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    Undamaged: Stories from the San Juan Islands
    Undamaged: Stories from the San Juan Islands
    Undamaged: Stories from the San Juan Islands
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Undamaged: Stories from the San Juan Islands

    By Regina Kammer

    ()

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    About this ebook

    An island brings together two damaged souls seeking respite and recovery. Will they discover love as well?

     

    Working wildlands fires is what Royce Donovan was born to do. But he's been living in Dallas for the last year and fighting urban fires is fraying his nerves. When tragedy strikes, Royce finds solace in alcohol, and ends up in rehab on rural and remote San Juan Island.

     

    Samantha Vickers swears she's happy. She has the perfect job as Historian at San Juan Island's National Park. Leaving the excitement and stress of the big city for the bucolic life of an island was a huge change—and a risk she had to take for peace of mind.

     

    A firefighter coping with tragedy. A historian escaping traumatic shock. An island brings together two damaged souls seeking respite and recovery. Will they discover love as well?

     

    Undamaged is a contemporary firefighter seasoned romance with a silver fox hero and a heroine in her prime. The novella is part of Regina Kammer's Stories from the San Juan Islands collection of standalone short reads set in the San Juan Islands.

     

    Stories from the San Juan Islands

    * Undamaged ~ A contemporary firefighter romance set on San Juan Island

    * Disputed Boundaries ~ A historical romance set on San Juan Island in 1869 during the Pig War

    * "Orcas" ~ A steamy contemporary short story set on Orcas Island

    All three stories are also available in one volume: The Stories from the San Juan Islands Collection

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherViridium Press
    Release dateJul 2, 2018
    ISBN9781386080671
    Undamaged: Stories from the San Juan Islands
    Author

    Regina Kammer

    Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and an award-winning, international best-selling, multi-published writer of provocative historical romance and contemporary romance with a touch of history. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, Loose Id, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.Keep up with Regina via her newsletter: https://reginakammer.com/newsletter/

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      Book preview

      Undamaged - Regina Kammer

      Undamaged

      Stories from the San Juan Islands

      Regina Kammer

      Viridium Press

      Copyright

      Undamaged is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright ©2018 by Regina Kammer

      Undamaged was previously published in October 2016. It has been reedited with minor revisions.

      Cover design by Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs.

      Cover photographic elements of San Juan Island by Regina Kammer.

      All Rights Reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. 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.

      Published by Viridium Press, Friday Harbor, Washington

      More by Regina Kammer

      Stories from the San Juan Islands collection

      Undamaged

      A contemporary firefighter romance set on San Juan Island

      Disputed Boundaries

      A historical romance set on San Juan Island in 1869 during the Pig War

      Orcas

      A contemporary women’s fiction short story set on Orcas Island

      The Stories from the San Juan Islands Collection

      All three stories in one book

      Contemporary romance

      Resistance: A Common Elements Romance

      Modern Shorts: A Contemporary Romance Collection

      Never miss a new release! Subscribe to Regina’s newsletter Kammerotica News!

      Acknowledgments

      Thank you to Carolyn Hudson, fire prevention educator and former firefighter, for generously taking time out of her work day to give me a tour of the San Juan Island Fire Department. Thank you to volunteer firefighter Nick for all his interesting stories. Thank you to the entire staff of the San Juan Island Fire Department for doing what you do every single day.

      Thank you to my helpful beta readers Jason and Patricia.

      Thank you to Paige Tyler for granting permission for the use of the characters of Captain Earl Stewart, Dane Chandler, Kole Brandt, and Tory Wilcox, and Dallas Fire & Rescue from her Dallas Fire & Rescue Series world.

      Dedication

      To all who have been damaged and still seek refuge.

      Undamaged

      Working wildlands fires is what Royce Donovan was born to do. But he’s been living in Dallas for the last year and fighting urban fires is fraying his nerves. When tragedy strikes, Royce finds solace in alcohol, and ends up in rehab on rural and remote San Juan Island.

      Samantha Vickers swears she’s happy. She has the perfect job as Historian at San Juan Island’s National Park. Leaving the excitement and stress of the big city for the bucolic life of an island was a huge change—and a risk she had to take for peace of mind.

      A firefighter coping with tragedy. A historian escaping traumatic shock. An island brings together two damaged souls seeking respite and recovery. Will they discover love as well?

      *****

      Chapter One

      Royce Donovan began to sweat the moment his lips met the spoon heaped with chili. Around him, the crew of Dallas Fire and Rescue Station 58 stared, faces twisted in suppressed grins and smirks. He chewed tentatively, the stinging heat of peppers impossible to squelch. Mouth ablaze, he forced himself to swallow.

      Tears flooded his eyes, then streamed down his cheeks, mingling with droplets of sweat.

      Archer Blake peeled the foil back from a cup of yogurt and passed it to Royce. You might need this to smother the flames.

      Hearty laughter filled the firehouse dining commons.

      Royce coughed as the fire slid down his throat. Now that’s five-alarm chili.

      They don’t feed you like that out in the hills of California, do they? remarked Dane Chandler, exaggerating a Texas twang.

      Nah, usually just basic mac-and-cheese. Tears still weighed heavy on Royce’s lashes.

      Is that Captain Stewart’s infamous firehouse chili I smell?

      All heads turned at the sound of the female voice laced with chastisement. Royce’s sister Ginny stood in the doorway to the dining commons, her arms crossed over her chest, tapping the toe of her high-heeled shoe, one brow raised as her blue eyes glared at the squad.

      He’s been on the crew almost six months, Mrs. Davis, ma’am, Tory Wilcox said apologetically. We figured it was time.

      Ginny’s scowl eased into a smile. And how did it go? She flashed a quick look over Archer’s way.

      I survived, Royce said with a grin.

      A blond blur flashed by Ginny’s side and came toward him.

      Uncle Royce!

      Charlee’s exuberant exclamation tripped the joy switch in Royce’s heart. She ran to him like any normal, healthy eight-year-old dressed in a soccer uniform. He lifted her handily onto his lap.

      And what did you learn in school today?

      Charlee puckered her lips. "Dónde está el perro?" she announced with pride.

      Hmm. One corner of Royce’s mouth ticked upward uncontrollably. Maybe one day the answer to that question will be ‘the dog is waiting for me to come home from school so I can play with it’.

      Charlee bit her lip as she grinned. Ginny had resisted getting a dog, but Royce and Charlee were working on wearing her down.

      The grin faded as Charlee’s icy-blue eyes searched his face. Are you sad again?

      He swallowed emotion. Nah, just a wimp when it comes to the captain’s chili.

      Good. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. I don’t want you to be sad again.

      She pulled back and smiled, stretching her whole face when she did so. That look melted his heart every damn time. They had both shed too many tears when she was sick. Her anguish would punch him in the gut making him practically catatonic, but that smile left him malleable to her wishes. Which usually involved hot fudge sundaes.

      I’m taking Charlee to practice, Ginny said to Royce loud enough for all to hear. I forgot your schedule, Royce. Can you come to Charlee’s game on Saturday?

      What a ruse. Even if Royce had been scheduled at the station, the wishes of his drop-dead gorgeous sister and her ridiculously cute daughter would sway the heart and mind of any red-blooded male within earshot to volunteer to take his shift.

      Royce lifted a brow and the corners of his mouth as he took in Charlee’s pleading gaze. Yep. I’m off Saturday, Chuck.

      Charlee giggled at their private nickname. His heart hitched at the happy sound. He smoothed back her blond curls. Thank God she resembled her mother and not her deadbeat asshole of a father, a guy who’d decided he didn’t want to stick

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