“You don’t look like you care all that much that we’re late.”
“I look like this all the time,” she whispered. “It’s the look I get when I remember that this is real.” When she remembered that two weeks ago Adam had officially finished his IC command and was coming back to St. Helena with a lieutenant promotion under his belt, and that she’d opened a branding and marketing company that had already signed five huge accounts—including Lulu Allure.
Best of all, it was the look she gave when she remembered that they’d officially started their lives together.
“It’s real, sunshine. This was real from the moment I kissed you.” Her breath caught at the look of fierce adoration and love in his eyes as her husband of three days leaned down and kissed her in a way that had her heart melting and her toes curling. “And it gets more real every second I’m with you. Every second you’re mine.” Adam wiggled a brow. “Plus, I read in that magazine of yours that there is no better place to practice having a baby than at a baby shower.”
With a final kiss that held so much promise, Adam took Harper’s hand and led her through the vineyard and toward their families—and the best kind of extraordinary that Harper could have dreamed.
acknowledgments
Thanks to my agent, Jill Marsal, for your advice, dedication, and unwavering friendship. And to my editors, Maria Gomez and Lindsay Guzzardo, for taking the time to push me to grow as a writer and dig deeper with each story I tell. To the rest of the Author Team at Montlake, thank you for making every book special, and for welcoming me into the amazing Montlake family.
As always, a special thanks to my husband, who is not only a real-life hero, but my real-life hero. I love you.
Read on for a sneak peek of Marina Adair’s next heartwarming romance from her Sequoia Lake series
it started with a kiss
Available early 2017 on Amazon.com
Editor’s Note:
This is an uncorrected excerpt and may not reflect the final book.
chapter one
If life was an adventure, then Avery Morgan needed to fire her travel agent and demand a refund.
She wasn’t a demanding person by nature, but that’s what happened when the universe issued an early expiration date on living, it gave you cojones. So Avery issued herself a new passport on life, and was ready to put some stamps in each and every column.
Her first destination required crisp mountain air, fireside s’more-tinis, and a real get-back-to-nature kind of adventure—one that would hopefully give her the skills needed to live out loud.
Avery looked through the windows of the local Moose Lodge at the imposing Sierras, a rugged mountain range that cut through Northern California and towered over her quaint hometown of Sequoia Lake.
“Before you begin your climb, you want to make sure you give the chest harness a final tug to ensure it’s secure,” she said as if she were the foremost expert on extreme adventures. As if her entire world—up until a year ago—hadn’t consisted of managing retirement portfolios at her family’s bank and listening to couples talk about their senior cruise to Alaska.
She bent over slightly to click the last carabiner into place, securing the leg straps to the chest harness.
There was something so poignant about that sound, about how with one click the device restricted her freedom and pressed down on her scar, a reminder that she was strapped in and fully committed to the climb.
“I’ll tug it,” Mr. Fitz offered, his bony fingers already reaching out to help. Or grope. Avery couldn’t be sure, so she stepped back out of range.
Mr. Fitz was three thousand years old, with teeth too white to be real, and, even though he looked like a harmless old-timer in his TOO BIG TO THROW BACK fishing hat, his eyes were laser pointed at Avery’s chest—which was prominently on display because of how the harness fit her body.
“I’m fine.” Avery swatted his hands away right before they made contact. “But thank you for the offer.”
Mr. Fitz backed off, taking his seat, but looked awfully disappointed.
Senior X-Tream Team, the town’s invitation-only fly fisherman’s club, had asked Sequoia Lodge to their monthly meeting, since the first topic on their agenda was to finalize their big summer excursion. And since Avery was Sequoia Lodge’s newly appointed adventure coordinator, it was her job to go out into the community and solicit new customers. If she secured all twelve members for this excursion, then she’d meet her entire quota for September in one fell swoop.
She straightened her shoulders—an impossible task due to the climbing harness—and held out a clipboard to the crowd. “Now, if that answers all the questions, let me tell you about the amazing views from—”
Mr. Fitz’s hand went up.
“Mr. Fitz?” she said thinly since this was his ninth question.