Pamela Clare's Blog

BARELY BREATHING is FREE today!

Dear Friends,

 

It’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me. I’m grateful for the support you’ve shown me during these past three years, as I’ve struggled with the aftereffects of cancer treatment. As a thank you and to celebrate better days ahead, I’ve offering Barely Breathing, the first book in the 10-book Colorado High Country series, for FREE for a limited time, on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo. The book is also available for download on Books2Read.

 

The Colorado High Country series follows the adrenaline-soaked adventures of the men and women on the Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue Team. I grew up rock climbing, hiking, rafting, and camping in the Rockies and have firsthand experience of being rescued after a near-fatal 40-foot fall off Mt. Ida in Rocky Mountain National Park. Write what you know, right?

Here's a glimpse of Lexi and Austin’s story…

 

A hot contemporary romance from the author of the acclaimed I-Team series…  

Lexi Jewell left Scarlet Springs twelve years ago, vowing never to return to the small Colorado mountain town where she grew up. Now, here she is—over thirty, out of a job and with little choice but to move back in with her eccentric father. Lexi knows it’s just a matter of time before she runs into Austin Taylor, her first boyfriend and her first heartbreak. She’s determined to show him she’s over him—until he steps out of a pickup truck and back into her life, looking sexy as hell in his mountain ranger uniform.  

As far as Austin is concerned, Lexi can turn her snazzy little convertible around and drive back to Chicago. After all, she ripped his teenage heart to pieces and turned her back on the town he loves. But from the moment he sees her again, he can’t get her out of his mind. Even her smile messes with his head.  

When an evening of conversation turns into something else, Lexi and Austin agree to be friends—with benefits. But as Lexi starts making plans to return to the big city, Austin realizes he’ll lose her a second time unless he can show her that what she’s searching for has been right here all along.  

As those of you who’ve followed my journey know, it’s been a crazy ride. It started in spring of 2022, when I learned the bone in my upper jaw was dissolving as a result of radiation treatment. I needed two bone grafts to address that. That was fun. 

Then in July 2022, I began having terrible pelvic pain. I spent two years being misdiagnosed before I finally learned in 2024 that I have Interstitial Cystitis. IC is a rare autoimmune disease that causes terrible bladder pain. My doc thinks it was triggered by chemo. I’ve been getting regular treatments since May 2024, and I’m finally close to remission. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to feel pieces of my life come together again after so many long, dark months.

And so I am celebrating with a free book and lots of spring flowers in my garden. I hope to be writing regularly soon. Fingers crossed!

 

Thanks again for your support! You have no idea how much it has meant to me these past three years.

 

Here it is—the cover for Snow and Starlight (Wildest Alaska, #2), CGIS Special Agent Chase Santee and Anya Alexyev's story. For health reasons, I’ve only written three chapters so far. But already, these two are striking sparks off one another.

What can I tell you about the story?

For starters, the book opens with Anya’s first day at her first real job. She’s just joined the staff of the Kodiak Courant as a reporter, leading her headlong into a conflict with Chase.

The two of them are so much fun together.

Watch for an excerpt soon!

 ***

Writing is my profession. But prolonged health struggles have kept me from writing since I finished Fire and Rain (Wildest Alaska #1). In fact, the last third of that book was written when I was in hellish pain. Not one to miss a deadline, I forced words out of myself with tears running down my face day after day until it was finished because I felt so awful.

I shared with you last month how I passed out, hit my head, and got a concussion. No one was able to say why I passed out, despite many scans and tests. But the cause was likely a series of UTIs and related infections that I've been battling again and again since July.

I've seen specialists and had every test imaginable since July, and it seems that chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2014 has caused long-term damage to the organs in my pelvis. That damage has left me vulnerable to infection and something worse—constant nerve pain in my bladder and all of my female tissues.

I haven’t shared this until recently because it’s rather personal. It seems that treatment for estrogen-positive breast cancer can damage cells in the body that have estrogen receptors—which includes every tissue in a woman’s pelvis.

What this has meant for me is an inability to write or really function because I'm grappling with pain that prevents me from sleeping. My sister was here in September because she'd come to help me navigate doctor visits and the emotional struggles of constant misery.

The medical bills have been horrendous, and my not being able to write due to exhaustion and pain is going to have a long-term impact. I do have a new treatment plan, but it's a long-term plan, with recovery expected in roughly six months.

One day a couple of weeks ago, author Toni Anderson got in touch with me about an unrelated topic, and I fell completely apart. I told her everything. The next day, author Katie Reus contacted me to tell me that she, Toni, and Kaylea Cross had put together a Go Fund Me campaign to help me cover medical bills and lost work time.

As hard as it is for me to ask for or to accept help, I’m deeply grateful to Kaylea, Katie, and Toni and to all of my friends and readers who have contributed to the campaign. It’s hard enough to deal with a serious health issue. It’s another to face hardship as a result.

For more information about the campaign or to contribute, click here. 

My deepest and heartfelt thanks to everyone who has reached out with encouragement and donations to help me through this. You give me hope.

As for when Snow and Starlight will be released, I just can’t say. I have had a few good days over the past week, so that's encouraging. The specialist I'm seeing said I'd have more good days and fewer bad ones, and her words are what I'm holding onto tightly right now.

 

Dear readers,

It's been one heck of a month here at Casa Clare. Two weeks ago, I got up early in the morning and ... passed out, hitting my head on my nightstand as I fell to the floor.

I woke up with blood dripping from something—I didn't realize it was me—then struggled to my feet. I barely remember this. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on the bathroom floor. I tried again to stand, and again I hit the floor.

My sister heard a series of bumps. At first, she thought it was my very naughty but cute cats—Tazzy and Willy. The second time she realized something was wrong. She called out to me, but I didn't answer. Then she heard the third bump. She came to the door and asked if I was okay,

I said, "No." I was lucid enough to give her my cell phone number when she called 911. Firefighters came. Paramedics, too.

An ambulance trip to the ER, a hospital admission, and a 36-hour hospital stay later, and I have thousands in medical bills but zero answers. They scanned my brain, heart, and lungs, did an echocardiogram, x-rayed my injuries, and monitored my heart the entire time I was there.

Nada.

I was left with a concussion, a gash in my temple, a sprained finger, sore muscles and joints from landing strangely, and a dozen bruises and lacerations. My bedroom looked like a crime scene, with blood on the white carpet.

The experience is also quite unnerving. To pass out and not know why... That's scary.

I'm so grateful to my sister, Michelle, my younger son Benjamin and daughter-in-law Courtney, and my brother David who took care of my kitties and me in various ways and got me safely home from Denver again. My sister was my champion, staying overnight with me.

