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Fateful Moments: Forbidden Lake Romance, #2
Fateful Moments: Forbidden Lake Romance, #2
Fateful Moments: Forbidden Lake Romance, #2
Ebook148 pages2 hoursForbidden Lake Romance

Fateful Moments: Forbidden Lake Romance, #2

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He hasn't left his cabin in the woods in a long time, and he's not keen to give in to the woman who keeps trying to take his land away...until she shows up one night in danger.

Phoenix Addler wants one thing: to live on his little patch of land and be left alone. He hasn't been into the town of Forbidden Lake in years, and that's just the way he likes it. After all, there's grocery delivery even to the woods, and he doesn't need everyone staring at him the way they did when his fiancée left him standing at the altar on their wedding day.

If only Allegra Wright would stop filing injunctions with the Division of Natural Resources to try to take his land. He lives in a remote corner of his family's cherry orchard, which goes right up against the State Park, and she's got it in her pretty little head that he needs to go.

Allegra has never gotten along with Phoenix, though he's tall, broad-shouldered, and gorgeous. When her ex-boyfriend chases her through his neck of the woods one night, she ends up at Phoenix's house, in desperate need of help.

He takes her in, the flame between them as hot as ever. But it's different now. He's...nice. Kind. Hard-working. And did she mention gorgeous? The longer she stays in his remote cabin by the creek, the less she wants to leave.

Phoenix can't believe it, but he'll do anything for Allegra. Anything. But will he have to endure another broken heart? Can Allegra find a way to take their relationship out of the shadows without putting them both at risk?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherAEJ Creative Works
Release dateNov 8, 2023
ISBN9781393110927
Fateful Moments: Forbidden Lake Romance, #2
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Author

Elana Johnson

Elana Johnson is a young adult author. Her work includes the young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available digitally, as well as a young adult dystoipan short story in the Possession world, Resist. She is also the author of ELEVATED and SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE, both standalone young adult contemporary romance novels-in-verse. Her novella, ELEMENTAL RUSH began a new futuristic fantasy series. ELEMENTAL HUNGER, a full-length novel, is the second part of the story. The series concludes with ELEMENTAL RELEASE, the final novella. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog (www.elanajohnson.com) or Twitter (@ElanaJ). She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog and WriteOnCon, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers, a blog written by young adult science fiction and fantasy authors.

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    Fateful Moments - Elana Johnson

    Chapter One

    Phoenix Addler stood in the kitchen of his cabin, the only sound the dishwasher behind him humming away on that week’s dishes. Maybe two week’s worth. He didn’t exactly use a lot of dishes, though he could cook just fine.

    He wasn’t walking over to his job in the state forest today, which was only more walking. Hiking, he supposed, as he led groups out along the trails to hidden lakes and picture points. He didn’t mind the tours he did a few times a week. They got him together with other human beings, which admittedly, Phoenix didn’t do a whole of on days he didn’t have tours.

    It had been a mild winter so far, but the weathermen were predicting snow in the next few days. Then the ground would be frozen, and that fence post that the last storm had dislodged wouldn’t get fixed for a few more weeks.

    It wasn’t that Phoenix wanted the fence between the Addler family property, where he lived right in the tippy corner of, and the Forbidden Lake State Forest. Only that he didn’t want anyone coming onto his land, and he liked knowing how far he could go before he arrived at work.

    That, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources was looking for any ticky-tack reason to swoop in with another infraction against him. Okay, not the whole department. Just their top agent in the region, and Phoenix’s teeth clenched harder at the mere thought of having to deal with the state agency again.

    His family owned this land, and they didn’t have to develop it. His father was very careful about how many new cherry trees they planted each year, having taught Phoenix and all his siblings that the care of the earth was the most important.

    So each year, they planted fifteen to twenty new trees, and his father babysat them as if they were humans. His father’s love for his orchards stemmed from Phoenix’s grandfather’s careful attention to their crop, citing the trees as family members without names.

    Phoenix had gone to college in wildlife management, because he too believed that living things deserved respect.

    So he’d reset the post today and get the fence back in place. That way, none of the animals that lived in the state forest would cross over onto the Addler Family land.

    His phone buzzed as he shrugged into his leather jacket, and he saw a text from Rick, his boss at his second job. You up for chopping today?

    Phoenix zipped up his jacket and reached for his gloves before tapping out. Sure. This afternoon?

    Come out to farm eight whenever you can, Rick answered, and Phoenix let the conversation die there. He usually didn’t need to say a whole lot to get his point across, and Rick knew his text had gone through.

    Phoenix liked the lumberjack work almost more than the hiking and wildlife care at the state park. But lumberjacking wasn’t full-time and didn’t provide benefits. He also needed a car to get there, and he didn’t own one of those either.

    He hadn’t consciously tried to reduce his footprint on the earth; it had sort of just happened when he’d moved into this cabin. He paid all his bills online, did all of his shopping online, enjoyed grocery delivery, and he could walk into the lane where all the other family cabins sat in a long, straight row.

