Free Hope Falls: Hearts Afire (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Julie Prestsater Page A

and you know they’re getting busy, but you don’t get to read about every dirty detail.”
    “I love me some steamy hot romances, but I love the sweet ones too. You write what comes naturally to you and I’m sure it will be a hit.” Lizzy and her friends belonged to a book club. Well, the book club was a front to get together to check out the local firefighters. It just so happens that their little meetings had led to Liz and her brother falling in love. She could have easily turned their story into a book.
    Katie felt warm inside. She missed being able to go to the library and visit Liz whenever she wanted. Or going for a run and ending up on their doorstep. But she also wasn’t ready to go home yet. Hope Falls was really starting to grow on her.
    “Thank you, Lizzy. I love you, sister.”
    “Aww. I love you too. I gotta run. I’m going to meet your mom for lunch.”
    “Give her a big hug for me and make sure she eats some protein,” Katie told her. Her mom was a diabetic and was adjusting to eating a healthy combo of carbs, proteins, and fats.
    “I’m on it,” Liz said. “Chat later.”
    Katie said goodbye and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Liz had reminded her it was lunchtime and she was hungry. She wished she could be having a meal with her family, but she couldn’t imagine they were eating anywhere with the view she had.
    Hope Falls continued to take her breath away. Looking out at the mountaintops from the B&B windows would always feel surreal to her. This is where she had been living for over a month, and she was still in awe every day. She wondered if the people who grew up here felt the same way. Did they see the beauty of their town the way she did?
    She was just about to search the fridge for something to eat when her phone rang. She smiled at the screen when she saw that it was Casey.
    “When you look at the mountains, does the view take your breath away?” she asked him.
    “Excuse me?”
    Katie realized she didn’t answer the phone in a traditional sense, but the question wasn’t a hard one. “Hi Casey, how are you? Do you look at the mountains in awe of their beauty or is it just whatever since you’ve seen them every day of your life?”
    “Uh…” She knew she had caught him off guard. She seemed to do that often with him, and she kind of liked it. “They’re not whatever. How could they be? Hope Falls is gorgeous. It’s my home town and I’ll never take for granted that I get to look out my window every day and see what I do.”
    “Do you have an amazing view?”
    “I sure do,” he said. “Want to see it? I was just about to make lunch. Come over if you need a break.”
    “I’m on my way.” Katie hung up without saying goodbye. She ran upstairs, threw on a hoodie and a pair of boots and was headed out the front door of the B&B in no time. She had no idea why she was in such a hurry. Maybe she didn’t want to talk herself out of going to Casey’s place. A guy’s place. A cute guy. If she was being completely truthful, a super-hot guy. One she kept telling herself she wasn’t interested in.
    She was finding it harder and harder every day to believe that. What he shared with her the other day made her think things. Casey was a good man, a great man, yet he felt like he couldn’t trust women. He thought they would all use him and leave him. That wasn’t true. If any woman spent any amount of time with him, she would see what she did. A kind, loyal, and sensitive man who deserved the love of a woman. Someone should be so lucky to have him love her back.
    She wasn’t that woman, but… She didn’t know what the but was.
    It dawned on her that she had no idea where she was going, but no sooner than she thought that did she get a text from Casey with the directions. He knew her too well. Already.
     
     

CASEY
     
    Casey had no idea why he was so nervous about Katie coming over. He had been to her place and all was fine. This was no big deal. Just lunch between