Ross
Gardiner has had his fill of difficult relationships. Returning to Last
Chance after a rough divorce, the town's handsome new fire chief just
wants safety and stability-a tall order given his dangerous job and the
way he has the attention of all the
single women in town. All except Sabina Grey, the girl who stole his
heart when they were teenagers.
Sabina knows a lot about playing it
safe. Always the good girl, she's now responsible for her antiques store
and caring for her sister. But having Ross in
town brings back the memory of one carefree summer night when she threw
caution to the wind-and almost destroyed her family. Now that they are
both older and wiser, will the spark still be there, even though they've
both been burned?
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This book took me back to my days of living in a tiny town and how rampant gossip can spread. This is the story of Ross Gardiner and Lucy and Sabina Grey sisters, who are plagued by the local gossips and pressured into love lives they really aren't happy with.
This is a fun book with some serious sexual tensions going on all around. The characters are fun and enduring and I really enjoyed this book. It's my first in the series and I definitely will be going back to read the rest in the group!
4 Stars
She wore a pair of faded
blue jeans that clung to her hips and butt like they were part of her. Her green tank top looked like something she
might have found at a tag sale. The
slippery, clingy fabric was covered in Oriental flowers, and it was almost see-through.
Not to mention that it
exposed her shoulders, which had freckles on them. As usual, Sabina had pulled her hair back
into a ponytail. And as usual, wisps of
hair had escaped around her face. He
wanted to cross the room, pull that damn rubber band out of her hair, and bury
his hands and his nose in all those amazing curls.
Oh yeah, and his hands
itched to touch her breasts through that silky fabric. Which is why he balled them into fists and
jammed them into his pockets. Then he
pretended that his feet were set into concrete.
A man could get hurt by
lust like this.
And that didn’t even
count the damage his feelings for Sabina might do to Lucy or Henrietta or even
the folks in Last Chance who were all invested in him marrying Lucy.
He didn’t want to feel
this way.
About anyone.
Lust like this was just
crazy. It made a man do stupid things,
and he had been there and done that. He
much preferred the cool, calm feeling he had for Lucy and her lists.
Sabina stood there
staring at him for a moment, her lips soft and parted. The afternoon sun coming through the dusty
window, lit up her hair. Her voice
sounded squeaky when she started talking, and she stammered, which was not like
her at all.
“Uh . . . I . . .
Uh. I got a call from Bubba Lockheart. I gather y’all moved the trunk down from the
attic?”
“Oh, yeah, you came for
the trunk.” He had the twin sensations
of being relieved and disappointed all at the same time.
She nodded.
“It’s in the living
room. Let me get the hand truck.” He hurried out onto the back porch and
snagged the dolly and wheeled it into the living room.
Sabina was waiting for
him.
“So, did you search
through it? What else is inside?” She tilted her head, and for an instant, she
resembled a little kid on Christmas morning, so excited to be unwrapping a
present.
“Uh, no. We were kind of busy today.” He kept his words sharp and short. He shoved the dolly under the trunk and
tilted it back. Then he wheeled it all
the way out to the porch and down a make-shift ramp that had been set up over
the front steps. Sabina followed him and
opened the tailgate of her van.
“Can you lift it yourself
or do you need help?” she asked.
“I can do it.” He wanted
her to leave. Fast. But the trunk was awkward and he almost tilted
it sideways when he tried to lift it.
Before he could stop her, Sabina bent down and grabbed one of the
handles and helped.
Together they got it up
into the van. But in the process they
ended up side by side and their shoulders touched.
He’d never been burned by
a fire. He was practically religious
about keeping his gear in topnotch form.
But that touch scalded him. It
would have been normal to jump back from all that heat. After all, he’d been trained to know the
danger of uncontrolled fires.
But his training went
right out the window, along with his common sense. Instead of running like hell, he turned
toward her. She looked up at him, the
fire dancing in her eyes. Oh, man, this
was so wrong.
And so right.
“Ross,” she whispered,
her voice so damn sultry.
His mind told him to
stop. But his heart had a completely
different idea. His heart had been
waiting decades to kiss Sabina Grey. And
there she was, right in reach, and her mouth looked so ready to be kissed that
he couldn’t help himself.
He leaned down and
pressed his mouth to her lips, and even though this wasn’t exactly the
hands-on, bodies-pressed-together, hot and heavy kiss he’d once fantasized
about, the heat of the moment still swept through him.
He wanted to pull her
close. He wanted to explore her mouth a
little deeper. He wanted to do a lot
more than dance with her.
But Sabina pushed back.
“We can’t do this.” Her look was stunningly sober.
“Right,” he said on a
deep exhalation. “Right.” He repeated the word because his mind had
sort of checked out for a moment. “I’m
sorry.”
She didn’t accept his
apology. She just gave him one of those
female looks that were so hard to decipher.
This one was pretty bad ass.
And then she backed away,
ran to the driver’s side of the van, and took off, sending the gravel on the
driveway flying.
Hope Ramsay grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you'll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. She's a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart and is married to a good ol' Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia, where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.
