Safe Haven

By Ariel Storm

When Roxanna Chase finds herself alone in her tiny hometown of Haven, Indiana on Thanksgiving eve, she decides to do the one thing she always swore she'd never do: attend Chatterfest, an unofficial high school reunion held every year the night before Thanksgiving at Haven's busiest bar, The Watering Hole.

After a couple of cocktails and reminiscing with a classmate, Roxanna is overwhelmed, and a little turned on, when her old high school crush Nicholas Birch approaches her at the bar. He's still as tall, broad-shouldered and sexy as he was thirty years ago. Since he'd dated her best friend in high school, Roxanna had always placed Nicholas in a box marked 'hands off.'

When Nicholas admits he had feelings for Roxanna in high school, the two decide to leave the bar together and see what happens next. They quickly find that when old flames are rekindled, they can ignite into an inferno that refuses to burn out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ariel Storm
• Release date: Apr 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386293125

Ariel Storm

A self-professed bookworm, Netflix junkie and all around story geek, Ariel Storm started writing as an adolescent and hasn’t looked back. In her late teens she picked up a paperback romance and was hooked. Her obsession with love stories stems from her desire to shine light and positivity into a negative, dark world. Although she’s held almost every job imaginable, from working in a restaurant, a call center and public libraries, ‘writer’ is her favorite job title, and one she feels blessed to have.

Book preview

When Roxanna Chase finds herself alone in her tiny hometown of Haven, Indiana on Thanksgiving eve, she decides to do the one thing she always swore she’d never do: attend Chatterfest, an unofficial high school reunion held every year the night before Thanksgiving at Haven’s busiest bar, The Watering Hole. After a couple of cocktails and reminiscing with a classmate, Roxanna is overwhelmed, and a little turned on, when her old high school crush Nicholas Birch approaches her at the bar. He’s still as tall, broad-shouldered and sexy as he was thirty years ago. Since he’d dated her best friend in high school, Roxanna had always placed Nicholas in a box marked ‘hands off.’ When Nicholas admits he had feelings for Roxanna in high school, the two decide to leave the bar together and see what happens next. They quickly find that when old flames are rekindled, they can ignite into an inferno that refuses to burn out.

Chapter One

Roxanna ran the lace garment through her fingers and scrutinized the color. Was it cantaloupe or could the hue be described as salmon? Maybe she should settle on a color name that wasn’t tied to something edible. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she’d skipped breakfast and was overdue for lunch. Her cell phone chimed and she absently picked it up without checking the caller ID.

Roxanna Chase, she murmured into the mouthpiece.

Mama? Are you on your way to the airport?

Claire, I think I’m just going to stay home. There’s really no point in my going.

Mother.

Roxanna pulled her phone away from her ear and shot it a dirty look. She hated it when her daughter used the term mother rather than mama or mom. Whenever Claire called her that it meant she was going to say something Roxanna didn’t want to hear. Out of respect for her daughter, Roxanna put the phone back up to her ear.

There’s no point in you being home alone on Thanksgiving. I would have never agreed to leave the country if I thought you would be sitting alone on the holiday.

Honey, I have so much work to do. I really need to finalize the summer line. It will give me time to catch up without interruptions.

Mom!

Roxanna winced and pulled the phone from her ear once again. She tossed the scraps of silk and lace material onto the table in front of her. Deep down she knew Claire was right. She hated when this happened, when the roles were reversed and Claire seemed more like the mother and Roxanna behaved more like the willful daughter instead of the other way around. She consulted the large clock on the wall of her office. Thankfully, Claire had called her with plenty of time to spare.

She didn’t know how her daughter managed to keep track so well, even with the five hour time difference. Claire was spending Thanksgiving in Scotland with her husband and his family, yet she’d still managed to pull Roxanna out of the depths of her work and push her into making her promised trip back home to her small Midwestern town.

Okay, okay. Claire sighed into the receiver and pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "I have my bags packed. They’re in the trunk of my car. I honestly didn’t leave the house this morning with the intention of skipping out on