeks.

“Riker?” Jake’s voice came again.

“Don’t tell him I’m here,” she pleaded.

Riker gave her a long, skeptical look, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. The dark whiskers covering his jaw were too long to be stubble, but were not quite to the beard stage. More of a I don’t have to go anywhere so I don’t have to shave kind of look.

He ran one hand over the not-quite-beard as he turned and called toward Jake’s voice. “Coming. One second.”

There was silence, followed by the thud of the door closing.

Riker turned back to her, his thick eyebrows raised so high they disappeared under the brim of his hat. “What’s going on?”

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