Excerpt: Surviving Love
Book 1: Montana Wilds Series
“Trust me, those two classes will seem like five! Oh my God…” Christie’s fingers wrapped around Sara’s wrist. “Don’t freak out!”
Sara started and looked up quickly, expecting some sort of emergency. Instead, her gaze met a wide expanse of muscular shoulder. “Why? What’s happenin—”
“Hi, Mike,” Christie said, yanking on Sara’s wrist to make her step closer.
In confusion, Sara tilted her face upward and met that spun-honey gaze she’d seen a moment ago.
“How are you?” Christie asked.
The fingertips digging holes in Sara’s arm were starting to hurt.
Mike’s gaze flicked toward Christie. He nodded before his focus settled back on Sara a moment later. “Sara Michaels, right?”
“Um, yes?” she answered hesitantly.
He stared expectantly.
Her eyebrows rose slowly. Was she supposed to recognize him, somehow?
Taking his extended pause as a yes, she scanned his vaguely familiar face. High cheekbones and a narrow nose adorned his handsome appearance. The color of his eyes was even more spectacular up close, with bursts of browns, hazel, and flecks of green wrapped in lush black lashes. Completing the tableau was a strange sort of command in his bearing—dominance, almost—with a hint of arrogance that often came from a silver spoon and a lingering case of Huge-Bank-Account-Itis.
She shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think I know you…”
“I’m Mikey Frost,” he said. “Jack’s son. We grew up together…”
Her brow furrowed as she made sense of those names.
“Mikey Frost…” she whispered, calling up the face of the boy in the back of his parents’ car, waving as he drove away.
She looked at the man in front of her again, struggling to wipe away the haze of memory. With difficulty, she placed the handsome, chiseled face over that of the pudgy boy’s from her memories. Those same eyes looked at her.
A thrill ran through her. “No way,” she breathed. Emotions, long forgotten, bubbled up out of nowhere. Butterflies filled her stomach.
“No freaking way,” she said, louder. The world spun around her as joy blossomed.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” she screamed. Like a teenager, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Holy heck, Mikey!”
She stepped back so she could see his face. “I haven’t seen you in… Jesus, how long has it been?”
His lips quirked as he scrutinized her. “A long time. Years and years.”
“Not since you moved to—where was it? New Jersey?”
“Connecticut.”
“Right! This is so nuts.” She slapped his arm, and then hugged him again.
“How are you?” he asked, his eyes delving into her.
She sighed into her smile, recalling the profound feeling of a friendship so deep it could be called family. Emotion moved within her as she processed this face out of her past.
“Wow! I just—it’s just so good to see you. We should have kept in touch.”
“We were fourteen—well, I was fourteen. You were, what, twelve when I left?”
“Eleven,” she said. “Still, I don’t know. You were like my brother. I missed you. I can’t believe you’re here! What a crazy coincidence.”
“Sara, we should go…” Christie was staring after two larger women moving off toward the house.
Mikey followed her gaze and nodded. “Christie’s right. Ethel and Florence won’t treat you well if you’re late.” His eyes once again settled on her face. “I’ll catch up with you at the fire pit. We’re staying in the area tonight, so I’ll be around.”
He took a step back to let her go.
“Wait!” She lurched forward, clutching his arm. The memory of him, of their youth, tugged at her. Made her want to attach herself to him like she used to.
“I mean, obviously, yes. I need to go. But…” Sara shook her head, embarrassment creeping up at her actions. “I mean…”
He gave her a small smile. “I’ll see you tonight, okay?” He smoothed her hair from her face. “I’m not leaving forever—never was, remember? I told you I’d see you again. And look, here I am. Magical.”