It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis Page B

boyfriends.”
    “Was your dad one of those boyfriends?”
    Ali’s dad lived in Tacoma, and last she’d heard, he was a bartender. By all accounts, he was an effortless charmer who meant well, but she knew him as the guy with all the unfulfilled promises. Long gone were the days where she’d wait by the phone for the call he’d promised, but the memories still made her ache a little bit. “He didn’t stick around. The first boyfriend who did was a dentist.” She let out an involuntary shudder. “He was a pincher.”
    “A pincher?” Luke asked.
    “Yeah.” She opened and closed her first finger and thumb together a few times to demonstrate. “Whenever we annoyed him, he’d pinch. Always where the bruise wouldn’t show too. Hurt like hell.”
    Luke didn’t show much in expression or body language, and he had a way of staying very still. But his eyes had gone hard, pissed off on behalf of a young girl he’d never known.
    “Your mom let him touch you?” he asked.
    “Oh, we didn’t tell her,” Ali said. “She liked him so much, it would have killed her. But one day we were shopping and she saw a bruise on my sister in the dressing room.”
    “I hope she kicked his ass,” Luke said.
    “She took a baseball bat to him.” Her smile faded because Mimi had cried for a week when he’d moved out. “She didn’t bring another guy home for a long time after that.”
    “Good.” Hooking his bare foot in a chair, he pushed it toward her. “Sit with me.”
    She put the pan in the sink and sat, shaking her head when he offered her a bite.
    “So you learned to cook so you could catch a man?” he asked.
    “No. I learned to cook because I like to eat,” she said, “not because I want a string of boyfriends. Because I don’t.” Not until she figured out how to pick them anyway. She watched Luke work his way carefully around the broccoli. “Broccoli has almost as much calcium as milk,” she told him, amused. “It gives you strong bones.”
    His gaze slid to hers, and she felt her face heat again. He had strong bones. And as they both knew, a few minutes ago, he’d had one particularly strong boner to boot. But mercifully he let the comment go.
    Setting down his fork, he opened the envelope she’d left on the table, staring in surprise at the cash she’d carefully counted out. “What’s this?” he asked.
    “What I owe you for a few nights’ stay. I prorated what I was paying monthly. I hope that’s okay.”
    He was quiet for a full sixty seconds, and when he spoke, his voice was low. “I got the impression you were hard up for money.”
    “Not that hard up.”
    He looked at her for a long moment, then set the envelope back on the table and pushed it toward her with one finger.
    She slid it back. “I pay my debts.”
    “How much does it leave you?” he asked.
    She felt a small smile curve her lips. “Worried I won’t have enough to find another place?”
    “Hell yes.”
    She laughed softly. “Don’t be. I’m not your responsibility.” She wasn’t anyone’s responsibility and hadn’t been in a long time.
    He went back to eating. When a tiny piece of broccoli found its way on his fork, he gave it a look, but shoved it in his mouth.
    She waited, but he just shrugged.
    “Don’t overwhelm me with praise or anything,” she said dryly.
    He flashed a quick grin. “It’s good,” he said. “Really good. You’re holding up your end of the bargain.” His smile faded. “But I’m not taking your money, Ali.”
    Bossy alpha. She got up and loaded the few dishes into the dishwasher, trying to pay no attention to the silent man behind her. Hard to do when he rose and put his dish in for her.
    A neat , bossy alpha.
    “You should go back to bed,” she said softly. “You look beat.”
    He gave her a long look, which she decided was best not to decipher, before walking away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
      
    Ali didn’t sleep well and got up before dawn. With several hours before she