Book Synopsis
Violet Smith and Zach
Aubrey have history…
…the kind of history he regrets and she wishes
she could forget.
When a booking mistake at Deep Haven Cottage
strands them together at a rental house on the Maine coast, the rocker and the
writer are suddenly thrown back together after ten years apart. While Violet
will do almost anything to prevent history from repeating itself, Zach wants to
show her that her heart will be safe with him this time. But can Violet give
him a second chance? And will Zach truly be able to change history?
Playing songs, playing for keeps…Playing for
Love at Deep Haven
Excerpt
“I have a room at the
White Swan on Tuesday," Violet explained. "This is only
temporary, Zach. Just for a few nights. I’m not staying.”
His
heart sank like an anchor in the harbor. He wouldn’t have much time with her,
after all. The disappointment constricted his chest and he clenched his jaw,
grinding once, twice. She stood watching him with wide, challenging eyes, not
moving from her position against the door. He took a step toward her, brushing
his thumb over his lower lip as his eyes connected with hers.
“Violet.”
He took another step, then another, until he stood in her space, directly in
front of her. She didn’t try to slide away, but her breathing changed and her chest
lifted more rapidly. He leaned forward and she blinked at him once from behind
those big old glasses that made her look so familiar, it hurt his heart. Made
it ache like something bruised or sprained or sorely out of use. He reached up
and tucked one stray hair back behind her ear and she broke eye contact with
him, holding her breath, looking down.
“Stay,”
he whispered, his finger lingering on the hot skin behind her ear. “I just want
to get to know you again.”
Her
mouth formed an “O” as she let out a soft, unsteady breath. When she raised her
eyes, they were glassy, glistening and exhausted, and he longed to open his
arms to her but he didn’t. He didn’t want to do anything to make her
uncomfortable, to scare her away.
Take it
slow. He could hear his
sister’s voice in his head, though his whole body rebelled against it after
waiting almost a decade to see Violet’s face again.
“Why?
What’s the point, Zach?” Her expression tried to be nonchalant, but she
couldn’t conceal the hurt and anger that flared up behind her eyes, coloring
her cheeks a deep red.
And
just like that, his strategy turned on a dime. To hell with scaring her
away. If her face told him nothing else, it told him that she still felt
something for him, too. And if he only had three days with her, taking it slow
wasn’t an option, was it?
“This
is the point,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her.
He
placed his palms on her cheeks as he had that night so long ago when she had
returned from the bus station. He pressed his lips against hers and was shocked
by the familiarity of her after so many years, as if the part of his brain
wired for Violet was suddenly tripped like a circuit breaker, turned on, alive.
To
his everlasting gratitude, she stepped toward him, not away, and whether it was
deliberate or unintentional, he didn’t care. She flattened her hands on his
chest as he parted the seam of her lips with his tongue, tasting the lip gloss
he had noticed before. Cherries or strawberries or some other -erries, it was
light and sweet, but the inside of her mouth tasted better. Tasted familiar,
like college Violet, like the girl he’d loved. His tongue found hers, lightly
touching, then swirling around it, as his hands slid from her face, over the
contours of her neck to her shoulders, down her shoulder blades to the small of
her back, where he locked his fingers, pulling her away from the door, closer
to him.
This
was exactly how it had felt that weekend, only they were both older now, more
experienced, more mature. He’d been a boy kissing a girl that weekend and
tonight he was a man kissing a woman. His whole body responded to having her
back in his arms, tightening, hardening, wanting more from her, more from this
woman who had haunted his dreams for way too long.
She
moaned or sighed or whatever it was it sounded like fucking heaven in his ears
– an unexpected A-flat – and he tilted his head, repositioning his mouth over
hers so their lips were flush and he had full access to her, full contact,
full—
“No!”
He
wasn’t expecting her to suddenly push him away and he was surprised by the
amount of force she used. He stumbled back once, opening his eyes and touching
his thumb to his lip reflexively.
Her
chest heaved up and down and she covered her mouth with her hand, working her
jaw. Her eyes were fierce and furious when she finally lowered her it, after
swiping the backs of her fingers over her lips, rough and angry.
“Don’t.
Ever.” Her nostrils flared and her eyes churned with emotion. “Do that again.”
She
held his eyes until he nodded once, then she walked by him, up the stairs like
a queen, leaving him hot and bewildered on the cold marble landing below.
Author Bio
KATY REGNERY, winner of
the 2013 NECRWA First Kiss and 2013 Maine RWA Everything But the Kitchen Sink
contests, has always loved telling a good story and credits her mother with
making funny, heartwarming tales come alive throughout her childhood. A
lifelong devotee of all romance writing from Edwardian to present-day, it was
just a matter of time before Katy tried her hand at writing a love story of her
own.
As it turned out, one love story turned into a
series of five Heart of Montana romances, following the love lives of the
Yellowstone-based Lindstrom siblings. In addition to small-town contemporary
romance, Katy is presently writing a paranormal romance that takes place in
northern New England and the forests north of Quebec.
Speaking of forests, Katy lives in the
relative-wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut where her writing room
looks out at the woods and her husband, two young children and two dogs create
just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories of all
are the messy and unexpected ones.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatyRegnery
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