HOLDING THE REINS by PAISELY HOPE

To hold the reins idiom; metaphor To be in charge of, to be in complete control of; yourself, a situation, people or all of the above.

Cecilia “CeCe” Ashby is finally escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her entire adult life.. She returns to her hometown of Laurel Creek, Kentucky and her family’s equestrian ranch unsure of what the future holds. It’s time to move on, she just has no idea where to start.

Nash Carter is the newly retired superstar of the Dallas Stars, Laurel Creek’s hometown hero, local business owner and notorious bachelor. He’s also the unofficial fourth sibling in the Ashby clan.

It’s been years since his days of tormenting and protecting CeCe with her older brothers Wade and Cole, but when CeCe returns to town unexpectedly and needs a job, he knows he has to have her and not entirely for business.

In fact, Nash can’t seem to take his eyes off of his best friend’s much younger, vulnerable little sister and it seems she’s been staring right back.

Despite the many self-proclaimed reasons why they would never work, the fire between them ignites and they form a little pact of rules before jumping into the flames.

As ‘just one night’ turns into many, Nash quickly learns that where CeCe Ashby is concerned his typical rules simply don’t apply. Now he has to figure out if he can push his past trauma aside enough to have the life he never expected to want. A life he’s both terrified to live and terrified to lose.

All he has to do to have it all? Take a deep breath and let go of the reins.