Hooked

  She’s in high heels; he wears hiking boots.

  Can these two opposites make romance in Metlin work?

  * * *

  HOOKED

  Tayla McKinnon is not a small-town girl. The fashion blogger moved to Metlin with two goals in mind: help her friend start a bookstore and have a little fun. A year later, Tayla has made new friends, successfully launched INK, and is ready for a new challenge. Too bad she can’t get a certain rock climbing comic book geek off her mind.

  Jeremy Allen has been playing the long game with Tayla even though the avid outdoorsman was certain she was the one from the minute he set eyes on her. They might have different tastes, but their chemistry is undeniable.

  When a job opportunity from a new fashion start-up lands in her inbox, Tayla takes it as a sign. She’s not meant for a small town even though her best friend and her inconvenient crush are trying to convince her otherwise.

  Jeremy can’t believe Tayla would be willing to leave her new life behind, but maybe he’s been playing it too cool. Summer in Metlin can sizzle, which gives Jeremy an excuse to turn up the heat.

  Hooked is a stand-alone, opposites-attract romance in the Love Stories on 7th and Main series by Elizabeth Hunter, USA Today Best Selling author of INK.

  Praise for Elizabeth Hunter

  Elizabeth Hunter's books are delicious and addicting, like the best kind of chocolate. She hooked me from the first page, and her stories just keep getting better and better. Paranormal romance fans won't want to miss this exciting author!

  Thea Harrison, NYT bestselling author

  Developing compelling and unforgettable characters is a real Hunter strength as she proves yet again with Kyra and Leo. Another amazing novel by a master storyteller!

  RT Magazine

  This book more than lived up to the expectations I had, in fact it blew them out of the water.

  This Literary Life

  A towering work of romantic fantasy that will captivate the reader's mind and delight their heart. Elizabeth Hunter's ability to construct such a sumptuous narrative time and time again is nothing short of amazing.

  The Reader Eater

  Hooked

  A Love Story on 7th and Main

  Elizabeth Hunter

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  First Look: Grit

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Elizabeth Hunter

  Hooked

  Copyright © 2019

  Elizabeth Hunter

  ISBN: 978-1-941674-40-6

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Cover: Damonza

  Content Editor: Amy Cissell, Cissell Ink

  Copy Editor: Anne Victory

  Proofreader: Linda, Victory Editing

  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or it was not purchased for your use only, please delete it and purchase your own copy from an authorized retailer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Recurve Press LLC

  PO Box 4034

  Visalia, California

  USA

  ElizabethHunterWrites.com

  Created with Vellum

  To everyone who climbs mountains

  —whether they’re the physical kind,

  the mental kind,

  or the kind that test your soul—

  keep going.

  Take breaks when you need to,

  drink lots of water,

  but don’t stop.

  And when you get to the top,

  Pause.

  Take a breath and enjoy the view.

  Then reach your hand out

  and help the person walking behind you.

  Chapter One

  Tayla McKinnon took one step outside, glanced at the profusion of blossoms on the pear trees lining Main Street in Metlin, California, and reached for her handkerchief. She brought the delicately embroidered cotton square to her face.

  Three… two… one…

  “Achoo!” She let out a massive sneeze that made her eyes water. Luckily, it would not smudge her makeup.

  Waterproof mascara, T. Waterproof mascara is your friend in Allergy Town.

  “Hey, Tayla.” Ethan Vasquez stepped outside his hardware store and set up an angled chalkboard on the sidewalk, highlighting the classes he was offering that week. “How ya doing this morning?”

  Tayla strolled toward him, keeping her handkerchief in her hand. “How much longer do these trees bloom?”

  Ethan glanced up at the masses of white blooms. “The pear trees?”

  Tayla blinked away the tears in her eyes. “No, the other trees making me sneeze.”

  He gave her a crooked grin. “Well, there are the almonds, the olives, the apricots, walnuts, the—”

  “Ahhhh!” She threw her head back. “Why did I move to farm country?”

  “I’m just saying it could be any of those.” He shrugged. “But it’s probably the pears. My mom’s allergic too.”

  Tayla wasn’t from Metlin. She was from San Francisco. A native of the cosmopolitan and cultured City on the Bay. The city that didn’t have pear trees everywhere. How the hell had she ended up sneezing in Metlin?

  “Tay!” A voice came from behind her.

  Tayla turned and saw her best friend and roommate, Emmie Elliot, poking her head out of the bookshop and tattoo studio she ran with her boyfriend, Ox. Emmie sold books; Ox was a tattoo artist. Their shop, INK, had been a gamble that turned into a slowly growing success.

  It was also the reason Tayla was in Metlin. She’d moved the year before to help Emmie fulfill her dream. She worked part time in the shop and lived rent free in the second-floor apartment with Emmie. Tayla had also started her own bookkeeping business that was taking off with the merchants in downtown Metlin. It was light-years away from the corporate accounting job she’d held in San Francisco, but corporate accounting wasn’t something Tayla missed.

