Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series)
Read Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) Online
Authors: Melanie Shawn
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary
by
Melanie Shawn
Copyright © 2014 Melanie Shawn
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing from Melanie Shawn. Exceptions are limited to reviewers who may use brief quotations in connection with reviews. No part of this book can be transmitted, scanned, reproduced, or distributed in any written or electronic form without written permission from Melanie Shawn.
This book is a work of fiction. Places, names, characters and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover Design by Hot Damn Designs
Copyedits by Mickey Reed Editing
Proofreading Services by Raiza McDuffie
eBook Design by BB eBooks
Published by Red Hot Reads Publishing
‡
“C
an I tell you a secret?” the busty redhead whispered loudly over the sounds of music playing from the jukebox and people laughing, talking, and playing pool in JT’s Roadhouse. The bar was exceptionally crowded, especially for a Wednesday night. “I’m not wearing any panties.”
Jake wasn’t sure if he should clue her in that half the bar knew that little “secret.” Several times when she’d bent over the pool table to aim and shoot, she’d flashed a beaver shot. It would probably be the right thing to do to point it out.
Nah.
If she were drunk, he would definitely clue her in and even make sure that she didn’t embarrass herself—any more than she had!—or get into any trouble. But she was as sober as could be. She had to know that she was putting on a show. Besides, his brother Eric was the cop, not him. Firemen didn’t
have
to arrest people for indecent exposure.
Not to mention, several guys from the station house were seated on the barstools that lined the wood-paneled walls surrounding the pool tables and they were enjoying the view. So instead of commenting, Jake just casually chalked his cue as a devilish smile spread across his face.
He knew that Carrie…or…Cassie…or…Candy or whatever her name was thought that she would be going home with Jake tonight. She’d been dropping hints about seeing his new house since she’d challenged him to a game of pool. Jake wasn’t sure how he was going to break it to her that she would not be getting the grand tour of his abode anytime soon. Jake wasn’t going to be bringing her home to his condo, which he still lived in—or to his new home, which he had not spent a single night in.
It’s not that she wasn’t attractive. Standing five foot six, she had gorgeous red hair that flowed all the way down to her lower back, big brown eyes—that she’d been batting at him all night!—and curves that reminded him of a pinup model. And it’s not that he had an issue with her exhibitionist tendencies. If she wanted to give him a preview of the goods, hey, more power to her. She actually fit Jake’s criteria for a hook-up hottie to a tee.
But Jake still wasn’t interested. Since the day he’d gotten the keys to his new home three months ago—the home he’d wanted since he was ten years old, the one he’d seen his first day as a paper boy—he hadn’t been “entertaining” as much as he normally did.
Or at all.
The truth was he hadn’t brought a woman to his
new
home since Lauren, his realtor-slash-friend—who also happened to co-host Home Sweet Vacation Home, which showcased vacation homes of the rich and famous—had placed those two little keys into his hands.
“Your turn, Jakey,” the redhead purred suggestively as she ran her fingers up and down her pool cue.
“Yeah,
Jakey
, it’s your turn.” Levi, who not only owned JT’s Roadhouse but was also one of Jake’s good friends, smiled broadly as he set down another long neck on the tall round table in front of Jake.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jake noticed Little Miss Flash-A-Lot’s eyes scan Levi from head to toe appreciatively. It didn’t bother Jake at all that she seemed interested. In fact, it gave Jake an idea.
“Come here, sweetheart.” Jake lifted his hand, motioning for the redhead to step closer. When she did, he asked, “Have you met Levi? He owns this place.”
A flirtatious twinkle appeared in her big brown eyes as she said, “No, I haven’t. Hi, I’m Courtney. I moved here about a month ago.”
Courtney.
Right! Jake knew it was something like that.
Levi grinned down at her. “Nice to meet you, Courtney,” he said, his six-foot-four-inch frame towering over her. “Welcome to Hope Falls.”
