Publication date: July 1st 2013
Genres: Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
Lane Bennett’s life as a small town cop is pretty close to perfect. He’s got his dog, a pretty date when he needs one, and plenty of time to fish on the weekends. No other place can compare to his hometown and he’s happy to devote his life to keeping the folks of Liberty safe. When Marie passes away, Lane knows one of the best parts about living in Liberty is gone, along with the old Carnegie library. It needs repairs the city can’t afford and the city managers won’t pay the new flood insurance. It’s too bad, but safety comes first.
When Daisy comes home for Marie’s funeral and hears the only safe place she knew as a child is going to close, she refuses to let it happen. She hatches a plan to save the old library, run the summer reading program, and keep Marie’s legacy alive.
She once vowed never to come home and he’s vowed never to leave. Daisy and Lane discover together that true love happens when you least expect it and you should never say never in Liberty.
“Anytime.” His blue eyes darkened as he spoke. It was just a word, but in it was a volume of meaning. Something about the set of his mouth, the angle of his body, it all told her what he was thinking. And those thoughts weren’t confined to friendly assistance.
Her heart was pounding, her breath came shallowly. Fight or flight, her brain supplied the term but she didn’t want to do either. She wanted to lean forward, just a few inches. That’s all it would take. As he raised a hand to brush her hair back from her face, all the reasons she hated this place seemed to melt away. Her eyes went half-closed as his fingers touched her skin.
“Daisy.” His voice was soft, like a warning. For her? For himself? “We shouldn’t -”
The next moment he disregarded his own advice and slipped his hand behind her head, pulling her forward. She didn’t need any direction, already meeting him half-way, eyes falling closed. She had wanted this for days, weeks. From the moment they’d met, she’d wondered about how his lips would feel against hers.
His mouth slanted over hers, soft, gentle. It felt like being given back a piece of herself she didn’t know was missing.
He hesitated, as if waiting to see whether she’d pull away and she murmured against his mouth. She didn’t want the moment to end, not yet, after she’d waited so long. He sucked in a breath and wrapped an arm around her, dragging her closer. As the kiss changed, the world contracted to the space between them, the feel of his hand splayed against her back, the warmth of his lips. She could feel every touch, every brush of his lips against her skin. It could have been seconds or minutes, she had no way of telling. The kiss was like breathing the purest air after being shut inside for too long.
He pulled back, his eyes bright with surprise.
“Oh, boy.” His voice was rough and he swept a thumb over her cheekbone, expression a mix of wonder and surprise. In the next moment, he let his hand slip from the back of her neck, reluctance in every line of his face.
His gaze dropped to where her hands had fisted into the front of his flannel shirt. She quickly uncurled her fingers and stepped back.
Daisy cleared her throat, blinking away the confusion. What had they been talking about when kissing in the middle of the driveway had seemed such a better idea? Hadn’t she just been telling herself he was a crush, nothing she couldn’t handle? She put a hand to her mouth, still feeling the pressure of his lips. Obviously, she’d been wrong.
Virginia was born near the Rocky Mountains and although she has traveled around the world, the wilds of Colorado run in her veins. A big fan of the wide open sky and all four seasons, she believes in embracing the small moments of everyday life. A home schooling mom of six young children who rarely wear shoes, those moments usually involve a lot of noise, a lot of mess, or a whole bunch of warm cookies. Virginia holds degrees in Linguistics and Religious Studies from the University of Oregon. She lives with her habanero-eating husband, Crusberto, who is her polar opposite in all things except faith. They’ve learned to speak in short-hand code and look forward to the day they can actually finish a sentence. In the meantime, Virginia thanks God for the laughter and abundance of hugs that fill her day as she plots her next book.
Authors You Want to Read 
Thanks for being on the tour! 🙂
LikeLike