Excerpt Reveal: Falling in Lake Mistletoe

 

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❄️𝔼𝕏ℂ𝔼ℝℙ𝕋 ℝ𝔼𝕍𝔼𝔸𝕃 ❄️

𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑰𝑵 𝑳𝑨𝑲𝑬 𝑴𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑶𝑬 by Amber Kelly releases on October 24th. Check out this sneak peek! 

PRE-ORDER/ ADD IT TO YOUR AMAZON WISHLIST! 

https://geni.us/FILM

𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐔𝐩: 

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What to expect:

🏡Small Town 

🎄Holiday Romance

❤️‍🔥Sister’s Ex

💥He Falls First 

Excerpt: 

The sleigh takes a slight curve, the trail narrowing until the pedestrian bridge that crosses the lake comes into view up ahead, its wooden beams lit with strings of white lights. The reflection on the water below is so perfect that it looks like two bridges—one above, one suspended on the glassy surface.

Nick slows the horses as we start to go beneath the bridge. Then, just as we pass under the right edge of it, something green catches my eye.

Mistletoe.

A neat little sprig, tied with a red ribbon, dangling just low enough to be impossible to ignore.

Nick glances back at us, his grin hidden beneath that thick white beard, and I swear he gives me a wink.

As he turns back to the horse, I feel Iris shift slightly beside me, probably realizing what’s hanging above us. My first instinct is to make light of the moment, but instead, I reach across the space between us, my palm cupping the side of her face. Her skin is soft and chilled from the night air, her cheekbone fitting perfectly into the palm of my hand.

Her eyes lift to mine.

Everything slows down—the horses, the jingle of the sleigh bells, my own breathing.

My eyes are asking her the question I can’t say out loud.

And when her lashes lower and she leans toward me, it’s all the permission I need.

Our lips meet.

Hers are soft and warm and taste faintly salty from the corn dog earlier.

I don’t mean for it to be anything more than a quick kiss—a brush of lips under the mistletoe because that’s the rule—but she makes this tiny sound, a quiet gasp, and before I know what I’m doing, I deepen it.

My free hand finds her hip under the blanket, steadying her as I tilt my head and catch her bottom lip gently between my teeth.

Her breath hitches.

And then I’m completely lost.

The world drops away—no cold, no crowd, no festival behind us. Just the heat of her mouth and the soft feel of her hair brushing against my neck and the rush of blood in my ears.

I don’t even notice how long we’re kissing until the sleigh jerks slightly and comes to a stop.

Reluctantly, I pull back. Her eyes stay closed for half a second longer before fluttering open, and there’s a dazed look in them that does dangerous things to my self-control.

Damn.

Then she blinks, looks around, and I see the moment she realizes we’re back at the wooden sign where the ride started—and that there’s a small line of people waiting.

And one of them is Nathan.

His eyes are dancing with amusement as he grins at us—a smug, knowing older-brother kind.

“Say cheese!” a woman dressed as an elf bellows and then snaps our picture with a Polaroid camera.

The flash blinds me for a split second.

Iris thanks Nick in a rush and hops down from the sleigh, the blanket sliding from her lap. She takes the photo from the elf’s hand and heads straight for Nathan.

I stand and reach for my wallet, but Nick waves me off before I can hand him a tip.

“Seeing two young people so in love is reward enough for me,” he says, his eyes twinkling.

I choke on a laugh. “Oh, we’re not …” I gesture vaguely between Iris and myself. “We’re just friends.”

I can hear the sharp edge in my own voice on the word just, like I’m trying to make it true.

Nick tilts his head, looking amused. “Hmm,” he says in that noncommittal way wise old men in Christmas movies do. He reaches down and picks up a small silver chain that’s sitting on the discarded blanket and hands it to me. “Well, just you let the lake work its magic, and the answers will come. They always do.”

“Answers to what?”

“The questions you’re asking yourself.”

I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

“Nick, how old are you?”

“Old enough,” he says, and before I can ask more, he’s already turned around and snapping the reins, moving the sleigh forward for the next group.

I look down at the bracelet in my palm, which has a tiny fairy charm attached. As I turn it in my fingers, I notice the word Pixie engraved on the wings.

Blurb: 

Coming home to Lake Mistletoe, Idaho, was supposed to give me space to breathe, regroup, and figure out what comes after college—a couple of quiet months wrapped in twinkling lights and holiday cheer before stepping into the real world. Instead, one wrong step on the ice sends me straight into the care of Dr. Brody Canaday—the man who once dated my older sister, and the boy I used to crush on with every piece of my teenage heart. Only now, he’s not just Arie’s ex. He’s the town’s devastatingly handsome doctor… and the way he looks at me feels anything but brotherly.

I came back searching for direction. But what if the future I’ve been chasing has been waiting for me here all along?

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240747071-falling-in-lake-mistletoe

Find more books by Amber Kelly here: 

www.authoramberkelly.com