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  Striking EDGE

  Steele Ridge: The Kingstons

  Kelsey Browning

  Striking EDGE

  Steele Ridge: The Kingstons Novel, Book 4

  * * *

  While on a wilderness reality show, an adventure guide with a painful past and a fallen music superstar discover fierce passion…and killer competition.

  Shep Kingston can survive a week in the woods with nothing but a pocket knife and the clothes on his back. But navigating everyday social interactions? That’s a struggle. If only people were like his dog. Loyal. Well-trained. Quiet. With Puck, Shep knows where he stands. People—especially women—are complicated. Guiding a bunch of spoiled celebrities into the North Carolina mountains is his idea of hell. Until a beautiful, off-limits rock star makes it feel more like heaven. Joss says what she means…and shows Shep exactly what she wants.

  Joss Wynter plays sold-out stadiums, not insane survival games. Except she’s no longer the adored lead singer of Scarlet Glitterati. Tragedy turned fans against her and Joss into tabloid fodder. Her manager claims TV’s hottest reality competition will relaunch her image. Joss has doubts but won’t let anything distract her from winning. Not even the rugged local guide with song-inspiring sex appeal. Shep is unlike any man she’s ever met. Direct. Honest to a fault. Unexpectedly tender. As the show’s challenges intensify, so does the attraction between them.

  But the cameras aren’t the only ones watching. A deadly opponent lurks in the shadows, playing a dangerous game. And all too willing to kill for a win.

  * * *

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  * * *

  Published by Steele Ridge Publishing

  Steele Ridge Characters

  The Steeles

  Britt Steele - Eldest Steele sibling. Construction worker who has a passion for the environment and head of Steele-Shepherd Wildlife Research Center.

  * * *

  Miranda “Randi” Shepherd - Owner of Blues, Brews and Books aka Triple B and Britt Steele’s love interest.

  * * *

  Grif Steele - Steele sibling. Works as a sports agent and Steele Ridge’s city manager.

  * * *

  Carlie Beth Parrish - Steele Ridge’s only blacksmith and Grif Steele’s love interest.

  * * *

  Reid Steele - Steele sibling. Former Green Beret and head of Steele Ridge Training Academy.

  * * *

  Brynne Whitfield - Owner of La Belle Style boutique in Steele Ridge and love interest of Reid Steele.

  * * *

  Mikayla “Micki” Steele - Steele sibling and Jonah’s twin. Master hacker.

  * * *

  Gage Barber - Injured Green Beret and Reid Steele’s close friend who comes to Steele Ridge to help run the training center. Love interest of Micki Steele.

  Jonah Steele - Steele sibling and Micki’s twin. Video game mogul and former owner of the billion-dollar company, Steele Trap. Responsible for saving the town of Steele Ridge, formerly known as Canyon Ridge.

  * * *

  Tessa Martin - Former in-house psychologist at Steele Trap and Jonah Steele’s love interest.

  * * *

  Evie Steele - Youngest Steele sibling. Travel nurse.

  * * *

  Derek “Deke” Conrad - Commander of SONR (Special Operations for Natural Resources) group and love interest of Evie Steele.

  * * *

  Joan Steele - Mother of the six Steele siblings.

  * * *

  Eddy Steele - Father of the six Steele siblings.

  Contents

  Steele Ridge Characters

  Steele Ridge: The Kingstons

  Steele Ridge: The Steeles

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Discover More Steele Ridge

  Also by Kelsey Browning

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Steele Ridge: The Kingstons

  Craving HEAT, Book 1

  Tasting FIRE, Book 2

  Searing NEED, Book 3

  Striking EDGE, Book 4

  Burning ACHE, Book 5 (Coming 2019)

  Don’t miss out on a single release—or sexy hero!

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  Want to help Kelsey, Tracey, and Adrienne get the word out about their Steele Ridge series? Write a review and/or recommend to a friend!

  Steele Ridge: The Steeles

  The BEGINNING, A Novella, Book 1

  Going HARD, Book 2

  Living FAST, Book 3

  Loving DEEP, Book 4

  Breaking FREE, Book 5

  Roaming WILD, Book 6

  Stripping BARE, Book 7

  Enduring LOVE, A Novella, Book 8

  To all the puppy raisers who selflessly take in and ultimately give up these dogs. Your love and early training are the foundation of a dog’s ability to provide support, companionship, and comfort to others. Thank you so much for your sacrifice, selflessness, and generosity.