I'm recovered enough to start writing this week. Read on for more on the next book in the Wildest Alaska series!

My newsletter readers chose... Chase Santee

Coast Guard Investigative Services Special Agent Chase Santee won last month's poll. He will be the hero of Book 2 in my Wildest Alaska series, titled Snow and Starlight.

Chase was last seen getting a medal pinned to his chest for shooting a criminal while hanging out the door of a helo in rough weather. Yes, he's a total badass.

So, what can I tell you about the story? I haven't started writing yet for reasons made clear above, but I can tell you this.

Anya Alexyev, one of Eden's younger sisters, will be his love match, though neither of them believes that possible at first. She's 24. He's 33. She's a bit of a wild child, while he's into law and order. They find themselves on opposite sides of a criminal investigation. If you're picking up "sexy enemy to lovers" vibes, you're right on.

Next month, I'll have a cover reveal for you, as well as a description.

Stay tuned!

If you haven't yet read Fire and Rain, the first book in the series, it's available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books. You can also get it through Smashwords/D2D in all ebook formats or in paperback. Don't miss out on Sean and Eden's story.

 

Fire and Rain (Wildest Alaska, #1) is out in ebook and paperback. You can grab your copy for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, or paperback. It's also available on Smashwords in all ebook formats.

I hope you enjoy the first story in this new contemporary adventure series. It's not romantic suspense. It's contemporary romance with a dash of suspense and lots of adventure. 

I visited Alaska for 10 days when my older son got married on an Alaskan cruise through the Inside Passage. I could have stayed forever. The bigger-than-life scenery, the fresh air, the cold. I really like the cold. It was breathtaking. 

The Coast Guard elements of the story were fascinating for me and completely new. Obviously, Colorado isn't on the coast, so I've never had contact with the Coast Guard. I didn't know that rescue swimmers were considered special operators or that AST A-school (where rescue swimmers train) has a higher drop-on-request rate than the Navy SEALs. 

Fire and Rain is my 37th work, my 35th novel, and I'm thrilled that it's out in the world today.

To celebrate the book's release, here's a brief excerpt...

Even as his lips brushed hers, Sean told himself he wasn’t going to kiss her. He wasn’t going to kiss her. He was not…

Ah, hell.

He gave in to the thrumming in his chest, slid his fingers into her hair, and claimed her mouth, tasting rum and sugar. She whimpered then gasped when their bodies met, and some part of Sean remembered that he was soaking wet. He was probably getting her wet, too, and making her cold. And still, he didn’t stop.

She slipped her arms behind his neck, melted against him, her breasts pressing against his ribcage, her body warm. Hunger he’d tried so hard to ignore hit his bloodstream, his cock going hard, straining against his fly. He traced the curve of her lower lip with his tongue, nipped it, sucked it into his mouth, wanting to devour her.

She sucked in a breath, shivered. “Sean.”

But he wasn’t finished. 

He angled her head, and claimed her mouth again, teasing her tongue with his, blood racing hot through his veins. She drew him closer, answered his teasing with strokes of her own, her fingers curling in the hair at his nape.

From somewhere nearby, came the sound of a garage door opening.

Shit.

If they were seen kissing…

He released her, stepped back, trembling from head to toe, whether from the chill or from desire, he couldn’t say. “I should go.”

“Don’t be silly.” She took his hand, her fingers threading easily with his. “Come in and dry off before you get hypothermia. We can talk.”

Sean should have said goodnight. He should have walked to his vehicle and driven back to the barracks, but he didn’t. Instead, he followed her inside, his mind reeling. 

But she was right. They needed to talk.

“I’ll put water on to boil for tea.” She smiled. “You know where the towels are. Just toss your wet stuff in the dryer.”

While she busied herself in the kitchen, he removed his boots and damp socks, then walked to the bathroom and undressed, wet down to his skin. He took a bath towel from the cupboard near the door and dried off. As he rubbed the towel over his hair, he caught his reflection in the mirror.

Do you know what you just did, buddy?

Hell, no. He’d gone off the edge of the map tonight. 

But damn.  

In his twenties, he’d dated lots of women, wasting far too many hours on dating apps. He’d had more than a few first kisses in his life. But nothing could compare to what he’d just experienced with Eden. Their kiss had lasted only a few minutes, but it had rocked his world.

Available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and in paperback.
(c) Copyright Pamela Clare 2022

 

As many of you undoubtedly already know, I changed the release date for Fire and Rain to July 26. Summer is a busy time here, and sometimes a book takes longer than you think.

I am loving Sean and Eden and the slow way they transform from friends to lovers. I'm also in love with the setting—Kodiak, AK. Mountains. Ocean. Wildlife. Hot Coast Guardsmen. What's not to love?

The book is available for preorder now for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

Excerpt No. 2 from Fire and Rain

Sean looked up—and stared.

Damn.

Eden was walking straight toward him, looking good enough to eat.

She wore a short black dress that made the most of her curves. Oh, hell, yes, it did. The fabric clung to her body from her breasts to the flare of her hips. He it was wrong, but he couldn’t stop his gaze from raking over her from her bare shoulders to that hint of luscious cleavage to those long, smooth legs. 
Desire warmed his blood, scattered his thoughts, left his brain blank.

She’d reached the table before he got a hold of himself. “Hey.”

He swallowed, stood. “Hey.”

Trey stood, too, and pulled out a seat for her. “Good to see you, Eden.”

She sat, her hair sliding over one soft, round shoulder. She wore makeup on her face, her lips glossy and red. “It’s my sister Maria’s thirtieth birthday, so we’re here to celebrate. Maria loves clam chowder.”

Trey grinned. “Then this is the place to be.”

“You’re looking much better. I mean, you always look great. But you look better than you did. I… uh… you were really sick and…” Sean got a sharp kick to the shin from Trey under the table, and his brain started working again. “How do you feel?”

Her lush, red lips curved in a sweet smile. “I feel so much better. Thank you again for all you did to help us through that.”

“I hear you had scarlet fever.” Trey shook his head. “Nasty stuff.”

“Poor Maverick still has bright red cheeks. The pediatrician said that should go away within the week. He’s back to being his happy little self.”

“Good.” Sean did his best to act normal, the urge to touch her, kiss her, and carry her out of this place overwhelming. “Happy I could help.”

“How have you been?”

“Good. Fine. Okay. Yeah.”

Trey looked like he was trying not to laugh. “We’ve kept pretty busy. A surfer broke his leg and ended up on a tidal rockpile. We got him before he was washed out to sea. There was also a case where a fisherman caught himself in the eye with his hook.”

Eden winced. “Oh, God.”

