When I Fall in Love (Contemporary Romance) Book 1 (Blue Lake Series) Read online

  When I Fall in Love

  (a Blue Lake short story)

  Kristin Miller

  Other Titles by Kristin Miller

  Blue Lake Series

  When I Fall in Love

  One Sweet Day

  Crazy in Love

  Let Me Love You

  Seattle Wolf Pack Series

  Gone with the Wolf

  Four Weddings and a Werewolf

  So I Married a Werewolf

  Vampires of Crimson Bay Trilogy

  InterVamption

  Vamped Up

  Last Vamp Standing

  Isle of Feralon Series

  Claimed by Desire

  Forbidden by Fate

  Demand of the Dragon

  The Mermaid’s Mate

  Stand-alone Novels and Novellas

  Dark Tide Rising

  One Night to Remember

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Kristin Miller. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

  Cover Design by Kim Killion of Hot Damn Designs

  To Justin,

  for saying “go, baby, go,” even when you’re sleeping.

  Chapter One

  Being grandmother’s favorite was only a good thing if she was baking cookies or handing out “nickels” she won from her monthly gambling spree. Any other occasion, including last night at Bingo when she announced over the microphone that April Cassidy, her thirty-year-old granddaughter, was single and looking to mingle, was downright horrifying.

  It wasn’t like April hadn’t tried her hand at dating the men in Blue Lake. She had. It was just that the eligible men were either childhood friends that she had zero romantic interest in, or they were gearing up to leave the quaint town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

  April had every intention of staying; she loved it here. Sure, her love life was suffering through a three-year drought, mosquitos attacked like a plague in the fall, and the winters were brutal with interminable snow and ice. Beyond that, Blue Lake was filled with fond memories at the lake and river, adventures in the mines, and wine tasting with life-long friends during summer. Growing up in Loving Home’s “One of the Top Ten Most Picturesque Towns in America” definitely had its perks.

  Too bad quality men wasn’t one of them.

  As the espresso machine hissed, April let the cup fill, and then removed it from the machine. “Caramel Frappuccino for Becky,” she said, and took a few seconds to arrange the bagels. Book club would arrive at ten a.m., and they’d want their usual.

  According to her grandmother, everyone sitting in Java Falls could’ve been voted into the position of April’s boyfriend. Chuck, the thirty-something gas station attendant in the corner licking foam from his cup with a thick, cow-like tongue. Dom, the snow-plower slash painter who stared at her over the Blue Lake Realty magazine, wagging his eyebrows whenever she glanced his way. Creepy. Even Lucca, the balding officer with the tight behind, would’ve been hired by April’s grandmother to be the date for her parent’s vow renewal tonight.

  But none of them elicited that spark. Not one of them had that thing that got her palms sweating and her girly parts tingling.

  The front door to her coffee shop opened, jingling as the door swung wide. Her much younger—and newly married—sister strode in, clutching a shiny black Marc Jacobs in one hand and an iPad in the other.

  “Good morning,” Sunny said, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder as she approached the counter. Although her layers were shorter than April’s, their tones were spot on: dark, nearly black. “You ready for today?”

  “As much as I can be.”

  “Have you picked up your dress?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Good. Mom was worried you forgot when you didn’t show up to the appointment last week.” Her fingers tapped the screen of her iPad. “Did you RSVP to StoneMill Winery?”

  “Last month, when the invites went out.” April sighed. She was thirty-two. The least her family could do was treat her that way.

  Sunny leaned over the counter, her fist planted daintily on her chin. “Who’s your date? You know Grams will keel over if you come alone.”

  “I don’t know why she cares so much,” April said, starting a mocha for her sister. “She didn’t pressure you to find someone.”

  “That’s because I found my true love in high school.”

  Sunny had met Thomas as a freshman, and as their story goes, it was love at first sight for both of them. They dated all four years of high school, were voted Cutest Couple of Blue Lake High, and got married a month after graduation.

  “Lucky you,” April grinned tightly. “Some people take longer to find the one they’re supposed to be with.”

  “Or maybe you don’t know what it feels like when you’ve found the one. Maybe you’ve already dated him and didn’t know it.”

  “Believe me,” April said, sliding the Mocha across the counter, “when I fall in love, I’ll know.”

  Sunny took the drink and sipped. “Grams only wants to see all of her granddaughters happy in love before she passes. She was so happy with Gramps. Can’t blame her for wanting the same thing for her girls.”

  “You all act like she’s dying tomorrow. That woman’s got so much fire in her, she’ll live another two decades, you watch.”

  “So…who’s your date?”

  Couldn’t avoid it any longer. “Rick.”

  “The fireman?” Sunny waggled her thinly-plucked eyebrows. “He’s hot.”

  “Yeah, if he’s coming out of a burning building.”

  “Seriously, April! He’s a total hunk! Better than what’s-his-face that you brought to the family dinner last year.”

  “Don’t make a big deal about it.” April went to work, tidying the pens in the flower pot in front of the till. “We’re going as friends.”