  * * *

  And to the special people who are on the spectrum. I tried my best to write a book worthy of Shep Kingston. If I missed the mark at times, please blame it on the fact that I’m merely neurotypical.

  Author’s Note

  Dear Reader,

  * * *

  I so hope you not only enjoy Shep and Joss’s story, but that you fall a little bit in love with Puck, too. Although Puck is obviously fictional (too bad, right?), he is partially modeled on my dog Pharaoh.

  We raised our very own service pup in training—a Labrador/golden retriever cross—for Canine Companions for Independence from 2012–13. As required, in May 2013, we turned him in to the organization for advanced training.

  Exactly one month later, we received a call telling us that he wouldn’t be able to finish the program due to a minor heart condition. With seesawing emotions, we brought him home. Although we were delighted to have our beloved pup back, we also grieved. Our dream of Pharaoh providing love and support to someone who needed him was over.

  He now lives the life of a normal family pet, but he spreads joy wherever he goes. Hotel elevators, Home Depot aisles, and friends’ homes. He makes people smile, helps them reminisce about lost pets, and soothes them much as Puck does Shep. Pharaoh sometimes acts as our very own family therapy dog, snuggling close or overtaking our laps when we’re upset or sad.

  Several of his siblings from the P litter were ultimately placed through the CCI program. From retrieving the remote control to providing encouragement during challenging physical or emotional times, these dogs allow their owners to live independent lives.

  If you know much about service dogs, you know they are incredibly well behaved. So if you read the “temptation” scene in this book and think a service dog wouldn’t react that way, I’ll just claim author license. :-)

  As I’m sure many of you are aware, service dog fraud has become commonplace in the US, w
ith people claiming their pets are service or comfort animals in order to give them access to places where animals are normally not welcome. Sadly, this type of fraudulent and selfish behavior damages the efficacy of legitimate service dog programs like Canine Companions for Independence.

  If you or someone you know could benefit from a true service animal, I encourage you to contact a well-established and reputable program.

  * * *

  K-

  1

  Why in holy hell couldn’t people be dogs? Dogs were just better in every way. Loyal. Trainable. Incapable of conversation.

  “Puck, sit.” Shep gave the gentle command to his golden retriever, careful not to communicate the agitation crawling through him like a kicked-over pile of fire ants. Obediently, Puck plopped down his haunches on the ground, but he whined up at Shep.

  He knew. Puck always knew when Shep was starting to lose his cool. When he was edging toward overload.

  Shep hunkered down in front of his dog, the prickle of mountain grass under his knees, and Puck settled his chin on his shoulder. The feel of his warm breath, his steady heartbeat, provided much-needed grounding.

  Shep stared up at the wooden support tower above them silhouetted against the mountains of western North Carolina. His boss, the owner of Prime Climb Tours, had summoned him out here to the zip line course, yanking him away from his weekly check of the rock-climbing equipment. He often did that, pulled Shep from one task and assigned him another.

  How many times had Shep tried to explain to Dan that such requests—okay, demands—degraded the quality of his work?

  Shep took several chest-expanding breaths. It was okay. He would get back to the equipment. Back to the order of his day. As his brother Cash would say, this wasn’t nothin’ for a stepper. Shep didn’t always understand idioms, but he’d learned this one meant that he could stomp his way through whatever pile of shit he was facing.

  Puck touched his nose to Shep’s neck, indicating he could feel the overload receding.

  “What would I do without you?” He gave Puck a stroke down his back and stood. His dog would wait here until Shep returned.

  He climbed seven staircases up the zip line tower to find the group of middle schoolers had already zipped across, leaving Dan “The Man” Cargill alone on the platform. He was just clipping his harness into the trolley—the metal housing of wheels that slid along the cable—with two carabiners, one that would actually carry his weight and another gimmicky one that he carried everywhere. Shep told him, “Dan, I can’t pick up this group. I’m in the middle of—”

  “That’s not why I asked you out here.” Strangely, Dan’s voice was full of excitement instead of the frustration it usually held when he was talking to Shep. “You’re never gonna believe this. I got a call from some muckety-mucks out in California. They’re filming Do or Die right here in North Carolina, and they want Prime Climb to supply the local guide.”

  “Okay.” What that had to do with him, he hadn’t a single clue.

  “Apparently, their other setup got canceled, so we’re second choice, but who the hell cares?”

  “Congratulations.” He was fairly certain that was an appropriate response to Dan’s enthusiasm. “Have a great time with that.”

  “Uh…” Dan cleared his throat. “They had a couple of special requests. After studying the Prime Climb website, they requested you as their guide.”

