Maverick: A Small Town Romance (North Ridge Book 2)

by Karina Halle

One thing I know about avalanches, is that you never have time.

There are about ten thousand full-time residents in North Ridge, and I know I’ve dated pretty much every attractive female within a fifty-kilometre radius.

Shane’s always had a good head on his shoulders, barely anything rattles him. By contrast, Fox is short-tempered and impulsive. Me, I’m somewhere in between.

You should get laid because you’re aching for dick and not because you feel you’ve lost your place in the world.

I’m not usually intimidated, but this guy has my panties all twisted and being close to the door seems like a good strategy.

This man—Maverick—is built like a fucking bear. No, he’s more than that, like if someone used a grizzly bear as the prototype for the next Robocop.

Who am I kidding, I could climb his whole damn body like Mount Everest and there’s more than enough tempting places to hold base camp for a few days.

Riley Clarke is probably the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen in real life. More than that, she’s real.

When you find someone who is a straight shooter, you want to hold onto them.

I know I’ve got the tattoos and muscles and I can both clean-up and dirty-down real well. But my ego isn’t so out of control as to think every woman wants me.

a woman’s body is her own business.

“You know, Riley, it sounds like I should be the one watching out for you.” You hot little minx.

I don’t want to dwell on the past, not when I’ve got my future at my feet.

I’ve gone through life trying not to berate myself for bad choices. I’ve owned most of them, I’ve made mistakes and learned to look at them as learning tools more than anything else.

Every look that Maverick gave me set my skin on fire. The way his eyes trailed over me, like I was the dessert he’d been saving up for.

When it comes to Maverick though, I can’t seem to keep my head on straight.

“I’m a fan of everything. You don’t have to grow up with a cult comedy to find it funny. If it’s funny, I’ll find it funny, no matter my age.”

“How old are you?” “Thirty-one.” “That seems about right.” “That age where you look like an adult but you can still get away with a lot of shit?”

“You know how to fly a helicopter?” Can he get any fucking hotter?

“I’m utterly charmed by you, Riley.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what to think when it comes to you.” Other than how badly I want you. And how fucking wrong that is.

“You should be scared,” he says again, voice low and grave. “It’s healthy. It protects you. But you have to let it in and you have to deal with it head on. I know this is a lot and I know you’re just getting back in the game. So the fear is only natural. But don’t push it away. Don’t think you can outrun it. Fear will always find you. Better you find it first.”

The kind of loneliness that hurts, like something cold and hard and dark is dissolving inside you like a bath bomb. It’s a chill in your soul, the type that only a strong embrace can get rid of. Sometimes, I just want to be held.

“What else do you got?” “I’ve got everything, darling.” I grin at her. “But unless I’m naked, you won’t be able to see them.”

“Like you say about fear, the blues will find you. It’s better you go and find it first.” Good lord. This woman is everything.

“Anyway, John boy, you’re a rule-breaker at heart. No point changing that now.”

Everything about her is brimming with lust and intensity. Every inch of her is begging to be touched.

In some ways, it was far more intimate than sex. That’s what happens when your imagination takes over, and he gave my imagination permission to run wild.

Why do women always do this? We should be celebrating our strengths.

I pick up my martini glass and raise it in the air. “Here’s to Delilah and her gorgeous smile and Rachel and her stunning eyes and me and my tight, round ass.”

“You’re fucking perfect,” he growls. I grin and grab my breasts, teasing my nipples until they’re hardened peaks. “I’m perfect for you.”

“You’re mine. You’ve been mine from the start.”

That little minx is like God dropped off the world’s most perfect woman right on my doorstep. Only when I look at the package closer, it says “do not touch.”

her. That little taste was everything and yet wasn’t enough. I’m hungry. I’m like a fucking junkie.

you’re getting older and the world is getting wilder and sometimes our hearts need a little peace. That’s all.”

Every day you become more ingrained my head, in my heart, I’m starting to think I’ll never be rid of you. You’re under my skin. You’re there to stay.

I’m completely powerless and at her mercy.

I want her to need me.

Spend the night with me.

“I want to see all parts of you Riley, not just the ones you choose to show me. I want to see the real you, the one you hide away.”

“I want both of you. I want Mav, that fun, fearless man, the one with the tattoos, who fucks me like a champ. And I want John, the one who is afraid and doesn’t let anyone know it. The one who wants respect more than anything else. The one who would risk life and limb for people he doesn’t even know. Why can’t I have both?”

I want him to be my shelter through any storm. A shelter for my heart. But I’m in love with this man. And who is going to save me from that?

want to close the gaps. I want there to be no distance between us.

I’ve never been a tender kind of guy. Riley is slowly but surely rewriting me.

“I’m cold,” she says. “Put on a fire.” Fuck me. She’s trouble. “I’m hard,” I tell her, getting up, pressing my palm against the erection in my pajama pants. “And I can set you on fire”

There is so much going on. And yet my only real thought is her.

There’s no going back anymore. This woman is becoming everything to me.

She’s every unexplored mountain, every wild river, every storm that catches you by surprise. She’s a force of nature. Super, Natural, Riley Clarke.

“Love is chaos.” I give her an odd look. But she’s right. Love is chaos. I think I might be falling in love with Riley and I’ve never felt more turbulent in all my life.

I’ve seen plenty of avalanches before. Despite how destructive and deadly they are, they’re also awe-inspiring. It’s probably why so many die in them. Not only are they hard to predict but when you see them, you can’t look away. It’s supernatural, ravishing and horrifically beautiful. A heard of ice horses stampeding toward you on white crested waves.