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Monday Puzzler
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Monday Puzzler, 05/20/2013
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I think I know the author but not the exact book. :)
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And the answer is: The Sweetest Thing, by Jill Shalvis!
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With this particular book, I laughed several times, and surprisingly cried as well.
I hope y'all enjoy my pick of the week! HAPPY MONDAY!
“Heroine.”
That was it, just her name from Hero’s lips, and just like that she… softened. She had no other word for what happened inside her body whenever he spoke to her. She softened, and her entire being when on full alert for him.
Just like old times.
Hero stood there, patient and steady, all day-old scruff and straight white teeth and sparkling gorgeous eyes, bringing out feelings she wasn’t prepared for.
“Aren’t you going to offer me a muffin?” he asked.
Since a part of her wanted to offer far more, she held her tongue and silently offered the basket. Hero perused his choices as if he was contemplating his life’s path.
“They’re all the same,” Heroine finally said.
At that he flashed a grin, and her knees wobbled. Sweet baby Jesus, that smile should come with a label: WARNING: Prolonged exposure will cause yearning, lust, and stupidity. “Don’t you have a bar to run?” she asked.
“Friend is there, handling things for now.”
Hero was a world-class sailing expert. When he wasn’t on the water competing, or listed in Cosmo as one the year’s “Fun Fearless Males”, of all things, he lived here in Small Coastal Town. Here, with his best friend, Friend, he co-owned and ran The Love Shack, the town’s most popular watering hole. He did so mostly because, near as Heroine could tell, he’d majored in shooting the breeze—which he did plenty of when he was behind the bar mixing drinks and enjoying life.
She enjoyed life, too. Or enjoyed the idea of life.
Okay, so she was working on the enjoying part. The problem was that her enjoyment kept getting held up by her reality. “Are you going to take a muffin or what?”
Hero cocked his head and ran his gaze over her like a caress. “I’ll take whatever crumb you’re offering.”
That brought a genuine smile from her. “Like you’d settle for a crumb.”
“I did once.” He was still smiling, bit his eyes were serious now and something pinged low in her belly.
Memories. Unwelcome ones. “Hero---“
“Ah,” he said very softly. “so, you do remember my name. That’s a start.”
She gave him a push to his solid chest. Not that she could move him if she tried, the big, sexy lout.
And she’d forgotten nothing about him— nothing. “What do you want?”
“I thought after all this time,” he said lightly, “we could be friends.”
“Friends,” she repeated.
“Yes. Make polite conversation, occasionally see each other socially. Maybe even go out on a date.”
She stared at him. “That would make us more than friends.”
“You always were smart as hell.”
Her stomach tightened again. He wanted to sleep with her. Or not to sleep, as the case might be. Her body reacted hopefully to the mere thought. “We don’t ---“, She closed her eyes to hide the lie. “We don’t like each other like that anymore.”
“No?” In the next beat, she felt the air shift and he moved closer. She opened her eyes just as he lifted his hand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, making her shiver.
He noticed-- of course he did; he noticed everything—and his mouth curved. But his eyes remained serious, so very serious as he leaned in.
To anyone watching, it would look as if he was whispering something in her ear.
But he wasn’t.
No, he was up to something far more devastatingly sneaky. His lips brushed against her throat, and then her jaw, and while she fought with a moan and lost, he whispered, “I like you just fine.”
Her body quivered, assuring herself she returned the favor whether she liked it or not.
“Think about it, Heroine.”
And then he was gone, leaving her unable to do anything but think of it.
Or him.