This time it was Sean who kicked Trey under the table.

Trey’s grin vanished. “Sorry. That was probably TMI.”

On the stage, the Outriggers broke into their rendition of Footloose, quickly filling the dance floor. Then the server was there to take their orders, all of them half-shouting to be heard above the band.

Sean ordered a salmon burger and a beer, while Trey went for the steak. 
“Nothing for me. I’m actually sitting at the table with my sisters.”

“Oh, right.” The server smiled. “I recognize you now. Another glass of wine?” 
“No, thanks.”

While the band went from number to number, they talked about little stuff, the conversation moving to everyone’s favorite topic—the weather.

The Outriggers ended one song to applause and then launched into their rendition of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, which quite possibly was the very last song Sean needed to hear at the moment.

Trey was still talking about the weather. “They’re saying we’re in for a major storm system next—”

Eden stood, held out her hand to Sean, invitation in her eyes. “Dance with me.”

Sean had just taken a drink and almost choked. “I… uh…”

Trey kicked him again—hard this time.

Sean shot him a look then stood and took her hand, his skin seeming to ignite at the touch. He led her onto the dance floor, where only a handful of couples remained, slow dancing. “Everyone’s watching us. Your sisters are staring.”

Eden came easily into his arms, rested her palms on his shoulders. “Let them.”

Sean closed his eyes, drew a breath, and gave in to the moment, savoring the soft feel of her body against his, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin. “You smell so good.”

She rested her head against his chest in a way that was unmistakably intimate, unleashing an answering pull inside him.

God, he wanted her.

Worse, he was beginning to think she wanted him, too.

He rested one hand on the curve of her hip, splayed the other across the bare skin of her upper back, the contact setting him on fire. He nuzzled her ear, breathed her in, felt her shiver.

What the hell was he doing?

Eden was Justin’s wife. No, she was his widow. She was alone now.

Justin is gone.

And just like that, Sean found himself balanced on a razor’s edge, torn between past and present, right and wrong, duty and desire.

The book is available for preorder now for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

Copyright (c) Pamela Clare 2022

3 Books. 99 cents. Ends Saturday!

Thanks to those of you who put the Cobra Elite Box set in the No. 1 slot for both Military Romance and Romantic Suspense. The special $0.99 price ends on Saturday!

Available globally for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

If you don't have your copy, grab it while you can. Join the members of Cobra International Security as they find love and danger around the world. The Cobra Elite Box Set features three pulse-pounding military suspense novels by USA Today Bestselling Author Pamela Clare.

Hard Target — When a US senator asks Cobra to protect his daughter, a midwife volunteering in Afghanistan, Derek’s gut tells him to turn the senator down. The last thing he wants to do is babysit an aid worker. But Jenna isn’t just another assignment. She’s also the younger sister of his best friend, the man who died taking bullets meant for him. There’s no way Derek can refuse.

Hard Asset — On the run from a genocidal madman and his army, Connor will have to use all of the skills he learned in Delta Force to keep Shanti safe.

Hard Justice — When Quinn McManus’ best friend from his days in the British Special Air Service is found dead in an alley in Glasgow, he turns to Elizabeth Shields to help him find the man who did it. As they cross the line from friends to lovers, they find themselves in the sights of a stone-cold killer

Thanks for following my blog!

 

Spring is here! With its thirteen fruit trees, our garden is an explosion of blossom. It's such a beautiful time of year. Because we grow almost all of our own fruit and veg during the summer, it's a busy time, too. Those of you interested in urban farming can join in the fun in my Living Prepared group on Facebook. (Just tell me you read about it on my blog when you ask to join, and I'll add you.)

I’m hard at work on Fire and Rain, the first book of my new Wildest Alaska series, which tells Sean McKenna and Eden Koseki's story. They lose a man they both love—Eden's husband and Sean's best friend—and eventually fall in love. The book is available for preorder for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo. It will be available in paperback on release day.

I visited Alaska once, and I fell in love with it. I hope you're as excited for this series as I am. 

Without further ado, here's the entire prologue of Fire and Rain.

PROLOGUE

February 11

Air Station Kodiak

Kodiak Island, Alaska

Sean McKenna was jerked from a sound sleep by the SAR alarm. Instantly awake, he got to his feet and left his duty room, already wearing the black long underwear that would go beneath his survival suit.

The operations duty officer’s voice sounded over the loudspeaker. “Now put the ready helo online. Now put the ready helo online.”

Justin Koseki emerged from the duty room across the hall and walked with Sean together toward their lockers. “Get any sleep?”

“Some. You?”

Sean had met Justin a little more than eight years ago at boot camp, and they’d been friends ever since. Tonight, they were both on duty and needed to be ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

Justin shook his head, a smile on his face. “I was talking with Eden. She wants to try for another baby.”

Eden was Justin’s beautiful wife of three years and the mother of his eighteen-month-old son, Maverick.

Sean chuckled. “Weren’t you just complaining about the cost of diapers?”

Justin grinned. “She wants our kids to be born here in Kodiak so her parents can have time with them before we get transferred away. I’ll ask to stay here for as long as I can, but you know how that goes.”

Justin had already gotten a second tour of duty in Kodiak, but where he served after that was up to the Coast Guard. Most Coastie families lived far from loved ones, moving every two to four years. But Eden had deep roots on the island, with ancestry that included Alutiiq, Russian, Scottish, and French Canadian. She’d never lived in the Lower Forty-Eight, and Sean couldn’t blame her for wanting to raise her children here.

Justin glanced at him. “When are you going to meet someone?”

“Do the math. There are twenty-six percent fewer women than men on this island, and if you subtract married women, girls, and grandmas, the pickings are slim.”

“Oh, come on! You’re a flight mech. You’ve got shiny gold wings on your uniform. Women dig wings.”

“Too bad I can’t wear my uniform into the bars.”

Justin chuckled. “I didn’t meet Eden in a bar.”

“Not all of us get to show off the way you rescue swimmers do.”

Justin had jumped out of the helo at Kodiak’s Crab Fest as part of a demonstration to show the crowd what rescue swimmers did. But rather than hooking himself up so he could be hoisted back up to the helo like he was supposed to, he’d swum over to a pretty woman standing with her friends at the pier and asked for her name and number. He’d been reprimanded, but it had been worth it. Six months later, Sean had flown up from Air Station San Francisco to stand with Justin at his wedding to Eden. Sam had gotten one look at the landscape and had requested to be stationed in Kodiak for his next move.

Some Coasties hated Alaska, but Sean loved it. It was a land of extremes—extreme beauty, extreme weather, extreme risk. Living and working on Kodiak Island got Sean’s blood pumping in a way that no other assignment had. 