  “No thank you,” Shep said and turned to climb back down the tower.

  Dan caught him by the shirt. Dammit, he knew Shep hated that. Knew Shep didn’t like to be randomly touched.

  “I wasn’t asking, Kingston.” A tight smile stretched across Dan’s moon-pie face. “You will guide the group from Do or Die.”

  “Why?” Unable to look at Dan’s lopsided face a second longer, Shep averted his gaze, hoping the view of the mountains would soothe him as it usually did. Shortleaf and pitch pines spiked toward the sky and hardy oaks hugged the hills. They seemed to guard and protect the Nantahala National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains. That was where Shep wanted to be right now, not standing here talking to his boss.

  “Because they asked for you.”

  “Why did they ask for me?”

  Dan mumbled something.

  “What did you say?”

  His boss’s lip curled, and he released his grip on Shep’s shirt. “Apparently, they looked at your picture on the Prime Climb website, and you have the so-called image they’re looking for in a local guide. I offered to lead the group, but they said something about wanting a guide in his prime. Whatever the hell that means. This is what prime looks like.” He raised his arms and flexed his biceps, apparently ignoring the quarter inch of fat that had developed around the muscles.

  “Why do they need someone local?” Dread was sweeping over Shep, the way it did when he was being backed into any kind of corner. He shoved his hand into the pocket of his climbing shorts and fingered the length of paracord he was never without. “Don’t they have that survivalist guy? Tiger or Bear or something?”

  He knew damn well the TV show host’s name was Buffalo Moody.

  “They contract with a local guide on every trip.”

  “It’s not like they’re climbing K2 or something.” He tied a quick slip knot with the cord inside the pocket, but that didn’t soothe him one damn bit. A bowline didn’t make him feel much better.

  “You know better than anyone, Kingston, that a bunch of urban softies have no business stumbling around in the mountains by themselves. They’d get themselves killed for sure. Besides it’s only four days, and the competitors are celebrities. Who wouldn’t want to rub elbows with famous people?”

  Shep wouldn’t. Four days babysitting a group of snotty celebrities sounded like a level of hell even Dante never imagined. “It’s a stupid show.” Something like Survivor meets Bear Grylls meets Mean Girls. Three famous people competed with one another for airtime and bragging rights.

  “Maybe, but it’s the hottest reality show on TV right now, and the producers have promised Prime Climb Tours a mountain of cash. And it’s like they say, you can’t buy this kind of publicity.”

  “Then send Celia.” Not only was she a more than adequate guide, Celia actually liked people. She was constantly smiling at and chatting with the clients who booked tours through Prime Climb. Unlike Shep, who wished their customers were into silent retreat type adventures.

  Dan gave a wait-just-a-damn-minute wave to the guide standing on the opposite platforms with ten kids who were, if the jostling and joking was any indication, getting restless. “They don’t want Celia. They want you.”

  WWMD? What would Maggie—his big sister, law enforcement professional, and all-around badass—do?

  She would probably stare down Dan, stating one more time in a cold voice that she would not guide a group of pansy-asses on a stupid trek in front of a TV camera. And Dan would probably shit his pants.

  The right side of Shep’s mouth lifted.

  But then again, Maggie was the sheriff and rarely had to do what someone else told her to do.

  “Let me put it this way,” Dan said. “You guide this group and I’ll give you a bonus from the fee they pay me. You decline this opportunity, and you’ll be looking for another job.”

  That brought Shep around. Rarely did he look into other people’s eyes, but right now he needed any and every clue to determine if Dan was bluffing. Was bullshitting him. “Say that again.”

  “You heard it the first time. Do this, and you’ll be rewarded. Don’t, and you can kiss your paycheck good-bye.”

  Realistically, the check itself didn’t mean that much to Shep. He had a pretty simple life. Little cabin in the woods, a truck, and a dog.

  “But you know I’m your final stop around here, Shep. No one else wants to work with you.”

  Fuck Dan for being right. Shep had either worked for or been rejected by every other outdoor outfitter and adventure company in this part of the state. Those who’d hired him i
n the past manufactured reasons to strike him from the payroll within a few weeks. The others hadn’t bothered to hire him in the first place. They’d either heard about him through the grapevine or he’d blown the interview.

  And why the hell did anyone need to sit down and interview a wilderness guide? If he or she was physically fit, exhibited appropriate skills and certifications, that was what mattered most. But no, everyone wanted their employees to say “I love people,” “I’m a people person,” or some other kumbaya crap.