Playing house in the mountains was supposed to be temporary, but a woman would have to be made of stone to resist the most eligible bachelor in Pine Ridge and all his small-town charm.…
Denny Torres needs a break. After a series of embarrassments on and off the field, the Adirondacks provide the perfect hideout for his new, quiet, post-football life. The fresh mountain air is a welcome balm for his soul, but what’s even more soothing? The sexy, sweet touch of fellow Pine Ridge newcomer Bethany Jones. If only she planned to stay....
Bee does not have time for a hunky former athlete—no matter how good he looks shirtless or how sweet he is with his parents. Her artistic ambitions are in ruins, her brother is a disaster, and while Pine Ridge has its charms, the small town is nothing more than a pit stop on her way to getting back on track. Bee’s just going to ignore the fact that when Denny offers her the chance to channel her creative energy into redesigning his house, she finds herself building the home—and the life—of her dreams.
With their time together coming to an end, Denny will have to move quickly to prove he can be the man Bee needs. Who better than a defensive back to knock down those walls?
"I'm telling you," Sydney said. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. "This place has something special."
Around them, birds chirped merrily, the trees rustled in the breeze, and tiny, hidden creatures snapped twigs in the distance. But inside the house, nothing stirred. Sydney knocked again.
Silence.
"Hm," she said. "His car's here."
"Forget it," Bee offered. "There's gotta be somebody in town who has an extension ladder, right? Or someone taller than five foot four?"
Sydney worried her bottom lip and peered through the towering front windows into the exposed living room. "Yeah, but . . ."
A sneaking suspicion crept into Bee's brain. "This isn't a setup, is it, Sydney darling?"
Syd's cheeks bloomed with color. She avoided Bee's stare.
"Because," Bee continued, "you can put the juiciest slab of Pine Ridge man meat in front of me, and I'm not biting."
"Ew." Sydney grimaced. "Was that intentionally off-putting?"
"Oh, come on. You stock nothing but romance novels in your store. I thought you'd have heard everything by now."
Sydney rolled her eyes and meandered off the front porch. "I stock the best romance. None of my authors would dare write anything so nasty. Come on, maybe he's out back."
They circumvented the house and picked their way down a sloping green lawn toward the lake, glorious and sparkling in the midday summer sun. Maybe Bee would never move to the tiny mountain town, but she began to see why other people did.
Thirty feet from a rickety dock floated a barn-red canoe, untethered and drifting lazily on the placid surface of the lake.
"That sucks," Bee said.
"What?"
"His boat came untied, right? He's gonna have to . . . I dunno. Swim out there and get it?" Bee's legs trembled at the thought.
Sydney placed two fingers in her mouth and whistled, the shrill bleat slicing across the water. Like a prairie dog rustled from his hole, a shirtless, tousle-haired man popped up from the boat.
"Hey!" Sydney waved an arm over her head. "Got a sec?"
Shirtless ran a hand through his dark hair, snagged a paddle from the depths of the boat, and crossed the water in one swift, sharp line. The closer he got, the drier Bee's mouth became.
The man was cut. Tight abs twisted and flexed as he dipped the paddle into the water-left and right and back again-drawing her gaze to the smooth planes of his chest and shoulders. The guy had muscles she didn't know existed. An elaborate, tribal turtle tattoo covered his smooth, brown skin from shoulder to elbow.
The boat sped toward the dock, and Bee's heart crawled into her throat as she envisioned the old heap splintering into a thousand pieces as it slammed against the shore. But in one swift motion, Shirtless leaped out of the canoe and onto the dock, pausing the forward motion and sending the vessel bobbing back into the body of the lake.
"What's up?" He lumbered toward them, a crooked smile hanging on his curvy lips. Black mesh gym shorts hung on his muscular frame, and it took everything in Bee not to gawk. She'd been around all kinds of beautiful men in her life, but Shirtless tickled something different inside of her.
"Denny, this is my friend Bee. Bee, Denny."
His dark eyes lighted on her, flickered across her chest and back up to her face. Despite the fact that she wore a crew-neck tank top and loose-fitting, tie-dyed lounge pants, her skin prickled as if he saw clear through her clothes. He, on the other hand, showed no signs of any such shame despite being distinctly more naked.
From BOLD LOVE published by arrangement with Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2021 by Lauren Accardo.
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