They reached their lockers and dropped the banter. Lt. James Spurrier and Lt. David Abbott, the helo pilot and co-pilot, were already halfway into their survival suits.

“What’ve we got?” Sean opened his locker, began to dress out. 

Spurrier yanked up the diagonal zipper of his survival suit. “The ODO got a call from a twenty-eight-foot fishing boat called the Marjorie T. A forty-six-year-old male collapsed suddenly, seized, and is having trouble breathing. The boat is about fifty miles offshore.”

“Do they have an AED onboard?” As the rescue swimmer, Justin was an EMT and would be in charge of medical care once they got the patient onboard the helo.

“They don’t.” Spurrier grabbed his flight bag. “The woman who made the call sounded extremely upset and said she didn’t have first aid training. The ODO told her how to put him in a recovery position and asked her to check for a pulse. She couldn’t tell his pulse from her own.”

“Adrenaline will do that.” Sean zipped his suit, grabbed the rest of his gear, and walked with James and Justin toward the operations center. “What’s the weather doing?”

Here in Alaska, the weather could change in a heartbeat and varied drastically from one area to another. It might be a calm night over Air Station Kodiak but gusting forty knots with zero visibility a ten-minute flight up the coast.

“Clear skies with gusts up to fifteen knots. Water temp is forty degrees.”

“Nice.” Sean’s primary job was to conn the pilot into position and manage the hoist, lowering the rescue swimmer to the water or the deck of the boat and then lifting him and any patients or survivors to safety. High winds made that job a lot more challenging.

They found Lt. Michelle Yamada, a fixed-wing pilot, staffing the operations duty officer post for the night. She’d already calculated their flight path. “It should be a straightforward evolution.”

Spurrier’s gaze was on the map, where the ship’s position was clearly marked. “Any amplifying information?”

Lt. Yamada nodded. “The boat isn’t moving, so they’re getting tossed around by the swells. Apparently, the patient is the only one who feels safe piloting the craft. The woman who called in is the patient’s wife. The patient is unconscious and unresponsive. She thinks he has a pulse, but she’s pretty upset and seems confused. I asked a corpsman to join you just in case you need extra medical help. Ahlgren is already waiting near the helo.”

“Good idea.” Spurrier pulled on his helmet. “Let’s go.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

It was a short flight to the position of the Marjorie T, so Sean helped Justin and Will get the cabin ready for the patient, the three of them preparing for the worst. Sean and Justin had worked dozens of SAR cases together and operated quickly and efficiently. Will rarely flew, but as a corpsman, he had a higher level of medical training and was allowed to administer medications that Justin could not.

“Once we get the patient into the cabin, I’ll defer to you,” Justin told Will.

“Copy that.” Will hung a bag of IV fluids and retrieved an AMBU bag, while Justin got the AED ready. IV tubing. O2. Medications. Pulse Oximeter. Blankets. 

An unconscious patient meant a litter rescue, but Sean would wait until Justin had left the cabin to put the litter together. He turned to the window, flipped down his night-vision goggles, and searched for the Marjorie T.

Abbott’s voice came through the headphones. “I wonder what a small craft like that is doing out here in the middle of the night.”

“Good question,” Spurrier replied.

There was no fog, but there wasn’t any moonlight either, the darkness broken only by the MH-60 Jayhawk’s lights. They had no photos of the Marjorie T, and Sean wasn’t sure the boat had power or functioning lights.

Spurrier’s voice sounded in Sean’s ear. “You’ve got door speed.”

“Roger that. Opening cabin door.” Sean leaned out as cold air rushed in, his gaze on the inky black surface of the swells below.

Spurrier tried to pick the boat up on the radio. “Marjorie T, this is Coast Guard Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Eight, do you copy?”

A moment of silence was followed by a burst of static. “Coast Guard, it’s the Marjorie T. I can hear you, but I can’t see you. Help us!”

Sean spotted the vessel bobbing in the water. “They’re at our two o’clock.”

“I see them.” David turned on the helo’s TrakkaBeam, the powerful spotlight illuminating the boat below. “Let there be light.”

“Is the big flashlight giving you a god complex, Abbot?” Spurrier joked.

“Marjorie T, Rescue Three-Eight, we’re nearing your position. Can you give us an update on the patient, over?

“He still isn’t moving. I think I felt his heart beating.”

“Good copy, Marjorie T. We’ll circle your position and figure out the best way to reach the patient, over.”

Sean made a quick study of the boat and any hazards it might present to a hovering helo. “The boat’s really small, and there are a couple of antennas coming off the cabin.”

“Looks like our patient is in the stern,” David said.

“I see him.” Sean had already made up his mind. “We’re going to have to put the swimmer in the water. You good with that, man?”

Justin nodded, his gaze on the boat. “I’ll climb on board and assess the patient. Then you can send down the litter.”

“Roger that.” Spurrier circled the boat once more.

Sean conned Spurrier into position as he brought the helo to a hover about fifteen feet above the water’s surface just off the boat’s starboard side. “The tail rotor is clear. Hold.”

Justin was already wearing his harness and fins, so Sean started his safety check. “You ready?”

“Yeah, man. Let’s get this guy.” Justin sat with his legs dangling over the water. 

“Safety check complete.” Sean gave Justin a little push. “Swimmer is leaving the cabin.”

“Roger.”

Justin took the plunge, disappearing beneath the water. 

“Swimmer is in the water.”

Justin surfaced, gave Sean a thumb’s up, then swam with strong strokes toward the boat.

“Swimmer is fine. He’s heading toward the Marjorie T.” Sean watched as Justin reached the boat’s starboard railing and pulled himself onto the craft. “The swimmer is on deck.”

With Will’s assistance, Sean got the litter ready and attached it to the hook and hoist line.

Below, Justin knelt beside the patient, checked for a pulse, then turned to speak to the woman, his words drowned out by the helo’s rotors. He looked up, motioned for Sean to send down the litter. 

“Swimmer has asked for the litter.”

“Begin the hoist,” Spurrier said.

Sean held onto the line so the litter wouldn’t spin in the helo’s rotor wash. The litter had almost reached Justin when the cabin door opened and another adult male staggered out, hand held over his mouth as if he were coughing.

Justin’s voice came over the radio. “Abort! Abort! We need to get everyone off the boat and pick them up in the water. They’re cooking meth, and the patient was exposed.”

Fuck.

“Abort the hoist. I’m putting some distance between us,” Spurrier said as the helo moved upward and back. “Prepare to recover our swimmer and survivors from the water.”

“Aborting the hoist. Get out of there, Koseki.” Sean raised the litter, holding tight to the line as it moved slowly upward. 

