Riding the Hammer Lane Read online

  “You made this? Eddie, this is…. I—I’ve never been given a gift like this.” The scarf lay draped between his hands as if he thought it too special to even wear.

  I smiled and set the gift bag aside. Pulling the scarf from his grasp, I shook off the snowflakes that had already started accumulating. “It’s a part of me, created for you. One of a kind, just like us.” I glanced from the scarf back up to his eyes. They shimmered in the glow of the streetlights. “Colton, I love you.” It felt like the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders for finally being able to say it out loud.

  “But, Eddie, we’d never see each other. The road will keep us apart. How can we make it work?” His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and his dark brows knit together in uncertainty.

  I looped the scarf back behind his neck and tugged him down as I stretched up. Our lips were mere inches apart. “You’ll find a way, somehow. You just have to get after it, kid.” I said it matter-of-factly. It was all I had to say.

  Colton’s lips curved into a mischievous smile. “Is that a challenge, rookie?”

  I grinned and tugged at the scarf. “If you’re up for it, Big Hoss.”

  Without another word, he brought our mouths together with a kiss that left me breathless yet yearning for more. His hands gripped my hips as he drew my body against his, and I let out a moan, plunging in deeper. I wasn’t about to take for granted this second chance we’d been given.

  After an endless moment, Colton pulled back just enough to press our cheeks together. The warmth of his breath washed against my jaw and neck. “Dammit, Rooks, I love you. I love you more than anything.”

  My heart soared, and I pressed in closer. Colton brought his hands up to frame my face in that reverent way he always did, then took my lips again as the snow continued to drift down around us. On a frigid Christmas night, a hundred miles from home, it was all I could have ever asked for.

  CASSIE DECKER started writing love stories once she read her first romance novel in high school and instantly fell in love with falling in love. She believes everyone deserves a happily ever after, whether the men in her stories rope cattle in the rodeo, live in a tropical paradise, or are just trying to survive in a postapocalyptic world.

  When she’s not writing romance, she’s reading it. And if there’s time between that, you can find Cassie getting her geek on with cosplay costumes, comic-cons, and video game binges. Besides being a total nerd, she likes to knit naughty rainbow keychain charms for her friends, home brew her own beer, and practice her ukulele. Cassie also loves playing in the Colorado wilderness with her husband and her corgi pup, Murphy, when she’s not busy obsessing over the fictional men plotting their steamy love stories in her head, that is.

  Email: [email protected]

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/cassie.decker.9

  Twitter: @cabooseomalley

  Blog: www.lopsided-whiskey-grin.tumblr.com

  By Cassie Decker

  Driven to Distraction

  Kismet

  Once in a Lifetime

  Riding the Hammer Lane

  An Unexpected Sanctuary

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Riding the Hammer Lane

  © 2019 Cassie Decker

  Cover Art

  © 2019 Brooke Albrecht

  http://brookealbrechtstudio.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-774-2

  Digital eBook published December 2019

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America