Fictional Candy: Excerpt/Giveway: A Risk Worth Taking by Heather Hildenbrand

A Risk Worth Taking

Heather Hildenbrand

When 22-year-old Summer Stafford’s parents split halfway through her senior year at college, Summer’s world is rocked. Everything she thought she knew—heck, everything she thought she wanted for her own life—feels like a lie. The truth is love is a risk. And the true kind, the kind that lasts, might even be a fairy tale.

Reeling from the divorce, Summer derails her own future by breaking up with her parent-approved boyfriend and giving up her lifelong plans for a big-city career. She moves back home, business degree in hand. Dad needs her to fill the gaps her mother left behind; Summer needs to find who she is outside of the cookie-cutter life that failed so miserably for her parents.

Ford O’Neal’s future involves one person: himself. He doesn’t have a permanent address and he definitely doesn’t commit. To a place or a person. Raised by hippies, he plans just far enough ahead to secure his next stop, this one landing him at a work-study program at Heritage Plantation where he can grow his own herbal and medicinal creations.

Summer is gorgeous and smart and fun to be with, the perfect way to pass five months. It won’t be love—Ford’s got too many things to accomplish, too many places to go, before he settles down. Yet Summer pulls him in, challenging him to rethink his own philosophy.

When Ford’s five months are up, each of them must decide if love is really worth the risk.

I'm super excited to share today's post with you - it's an excerpt from A Risk Worth Taking by Heather Hildenbrand. I love Heather!! I read her book, Imitation, not too long and I just picked this one up for myself. Hope you enjoy!
*Liz

Summer was silent so long, I half expected she’d dozed off. I sat back and closed my eyes, ready to do the same, but a moment later I heard the chair creak. I opened my eyes and watched her stretch before scooting to her computer and powering it up.

“You awake?” she asked, giving me a smile.

That lazy smile did more for me than was proper. It was the same smile she wore after sex. I would do illegal things to earn that smile. Shit, according to the state of Virginia, I probably already had.

“I’m awake,” I said, repositioning myself so my hard-on wasn’t quite so painful inside my jeans. Dammit, it’d been less than twenty-four hours since I’d been inside her and my body was already complaining.

Summer pulled up the spreadsheet used for logging inventory items. For the next ten minutes, I read off the needed information from the clipboard. The computer continued to freeze up; even it was affected by the suffocating heat.

I could tell Summer was slowly becoming irritated by the way she hit the keys just a little bit harder as time went on. There was something about her getting angry at the insignificant … Not even the A/C could cool off what was going on in my pants right now.

“Let me go grab you a Coke,” I said, needing a change of pace.

“That sounds great.” She stood up to stretch, and I left to get the sodas.

When I returned, she was in her chair, head back, eyes closed, hands placed delicately in her lap. She’d gotten rid of the bun, and her light brown waves glowed in the sunlight peeking through the blinds behind me. I walked around the desk, trying not to disturb her. In this moment, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on.

I opened the can of soda with a soft click. Her head still tilted back, Summer opened her eyes and looked into mine in a way that made my heart stutter. When I leaned over and set the soda on the desk behind her, my hand brushed against her shoulder. I paused, our faces inches away. The air inside between us grew thick.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her breath tickling my face.

My voice had deserted me. I imagined my body full of magnets, all pulling me toward her. I wanted her so badly, but I only nodded and began to straighten. If we got distracted—again—this work would never get done. Usually, I was the one initiating things. I wanted to show her I could do the responsible thing.

Before I could move away, she wrapped her right arm around my neck, pulling me closer. I took a deep breath. Her chest rose toward me, letting me know she wanted more than just a quick kiss. She pulled me down until our lips met. In a burst of passion from both of us, our mouths melded as one. Her hands ran through my hair and over my back, pulling my body closer to hers. Knowing she wanted this just as badly as I did was enough to undo me. So much for inventory.

Heather Hildenbrand was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia where she was homeschooled through high school. She now lives in coastal VA, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean, with her two adorable children. She works from home, part time, as a property manager and when she's not furiously pounding at the keyboard, or staring off into space whilst plotting a new story, she's lying on the beach, soaking in those delicious, pre-cancerous rays.

Heather loves Mexican food, hates socks with sandals, and if her house was on fire, the one thing she'd grab is her DVR player.

Heather is a co-founder of Accendo Press, a publishing group she operates with fellow authors: Angeline Kace and Jennifer Sommersby. Accendo (a-CH-endo), A Latin word, means “to kindle, illuminate, inflame, or set fire.” This is something Accendo strives to do inside a reader’s imagination with every title released. For a complete list of titles and author bios, visit www.accendopress.com.