Hold On

by Samantha Young

  Hold On

  By Samantha Young

  A Play On/Big Sky Novella

  Introduction by Kristen Proby

  Hold On: A Play On/Big Sky Novella

  By Samantha Young

  Copyright 2019

  ISBN: 978-1-948050-56-2

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

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

  Book Description

  Hold On: A Play On/Big Sky Novella

  By Samantha Young

  From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Samantha Young…

  Autumn O’Dea has always tried to see the best in people while her big brother, Killian, has always tried to protect her from the worst. While their lonely upbringing made Killian a cynic, it isn’t in Autumn’s nature to be anything but warm and open. However, after a series of relationship disasters and the unsettling realization that she’s drifting aimlessly through life, Autumn wonders if she’s left herself too vulnerable to the world. Deciding some distance from the security blanket of her brother and an unmotivated life in Glasgow is exactly what she needs to find herself, Autumn takes up her friend’s offer to stay at a ski resort in the snowy hills of Montana. Some guy-free alone time on Whitetail Mountain sounds just the thing to get to know herself better.

  However, she wasn’t counting on colliding into sexy Grayson King on the slopes. Autumn has never met anyone like Gray. Confident, smart, with a wicked sense of humor, he makes the men she dated seem like boys. Her attraction to him immediately puts her on the defense because being open-hearted in the past has only gotten it broken. Yet it becomes increasingly difficult to resist a man who is not only determined to seduce her, but adamant about helping her find her purpose in life and embrace the person she is. Autumn knows she shouldn’t fall for Gray. It can only end badly. After all their lives are divided by an ocean and their inevitable separation is just another heart break away…

  About Samantha Young

  Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Fight or Flight, a new standalone published by Berkley Romance, released October 2018. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us and The Fragile Ordinary are published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback.

  Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author. When she’s not writing books, she’s buying shoes she doesn’t really need and searching for nooks and crannies to shelve her ever-expanding book collection.

  For more information visit https://authorsamanthayoung.com

  Also from Samantha Young

  Other Adult Contemporary Novels by Samantha Young

  Play On

  As Dust Dances

  Into the Deep

  Out of the Shallows

  Hero

  Villain (A Novella)

  One Day: A Valentine Novella

  Fight or Flight

  On Dublin Street Series:

  On Dublin Street

  Down London Road

  Before Jamaica Lane

  Fall From India Place

  Echoes of Scotland Street

  Moonlight on Nightingale Way

  Until Fountain Bridge (a novella)

  Castle Hill (a novella)

  Valentine (a novella)

  One King’s Way (a novella)

  On Hart’s Boardwalk (a novella)

  Hart’s Boardwalk Series:

  The One Real Thing

  Every Little Thing

  Young Adult contemporary titles by Samantha Young

  The Impossible Vastness of Us

  The Fragile Ordinary

  Young Adult Urban Fantasy titles by Samantha Young

  The Tale of Lunarmorte Trilogy:

  Moon Spell

  River Cast

  Blood Solstice

  Warriors of Ankh Trilogy:

  Blood Will Tell

  Blood Past

  Shades of Blood

  Fire Spirits Series:

  Smokeless Fire

  Scorched Skies

  Borrowed Ember

  Darkness, Kindled

  Other titles by Samantha Young:

  Slumber (The Fade #1)

  Drip Drop Teardrop, a novella

  An Introduction to the Kristen Proby Crossover Collection

  Everyone knows there’s nothing I love more than a happy ending. It’s what I do for a living–I’m in LOVE with love. And what’s better than love? More love, of course!

  Just imagine, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany, collaborating on the world’s most perfect handbag. Jimmy Choo and Louboutin, making shoes just for me. Not loving it enough? What if Hugh Grant in Notting Hill was the man to barge into Sandra Bullock’s office in The Proposal? I think we can all agree that Julia Roberts’ character would have had her hands full with Ryan Reynolds.

  Now imagine what would happen if one of the characters from my Big Sky Series met up with other characters from some of your favorite authors’ series. Well, wonder no more because The Kristen Proby Crossover Collection is here, and I could not be more excited!

  Rachel Van Dyken, Laura Kaye, Sawyer Bennett, Monica Murphy, Samantha Young, and K.L. Grayson are all bringing their own beloved characters to play – and find their happy endings – in my world. Can you imagine all the love, laughter and shenanigans in store?

  I hope you enjoy the journey between worlds!

