state of New York.”
“But you wanted to travel.”
“Wanted. Past tense. I want to be with you, Mia. You’re it for me. You’re everything.” He paused and let his gaze touch her every feature. “You’re the best choice I ever made. You’re my only choice.”
She pressed her forehead to his, her words brushing against his lips. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and her daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
You can learn more at:
JillShalvis.com
Twitter @jillshalvis
Facebook.com/jillshalvis
Also by Jill Shalvis
Simply Irresistible
The Sweetest Thing
Heating Up the Kitchen (cookbook)
Christmas in Lucky Harbor
Small Town Christmas (anthology)
Head Over Heels
Lucky in Love
At Last
Forever and a Day
Everyone in town thinks Ali Winters is a thief. Her only shot at clearing her name is a police detective who’s as sexy as he is stern…
It Had to Be You
See the next page for a preview.
T raffic was light, and Ali Winters took in the salty air, the beautiful day while she drove. She loved Lucky Harbor. She loved the warm feeling she got from just driving through town. Things stayed the same here, could be counted on here. She thought maybe it was that which drew her the most: the sense of stability, security, and safety.
Her three S’s…
As she drove, each storefront’s glass windows glinted in the bright sunlight like bursts of fire. At night, she knew strings of white lights would make the place look like something straight off of a postcard.
She parked and headed into the floral shop. The entire time she put in her shift, she worried about how light business was, wishing for the millionth time that Russell wasn’t so stubborn. She really felt like she had something to offer this shop, the very least of which would be a website. But Russell, like his sister Mindy before him, was a technophobe. Hell, even the books were still done by hand.
On her break, Ali used her phone to fill out as many online applications for apartments as she could find. By six o’clock, she was back at the beach house, hoping not to run into Teddy. She didn’t, which was good for his life expectancy. Even better, the front door key still worked. Bonus. She had a roof over her head for at least one more night.
In the kitchen, she tossed her keys into the little key bowl she’d set by the back door. Mostly this had been for Teddy, who’d constantly been searching for his keys or wallet. She’d found it endearing that he could run an entire city budget, but he couldn’t find his wallet or keys to save his life.
It didn’t feel so endearing now. Out of curiosity, she poked through the stuff there: a button, some change, and…two ticket stubs, dated a week ago for a show in Seattle.
A show she hadn’t gone to…
She stared down at the stubs, set them down, and walked away. Something else niggled at her as she headed into the master bedroom that she’d shared with Teddy, but she couldn’t place it.
And now that she was thinking about things, she realized that Teddy had been working 24/7 for weeks. And before that, he’d been sick and had slept in a spare bedroom. They hadn’t actually slept together in…she couldn’t even remember.
Which meant that Ali had been very late to her own breakup.
At this, her heart squeezed a little bit. Not in regret. She tried really hard not to do regrets. It wasn’t mourning, either, not for the loss of Teddy. She was just realizing that she’d loved the idea of what they’d had—two adults, having an adult relationship—more than the actual reality of it.
Not to mention that apparently
“But you wanted to travel.”
“Wanted. Past tense. I want to be with you, Mia. You’re it for me. You’re everything.” He paused and let his gaze touch her every feature. “You’re the best choice I ever made. You’re my only choice.”
She pressed her forehead to his, her words brushing against his lips. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and her daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
You can learn more at:
JillShalvis.com
Twitter @jillshalvis
Facebook.com/jillshalvis
Also by Jill Shalvis
Simply Irresistible
The Sweetest Thing
Heating Up the Kitchen (cookbook)
Christmas in Lucky Harbor
Small Town Christmas (anthology)
Head Over Heels
Lucky in Love
At Last
Forever and a Day
Everyone in town thinks Ali Winters is a thief. Her only shot at clearing her name is a police detective who’s as sexy as he is stern…
It Had to Be You
See the next page for a preview.
T raffic was light, and Ali Winters took in the salty air, the beautiful day while she drove. She loved Lucky Harbor. She loved the warm feeling she got from just driving through town. Things stayed the same here, could be counted on here. She thought maybe it was that which drew her the most: the sense of stability, security, and safety.
Her three S’s…
As she drove, each storefront’s glass windows glinted in the bright sunlight like bursts of fire. At night, she knew strings of white lights would make the place look like something straight off of a postcard.
She parked and headed into the floral shop. The entire time she put in her shift, she worried about how light business was, wishing for the millionth time that Russell wasn’t so stubborn. She really felt like she had something to offer this shop, the very least of which would be a website. But Russell, like his sister Mindy before him, was a technophobe. Hell, even the books were still done by hand.
On her break, Ali used her phone to fill out as many online applications for apartments as she could find. By six o’clock, she was back at the beach house, hoping not to run into Teddy. She didn’t, which was good for his life expectancy. Even better, the front door key still worked. Bonus. She had a roof over her head for at least one more night.
In the kitchen, she tossed her keys into the little key bowl she’d set by the back door. Mostly this had been for Teddy, who’d constantly been searching for his keys or wallet. She’d found it endearing that he could run an entire city budget, but he couldn’t find his wallet or keys to save his life.
It didn’t feel so endearing now. Out of curiosity, she poked through the stuff there: a button, some change, and…two ticket stubs, dated a week ago for a show in Seattle.
A show she hadn’t gone to…
She stared down at the stubs, set them down, and walked away. Something else niggled at her as she headed into the master bedroom that she’d shared with Teddy, but she couldn’t place it.
And now that she was thinking about things, she realized that Teddy had been working 24/7 for weeks. And before that, he’d been sick and had slept in a spare bedroom. They hadn’t actually slept together in…she couldn’t even remember.
Which meant that Ali had been very late to her own breakup.
At this, her heart squeezed a little bit. Not in regret. She tried really hard not to do regrets. It wasn’t mourning, either, not for the loss of Teddy. She was just realizing that she’d loved the idea of what they’d had—two adults, having an adult relationship—more than the actual reality of it.
Not to mention that apparently
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