  At all.

  “Hey.” Emmie walked out of the store with bare feet. She looked like she’d just stumbled out of bed, and her hair was twisted into a messy knot on her head.

  Tayla surveyed the fashion disaster that was her best friend. “Did you just wake up?”

  “Kinda?”

  Tayla shook her head in wonder. She’d been up for over two hours. She’d curled and fixed her newly dark hair—she was experimenting with tones closer to her natural brown—expertly applied makeup, and chosen the perfect outfit to emphasize her voluptuous figure. The pink in the dress she wore complemented the undertones in her skin, and the orange stripe was a strong counterpoint that made her blue eyes more vivid.

  She was a fashion blogger in addition to being a bookkeeper. Her hustle was strong, and she did not walk out the door without her face and outfit perfect.

  “Why did I come out here?” Emmie looked half-asleep and definitely caffeine deprived. “Oh! Right
. Did you want to meet at Daisy’s for lunch?”

  Tayla mentally scrolled through her calendar. “I have meetings at ten and eleven, but I’m supposed to do Daisy’s books around two, so yes. I’ll meet you there at… twelve thirty?”

  “Ox should be able to watch the shop.” Emmie walked toward her and pulled a small pack of tissues from her pocket. “Also, the handkerchief is cute, but this is spring in Metlin. You need the heavy-duty stuff.”

  “Fine.” Tayla reluctantly took the small tissue package with the words Now with more aloe! on the side. “I bow to your rural-living experience.”

  “And this.” Emmie handed over a bubbled strip of pills. “Antihistamines. Every day, Tayla. You have to take them every day.”

  Tayla took the pills. “Why do you want to live here again?”

  “Because it’s beautiful, close to the mountains, has great farmers’ markets, and I’ll be able to buy a house before I’m fifty.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you too.” Tayla dropped the pills and the tissues into her bright pink shoulder bag. “But I don’t love your trees.” She put on her sunglasses and started walking toward the lot where she’d parked her car, then she turned and glanced back at the shop.

  Light. Pretty white blossoms scattered on the sidewalk. Empty sidewalks.

  “Stop!” She held up her hand. “Emmie, before you go back inside—”

  “Morning outfit pic?”

  “Yes.” Tayla took the bag off her shoulder and adjusted the belt on the striped wrap dress to adjust the amount of cleavage it showed. “They just sent me this bag, and the light is perfect for spring photos with the flowers and everything.”

  She hurried back to Emmie and the line of blooming pear trees. “Can you prop the shop door open?” She glanced at the adorable new yellow bike Emmie had bought the month before that was chained to the rack in front of the shop. “That’s good if we can get it in the background. I think if I stand here…” She looked up. “Ethan, can you shake this tree a little bit?”

  Ethan, who’d been leaning in his doorway, looking bemused at the impromptu photo shoot, frowned. “You’re already sneezing and you want me to shake more pollen on you?”

  Noooooo, her nose yelled. She glanced at the bright vegan “leather” bag she’d been given and thought about handbag hashtags, follower counts, and her bank account. “Yeah. More flowers.”

  Emmie took Tayla’s phone and opened the camera while Tayla gave her makeup a quick check. Her skin had a nice glow—that new highlighter was really working—and her gold-framed sunglasses and eyebrows were on point. She put the mirror away and held the bag in both hands, pushing her bust together as she positioned herself under the tree, looked up, and let out a fake laugh.

  “It’s so weird when you do that,” Ethan said, reaching up with a rake and shaking one of the pear tree branches. White flower petals rained down on the sidewalk and onto Tayla.

  “Fake laugh equals natural smile,” Tayla said. She changed positions a few times. Put the bag over her shoulder. Looked at the camera. Then away from it. Turned and walked away. Turned back. “Emmie, how we doing?” She could feel her nose starting to twitch.

  “Give me one more second…” Emmie stepped back, then stepped forward. “The light is tricky.” She took a few more pictures and held out the phone. “Check ’em.”

  Tayla held her handkerchief to her nose and scrolled quickly through the photos. “I can use at least three of these, and the bag looks amazing. Thank— Achoo!”

  “Achoo to you too,” Emmie said. “Take your antihistamines.”

  Tayla slipped her phone in the bag and gave up on her embroidered handkerchief to blow her nose with the paper tissues. “These trees.” She leaned over and kissed Emmie’s cheek quickly. “You’re the best.”

  “It’s kind of cold.” Emmie looked down at her feet. “Have I been barefoot this whole time?”

  “Yes. Go back inside before Ox comes and yells at me for making your precious little feet shiver.” She turned Emmie by the shoulders and shoved her toward the door. “See you at lunch. Don’t forget to post on the blog today. With pictures! Don’t forget the pictures.”