Below, Justin caught the unconscious man beneath the arms and dragged him toward the railing, shouting to the other two passengers to abandon ship. 

Were they arguing with him?

Come on!

Spurrier spoke into the radio, updating Sector. “The swimmer says they’re cooking meth onboard. We’ve aborted the hoist and put some distance between us and—”

A deafening blast. Searing heat. Flames.

Almost at once, the shockwave hit the helo, ripping the line from Sean’s hand, and hurling him backward. The litter and hook were blown back into the tail rotor. The aircraft pitched, spinning, alarms on the aircraft screaming.

“Mayday! Mayday!” Spurrier’s voice sounded in Sean’s headphones as the helo spun out of control, heading for the water. “This is Coast Guard Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Eight! The Marjorie T just exploded. We’re going down!”

“Justin!” Sean shouted into the chaos.

Then they hit the water with a bone-jarring crunch.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Eden Koseki slipped quietly into Maverick’s room to check on him, her heart swelling as she gazed at him. He lay sound asleep in his crib, completely relaxed the way only a baby could be, pacifier still in his little mouth, his downy hair dark against his pillow. It was hard to believe that this sleeping angel was the same little rascal who’d dumped all the cat food onto the floor this afternoon—and then cried in protest when she’d cleaned it up.

She drew up the quilt her mother had made for him and then walked out of the room, leaving the door cracked behind her. Se needed a hot soak and a good night’s sleep.

She walked to the tub and turned on the tap, undressing and tossing her clothes into their bedroom. Then she hung a clean towel on the rack, put her phone where she could reach it, and stepped into the tub, sinking into the hot water with a sigh.

She closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift, savoring the heat and the quiet.

She’d heard the helo lift off about thirty minutes ago and knew that Justin was out there somewhere, trying to save lives. When they’d first met, she’d sat by her VHF radio any time he went out on a case, listening, needing to know he was safe. But they’d been married for almost four years now, and she’d adjusted to the risks of his job—mostly. 

She’d fallen in love with that brave man who’d jumped out of a hovering helicopter and swum through icy water just to ask for her name and number. Danger was part of the package that was Justin. If he could cope with it, so could she.

When she’d met Justin, she’d been working full-time as a pharmacy tech at Safeway. She’d enjoyed that job more than the jobs she’d had as a teen—acting as a tour guide, waiting tables, working at the fish processing plant. When she’d found out she was pregnant, she and Justin had talked about it and decided they had enough money saved up for her to leave work until their kids were in school. Given his long hours and unpredictable schedule, it had seemed the best thing for them as a family. It wasn’t as if Eden had any great career ambitions. 

She was an Alaskan through and through. What mattered to her was family and spending as much time as she could in nature, boating, fishing, hiking, watching wildlife. For her, a job was just a way to pay the bills, nothing more.

But Justin had always wanted to be in the military. He’d chosen the Coast Guard because he loved the water. Then he’d learned about Avionics Survival Technicians—rescue swimmers—and he’d known exactly what he’d wanted to do.

Her brave, crazy husband.

She found herself smiling as she remembered their conversation tonight and the sexy purr in his voice when she’d told him she wanted to try for another baby.

“Are you saying no more condoms?”

“No more condoms.”

“Man, I wish I weren’t on duty tonight.”

Oh, so did she. 

She wanted Maverick to have a sister or a brother, and she wanted her parents to meet their grandchildren before they passed. They were in their sixties, and neither of them were in very good health. Though Justin had promised he would do all he could to stay here on Kodiak Island, she knew that was beyond his control. 

Eden brought her hands to rest on her belly, the tiny silver stretch marks from her pregnancy with Maverick barely visible. Would their next baby be a girl or a boy? A part of her hoped it would be a girl so they would have one of each. She would love to watch her newborn daughter wrap Justin around her tiny finger. But boy or girl, it didn’t really matter to Eden.

In the distance, she heard the rotors of another helicopter leaving the station. Was it for the same case, or had they gotten another call?

Justin would tell her all about it when he came home in the morning.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Wrapped in a blanket, Sean sat in the troop seat of another MH-60, Spurrier strapped in beside him as the helo that had rescued them made its way back to home plate. He was oblivious to the searing pain from his burns and the ache of his broken arm, his mind fixed on those few seconds just before the explosion.

Abort the hoist! Abort! We need to get everyone off the boat and pick them up in the water. They’re cooking meth, and this man was exposed.

Abort the hoist. I’m putting some distance between us. Prepare to recover our swimmer and survivors from the water. 

Aborting the hoist. Get out of there, Koseki!

BOOM!

Mayday! Mayday! This is Coast Guard Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Eight! The Marjorie T exploded. We’re going down!

If only Sean had shouted to Justin to jump now… 

If only he’d held onto that hoist line…

After the helo had hit the water, Sean had unhooked himself and tried to help Will escape the sinking aircraft. That’s how he’d discovered that his right arm was broken and useless. The pain had been excruciating. Fortunately, Will had been uninjured and had followed Sean through the dark water to the surface. 

Sean had glanced around, his right arm limp. “Where are Spurrier and Abbott? Do you see Justin?”

Will turned in the water. “No, I… There!”

Spurrier had surfaced fifteen feet to Sean’s left.

“Abbott?” Sean had shouted.

Flames had reflected off Spurrier’s flight helmet. “Gone.” 

Jesus.

Abbott was dead, and Justin… 

Driven by desperation, Sean had fought to swim through swells and flaming wreckage, searching the surface for any sign of Justin—a flash of orange, his helmet, anything. 

But Spurrier had caught him in a rescue hold and dragged him away from the flames. “Don’t fight me, man. It’s too late! It’s not safe.”

Sean had never felt so helpless.

Now, a boat crew and a third helo were searching the water for remains. The Coast Guard would do an investigation and come up with procedures to avoid this in the future. But nothing would bring back Justin or David or the people whose lives they’d died trying to save—to say nothing of the multi-million-dollar aircraft that now lay at the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska.

“Petty Officer McKenna!” 

Sean’s head jerked up. Had he blacked out? “Sir?”

“I think he’s in shock.” But Will wasn’t speaking to Sean.

Liam Casey, the rescue swimmer on this flight, turned to Will and Spurrier. “Apart from the blanket, he says he’s fine and has refused treatment.”

Sean wanted to insist that he was okay, but he couldn’t keep his teeth from chattering.

Spurrier spoke clearly. “McKenna, you are to do whatever Liam and Will tell you to do. That’s an order. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Will moved closer. “I’m going to give you some morphine, and we’ll settle you in the litter so we can transfer you as soon as we land.”

The jab of a needle.

