Hooked Read Free

them sturdy enough for some walking, then struck off on the road around the lake.
    Wind rustled leaves, sunlight dappled the ground beneath the newly greened trees, and the tart, earthy scents of the warming spring worked a calming magic. When she emerged into a sunny spot on the path, the contrast of warm sun and cool breeze on her exposed skin made it feel like the loveliest day ever. She appreciated such things more now. The simple acts of walking and breathing the crisp, clean air were pure pleasure.
    Then her brain started to work.
    Romance. True love. The happiness in Cassie’s face. Why hadn’t Steph ever felt so happy, so fulfilled, so sure of someone’s love?
    The answer, as she’d come to see it over the last year, was that she’d been too busy making money, making a name for herself and making good on the promise that her parents, professors and early business associates had seen in her. She’d always put love and relationships second, because there would be time for that later.
    Well, now it was “later.” And she had one and a half breasts, an uncertain future, and a baggage train longer than most of the men she had considered too “entangled” to get involved with.
    How long Steph walked, trying to lose herself in nature, she couldn’t have said, but when she heard the voices, her cheeks were warm and her shoes were rubbing in places that said “too long.” She rounded a bend in the path and spotted a number of women thirty or forty yards away, at the water’s edge, wearing tan vests and a variety of hats and caps. They all looked oddly plump, until she realized they were wearing those fishing things— waders .
    Edging closer, into the shade of a tree beside the path, she watched them laughing and waving their fishing rods around, seemingly having a great time. A bunch of women who—
    A booming male voice made her reassess that thought. She quickly located a tall man who was giving and getting hugs galore, and bantering with the women. There were a couple of other men present, but none as large and memorable as that one…especially when he threw back his head in a deep, finger-tingling laugh that rolled across the grassy space between them to make her heart skip.
    She knew that laugh, that voice, that man. It was Finn Hartley, the guy she’d dated in Phoenix before moving her headquarters to Atlanta.
    She braced herself against the tree and took a deep breath, stunned by the impact of seeing him again. How could he be here now, at Greer Lodge? And why was he hugging all those women?
    Hugging. Suddenly she recalled in a heart-stopping flashback the size and strength of his arms, the warmth of his big body, the comfort of being clasped in his embrace. He was hugging those women. All of them. As she watched, her eyes began to burn. She wrapped her arms around her waist. Her very skin felt hungry for touch. She wanted one of those hugs. She needed—oh, God, how she needed—somebody to wrap warm arms around her and just hold her.

Chapter Two
    She barely saw the water or sunshine or even the path itself as she hurried back to the Red Setter, where “wedding afterglow” practically pulsated from the windows. Steeling herself, she headed instead to the main lodge and drew up at the front desk to say, “There was a group of women up the trail, fishing….”
    “Ahhh.” The barrel-chested fellow behind the desk nodded, clearly anticipating the rest of her question. “That’s the Casting for Recovery retreat. They come every year at this time.”
    “Casting as in fly-fishing?” she said, and he nodded. At least that part made sense; Finn Hartley was an avid fisherman. “Recovery from what?” The answer struck her—women and recovery—even as he spoke.
    “Breast cancer.” He picked up a cardboard-backed poster from one of the desks behind him, and there were the familiar pink ribbons. “These women are breast cancer survivors and the organization puts on these retreats to help them learn