  “Okay.” Emmie waved over her shoulder. “See you.”

  Ethan walked back to his shop and propped the rake against the front of his display windows. “What about me? Do I get a kiss too?”

  Tayla sashayed over to his doorway and crooked her finger at him. “Better believe it, handsome.”

  Tayla kissed Ethan’s bearded cheek when he leaned down. Then she pulled away just as another sneeze exploded from her nose. “I think I’m allergic to you too.”

  “Nah.” He grinned. “But I bet Jeremy would like it if you were.”

  “Hush.” She shooed him away with a smile and a flip of her manicured hand. “Don’t start trouble.”

  Ethan was an adorable bear of a man. Tall, broad shoulders, tan skin, and hazel-brown eyes with a belly that said he enjoyed a pint or two at the Ice House after work. He loved live music, trivia night at the pub, and bingeing the latest sci-fi or fantasy series on the weekend. He drove a big pickup truck and liked his women with more than a handful of ass.

  In short, he was exactly Tayla’s type.

  And yet… no chemistry. None.

  “Bye!” She walked down Main Street and turned right at the crosswalk. On the corner of Main and Ash were the dark windows of Top Shelf Comics and Games where the man who was definitely not Tayla’s type would be opening his door in about an hour.

  Jeremy Allen was sweet, geeky, and handsome as sin. His body told the story of a skinny kid who finally grew into his limbs and put on a nice amount of muscle. He had skin the color of mahogany, and his dark brown eyes glinted with humor. He wore his short hair twisted at the ends and a trim beard Tayla desperately wanted to run her fingers over. He had a near-obscene number of eyelashes. It was truly unfair.

  That part of Jeremy was all Tayla’s type. But in addition to loving comics and games, Jeremy loved everything about the outdoors. He climbed mountains in his spare time. He camped. He fished. He kayaked. He rode down giant hills on his bike.

  Tayla was a yoga enthusiast and loved to dance. Hiking and fishing? Not her scene. So much dirt. So many bugs. She loved her bike, but she wasn’t crazy enough to take it down mountains. She liked nature… through the pristine window of a well-furnished hotel.

  Jeremy was also loyal, family-oriented, and had “long-term romantic partner” written all over his gorgeous face.

  Tayla wasn’t interested in long-term anything. She liked variety. In fashion, in work, and in men. Who could handle one person for the rest of their life? She’d be bored to tears.

  And yet…

  Even walking by his shop gave her goose bumps.

  So. Inconvenient.

  Tayla glanced at Jeremy’s store and kept walking. She had a lot to do that day. The last thing she should be thinking about was a man who shouldn’t move past the flirting stage.

  Tayla McKinnon had a life and a plan. Jeremy Allen wasn’t part of it.

  She was snacking on a handful of honey-roasted almonds from Frannie’s Nut Shack when an email alert popped up in the corner of her screen. Seeing the name, she clicked on it. Tobin Carter was one of the few people at her old job she still kept in touch with because of their shared interest in side-eyeing celebrities on social media.

  “Saw this,” Tobin’s email said. “Thought of you.”

  Tayla clicked on the link and was immediately taken to a blog post on SOKA, an emerging online marketplace for world fashion. She scrolled through the post announcing the launch of SOKA’s new app, which would expand on their website, adding new social features and buy links for harder-to-find small designers around the world. Tayla’s eyes locked on the bottom paragraph, which was underlined and highlighted in green.

  Trendsetters, influencers, and fashion professionals interested in advancement opportunities
on an exciting and diverse team are needed at all levels for SOKA’s expansion.

  Hmmmm.

  Tayla clicked on the link and a form popped up asking for professional details. Education. Experience. Interests. Social media links. A few of the more unusual questions intrigued her. Dream travel destination. Favorite food. Most recent read. And the most intriguing: Why is fashion important? Personally? Culturally? Globally?

  Glancing at Frannie, who was helping a customer while Tayla waited to go over year-to-date expenses, she started to fill out the form.

  Why not? SOKA was gaining a ton of low-key attention, and they’d probably never read her entry anyway, so Tayla decided to go for it. She included all the professional details they asked for and opened up on the unusual asks.

  Dream travel destination? A beach resort in Zanzibar, preferably with many handsome men, a good DJ, and a limitless phone battery.

  Favorite food? Tofu khao soi. It’s a crispy curry noodle dish I can only get one place in the city, and it is amazing.

  Most recent read: The Wedding Date. If you’re judgy about romance novels, I have nothing to say to you. Get thee away and read some Nora.

  Why is fashion important?

  Tayla minimized the window and decided to think about that one because it felt like too personal a question to answer between coffee and honey-roasted almonds at the Nut Shack.