Just Say Maybe: A Thistle Bend Novel Read Free

path before him. “Happy trails.”
    He glanced at the screen, his eyebrows rising along with his heart rate as he read the contact information she’d typed in.
    Holly—The Elusive Perfect 10
    A winking smiley-face emoji followed, as did the most exciting combination of ten digits he might’ve ever seen.
    Bryce’s heart surged. “Definitely the best fall I’ve ever taken,” he said, shamelessly flirting. He slipped the phone into his pocket and leveled a gaze on her as electric as the bright blue sky. “Maybe I don’t need any more practice.”
    Leaving her smiling, he pedaled off, churning up dust from the trail, and feeling like a badass movie hero.

Chapter 2
    Holly Birdsong swiveled her chair to face the large picture window in her second-floor law office on Snowberry Street. She’d strategically placed her desk so she had a view of the intersection of Snowberry and Larkspur Avenue, the charming main street of Thistle Bend. It was a prime location amidst colorful, movie-set-worthy Western-style buildings—most left over from the early mining days and lovingly restored and repurposed. Planters made of timber flanked the sidewalks, billowing with early season wildflowers in red, yellow, purple, and pink, with new blooms popping out every day.
    Holly had also scored a view of majestic Paintbrush Peak in the near distance. She’d squandered plenty of time at her desk distracted by the rugged beauty of the mountain, and by watching friends, neighbors, and tourists come and go on the streets and in the shops below. But thoughts of someone else had preoccupied her today.
    Bryce…
    Is he still in the area?
    Will he call?
    Is he even single?
    It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d met him, and she’d thought of little else.
    “I can’t believe you put your number in his phone,” her friend Lindsey said. She sat on the edge of one of a pair of taupe suede chairs in front of Holly’s desk. Her green eyes stayed wide and layers of her blond hair fell in front of her shoulders as she took a sip of limeade—finally back on the menu at Calypso Coffee after a long winter of lattes, hot chocolate, and snow up to the windows. Lindsey had dropped in with limeades for them both, continuing a tradition Holly had begun a year ago when Lindsey was new in town and starting her job bringing the Thistle Bend Mountain Heritage Museum to life. “I mean, you have your
policy.
” Lindsey made quotation marks with her fingers.
    “I know—never mix it up with the tourists.” Holly regretted her former vehemence about the rule now that she wanted to break it with Bryce.
    But you have your policy for a reason.
    Lindsey furrowed her brow. “Where did that even come from?”
    Holly shook her head. “Must we go there?”
    “Yes, we must.” Lindsey scooted back in the chair, straightened her chambray shirtdress, and crossed her legs as if she was settling in for quite a tale.
    Holly took a slug of her limeade, puckering her lips as she savored its tart sweetness. “I grew up in Thistle Bend. I’ve lived here my entire life except for my years in college and law school.”
    “That’s not new information. Skip to the juicy part because I’m a hundred percent sure there is one,” Lindsey teased. “So you came back to town right after you got your law degree…”
    “Single and seriously sure that the odds of finding romance with the men I knew in Thistle Bend were critically low.”
    Lindsey raised her cup to Holly. “Population 1519. I’ll never forget the sinking feeling I got the day I pulled into town with everything I owned in that rickety old U-Haul and saw that sign.”
    “But I figured there’d be tourists coming to the resort at Paintbrush Peak year-round. You know, skiers, snowboarders, mountain bikers. And other men showing up to hike or hunt or go fly-fishing. Manly kind of guys that are just my type.”
    “Like what’s-his-name that you met up on Wild Rose Ridge?”
    “Yep.” A smile