  Love,

  Kristen Proby

  The Kristen Proby Crossover Collection features a new novel by Kristen Proby and six by some of her favorite writers:

  Kristen Proby – Soaring with Fallon

  Sawyer Bennett – Wicked Force

  KL Grayson – Crazy Imperfect Love

  Laura Kaye – Worth Fighting For

  Monica Murphy – Nothing Without You

  Rachel Van Dyken – All Stars Fall

  Samantha Young – Hold On

  Acknowledgments from the Author

  There is nothing quite like the feeling when an author you admire and respect reaches out and asks you to collaborate. Thank you, Kristen, for trusting me with the beauty of your Big Sky world. I hope Autumn and Gray have done you proud!

  Moreover, a massive thank you to Liz Berry for your never-ending well of support and contagious enthusiasm. It’s been a pleasure to join the team to collaborate on this fantastic project and I cannot thank you and M.J. enough for making this such a wonderful experience. To everyone who had a hand in bringing HOLD ON and the entire Big Sky crossover together, thank you!

  And to the people who are a constant in my world, always there and making life easier for me in your own way, I can never say thank you enough: my fantastic agent, Lauren Abramo, my wonderful PA Ashleen Walker, and my incredibly supportive parents. I’m so grateful for you all.

  I can’t write this without also thanking my reader group Sam’s Clan McBookish. You always brighten up my day. It means so much to me. Thank you.

  And finally, the biggest thank you of all to you, my reader. You are my sunshine.

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  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Samantha Young

  Also from Samantha Young

  An Introduction to the Kristen Proby Crossover Collection

  Acknowledgments from the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  Discover the Kristen Proby Crossover Collection

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Six

  Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

  An excerpt from Fight or Flight by Samantha Young

  Special Thanks

  Chapter One

  Whitetail Mountain, Montana

  February

  The fresh, cold air stung my cheeks as I stared down the snowy slope through my ski goggles.

  “Bloody Nora,” I muttered under my breath, watching mostly kids skiing on what they called the Bunny Hill. There were a few adult beginners but they were with ski instructors.

  “You should go out with an instructor,” Catie had said a mere twenty minutes ago, seeming concerned as we strapped on our boots at the rental just across from the lodge.

  I’d seen the young instructors, probably college kids making a few extra dollars during the ski season, and they seemed perfectly competent. However, beneath my laidback façade was a great deal of stubbornness and I believed I could do this alone.

  It wasn’t like I hadn’t skied before.

  I had.

  I’d also broken my leg the last time I’d strapped on a pair of skis.

  “Bloody Nora,” I repeated.

  What was I doing here?

  Not here in Montana—here. I only had to lift my gaze over the snowy mountains to know why anyone would want to visit Whitetail Mountain. I meant, what the hell was I doing here? Here in snow boots clicked into the skis, wearing goggles, a hat, thick gloves, and an admittedly adorable emerald green snow suit I couldn’t resist buying.

  Because what I really wanted to do was go back to the lodge and wait for my afternoon spa appointments to begin. I wanted to lounge by the pool with a glass of wine and write down my life plan. That’s what I was here for. To get some space from my life back in Glasgow and “find myself” in the snowy hills of Montana. Like a heroine in a Reese Witherspoon movie. Just me and my thoughts. And the occasional third wheeling of Catie and her husband Kyle’s annual holiday.

  My friend and her hubby were currently on the top slopes as they were experienced skiers.

  “Face your fears, Autumn,” Kyle had said before we got on the chairlift that would drop me on the Bunny Hill.

  Face my fears. Yes, I knew that’s what this moment was supposed to symbolize.

  When I was fourteen I’d broken my leg on a high school skiing trip and I’d vowed never to get on skis again. But this year had been rough and I’d grown increasingly afraid of facing the fact that I was floundering in life. Strapping on a pair of skis was supposed to help me face those fears. If I could ski again, I could get my life back in order.

  But…

  “What utter rubbish,” I huffed.

  Skiing was rubbish! I hated it. You only faced a fear if it was going to make your life better. How was skiing going to make my life better?

  A massage.

  A massage would make my life infinitely better.

  Decided, I pulled my ski poles out of the snow with a little too much vigor and immediately threw my weight off balance, my skis flying out from under me.

  “Oh…oh…” I tried to right my center of gravity but threw myself too far forward. “Oh sh—” Suddenly I was heading down the slope! And I was heading for a woman and a ski instructor and I couldn’t remember how to stop.

  “Out of the way!” I warned.

  The ski instructor, his expression masked by snow sunglasses, looked up at me and then, instead of getting out of my way, got deliberately in it.

