“I didn’t dare hope I’d end up with anyone. I wouldn’t ever have dared hope I’d end up with you.”

“Must’ve been fate,” Rosie said, “you and me in that puddle. Whatever will we do now it’s stopped raining?”

Jem covered Rosie’s hand with her own, entwining their fingers. She felt Rosie kiss her forehead, and she took a deep, steadying breath that filled her lungs and made her smile. “I think we’ll manage just fine,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what we’ll get up to in the sunshine.”

The End

About the Author

Cari Hunter lives in the northwest of England with her wife, their cat, and a field full of sheep. She works full-time as a paramedic and dreams up stories in her spare time.

Cari enjoys long, windswept, muddy walks in her beloved Peak District. In the summer she can usually be found sitting in the garden with her feet up, scribbling in her writing pad. Although she doesn’t like to boast, she will admit that she makes a very fine Bakewell tart.

Her first novel, Snowbound, received an Alice B. Lavender Certificate for outstanding debut. No Good Reason, the first in the Dark Peak series, won a 2015 Rainbow Award for Best Mystery and was a finalist in the 2016 Lambda and Goldie Awards. Its sequel, Cold to the Touch, won a Goldie and a Rainbow Award for Best Mystery. A Quiet Death, the final book in the series, was a finalist in the 2018 Lambda and Goldie Awards, and won the 2017 Rainbow Award for Best Mystery.

Cari can be contacted at: [email protected]

Books Available from Bold Strokes Books

All She Wants by Larkin Rose. Marci Jones and Tessa Dalton get more than they bargained for when their plans for a one-night stand turn into an opportunity for love. (978-1-63555-476-2)

Beautiful Accidents by Erin Zak. Stevie Adams and Bernadette Thompson discover that sometimes the best things in life happen purely by accident. (978-1-63555-497-7)

Before Now by Joy Argento. Can Delany and Jade overcome the betrayal that spans the centuries to reignite a love that can’t be broken? (978-1-63555-525-7)

Breathe by Cari Hunter. Paramedic Jemima Pardon’s chronic bad luck seems to be improving when she meets police officer Rosie Jones. But they face a battle to survive before they can find love. (978-1-63555-523-3)

Double-Crossed by Ali Vali. Hired thief and killer Reed Gable finds something in her scope that will change her life forever when she gets a contract to end casino accountant Brinley Myers’s life. (978-1-63555-302-4)

False Horizons by CJ Birch. Jordan and Ash struggle with different views on the alien agenda and must find their way back to each other before they’re swallowed up by a centuries-old war. (978-1-63555-519-6)