After that, it was a blur of shivering, pain, and voices.

“… second-degree burns on the exposed part of his face …”

“He’s got a right humeral shaft fracture. I splinted it when he was unconscious.”

“Between the meth and the burning ship, we can’t rule out chemical exposure.”

“We should be on deck in zero-five mikes.”

Then he was on a gurney, rolling toward a waiting ambulance, the dark sky above him. Before he drifted into unconsciousness, one thought crystallized in his mind, the pain it caused worse than any injury.

How in God’s name was he going to tell Eden that the man she loved was dead?

Tropes: Friends to lovers, best friend's widow, military romance...

Available for preorder for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

Copyright (C) by Pamela Clare 2022

I hope you enjoyed that little glimpse. So far, I haven't written a chapter that didn't make me cry. And now off to the vet with a cat emergency... 

 

I am so in love with this cover! 

Fire and Rain, the first book in my new Wildest Alaska series, featuring Coast Guard heroes, will be out on June 28. Here’s your first glimpse of the cover. Read on for a description of the story.

You can now preorder your copy for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

Note: This series is contemporary action and adventure romance, not romantic suspense. I realize the line can be thin at times, but it's there.

I have always been drawn to Alaska. When I was little, I used to look at an old painting of mountains on the wall, imagine it was Alaska, and then daydream about homesteading there with my sister. For some reason, I envisioned us building a sod hut and making our way as children on our own. 

Hey, dream big, right? Or maybe that was my writer's imagination already at work.

Fast forward a few decades, and I fell in love with Alaska itself on my older son's honeymoon cruise. I saw vast expanses of water with more whales than I could count. I also went on a float plane for a bear excursion and watched black bears munch salmon and fight one another for the best fishing spots. (I had a crazy craving for sushi after that.) I also visited a glacier, hiked through a national park, and sat on the balcony of my stateroom watching some of the earth's most beautiful scenery drift by. 

It’s only natural for me to set a series there. 

What can you expect from the Wildest Alaska series? Brave men and women unafraid to live in and near the wilderness. Coast Guardsmen willing to risk their lives to save others. Sexy love stories as big as the landscape where they're set. And lots of search-and-rescue action.

I love the natural world, and some of my best writing involves the landscape as its own character.

Here's the description I promised you. Watch for an excerpt here soon!

Lives shattered…

 

Sean McKenna joined the Coast Guard to save lives. Now a flight mech, he loves living and operating in the wilds of Alaska. When a mission goes terribly wrong, Sean is badly injured. But no pain can compare to the guilt he feels over the loss of his best friend. It was Sean’s job to keep Justin, the rescue swimmer, safe. Now Justin is dead, leaving his wife, Eden, without a husband and their toddler son, Maverick, without a father. The best Sean can do is step up and help Eden in any way he can. As the months go by, he finds himself fighting a growing attraction to her. He knows people on base are talking. What kind of man hooks up with his best friend’s widow? But the heart wants what it wants, and this desire can’t be denied—because it’s mutual.


A heart torn…

 

Eden Koseki loved Justin from the moment he jumped out of a hovering helicopter, swam to shore, and asked her for her name and number. She thought they had all the time in the world. Losing him and the future they’d planned together is more devastating than she could have imagined. It’s only the support of her family—and Sean’s steadfast presence—that get her through those first months of overpowering grief. But as the weeks pass, she feels unexpectedly drawn to him. When she’s with him, she’s able to smile and laugh again—especially while watching him play with little Maverick. Still, her emotions leave her torn between loyalty to Justin’s memory and the living, breathing man who makes her feel alive again.

 

A second chance… if they’re both brave enough to take it

 

As winter turns to summer and snow turns to rain, the heat between Sean and Eden intensifies. So does the gossip in town. Still, Eden isn’t about to let anyone interfere in her business. She knows now just how fragile life can be. When Sean’s sense of duty threatens to keep them apart, Eden knows she must help him move past his survivor’s guilt—or risk losing this second chance at deep love and lasting happiness.

Tropes: Military romance, contemporary romance, best friend's widow, action and adventure, search and rescue

Preorder your copy today! Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

 I am delighted to let you know that Sasha’s story, Bound to Fall (Colorado High Country #10), will be out on 2/22/22.

Sasha has always been a reader favorite, and I've saved her story for last. I won’t say that I’ll never come back to Scarlet Springs again, but I do intend to move on. There are still so many characters worthy of an HEA in this series. But back to Sasha's story... 

It was a fun story to write, especially because I got to bring Marcangelo (Julian and Marc of I-Team fame) into the story. Here’s a description of the book:

Featuring characters from Pamela Clare’s acclaimed I-Team series.

 

She barely survived.

Sasha Dillon, a five-time world champion climber, moved to Scarlet Springs to join the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. She loves the tiny mountain town and its quirky residents and finds happiness using her climbing skills to save lives. But her sense of safety is shattered when two unknown attackers in an SUV run her down, destroying her shot at her sixth world championship title. As the town rallies around her and she begins to heal, the sheriff brings in a big-city detective with experience handling celebrity stalkers. As unemotional and cold as he is good-looking, Darius Silva both irritates her and tempts her, tying her in knots. She doesn’t know whether to tell him off—or kiss him. 

 

He’s done with celebrities.

Darius knows firsthand what happens when cops arrest the wrong person. He’ll carry those scars forever. That’s why he’s always careful to remain detached on the job and why he never, ever bends the rules. The last thing he wants is another case involving a demanding, self-centered celebrity. But Sasha makes her mark on him the first time he looks into her beautiful blue eyes. Down-to-earth, genuine, and full of life, she’s nothing like the shallow stars he’s known. Something about her gets under his skin, threatening to unravel his self-control and undermine his focus. And the only way to catch the men who hurt her and get back to his life in the city is to keep his mind—and his hands—off her and on the job. 

 

To claim their future, they must face his past.

As they come closer to exposing her hidden foe, their desire for one another explodes, and Sasha learns that his cold exterior masks deep passion—and terrible pain. Now she will do all she can to heal his jaded heart and show him that the life—and love—he’s secretly longing for is here with her in Scarlet Springs. 

Tropes: Law enforcement hero, opposites attract, small town romance

Bound to Fall will be out in ebook and paperback on Feb. 22. You can preorder your ebook copy here: 

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

Apple Books

Smashwords (all ebook formats)

 It’s been a jam-packed summer at Casa Clare. With the first snowflakes falling this morning, I thought I'd share some of the highlights with you.

As some of you know, I got rid of my lawn many years ago and have a huge flower garden and a productive urban farm. Our flower beds bloomed beautifully all summer. Several times, people stopped to tell us how beautiful it was. We love sharing that beauty with others.

