Like A Soft Sweet Breeze : Russ and Ria

Summary: Russ leads a pretty laid-back life these days. After serving his whole career in the Marine Corps, he came back to the town where he grew up and opened a gym. He has a great house on the lake, he loves his business and what it does for his clients, and he has a great bunch of friends. Life is good. Okay, so he doesn’t have a woman. He doesn’t need one. Doesn’t think he’d want one. He’s finally building a real relationship with his daughter. But she’s the only woman he can see in his future. When Alexandria DuPont walks into the gym, all Russ sees is a stressed-out, aloof woman – but even then, he senses that there’s more to her. Perhaps she’s an acquired taste, like fine wine. Alexandria DuPont is not in Summer Lake by choice, but of necessity. Some people might not see it as necessity, but she most certainly does. She’s recuperating. She was rushed into the hospital at home in Napa just before Christmas with a suspected heart attack. It wasn’t a heart attack. It might almost have been easier to face people if it were. But no, it was an anxiety attack. Her father would turn in his grave! He raised her to be stronger than that. So, she’s in Summer Lake to recuperate – she’s not hiding out, not really. She’s supposed to be taking it easy, but she doesn’t know how. She’s the matriarch of DuPont Wineries. She runs the company, it’s what she was raised to do, all she’s ever known. A trip to the local gym is outside her comfort zone. The attraction she feels toward Russ is even further outside her comfort zone. As their friendship grows, Russ makes her wonder whether it might be time to leave her comfort zone behind and step into a whole new life.