First Kiss

By Jason A. Adams

Who kisses first?

Amy Holbrook: a hometown lawyer who loves helping her neighbors.

Tony Stanley: recently returned from Atlanta and working to help his neighbors.

Two bright, self-confident entrepreneurs, thrown together by Internet security.

Pastries, bad Shakespeare, and unexpected sparks abound.

Join Amy and Tony as they move from assumptions to something more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason A. Adams
• Release date: Jun 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393552772

Jason A. Adams

Jason A. Adams grew up in various Air Force towns, but Southwest Virginia has always been his homeplace. His military brat childhood exposed him to exotic locales, fascinating people from around the world, and a lifetime curiosity that informs his fiction.Jason is the author of many short stories based in and around the Virginia coalfields he lives in and loves. He currently lives on a forest mountain with assorted beasties, and his beautiful and talented wife, Kari Kilgore, also a writer of many wonderful stories.Find out more at www.jasonadams.info, where you can sign up for information on upcoming releases, and the occasional update from The Brain Squirrels.For all works released by Spiral Publishing, including Kari's many fantastic stories and non-fiction by Frank Kilgore, check out www.spiralpublishing.net.

Book preview

First Kiss

To Kari, who turned my head.

First Kiss

Jason A. Adams

Spiral Publishing, Ltd.

Chapter 1

Amy Holbrook loved days like this.

The September sun still threw more warmth than she approved of, but the breeze carried the first nip of autumn. Days in the seventies and nights in the fifties. Cloudy skies and soft rains. No client interviews today, just a meeting with a computer contractor, so she got to wear her blue jeans and tartan flannel. Yay!

Up and down 4 th Avenue, people strolled in and out of curio shops, delis and diners, and the now-ubiquitous camping supply stores. Most were locals on a Tuesday morning, but even during the week Holly Creek got a few folks from away. On the weekends, especially now that the forested ridges were dressing up in their fall colors of fiery reds, sunny yellows, and brilliant oranges, all the shops would be crammed with would-be mountaineers, here to bike or hike the Sugar Hill trails. All looking to take home some gin-yoo-wine Appalachian goodies.

She walked out of Sweetcakes Bakery carrying a large soy latte in one hand, and a wonderful buttermilk donut in the other. A donut that would cost her at least ten thousand steps today, but what the hell?

The little coffee shop was