  I smacked straight into his large body, winding myself and knocking him off his skis, taking him to the snow.

  “Oof!” he grunted, sounding more than a little bit winded himself.

  Mortified, I tried to clamber off him. Unfortunately, my knee connected somewhere it shouldn’t.

  “Fuck,” he wheezed.

  “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” Somehow I got off him without causing him any further injury and righted myself on my skis as he curled into a fetal position in the snow. “Are you okay?”

  He waved me off, apparently unable to speak.

  I looked at the woman who hovered over him, wincing. “Is he okay?”

  She shot me a dirty look. “Does he look okay? If you can’t ski, you shouldn’t be out here without an instructor.”

  “I was trying to leave. I slipped and lost control…” I looked back down at the instructor who was taking his time getting up onto his skis. He braced his hands on his knees for a moment and then straightened, his lips pinched together in pain.

  It was then I realized how big he was. And even without being able to see his eyes because they were covered by snow sunglasses, I could tell he was quite a bit older than the rest of the boy-men instructors. “Are you all right?”

  “I will be.” He put his hands to his hips as I looked up at him. I was tall for a woman at five foot nine but this guy was just tall. He had to be at least six foot three. And broad shouldered.

  Big guy.

  And I’d just kneed him in the junk.

  Gulp.

  “What the hell are you doing on the slope without an instructor?” he groused in an attractively rough American accent.

  “Trying to leave. What the hell were you doing deliberately putting yourself in my path? I told you to get out of the way. So, you know, your injury is really your own fault.”

  His jaw grew taut a second before he retorted, “You hadn’t had time to build up much momentum but if I let you go flying down the slope you could have collided with another guest and caused them injury and whatever happened you would have gotten hurt. So you’re welcome.”

  Feeling foolish but annoyed by his condescending tone, I didn’t offer thanks. Instead, I felt a little petulant. “I said I’m sorry.”

  “Get your ass off the slopes and sign up for an instructor.” He jerked his chin, indicating behind me where the chair lift was. I noted that he had a very strong jawline. With stubble. Nice lips, too. “I’m all booked today but they’ll slide you in if I get a cancellation. Just ask for Grayson King.”

  “No, thank you, Mr. King,” I replied. “Sorry again.” I turned to leave, throwing the scowling woman an apologetic smile.

  “No thank you?”

  I glanced back over my shoulder at his tone.

  He sounded annoyed.

  Very annoyed.

  Oh no.

  “No thank you?” he repeated. “You’re seriously going to come back out here without instruction?”

  “No. I have no intention of coming back out here at all.” I threw an arm out to indicate the expanse of the slopes and my skis slid again. “Ah!” I righted myself, this time not sliding. My heart pounded in my ears. “Oh thank Christ! Aye, okay. Right. I’m heading in before I or someone else suffers serious injury.”

  “Yeah, you do that.”

  He still sounded irritated.

  Dear God, how many times did I need to apologize? “I will!” I threw back over my shoulder, letting him know that now he was annoying me. “Apparently apologies aren’t enough,” I muttered under my breath. “Didn’t even want to come on this stupid slope and then I fall but does anyone ask if I’m okay? No. Where’s the bloody spa when you need it?”

>   “Try not to take anyone else out.” If I wasn’t mistaken he now sounded as though he were amused.

  Now he was laughing at me? My cheeks burned. Him being angry was much better than him laughing at me.

  I dug my poles into the snow and hoofed it further up the slope. The distance allowed me some bravery. “You better remember to nurse your manhood, Mr. King!” I reminded him about his recent painful injury.

  “You nursing it for me sounds better!”

  My lips parted on a huff and I looked back over my shoulder in outrage.

  Even from a distance I could see him grinning at me.

  “There are children in the vicinity!”

  “You’re the one that mentioned it!”

  Dammit, I was. Muttering under my breath again I made my way back up the slope to the chairlift and looked anywhere but at Grayson King.

  Well, this trip was going super well so far.

  * * * *

  “Hey, sweetheart.” My big brother’s voice was a welcome sound as I sat on the end of my bed and stared out over the miraculous vista.

  I was independently wealthy and I hated why.

  It did mean, however, being able to afford a stunning suite on the top floor of the Snow Ghost Lodge. My hotel suite not only had a huge four poster bed, a sitting area with a gas fire, and a massive, luxurious bathroom with a roll-top bath tub, it had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the valley. I could see the town of Cunningham Falls and the lake from here.

  Just wow.

  Between that and Killian’s voice in my ear I was feeling much, much better than I had been an hour ago.