    Truth be told, his brother Jon usually came to get him for Sunday meals. And if Jon wasn’t using his truck today, Phoenix could borrow it to get out to the tree farm where Rick operated his firewood business.

    But he’d deal with all of that after setting the fence post. It had been dry and warm for the past few days, so he left his gloves in the lean-to beside the house and grabbed the shovel. He couldn’t imagine working from an office, or even inside a building. He was grateful for his cabin, which provided shelter from heat and cold, but he’d endured college by the skin of his teeth.

    So much sitting. Not enough doing.

    Phoenix was definitely a do-er, and he set his phone on the nearby fence post and said, Call Brother Jon.

    His phone repeated back to him, Calling Brother Jon, and ringing came through the line as Phoenix probed around the hole where the fence post had been.

    Hey, Phoenix, Jon said. What’s up?

    I need a truck to get over to chop today. What are you doing?

    I’m at the shop.

    So I’ll call Dad. Phoenix didn’t want to do that, but Sunshine Shores Orchard and Resort had plenty of work trucks he could take. He just didn’t want to have a conversation with it about his dad. Then he’d get lectured about buying his own car, and moving back to the family lane, and blah blah blah.

    Phoenix didn’t need any of his sisters trying to set him up with their friends. He’d tried that, thank you very much. Gotten engaged. All dressed up for his wedding. And then had his heart shattered in front of all his family and friends, as well as half the town—maybe three-quarters of it—while he stood at the altar and waited for his bride that never came.

    Yeah, no thanks.

    Sorry, Jon said, reminding Phoenix that they were still on a call together.

    It’s fine, bro, Phoenix said. Talk to you later. He let Jon end the call while he went back to the hole. It needed to be dug out and reinforced before the post could go back inside. And then he’d probably need more than just the electronic driver he used to get it in deep enough to hold.

    So he went back to his lean-to and pulled out the quick concrete, as well as the wire needed to hold the earth out of the way and give the wood something to bite into.

    He worked in the silence, something soothing about it that he’d never been able to find anywhere else. He scraped back the leaves and other debris that had blown in there in the few weeks since the post had fallen, then scooped up a shovelful of dirt and tossed it over his shoulder.

    Hey, a woman cried, causing adrenaline to spike inside Phoenix as he spun around.

    The blonde woman standing there wore one of those fashionable beanie things on her head, and the hair spilling over her shoulders was so straight that Phoenix thought it unnatural.

    Allegra, he said.

    You threw dirt on me, she said, brushing her leather-gloved hands down her cream-colored coat.

    You’re on my property, he said.

    I am not, she snapped back. I’m clearly still on the state forest side of the line. Her blue eyes flashed fire at him, and dang if Phoenix didn’t want to get burned by it. He pulled back the reins of his hormones, because he was definitely not interested in Allegra Wright, senior agent for the Department of Natural Resources.

    And I’m on my side.

    What are you doing?

    Burying a dead body, he said with a straight face, staring right at her. What did it look like he was doing?

    She exhaled heavily like he was the worst man on the planet—which in her eyes, he was—and said, I’ve filed another appeal with the Department.

    Good for you, he said. While his stomach twisted the tiniest bit, he had no reason to believe this fourth appeal would go through when the other three had failed. Did you use that private road again to get out here? He quirked one eyebrow at her, almost hoping she had. But he’d called the rangers on her last time she’d shown up to inform him she’d filed another appeal, and she hadn’t liked that one little bit. But that road wasn’t for her personal or professional use, even if she worked for the state. The rangers had told her the same thing he had, but she’d been colder than usual to him after that.

    Of course not, she said. I had to hike in.

    Shocking. He turned and went back to his work. You’re not going to win. My father planted nineteen trees last spring, and that’s well within the guidelines to show improvement on the land. He couldn’t understand why the land couldn’t just be wild, but Allegra had made it her life’s mission to get the piece of land where his cabin sat.

    Hmm, she said, and that only made Phoenix’s annoyance increase. He wanted to throw another shovelful of dirt on her, but he twisted slightly so the muck would miss her. Narrowly.

    Hey, she said again.

    Oh, are you still here? He looked over his shoulder at her, very aware of her presence and knowing exactly where she stood. What else do you want from me? A kidney? She’d been badgering him for so long, he sometimes dreamt about her. Or maybe that was because Allegra Wright was incredibly beautiful, and he hadn’t dated a single person in five years. Hadn’t even been to town in five years.

    His cells hummed when she took a step closer. I was wondering if I could ask you something.

    Phoenix narrowed his eyes at her, his mind sifting through what she could possibly ask him. She didn’t like him; he didn’t like her. They didn’t offer advice to each other, other than I wouldn’t cross that line if I were you.

    Another step, and you’ll be on my land, he said. I’m not afraid to call the cops.

    Yeah, I know. She glared at him.

    Rangers aren’t cops, sweetheart.

    Her eyes practically turned into lasers, and he actually felt a pang of regret hit him. He knew she didn’t like being called sweetheart, and yet he couldn’t help himself. He really liked seeing her get all hot under the collar, and he while he’d been dealing with Allegra for almost two years and had seen her in spring, summer, fall, and winter attire, he wanted to

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