Evergreen: Slow Burn Lesbian Romance (eBook)

When talented architect Zoe accepts a job offer that takes her to a remote Swedish community, she doesn't expect to fall for her new boss. Trapped by a blizzard and awakening desires, their professional boundaries blur as temperatures drop and passion ignites. But when disaster strikes and lives are lost, they'll discover if their connection is strong enough to weather the storm or if it will be buried beneath the weight of snow and circumstance.

- Falling for the boss
- Snowed In
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
- Community
- Avalanche!
- Age Gap Romance

It had been a long time since Alex had taken her final bow at the Paramount Theater. The date had been Thursday 12th March 2020. In the twenty-five years since the last curtain call, the building which had once stood at the center of the cultural melting pot of the city was just a shell of its former glory. The space where the heavy red velvet curtains had once hung was now nothing more than a tarnished rail, and the stage was rotting and crumbling from years of neglect.
The theater had been on the condemned list of buildings for years, but every attempt the city had made to demolish it and replace it with something new had been met with opposition. It was no longer fit for purpose, and no one had even thought about restoring it to its former glory, but many were still carrying around a sentimental affection for it. So, despite the attempts to have it condemned and destroyed, the theater remained vacant for twenty-five years.
It didn't look like much anymore, and anyone under the age of thirty would have had a hard time believing that it had once been one of the city's greatest assets. A thick layer of dust covered every surface, dulling the interior into a monochromatic matte gray. Where there had once been a band that played smooth jazz, there was now an empty, heavy silence.
In that silence, there was a muffled sneeze—the first in years. There was a pause, a sniffle, and then another sneeze.
And then three more in quick succession.
The bright light of a cell phone flashlight swung around the interior of the Paramount auditorium, over to the entrance doors that led back to the hallway where a young woman was trying (and failing) to conceal her sneezing fit. After a particularly loud sneeze that left her momentarily gasping for air, she fell silent.
"I told you to wear a mask!" Alex shouted.
"I wasn't expecting it to be this bad," Luna mumbled, her voice muffled by the sleeve she was holding over her mouth. "Fuck, I think I can taste it. I can taste the dust, Alex."
"It's sad, seeing it like this," Alex agreed, swinging her phone around to illuminate what had once been the band pit. The only thing that was left now were the remnants of the grand piano hidden under a dust sheet. "I don't suppose you ever saw a show here, did you?"
"I was born about five years too late for that. What about you?"
"I stood on that stage and took a bow the night the curtain fell for the last time." Alex looked up at the stage and pointed. "I stood right around...there."
"You were an actress?" Luna's tone held the same surprise as her face, causing Alex to laugh.
"I was a dancer. It was my last performance too. The last for me and the last for the theater. I moved onto other things after that." Alex gave a wistful sigh. Although still blessed with a dancer's physique, it had been a few years since she took to a dance floor.
"Bet it looked a whole lot less creepy back then." Her eyes kept darting around to all the dark corners.
Alex laughed quietly, nodding. "Yeah."
"So, do you think we can send the survey team in to look at it?" The younger woman was looking around anxiously, eyeing up the moth-eaten dust sheets and chipped paint. It was obvious she didn't have a lot of faith in the structural integrity of the theater.
"Is that your way of asking if we can leave, Luna?" Alex asked with a small smile.
"No," the other woman said quickly. Too quickly for it to be the truth.
"I suppose there isn't much more you and I can do in here until we get hold of an architect and get some lights in here," Alex admitted, reaching out to touch one of the columns to the side of the stage. Twenty-five years ago it had been a rich scarlet color, complete with embossed gold patterns. Now the paint had faded or chipped away, and it was just a pale ghost of what it once had been—just like the rest of the theater. "I just wanted to look around and see how bad the damage was..."

When ambitious architect Zoe McGuire is handpicked by successful developer Alex Galbraith to renovate a historic theater into a sustainable community living space, she sees it as her career-making opportunity. But her boss at the prestigious firm is determined to steal the project for himself, forcing Zoe to fight for what's rightfully hers.
Impressed by Zoe's talent and determination, Alex invites her to Sweden to see firsthand the eco-community she's built. What starts as a professional trip to help Zoe decide if she should accept Alex's job offer quickly transforms when they find themselves stranded by a devastating blizzard. As temperatures plummet outside, the heat between them rises, breaking down the professional boundaries both women had carefully maintained.
Just as Zoe and Alex surrender to their undeniable attraction, disaster strikes. A deadly avalanche threatens not only their newfound relationship but their very lives. Trapped in the unforgiving winter wilderness, they'll face a truth more frightening than the storm—that they've fallen deeply in love when neither was looking for it.
When the snow finally clears, will they return to their separate lives, or build something lasting from the foundation they discovered in each other? EVERGREEN is a passionate romance about finding unexpected love in the most challenging circumstances and the courage it takes to change your life for someone who changes your heart.