by Zoe York
January has a lot on her plate. She’s temporarily raising her niece and nephew while her sister is overseas, and running the family business, too. The last thing she needs is the dangerous risk of pretending a fling with Seth could be simple. Except the grown man version of the boy she once dated is…perfectly easy. He helps with the kids, no questions asked, and then once they’re asleep, satisfies her in ways her eighteen-year-old self couldn’t have imagined.
But two decades of distance is a shadow layered on top of complicated, long ago memories.
Whatever this temporary magic spell they are under, it can only be for the summer. Any chance of something else between evaporated the day Seth joined the Air Force—and broke her teenage heart.
Pre-order Seth and January’s book now
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Explore more on Zoe’s website: https://zoeyork.com/books/kincaids-of-pine-harbour/fearless-at-heart/
Acknowledgements
This book took a village. I had wonderful editorial support as I wrote it. First from Hudson Lin, who I hired for book coaching about an entirely different project, and then we fell into talking about Will and Catie for the better part of three months. I love where our conversations took this project.
And then my developmental editor, Kristi Yanta, who has worked on eight Pine Harbour novels now, and always reminds me about the heart of this small town series, read an early draft and helped me figure out where I went off the rails.
As the book came together at the end, Kimberly Cannon saved my butt with the copyedit on this project. (Any errors were inserted by me revising things right up to the last minute.)
And speaking of unexpected changes, I must give a grateful nod to a friend on Twitter. Keri Stevens tweeted about characters not finishing ice cream cones, because they’ve become overwhelmed by their passion—a trope I had literally just written in chapter fifteen! I laughed out loud, then went back and revised the chapter because Catie wouldn’t toss a perfectly good cone of rainbow sorbet. No matter how soft Will’s lips looked… Will, on the other hand, would probably toss a hundred dollar bill if he got a chance to kiss Catie, so I think the trope has some validity, but he contained himself because he knows how important ice cream is to Catie. Keri has my eternal gratitude for reminding me about my protagonist’s core values and priorities!
I also saw a tweet from an account called @DevinNunescow (don’t ask, if you don’t know), that read: “Is there anything better than coming to a place you’ve lived before, embraced by memories, secure in the knowledge you’re about to make more?” And that’s where the first and last lines of the book came from. (Don’t let anyone tell you that faffing about on Twitter is a waste of time.)
As always, much thanks to The Viking, my own authoritarian freak, and the little Vikings (not so little anymore), who love real life Pine Harbour just as much as I do. We spent a lot of time there this summer, and they made every minute of that a joy.
Finally, I dedicated this book to my mother. This fall was the twentieth anniversary of her death, and this book was written with that grief heavy on my shoulders. Like Catie, I didn’t understand my mom’s choices when she was alive, and have grown into wanting to make them my own choices, too. I think about that often, and ache to tell her how right she was.
The Original Series
Before The Kincaids of Pine Harbour there were eight other books. Pine Harbour: The Original Series is now complete!
Meet the Foster boys: Dean, Jake, Matt and Sean. A cop, a contractor, a paramedic and an adventure racer. All soldiers. None of them looking for love, but it’s coming!
Their best friends are the Minellis: Zander, Rafe, Tom and Dani. A full-time soldier, a cop, a park ranger and a paramedic. Dani’s the only girl in the entire bunch and she’s not sure how she feels about that. When Rafe got married, she was thrilled to have a sister–and even though he and Olivia have split up, Dani’s not giving up that bond. (And neither is Rafe, for that matter).
The Books of Pine Harbour
Love in a Small Town
Rafe and Olivia
Six years. Two break-ups. One divorce. They should be over each other…
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Love in a Snowstorm
Jake and Dani
Never fall in love with your best friend’s little sister…
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Love on a Spring Morning*
Ryan and Holly
Duplicity. Desire. Denial. They were doomed from the start.
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Love on a Summer Night
Zander and Faith
Sometimes saying goodbye is just the beginning.
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Love on the Run
Dean and Liana
She needs a bodyguard. He needs a job. But there’s nothing strictly professional about their attraction.
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Love in a Sandstorm
Sean and Jenna
It was supposed to be a fling. Two weeks in the south of Spain before they returned to war. They weren’t supposed to fall in love…
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Love on the Outskirts of Town
Matt and Tasha
She fell for him over cupcake decorating, with her daughter sitting between them. And then she learned his name, but it was too late.
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Love on the Edge of Reason
Tom and Chloe
Friends with benefits worked just fine—until the double lines on the pregnancy test.
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Also by Zoe York
Explore all my series! Through all of them, you’ll find a similar sweet, steamy heat to this book.
SMALL TOWN ROMANCE
Pine Harbour
Wardham
Camp Firefly Falls
MILITARY ROMANCE
Pine Harbour
Camp Firefly Falls
SEALs Undone
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www.zoeyork.com
EROTIC ROMANCE (written as ainsley booth)
Forbidden Bodyguards
Frisky Beavers
Billionaire Secrets
Secrets and Lies
www.ainsleybooth.com
www.friskybeavers.com
About the Author
Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family where she writes romance novels set in the places where she grew up and fell in love herself. She’s currently chugging Americanos, wiping sticky fingers, and dreaming of heroes in and out of uniform.
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www.zoeyork.com
Cover design: Zoe York, using images licensed from DepositPhoto
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Copyright © 2021 Zoe York
All rights reserved.