We had record cherry, apple, plum, peach, and pear harvests out of our own garden this year. I have never pitted so many cherries in my life. We ate the peaches and pears fresh. We ate many apples, turned some into cinnamon apple sauce, and used some in pies. We still have plenty left.

Our tomato harvest was off the charts, as well. We had so many one-pound+ tomatoes that they were no longer exciting. Yes, another huge tomato. We've made so much sauce. We ate some fresh and froze the rest.

Cucumbers and shishito peppers. Herbs. Potatoes. Everything gave us a record harvest, come to think of it—everything except garlic. Something went wrong there, and I have no idea what.

Of course, having a large garden is a lot of work. When you grow that much fruit and veg, you need to preserve that bounty. In addition to applesauce and plum jam, I dehydrated cherry tomatoes and made pickles and dill pickle relish with our peppers and cucumbers. It took me three hours to chop the veg for the relish. I won't do that again! I now have a device to do it for me. I also got an electric water bath canner, which was a huge help.

I made things worse by having foot surgery in July. I had to get help with the garden while I healed. Still, I finished and released my 36th novel, Take Me Higher, featuring fan favorites Megs Hill and Mitch Ahearn. I had more fun writing their story than I've had in a while. 

In the meantime, we had some real romance in our lives when my younger son married the love of his life. The ceremony was held in the mountains close to sunset. A close friend of mine officiated.  It was one of the loveliest weddings I've seen. Sure, I'm biased, but it truly was. Their vows to each other, written privately, were so heartfelt that there wasn't a dry eye anywhere. 

My son wore medals representing the four divisions of competition target shooting in which he has won the gold. (He was our state gold-medalist for two years running.) He looked like a prince, and she looked like a fairytale princess. They danced a waltz for their first dance, drawing lots of applause because they know how to dance. My littlest grandchild, Oliver, was the ring bearer, and he took his job quite seriously.

My sister came back from Sweden for his wedding—and for our niece's wedding, which took place in the mountains three weeks later. 

Didn't I say it was a busy summer? 

Now, flakes are falling, and I'm gearing up for my next two books—Bound to Fall, Sasha Dillon's story (Colorado High Country #10), and Reckless, Captain Joseph's story from my long-dormant MacKinnon's Rangers series. I hope to have Bound to Fall out in January, while Reckless will be out in about a year.

In the meantime, Thanksgiving is only 25 days away, and I still need to embroider the Thanksgiving tablecloth I started making for my family in 2019. 
I hope you all had a wonderful summer and have lots to look forward to during the upcoming holiday season. Come the New Year, I’ll have new books for you to read.

 

Kindle — Nook — Apple Books — Kobo

I’m down to the wire on Megs and Ahearn's book—Take Me Higher. I’ve had so much fun with them as characters, especially the 1970s versions of them. The Seventies flashbacks have had me laughing out loud while I’m writing. I’ve also enjoyed giving myself a deep dive into the ”free-climbing revolution” that happened at that time.

Those of you who dived into the series with my sale on the 4-book box set are just getting to know them, but Megs Hill and Mitch Ahearn are fan favorites. It’s been a fantastic experience to give them their own story. 

For readers who enjoy older couples, this book is for you. For people who don't like older couples, well, they’re young in the flashbacks. What’s so emotional about this story is showing an entire relationship over the span of a lifetime. It’s had my sister, who reads while I write, choking up more than any other book in the series. We just talked about the ending today, and we were both in tears.

(No worries! I’m an absolute believer in happy endings in romance.)

Those of you who haven’t read this series... It’s contemporary romantic adventure. It follows the members of the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team as they save lives and fall in love. It’s focused heavily on the climbing scene here in Colorado—rock climbing, alpine (mountain) climbing, ice climbing. 

I come from a climbing family. My father and brother were semi-pro climbers, and my father put up some first ascents in Colorado. I literally grew up watching people climb. When I got older, I got into it, too. Sadly, I had to be rescued after a calamitous 40-foot fall that almost killed me. So I know what I'm writing about in ways I'd really rather not.

But now it’s time for an excerpt—two excerpts actually. I haven’t done one of these for a long time. I hope you enjoy it. Turn back your clocks for 1973, folks. Here we go.

EXCERPT! EXCERPT! EXCERPT! x 2

From Take Me Higher...

Yosemite Valley, summer of 1973

Mitch Ahearn sat in his battered lawn chair in the shade of a ponderosa pine, reading Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his shirt off to enjoy the warm spring breeze. The other guys sat shirtless around the picnic table smoking grass and shooting the shit, the Beatles’ Let it Be playing on Jim Gridwell’s cassette recorder.

“Too bad this was their last album, man.”

“They might get back together. You never know.”

“No way. It’s over, man. Yoko messed with John’s head.”

“What do you know about it, Yoder? Were you there?”

Their conversation and the music drifted around him, Mitch’s attention riveted to the page by Raoul’s brilliant insanity. Had Hunter actually done all of this shit?

He glanced up as a rusty red VW Beetle pulled up to the campground, music coming through its rolled-down windows. His gaze remained as a young blonde climbed out. She was small, not much taller than the vehicle. She stood there, looking into the distance at El Capitan, a smile on her face.

Rick Accardo looked over his shoulder. “Who’s that?”

“Fresh fish.” Gridwall whistled.

Mitch couldn’t understand why some of the guys treated women like this. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you have a sister, man?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to screw my sister.”

The others laughed, stoned off their asses.

Mitched glanced down at the page—or tried to. The woman shut her car door, walked around to the passenger side, and reached into her glove box to pop the trunk. She wore denim shorts and a yellow halter top, her long blond hair streaked by the sun, her body slender, her skin tanned, her legs strong.

“Check out that foxy mama.”

“Hey, need some help?” Gridwall called out, the greasy tone in his voice showing exactly the kind of help he was imagining.

“Hot chick, man.”

She ignored them all, walked to the front of her car, and lifted the trunk lid, disappearing from view. When she closed the trunk, she had a large frame pack on her shoulders, climbing ropes hanging from one arm, a bag of climbing gear from the other.

“She’s a climber?” Accardo sounded surprised.

“She’s not a climber.” Gridwall laughed. “Women can’t be serious climbers.”

“Why not?” Mitch truly wanted an answer.

But Gridwall ignored him, instead getting to his feet and heading toward the woman, who was now searching for a campsite on the other side of the campground, probably trying to get as far away from them as possible.

He couldn’t blame her.

She found a site she liked and started putting up her tent—one of those new Nylon all-weather tents with a rainfly—just as Gridwall walked up to her.

