Ex-Marine Adam Rouse fills his days with lumberjacking and building furniture. His nights are spent wide awake as he relives a raid in Afghanistan gone wrong. He emerged as the sole survivor, but questions why. Certainly other members of this team were more worthy of living than him. Deciding that bartending at night would be a better use of his time than battling insomnia, Adam applies at Black Wolf Tavern, the only place to hang out in small-town Danton, Vermont. He couldn’t drown his own troubles in rum, but maybe he can help others do so.
When Hope is attacked just outside the tavern, Adam comes to her aid, and the frosty winter temperatures can’t cool the heat that’s always been between them. Can Hope scale Adam’s fortress walls? Can Adam believe he is worthy of a woman like Hope? Will they rescue each other?
Christine DePetrillo can often be found hugging trees, conversing with dragonflies, and walking barefoot through sun-warmed soil. She finds joy in listening to the wind, bathing in moonlight, and breathing in the fragrances of things that bloom. If she had her way, the sky would be the only roof over her head.
Her love of nature seeps into every story she tells. As does her obsession with bearded mountain men who build, often smell like sawdust, and know how to cherish the women they love. Today she writes tales meant to make you laugh, maybe make you sweat, and definitely make you believe in the power of love.
She lives in Rhode Island and occasionally Vermont with her pack—a husband, a cat, and a big, black German Shepherd who defends her fiercely from all evils.