Courtney smiled seductively before coyly dipping her head. When she did, Levi glanced over at Jake with a questioning look in his eye. One that silently asked why Jake would be introducing this girl, who was obviously “a sure thing,” to Levi after he’d already put in time with her.
Jake shrugged in response. He didn’t have an answer for that. He just wasn’t interested.
Levi shook his head a little, smiling as he walked back to the full bar—not one empty seat. Jake noticed several people already trying to get Levi’s attention. When JT, Levi’s uncle, had owned the bar, he’d always had at least two people, if not three, working—even on weeknights. Levi bought the bar almost two years ago and, except for a busboy, had run it on the solo tip. Jake didn’t know how he did it.
“Jakey, it’s your turn,” Randy, the fire equipment mechanic, sing-songed in a high-pitched voice.
Looking down at the table, Jake assessed his next move. He could easily end the game in four shots and head home. When the objective of the evening was
not
to find someone to share a couple hours with between the sheets, hanging out at the same bar five nights a week got a little old. But since the alternative was going back to his condo, turning on Sports Center, and being alone, he’d decided that playing pool with the added bonus of getting a peepshow was definitely the way to go.
Leaning over, he lined up his shot. Then, gripping the pool stick a little too high, he pulled back and hit the cue ball just to the left, banking the six off the side, not sinking it into the corner—a shot he could have made one handed!
Courtney giggled and jumped up and down, celebrating the fact that Jake had missed the shot. All four of Jake’s fellow firefighters nodded their heads in thanks. Chris, the station’s engine driver, even mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
After Courtney bounced enthusiastically—causing her lady-lumps to almost spill out of her shirt—she began circling the table, running her fingers along the felted sides, “looking” for her next shot. Really, she was just putting on a show. Obviously, she loved the attention, and who was Jake to judge.
*
Tessa’s nails dug into her palms as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. Her teeth were biting down on the inside of her cheek so hard she was scared she was going to draw blood. Breathing in shallow pants as she squeezed her thighs together, she tried desperately to concentrate on the small piece of the highway that was illuminated by her headlights. Her eyes were watering, causing her vision to blur, which made driving in these stormy conditions on mountain roads doubly—if not triply—dangerous.
Why? Why in the name of God and all that is holy did I decide to grab not one but
two
twenty-four-ounce Mega Monster energy drinks in Sacramento?
With a bladder the size of a peanut, she knew better. Sure, she’d almost fallen asleep several times on the long boring drive up the 5, but Tessa was quickly realizing that trying to hold in her bursting bladder while operating a moving vehicle—in the rain, at night!—was not proving that much safer than nodding off behind the wheel. Her wipers waved furiously back and forth in front of her as rain pounded down on her windshield. Tessa had never really given much credence to the idea that the sounds of water caused you to need to pee more. But after driving for the last hour in the rain with a full bladder, she was definitely signing off on that theory.
“Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Tessa repeated out loud to herself, trying to calm down. She talked to herself a lot. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was left over from moving around so much as a kid. The life of an Army brat was very nomadic. She’d been painfully shy as a kid, so making friends hadn’t been easy. Especially because each time she had known she would just have to do the same thing all over again in a year or so.
The trip down memory lane was not helping to keep her mind off the impending emergency she was facing. She really didn’t think she could hold it in much longer without potentially seriously damaging an organ or two. Just when she was either going to surrender to the panic that was rising up inside of her and break down crying hysterically or even pee her pants, she passed the wooden sign on the side of the highway that read:
Welcome to Hope Falls
Pop. 6,032
Yes!
She was almost there.
Thank God!
All she could think about was making it to Sue Ann’s Café, where she was staying for the night, jumping out of her car, and running to the restroom. She hadn’t been back to Hope Falls in close to thirteen years, but she did remember that the main strip Sue Ann’s Café was located on was only about five miles past the city limits.
Just five miles. Which, with these nasty road conditions, meant about ten minutes. She just had to hold it for another ten minutes.