“That’s a slammin’ tent, sugar. Let me help.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got it. My name is Megs, not ‘sugar.’”

That was an unusual name. Mitch bet it was short for Maggie or Margaret.

She worked quickly and confidently, clearly knowing what she was doing.

But Gridwall didn’t get the message. “Lighten up, babe. I’m just being friendly.”

“Your friendliness is noted. As I said, I don’t need help.”

Mitch couldn’t help but grin.

“Fine.” Gridwall raised his hands in mock surrender, a smirk on his face. “Are you some kind of women’s libber?”

“I’m here to climb, just like you.”

The woman—Megs—was a spitfire. Mitch liked her already.

“Is that right?” Gridwall was turned so Mitch couldn’t see his face, but Mitch could hear the condescension in his voice. “Have you climbed before? Any first ascents?”

She almost had the tent up now. “What’s your name?”

“Jim Gridwall.”

“Dean Calder mentioned you.”

She knew Dean? That was news.

Gridwall sounded confused by this. “How did you meet Calder?”

“I bouldered with him in Joshua Tree last fall.”

So, she had climbed with Dean.

“You went bouldering with Dean?” But the surprise in Gridwall’s voice quickly became amusement. “I get it. You’re one of those chicks who digs climbers.”

“No, I dig climbing.” She reached for a guy line.

Gridwall grabbed her wrist. “Hey, don’t be so uptight. Come sit with us, smoke a joint, listen to some music, relax.”

She jerked her hand away. “Not interested.”

Mitch found himself on his feet. “Gridwall, leave her alone!”

“Mellow out, Doc.” Gridwall glared at him. “I’m just making conversation.”

But Megs could clearly stand up for herself. “It’s been great chatting, but this conversation is over.”

Then she stepped into her tent and zipped it behind her, leaving Gridwall to stand there, looking stupid.

Roughly one month later...

Mitch hiked alongside Megs, leading her through the forest to one of the high mountain tarns he’d stumbled on last summer. Surrounded by glades of aspen and open meadow, it was the place he liked to come when he needed to be alone. He’d suggested the two of them hike up to the lake to ditch the reporters who’d been hanging around Camp 4 all week. In truth, he just wanted to be alone with her.

Lately, he’d been getting signals from her that she liked him the same way he liked her. There was something in the way she looked at him, a softness she didn’t show the other guys. She sat by him in camp, shared food with him, and asked him to climb with her. But her attempts to flirt with him—if that’s what she’d been doing—were shy and uncertain, lacking her usual confidence. Then again, she couldn’t be much older than eighteen. Maybe she didn’t have much experience with men.

She stepped over a tree root, her legs mostly bare, her denim cutoffs dangerously short, her shoulders and back bare apart from the ties of her halter top. She wasn’t wearing a bra, either, though he supposed she was small enough that she didn’t need one.

Stop thinking about her breasts.

“Those reporters act like seeing a woman rock climbing is like finding a giraffe on the moon.”

Mitch chuckled, but he understood her frustration. “They think we’re all crazy, but they sit at desks all day. Not a single one of them took us up on our offer to try climbing. They don’t know a damned thing about it.”

“Good point.”

“Watch your step.” He took her hand, drew her to the side to avoid a hornet nest in an old ground squirrel burrow.

“Little devils.” She held on a little longer than was necessary. “Thanks.”

It took them almost two hours of hiking off-trail to reach the tarn. Just as he hoped, there was no one else there. The lake sat in the middle of a wildflower meadow, its waters almost turquoise, pine, and hemlock forest surrounding it, no sound but birds in the trees and the buzzing of insects. It was his special place.

“It’s beautiful!” A look of wonder on her face, she walked slowly to the lake’s edge, almost as if she were entering a church. “Look at all the flowers!”

Warmth blossomed in his chest at her reaction. By bringing her here, he was sharing a secret part of himself, offering her something that he loved. “This is where I come to read and be alone.”

Megs sat on a nearby boulder and took off her hiking boots and socks and set them aside. “You like to read?”

Was that so strange?

“I do. I try to keep a book in my backpack.” Mitch removed his boots and socks, too. “I get to travel the world and experience all sorts of things I wouldn’t otherwise. How about you? Do you read?”

“I read when I had to in school.” She walked into the water up to her ankles, moaned, the sound sending a jolt of lust through him. “Oh, that feels good.”

Mitch rolled up his bellbottoms and followed her in, the cold water soothing to his feet, mud squishing between his toes. “Do you have any favorite authors?”

She shook her head. “I just have a GED.”

Mitch bit back a smile at her assumption that being well-read meant having a college degree. “Hey, a GED is cool.”

But he hadn’t brought her here to talk about books. 

She kept walking until the water reached her knees. “How deep is the lake?”

“I’ve gone in up to my chest before.”

Her next question made his mind go blank.

“Have you ever gone skinny-dipping here?”

“Um…” It took him a moment. “Yes, but I was alone.”

“Are you sure there are no leeches?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Then turn around.”

His heart gave a hard knock. “Megs, I…”

She made a turning motion with her finger. “Turn around.”

He did as she asked, heard her stepping through the water, blood rushing to his groin when he saw her halter top, shorts, and panties land on the rock beside her boots.

Splashing. A gasp. “This is cold!”

Thank God for that.

“Okay, now I’ll turn around, and you can come in.” 

Mitch glanced over his shoulder, saw that she was in the water up to her breasts, her back turned toward him, her hair floating behind her. He walked to the boulder, stripped out of his jeans and underwear, his dick still half hard. 

Naked now, he turned to walk into the water—only to find her gaze raking over him. He couldn’t help but grin. “That’s cheating.”

She stared at his cock for a moment, her cheeks flushed pink. Then she turned away. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

Mitch wasn’t ashamed of his body, and, judging from her reaction, she hadn’t seen many naked men. He waded in and made his way over to her, sucking in a breath when the cold water reached his nuts, the shock of it stealing his wood. Well, that was probably a good thing. “I’m in now.”

The words were out before he realized their double meaning.

He coughed.

But she hadn’t picked up the double entendre, her gaze fixed on the scenery. “The view is incredible. That’s the back of El Cap, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” 

He was a foot taller than she was, and the water was almost crystal clear. He could see her breasts with their puckered, rosy tips. He ached to touch her, to run his hands all over her, to kiss her.

Damn.

She turned toward him, took a step in his direction, rested a wet palm on his chest. “What would you do if I told you to kiss me?”

~ ~ ~

Take Me Higher will be out in September. I had planned for an August 31 release, but then I had foot surgery and fell behind. You can preorder your copy from these e-tailers. The book will be available in paperback as well on its release date.

Kindle — Nook — Apple Books — Kobo