  “Friends?” Sunny scoffed. “I wouldn’t mention that word to Grams. She might have a stroke.”

  As the door jingled once more, April snatched the opportunity to change the subject. “I’d love to stay and talk, Sunny, but I have customers.”

  “Right.” Shoving her iPad into her bag, Sunny took her drink and held it against her. “Don’t forget you’re picking up Uncle Jed from Rhonda’s B&B and taking him to StoneMill. I told him to be downstairs no later than 5:30.”

  “I got it.” She shooed her sister away. “Everything will be fine.”

  Sunny pointed toward her chest. “You’ll be fine as long as you show up with Rick tonight.”

  No pressure, right?

  April turned to the back wall—an intricate mosaic of sky blue and sea foam green—and started a fresh pot of coffee. Absentmindedly, her thoughts trickled to Rick, her date for the night, the hunk lacking sparky mojo. He had a wide chest, bulging biceps and all that jazz. He dressed well, was always punctual, and could sweet talk Grams like the best of them, which was why April had asked him to accompany her tonight. Why then, if he was so perfect in her head, did they fizzle when they went out? They’d tried going on a date one night last summer—he’d opened her door, pulled out her chair, and said goodnight with sweet kiss—and still, they’d veered to FriendshipVille on a speed train.

  Thankfully, tonight would be all about their parents’ vow renewal after twenty-five years of marriage. After all these years they were sti
ll blissfully in love, gazing into each others eyes, yada yada yada. From what April had heard, they also slept in separate bedrooms and fought over what to watch when they went to the theatre. (They’d started watching separate shows and meeting up in the car afterward—not such a bad move, in April’s very single opinion.)

  Someone cleared their throat at the counter, and sounded much too deep to be the ladies from the book club.

  April spun around, more startled than she should’ve been.

  Mason Henry.

  Talk about hunky. Close to six-feet-tall. Short dark hair and amazing bone structure. Dark, mesmerizing eyes that had threatened to singe the clothes off her body on more than one coffee-shop occasion. Not to mention he was a non-local; that fact alone made his sex appeal shoot off the charts.

  “Morning, April,” he said in his usual husky baritone. “Can I get a 20 oz this time?”

  Mason had come in the last five mornings with a camera bag and pad of paper. He ordered the same thing—a 16 oz black coffee—and settled into the seat in the corner, the one with a wide view of Main Street.

  “Rough night?” she asked, filling up a cup.

  He smiled, blinding her with a set of perfectly punctured dimples. “Guess you could say that. I was trying to get a shot of the lake at sunset, but couldn’t find the right angle. I got locked out of my car and had to wait for the local tow company to come jimmy it open.”

  “Louis goes fishing on Friday nights. Bet it took him hours to get out to you.”

  “Four, to be exact.”

  “Sorry about that.” She handed him the cup, and watched his fingers as they curled around the side. No wedding band. No shadow where a band might’ve settled recently. “Hope you have better luck today.”

  “I better.” He nodded. “The magazine I work for only comped five nights. I leave tonight.”

  April had wondered who he’d been taking pictures for, but hadn’t had the time to ask. Tonight was his last night? Well, cute comes as cute goes. He wasn’t the first gorgeous face to visit her coffee shop, star in her fantasies, and bolt out of Blue Lake. Judging by her vacant dating schedule, he wouldn’t be the last.

  As he strode across the café and toward his usual table, April said, “You could always try the river north of town and the south shore of the lake. Or if you schedule a private viewing with Lucy at StoneMill Winery, she could show you a top secret lookout point with spectacular views.”

  “I’ve been to the lake, and it didn’t work for me,” he said rather decidedly, setting his things down on the table. “I hadn’t thought about StoneMill, though. Thanks for that.”

  “No problem.”

  The corner of his lips pulled into a smile. April smiled back, stunned.

  Why was she still standing there, staring?

  The bells on the door clinked together and a barrage of women carrying book bags pushed into the café, severing their connection. The women claimed their usual table—the one overlooking the stream that lined the back of the property—and immediately covered the space with their monthly book club selection: Broken Promises by Grey Thompson.

  Eager to put her jittery hands to work, April loaded up a tray with creamer, sugar, and ten coffee mugs, each one distinct. She greeted everyone, filled mugs to the brim, and listened to them talk about how sweet her Gram was at Bingo last night.

  Oh yeah. Announcing her sexual drought to the masses had really made April’s morning.

  Stepping toward the counter, April became hyperaware of a set of eyes on her back. Had to be creepy Dom, checking out her backside over his magazine again.

  She turned, and caught Mason’s eye. He looked away, retreating to his notebook and whatever he’d been writing. By the time she withdrew behind the counter, Mason was standing at the bagel display.

  “Can I get you something?” she asked.

  “A guide.”

  “Like a realty one or—”

  “No, I need you.” Shaking his head quickly, he shoved his hands into his jean pockets. “What I mean is, you seem to know your way around this town, and I really need to get this shot or I could lose the gig. I’ve spent hours looking at maps, both paper and Google, but none of them have given me what I’m looking for. I need a guide to show me where to get the perfect shot. I think that’s the only way I’m going to make this work.”

