Contributors: Jodi PayneSeries: Sapphic #1
Genre: FF/Sapphic, Lesbian, Novel, Small Town Romance, Sweet with Heat
Release Date: October 11, 2022
Buy the Book: Amazon~~Barnes & Noble~~iBooks~~Kobo~~Smashwords~~Universal eBook LinksA Summit Springs shared-world Novel.
Top of the World is a second chances Sapphic (lesbian) romance set in the fictional town of Summit Springs, CO, featuring an ice queen artist and her mountain biker, rough and tumble ex.
Frankie Hoffman is excited about her new job with Marmot and Moose Outfitters, developing their mountain biking adventure program. Riding is her passion, and she loves every adrenaline fueled moment of her sport. Sure, she could have gotten a similar seasonal job back in Vermont, but Frankie chose Summit Springs for a reason, and her name is Aspen Young.
Aspen left Vermont after college graduation to pursue her dream of running an art gallery. She’s also a potter and moved home to Summit Springs to surround herself with amazing artists, all of whom are trying to make a living with what they do. Keeping the gallery’s doors open and her co-op of resident artists in business keeps her busy enough that she never thinks about Frankie anymore, and she has completely buried her broken heart.
Aspen’s not impressed when she comes home to find Frankie standing in her kitchen, and she doesn’t mince words when it’s time for Frankie to go home, making it clear she doesn’t want to see Frankie again.
But Frankie has come a long way to win Aspen back and one rejection can’t shake her resolve. Can Frankie make amends and get through Aspen’s walls? And if she can, will it be the forever love she is hoping for or just a summer fling?
Also in this series:
Chapter One
Frankie braked to a stop in the parking lot at the bottom of the bike trail and shared a high five with the pair she’d joined up with at the top of the mountain. “Whoo! That was sweet.” She tugged her helmet off and ran her fingers over her blond braid, grinning with the adrenaline rush of a great ride.
“Right? You kicked ass. That slalom bit toward the end is pretty gnarly, huh? You gotta watch that last bend…the one with the boulder on the outside.” Patrick and Heather were experienced and pretty hardcore on the trail. Frankie wasn’t sure if they were locals or just came up here a lot, but they were serious terrain riders and had shown her all the best places to trick or get some air along the way. They’d been good people to run into.
“Totally.” She nodded, still breathing hard from the workout. “I’m glad you were in front of me, man. The only reason I didn’t bite it is because you almost did.”
They all laughed. Frankie went for her water bottle and took a big swig, washing the dust from the last bit of trail out of her mouth.
“Are you from around here?” Heather got off her bike and started stretching.
“No. I’m a seasonal hire up at Marmot and Moose.” She was pretty stoked about it too.
“The outfitters? Oh, dude. Awesome. Are you a guide? I didn’t know they were into biking.”
“They are this year.” She gave Heather a wink. “They hired me to set up the program and run it as a trial thing for the summer.” And if it worked out, she’d find a way to be useful over the winter too. It paid well, better than anything she’d done before, and she loved biking. “We’ll see how it goes.”
“Well, I hope it goes well.”
“Thanks.” Frankie did too. The job had been hard to land—she’d had two interviews with Liz and Lupe and still hadn’t been officially hired until she’d made it out here and they’d met her in person. She got it, they were putting a lot of trust in her. Mountain biking was a new venture for the M&M this summer, and she knew they wanted to do it right.
All she had to do now was not fuck it up. That wasn’t an option. She needed the job, sure, and it was a good one, but she hadn’t actually come all the way out here for the work.
She’d come out here for Aspen.
Aspen Young—her Penny.
Named for the tree, not the town.
Patrick opened the back of a black pickup and started loading their gear. Heather pulled out her phone. “Take my number in case you’re looking for someone to ride with. Riding alone up here’s not a great idea; you were smart to wait for someone to hook up with.”
She knew. She’d made that mistake once; she wasn’t going to make it again. “Thank you. That would be awesome.” She handed Heather her phone and Heather put in her info. “Heather Booth. Got it.”
“Booth for now. Patrick’s last name is Young. We got married a month ago, and I still haven’t decided yet if I’m taking his name or keeping my own. It’s making him crazy.”
“Patrick Young?” Holy shit. It couldn’t be. She wasn’t ever that lucky. “And you all are local?”
“Patrick has a house just outside of town. We love it. I’m a teacher and Patrick does ski patrol. He’s got family here too, so there’s even more reason to stay.”
“Oh…very cool.”
No fucking way.
Patrick turned around, and suddenly Frankie could see the resemblance. She’d missed it when he was wearing his helmet. Patrick and Penny had the same dark eyes, the same wide smile. He had to be the little brother she’d talked about.
Whoa.
“You got Heather’s number, right? Let’s do this again. We can hook you up with some other riders too.” Patrick stuck out his hand and she shook it.
“Thanks. It was great to meet you both.”
Say hi to your sister for me.
Yeah, no. Not yet.
Heather put her bike on the rack, and it looked like they were all packed up. “Good luck with M and M; they’re great people.”
“Thank you. Fingers crossed.” Frankie got out of the way so Patrick could pull his truck out, and gave them a wave as they drove away.
Okay, that was totally wild.
Not only had she just had an awesome ride, but of all people, she’d actually run into Penny’s brother on the trail. For a second, she’d considered telling Patrick she knew Penny, but she didn’t want Penny to hear she was in town from anyone but her.
She didn’t think it was going to go over so well.
She walked her bike to her Forester and set it on the rack, then tossed all her gear onto the back seat. Waiting for her on the passenger seat was a Luna Bar and a bottle of water, and she opened both. She was hungry after that ride. Maybe she’d head into town to scope out some food. Or maybe she’d see if she could figure out where Penny had landed when she moved home again.
But as soon as the Luna Bar hit her stomach, she realized there was no way she was going to make it into town today. She was still adjusting to the altitude, and it was hitting her hard after that ride. Burlington was a whopping two hundred feet above sea level. Mount Mansfield was as high as she’d ever been until now at forty-three hundred feet, and she’d only spent a few hours at a time up there. This was her second day in Summit Springs at nearly six thousand feet flat, and she was feeling it.
Like, whoa.
She’d taken ibuprofen this morning but her headache was returning fast, and this time she was feeling pretty nauseated too. She’d obviously pushed too hard too soon. What she needed now was more water and some rest, or she was going to regret that ride.
She wanted to explore, but that was just not happening. Maybe tomorrow. For now, it was back to the bunkhouse for a nap.
Published by: Tygerseye Publishing, LLC
ASIN: B0B5JWQP5F
