Wildest Dreams

By JoMarie DeGioia

What do you do when life gives you a second chance at a dream?

Josie Corbin came to Cloud Canyon a year ago, hoping to find a new life. She had no illusions of a new love, though. She gave up on that dream when the guy she fell for ghosted her three years earlier.

Pete Kelly works with cars and has no problem getting his hands dirty. He moved his kid sister and brother to Cloud Canyon to start over when their parents died, but he’d had to leave the one woman he’d ever loved. Responsibility doused his dreams of forever and now he focuses on work and pretty much nothing else. What good is it to dream about a future that might never come?

When Josie’s car breaks down, Pete comes to her rescue. She’s stunned, and a little bit pissed. He’s ashamed he’d taken what he considers the coward’s way out when he’d ended things. They can’t deny their attraction is still there and, though she says it won’t happen again, Pete insists that they aren’t over. He vows to make up for what he did all those years ago.

Will Josie get past the hurt when she learns what Pete did for his family?
Or is it too late to realize their wildest dreams?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JoMarie DeGioia
• Release date: Oct 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781944181390

JoMarie DeGioia

JoMarie DeGioia is a bestselling author of Historical and Contemporary Romance. She's known Mickey Mouse from the "inside," has been a copyeditor for her tiny town's newspaper, and a bookseller. She is the author of 50 Romances, and writes Young Adult Fantasy/Adventure stories and Paranormal Romance too. She gets lost in DIY projects around the house and works out plot ideas during long runs. She divides her time between Central Florida and New England, and you may contact her at [e-mail]

Book preview

Wildest Dreams

by

JoMarie DeGioia

PUBLISHED BY:

Bailey Park Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright © JoMarie DeGioia 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

ISBN: 978-1-944181-39-0

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

About the Author

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Chapter 1

Cloud Canyon, California

Josie Corbin straightened the rack of flannel shirts in Mountain Outfitters, the sporting goods store where she worked. She was dressed in her shop uniform as usual, jeans and a t-shirt with her own flannel over it. The fabric of the new flannel shirts on the rack was soft beneath her fingers, and one particular red and black buffalo plaid reminded her of the colors a guy she knew would wear. A guy she knew a long time ago. She blew out a breath and dropped her hand.

She hadn’t thought about him in months. Well, in weeks anyway. His memory was insidious and struck her at the oddest times. Since coming to Cloud Canyon over a year ago though, her work and her friends have managed to almost fill her time. She’d thrown a few bags into her slightly old but good enough Jeep and left Tahoe, and her well-meaning but somewhat intrusive parents, behind and headed west. She hadn’t looked back since, except for the occasional check-ins with her parents.

The tourist season was still going strong in the Sierra Nevada, especially in Cloud Canyon. The store was hopping pretty much every day. Her sales commissions were hefty this past summer, and autumn should prove just as generous. She knew she could count today’s share as pretty darn good for a Tuesday in early September.

When she’d first arrived in town, she’d had no real direction. A stroke of sheer luck had landed her this job, and a surprising connection that netted her a pretty nice apartment, too. Now she had a job she loved, a cute place to live, and close friends. Tonight was Ladies’ Night at the Treetop Inn, too. It was nearly the store’s closing time, after all. Maybe she would lose herself in a Cloud Nine. The sweet, surprisingly strong blue drink was just what the doctor ordered.

All set, Josie?

Josie waved a hand at her boss Kate. Yep.

Kate, her boss, was an older woman with a no-nonsense but friendly personality. She was tan and fit from spending lots of time in the Tahoe National Forest all around them. She wore her silver-streaked dark hair in a ponytail, her own flannel and khakis looking much like Josie’s.

Kate nodded as she flicked off all but the security lights. The store was still bathed in light from outside since this store, like most of the others in town, closed up pretty early.

Nice day of sales, girl, Kate said. You’re a godsend.

Josie flushed a little but smiled. Her father used to take her with him whenever he explored the woods around the lake and the nearby Truckee River. She knew all about hiking and kayaking, and a little bit about fishing, and now she used that knowledge to full advantage. This might be her first job in sales, but she’d discovered that she was very good at upselling too. She only pushed items a customer might really like or could actually use, though. This made her popular with locals and successful with out-of-towners.

Thanks, Kate.

Headed to the Treetop tonight?

You know it. Why don’t you come out and join us?

Nah, my daughter is bringing the kiddos for dinner tonight. Have a Cloud Nine for me?

I’ll have a couple, I think.

Kate laughed and the two of them headed toward the back exit of the store.

See you tomorrow, Kate said as she headed toward her car.

Yep, see you.

Josie locked the door behind her and headed up the staircase toward the apartment above the store. Kate was her landlady too, which she’d learned was nothing new for Cloud Canyon not long after she’d moved here. Everyone seemed to have these kinds of multi-layer relationships, so she supposed she was a full-fledged Clouder at this point. The nickname felt a little silly but apt.

The place was a one-bed/one bath deal. It had a galley kitchen with a breakfast bar and a small living room. It also had hardwood floors, wide moldings, deep eaves, and was furnished very comfortably. The sofa and chair were buffed leather and the bed was a surprisingly huge four-poster. Kate had told her that the living room set, bed, and kitchen stools were cast-offs from her daughter’s place, but everything suited Josie just fine for now.

She stripped off her mountain-girl clothes and stepped into the clawfoot tub in the white-tiled bathroom. Balancing the temptation of a good, long soak with a quick escape to the Treetop, she pulled the curtain around the tub. With her long dark hair pinned up on top of her head, she took a shower to get ready to go the Treetop.

After her shower, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a thin teal sweater. Even this time of year, the evenings grew a little chilly up here in the Sierra Nevada. With her hair down from its earlier ponytail, she ran a brush through it and tucked it behind her ears. She fastened some dangly crystal earrings she’d bought from the boutique near her friend Chloe’s café. They were pretty little things, and made her feel dressed up as silly as that might seem. She slipped on high-heeled strappy sandals, gaining a few inches on her five-foot, two-inch frame. After applying some mascara and lip gloss, she was good to go.

She went back down the staircase and set the alarm system before exiting out the back door. Her Jeep was parked in the alley behind, and she climbed inside. It was still a reliable thing after over a year in the mountains and was really good on snowy or rainy winding roads. Luckily, there was