it hadn’t been an adult relationship at all since he’d been cheating on her.
Ali stripped down to her panties and bra before it occurred to her what was bothering her—and then she reversed her tracks and ran barefoot back to the large living room.
The house had come fully furnished, but Ted had always made the place his own thanks to the messy, disorganized way he had of leaving everything spread around. Running shoes hastily kicked off by the front door. Suit jacket slung over the back of the couch. Tie hanging askance from a lamp. His laptop, eReader, tablet, smartphone, and other toys had always been plugged into electrical outlets, and when they weren’t, the cords hung lifeless, waiting to be needed.
Not now. Now it was all gone, even his fancy, highfalutin microbrew from the fridge. Everything was gone, including her iPod.
How she’d missed that this morning, she had no idea, but facts were facts—Teddy had moved out on her like a thief in the night.
* * *
Lieutenant Detective Luke Hanover had been away from the San Francisco Police Department for exactly four hours of his three-week leave and already he’d lost his edge, walking into his grandma’s Lucky Harbor beach house to find a B&E perp standing in the kitchen.
She sure as hell was the prettiest petty thief he’d ever come across, at least from the back. Wearing nothing but a white lace bra and a tiny scrap of matching white lace panties, she was speaking angrily into a cell phone.
“You have some nerve, you— you ratfink bastard ,” she snapped, waving her free hand for emphasis, her long, wildly wavy brown hair flying around her head as she moved.
And that wasn’t all that moved. She was a bombshell, all sweet, womanly curves, barely contained in her undies.
“I want you to know,” she went on furiously, still not seeing Luke, “there’s no way in hell I’m accepting your breakup message. You hear me, Teddy? I’m not accepting it because I’m breaking up with you . And while we’re at it, who even does that? Who breaks up with someone by text? I’ll tell you who, Teddy, a real jerk, that’s who— Hello? Dammit! ” Pulling the phone from her ear, she stared at the screen and then punched a few keys before whipping it back up to her ear. “Your voice mail cut me off before I finished,” she said. “You having sex in your office while I was in the building? Totally cliché. But not telling me that you weren’t planning to re-sign the lease? That’s just rotten to the core, Teddy. And don’t bother calling me back on this. Oh, wait, that’s right, you don’t call—you text !” She punched the Off button on her phone and tossed it to the counter, hands on hips, steam coming out of her ears. Then she thunked her forehead against the refrigerator a few times before going stock-still, her head pressed to the cool steel door.
Had she knocked herself out? Luke wondered.
“It’s just one bad day,” she whispered, still in the perfect position for him to pat her down for weapons.
Not that she was carrying—well, except for that lethal bod.
“Just one really rotten badass day,” she repeated softly, and Luke had to disagree.
“Not from where I’m standing,” he said.
Find out what happened when Mia Hutchinson
first arrived in Lucky Harbor…
The Sweetest Thing
See the next page for an excerpt.
Chapter 11
“Always tell the truth. It eliminates the need to remember anything.”
Tara Daniels
U p until that moment, Ford’s plans for the day had included talking Tara into going out for a sail. And then burning off some excess energy.
With their naked bodies.
Yeah, that would have been right at the very top of the to-do list.
But that all changed with Mia looking at him through his own green gaze, her expression slightly challenging and yet braced for… hurt and rejection, he realized as something twisted hard in his chest.
How many years had he wondered about the baby that he and Tara had
Ali stripped down to her panties and bra before it occurred to her what was bothering her—and then she reversed her tracks and ran barefoot back to the large living room.
The house had come fully furnished, but Ted had always made the place his own thanks to the messy, disorganized way he had of leaving everything spread around. Running shoes hastily kicked off by the front door. Suit jacket slung over the back of the couch. Tie hanging askance from a lamp. His laptop, eReader, tablet, smartphone, and other toys had always been plugged into electrical outlets, and when they weren’t, the cords hung lifeless, waiting to be needed.
Not now. Now it was all gone, even his fancy, highfalutin microbrew from the fridge. Everything was gone, including her iPod.
How she’d missed that this morning, she had no idea, but facts were facts—Teddy had moved out on her like a thief in the night.
* * *
Lieutenant Detective Luke Hanover had been away from the San Francisco Police Department for exactly four hours of his three-week leave and already he’d lost his edge, walking into his grandma’s Lucky Harbor beach house to find a B&E perp standing in the kitchen.
She sure as hell was the prettiest petty thief he’d ever come across, at least from the back. Wearing nothing but a white lace bra and a tiny scrap of matching white lace panties, she was speaking angrily into a cell phone.
“You have some nerve, you— you ratfink bastard ,” she snapped, waving her free hand for emphasis, her long, wildly wavy brown hair flying around her head as she moved.
And that wasn’t all that moved. She was a bombshell, all sweet, womanly curves, barely contained in her undies.
“I want you to know,” she went on furiously, still not seeing Luke, “there’s no way in hell I’m accepting your breakup message. You hear me, Teddy? I’m not accepting it because I’m breaking up with you . And while we’re at it, who even does that? Who breaks up with someone by text? I’ll tell you who, Teddy, a real jerk, that’s who— Hello? Dammit! ” Pulling the phone from her ear, she stared at the screen and then punched a few keys before whipping it back up to her ear. “Your voice mail cut me off before I finished,” she said. “You having sex in your office while I was in the building? Totally cliché. But not telling me that you weren’t planning to re-sign the lease? That’s just rotten to the core, Teddy. And don’t bother calling me back on this. Oh, wait, that’s right, you don’t call—you text !” She punched the Off button on her phone and tossed it to the counter, hands on hips, steam coming out of her ears. Then she thunked her forehead against the refrigerator a few times before going stock-still, her head pressed to the cool steel door.
Had she knocked herself out? Luke wondered.
“It’s just one bad day,” she whispered, still in the perfect position for him to pat her down for weapons.
Not that she was carrying—well, except for that lethal bod.
“Just one really rotten badass day,” she repeated softly, and Luke had to disagree.
“Not from where I’m standing,” he said.
Find out what happened when Mia Hutchinson
first arrived in Lucky Harbor…
The Sweetest Thing
See the next page for an excerpt.
Chapter 11
“Always tell the truth. It eliminates the need to remember anything.”
Tara Daniels
U p until that moment, Ford’s plans for the day had included talking Tara into going out for a sail. And then burning off some excess energy.
With their naked bodies.
Yeah, that would have been right at the very top of the to-do list.
But that all changed with Mia looking at him through his own green gaze, her expression slightly challenging and yet braced for… hurt and rejection, he realized as something twisted hard in his chest.
How many years had he wondered about the baby that he and Tara had
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