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Thank you for downloading my book! Just a super quick note that there’ll be an opportunity to download a FREE copy of my novella, Winter’s Kiss, once you’re finishing reading.
Thanks for being a reader,
Katerina Simms
Sarah Overton sat on a fallen log along the edges of the Annual Harlow soiree, her hand lifted in a half-hearted wave at Emilia Bonacci. Radiant Emilia. She stood across the clearing with her fingers curved around the crook of Blaine Callaghan’s arm. Her coffee-colored curls entwined about her dainty jasmine crown, her rose-pink fairy costume only adding to her overall angelic glow and her sweet, apologetic smile.
Sarah’s stomach hardened. The immaculate woman made hating her impossible. Meanwhile, Blaine—Sarah’s ex-fiancé—shone with pride, his emerald gaze permanently fixed on his new girlfriend.
Sarah turned away and opted to stare at the thicket of trees ahead. Sure, she wanted Blaine, a man she’d dated for three whole years, to be happy. But not this happy.
Crack!
A golf-ball sized rock smacked into the tree next to her head, ripping her mind away from her deep remorse.
“Oh man, you missed.” Aaron Chadley’s wobbly teenage voice had her twisting toward the bushes behind her. Presumably, he berated his brother. “Your aim sucks, Weasel.”
As if being sidelined at this party wasn’t humiliating enough, the music slowed and couples cuddled together. Sarah groaned, intent not to encourage the boy and his two equally annoying siblings with any kind of protest. What with Blaine and Emilia’s earlier saccharine scene, the loved-up dancing couples now, and the ever-irritating Chadley brothers… maybe it was time to leave.
She’d taken in Mirabella Falls and its wooded perfection, the soiree’s candy stands, costumed guests, and twinkling fairy lights. Enough people had seen her here that maybe tomorrow’s town whispers about the state of her jilted and broken heart would simply not happen.
Any minute now, she’d get up and get on with her life. A quiet life. One she would have had if she’d never decided to fall in love.
Unlike all the other under thirty-year-olds in this town, she wasn’t all that enamored with change or drama. She hated surprises, preferred stability. Heck, craved sameness and having control of what happened to her next.
Crack! Crack!
More rocks. Fudging Chadleys!
She dipped her chin to her overly long costume’s crushed turquoise velvet.
Ignore them. Just ignore them.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Right, well, since she was about to leave anyway…
She shot to her feet, the center of her chest all prickly and hot, her gaze darting over the crowd.
The Chadley parents were nowhere, their absence in itself enough to light her desire to drag those pesky little beasts out and return them to their handlers. Even if she did hate playing mom to other people’s kids.
She stormed into the dense brush behind her, pine twigs snapping underfoot, determined to end the Chadley reign of terror, then go home alone. Just like she’d planned. A plan she would never stray from again.
The tangle of branches in her way wasn’t enough to stop her, nor the mild scratches those branches left behind, her bare forearms lined in red welts. Despite the fairy dress and her long blond hair, the Chadleys were about to find out that she was far from Harlow’s sweet and wilting flower. She could and would damn well defend herself.
She yanked her long hem, the heavy material dragging behind her, all while she grumbled under her breath. The warm Minnesotan night hugged her from every angle. The theme for this year’s soiree was A Midsummer Night’s Dream—perfect, given the spring season, late hour, and wooded location. But hell, Shakespearean costumes were not great for traipsing through forests.
And yes, she’d put others’ happiness above her own, her lack of festive spirit largely her fault—not that she’d had much choice when it came to Blaine and Emilia—but the Chadley boys simply added to her current misery.
So much for doing the right thing. The right thing felt less fuzzy and warm, more stabby and excruciating, like a blunt knife to an already bruised and tortured heart.
She stopped in a clearing and peered about.
“Okay, fine.” Her raised voice disappeared into the trees around her, but she listened for the expected sounds of the Chadleys’ laughter and rustling leaves. “I tried. So if you get lost, I’m not taking the blame. You hear?”
She scanned her dark surroundings once more. The soiree lights faded in the distance, a warning not to wander too far.
