From This Moment

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Authors: Alison Chaffin Higson

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From This

Moment

Jackson Hole Book 1

 

ALISON CHAFFIN HIGSON

 

HFCA Publishing House

 

From This Moment

 

Copyright © 2013 Alison Chaffin Higson

 

All rights reserved.

 

 

 

This book is a written act of fiction.
  Any places, characters, or similarities are pure coincidence.  If certain places or characters are referenced it is for entertainment purposes only.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

 

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

 

ISBN:  1479192236

 

ISBN-13:
  978-1479192236

DEDICATION

 

 

To my husband with love.  Thank you for putting up with my reading addiction.

 

To my mother Sylvia and my father Alan, also with love.  Thank you for sharing your love of books with me and for always being there.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A big thank you to everyone listed here, for their help and encouragement.

 

Editors

 

Louise Chaffin and Lesley Hardman

 

Cover Artist

 

Alison Chaffin Higson

Beta Readers

 

Robin Harper (
Wicked Cool Design
), Suella Holland, Hildred Livesey, Angela
Nuttall, Marsha Thalleen and Gabriela Tortolano

 

A special thank you to Amazon bestselling author,
Jennifer Foor
and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author,
Emily Snow
, for taking time out from their busy schedules to read this book.

 

Thank you also to my children, Abigail, Conor, Flynn and Heidi, for putting up with my distraction in getting this book written.

 
Chapter 1
 

~~ Rona ~~

 

Chicago’s O’Hare transit lounge is a place that, three days ago, I was looking forward to visiting.  It was to be our honeymoon and part of our own personal transit into married life together.  As I stand alone,
looking around, trying to decide which way to head to wait for my onward flight to Jackson Hole, I feel lost and I’m not really sure what I’m doing here. 

 

Nick, my fiancé
, or rather ex-fiancé, told me he’s too young to get married and left me an hour before we were supposed to be taking our vows.  He’s thirty, so not exactly too young to get married in my book.

 

So that’s why I’m taking our honeymoon flight to Jackson, alone.
  Don’t quite know what I’m going to do when I get there.  Originally a friend of Nick’s had given us his cabin for a month as a wedding present.  A romantic holiday in a secluded forest isn’t really an option now, and to be honest, I want nothing to do with him or his friends anymore.

 

Taking a few deep breaths while turning away from the departures board, I notice a coffee shop.
  Entering, I go and purchase a vanilla latte then find a quiet corner to rest up.  Taking a few sips of my drink, I reach into my purse for my iPad to read until my flight is called.  At least someone will get a happy ending.

 

After about thirty minutes, I get the feeling that I’m being watched.
  Reaching for my coffee, while discreetly looking up, I clash with the eyes of a really good looking guy.  He’s sitting one table over, staring at me with what looks like hunger in his sparkling green eyes.  It’s so difficult to look away, but I manage it, telling myself I’m only imagining the way he’s looking at me.

 

Having looked everywhere I can to avoid his eyes, I look back at him.
  He’s still looking at me; I decide that I’m not going to be embarrassed and return his stare.   He’s really hot and I mean hot, like wow.  He looks to be considerably older than my twenty-four years, but I’ve always been attracted to older men.  He looks older than Nick, maybe between thirty-five and forty.  He sure is handsome though.

 

I start my once over from the tip of his tan cowboy boots.
  My eyes travel up his long, jean clad, muscular legs to his chest, and by the way his t-shirt moulds to his chest, he looks to have a six pack hidden under there.  He has broad shoulders which I guess he gets from manual labour as opposed to working out in a gym.  He just doesn’t seem the gym type.  He wears his dark hair longer at the back with it curling over his ears.

 

I study his face.
  It’s a strong handsome face, partially covered by his five o’clock shadow which gives him a lazy look, but there’s probably nothing lazy about him.  His green eyes are just dazzling; a girl could get lost in them and never find her way out.

 

Somewhere, during my ogling, I’ve lost track of what I’m doing and forgot
ten he’s watching me.  And boy, his hungry look has turned ravenous during my exploration of his body.

 

~~ Cade ~~

 

On entering the coffee shop, my first thought is that she looks so sad.  I grab myself a much needed black coffee and feel drawn to where she’s sitting; I take a seat at an empty table, one over from hers.

 

She’s slim built with long legs, slim torso and breasts that look big enough to just fill my hands.

 

Glancing up to make sure she hasn’t spotted me looking at her body, I take in her long dark hair, it looks so soft and I wonder what it smells like.  She’s wearing well worn jeans with boots accompanied by a long sleeved t-shirt, no jewelry that I can see, but her hands are in her lap holding her iPad, so I can’t check for rings.

 

I
glance back up to her face where I’m met by her blue eyes.  She seems embarrassed to find me looking her over and looks away quickly pretending to be interested in her iPad again.  It’s in that moment that I realize how young she looks, maybe in her early twenties, which makes me cringe.  I’m forty-five and old enough to be her father. 

 

She’s stunning and I can barley control my gaze.
  She’s the first woman I’ve been really drawn to in close to twenty years, since my wife left me and our children.

 

Since then I’ve quit on relationships, plus raising three kids doesn’t leave much time for anything else.
  Now and again I have the occasional hook up when out of town.  Thinking back it’s a heck of a long time since the last, over twelve months for sure.

 

I look back over to where she’s sitting and what the hell, she’s turned back to look at me and has obviously decided to do some looking of her own.
  She’s eyeing me up, starting with my feet if I’m not mistaken.

 

As her eyes crawl slowly up my legs, I feel myself start to stiffen in my jeans.
  Hell, I haven’t reacted likeionreacted this to a woman’s look before.  You’d think I would have more control at my age.  God, I hope she doesn’t notice.

 

By the time she’s moved up to my chest she’s licking her lips.
  I’m not sure if she’s trying to moisten dry lips or if she’s imagining what she wants to do to my chest. Crap.  I start doing sums in my head to try to deflate the rod in my pants, but when I look up and meet her eyes it goes straight back up again.

 

Hell, I look away and try to rearrange myself from the discomfort without being obvious about it.
  Realizing it’s a long time since I’ve been with a woman, I really don’t think it’s going to get better anytime soon.  I don’t ever remember wanting anyone like this before. 

 

“Hey, dad, I’m just going to grab a coffee, back in a minute.”
  My son Jake brings me right back down to earth.
 
I’d forgotten he was travelling with me.  In fact, I seem to have totally forgotten about most things in this moment.
 
As he’s walking to get his coffee I see him glance over at the young woman.

 

After purchasing the coffee he comes back to join me.
  He’s still watching her as he sits down.  I can’t believe I’m jealous of my own son.  He’s a few years older than her and the perfect age.  Maybe.

 

“Did you find what
you where looking for?”  Jake just ignores me still looking across the table.

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