  “I don’t know…” Why did she feel so anxious and fluttery around him? “…I have to run the cafe until noon, and I’ve got this thing to go to tonight with a half-dozen errands to run before then. I don’t really have time.”

  He eyed her carefully, his gaze trailing from her eyes to her lips. “I’ve got to check out from the B&B this morning anyway. I could meet you here at noon and you could show me around until whatever you have going on tonight.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll be going anywhere worth shooting.” April shut the bagel window, suddenly wishing she was wearing something more classy than a yellow cotton dress covered by a dotted apron. The dress was a bit faded and the apron sported coffee stains—not exactly her finest look. “You don’t want to follow me around town.”

  “I do, actually.” He smiled, and her neck flushed hot. “I think I might capture the vibe of the area better with you at my side. You know, a local’s viewpoint.”

  Why was she stalling? Hunky McHunkerson was only in town for one more day, and then she wouldn’t see him again. What would it hurt?

  “Okay,” April said. “See you in a few hours.”

  Chapter Two

  Java Falls was everything Mason expected from a small town coffee shop—coffee from freshly ground coffee beans, sugary pastries, and warm-hearted patrons greeting him from every seat. The rustic cafe was located in the heart of Blue Lake, so it wasn’t hard to miss as he came into town. But its owner, cute as a button and sweet as the cinnamon rolls she served, was a pleasant surprise.

  He’d had his eye on April for days, even though he hadn’t taken the leap to ask her out. Come on, women that good looking were never available. They always had a boyfriend in their pocket and a guy or two waiting in the wings. It wasn’t until he’d heard the ladies from the book club talk about her being single that he’d hauled his backside off the chair and asked her out.

  With one last day in Blue Lake, he wasn’t about to waste another minute.

  He waited outside, well past noon, hands in his pockets to keep them from sweating. It was a cool spring afternoon, and the skies were cluttered with cotton candy-like clouds, but for some reason his hands were clammed up like he’d been wearing gloves. The sunset tonight would be stunning. It better be, or he’d be sending sub-standard photos to Majestic Magazine, and his hopes of becoming their go-to small town photographer would be ruined.

  “Sorry to keep you,” April said, locking the front door behind her. “I had to make a few calls after everyone filed out.”

  “No problem.” Mason didn’t know whether they were walking or driving, so he stood back and let April take the lead. “Where to first?”

  “If you don’t mind, I have to pick up some things from the Blue Lake Historical Inn.” Hitching her bag over shoulder, she started walking down the sidewalk, her boots clanking over the wood planks. “Have you been there, yet?”

  He strode beside her, his hand at his side, nearly brushing hers. “No, actually, but I hear the place is haunted.”

  She gave him a slanted look. “It depends on who you ask. I don’t believe in that stuff.”

  “Me either.”

  A couple walked by, pulling their Golden Retriever behind them.

  “Well hello, April,” the older woman said, stopping as they passed. “Wonderful afternoon for a walk, isn’t it?”

  “I thought so.” April looked over her shoulder, but kept walking. “Have a good day, Meredith.”

  “Will we see you tonight?” Meredith’s voice kicked up as they continued walking away.

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Do you know everyone in this town?”
Mason asked, crossing the cobblestone street.

  “Everyone.” She smiled sweetly. “Even good-hearted, busy-bodies like Meredith.”

  Seemed like she didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone. “Have you lived here your whole life?”

  “Pretty much. My parents moved my sister and I moved to Blue Lake when we were seven. We used to live in Sacramento and would vacation up here in summer. When my dad retired early, they moved us shortly after.” She waved to a twenty-something woman across the street. “That’s Georgia, owner of the Book Bandit on the other side of town. She’s one of my best friends.” She laughed nervously as Georgia gave the thumbs up. Was she referring to him? “Where are you from?” she asked.

  “I grew up in Wichita,” Mason said. “But I left after college to become a freelance photographer and haven’t looked back.”

  Must be nice to walk the streets of a town like this and know that there are good people walking among you. Bet no one locked their doors. Out of sheer curiosity, Mason checked a Subaru Forester as they walked by, and spotted the door locks in the open position. He certainly wasn’t in Kansas anymore—at least not the part he grew up in.

  “Did you major in photography?” she asked, looking up at him.

  “I did. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really loved.”

  “That’s sweet, and maybe a little depressing.”

  He smiled at her candor. “What about you? Did you go to college?”

  “I did.” She sped her pace onto a covered part of the sidewalk. “I left Blue Lake for four years to attend Sac State.”

  “What’d you major in?”

  “Chocolate,” she said, pointing at a wooden sign swinging above their heads. It was etched with the words Sweet Tooth. Before he could question, she charged through the open doors. He followed, overwhelmed with the aroma of strawberries and candy. He wasn’t much of a candy person, but the scent was mouth-watering.