by Jami Alden
Because two years ago, when the tightrope she’d been walking had snapped out from under her, Talia had promised herself, promised Rosario, that she’d make a normal life for them. A life where Talia didn’t have to hide out in a safe house, away from Rosario, who was forced to live under an assumed name with a family of well-meaning strangers. A life that didn’t include living under the protection of full-time paid bodyguards.
And plenty of normal college girls had boyfriends, often directionless, disinterested, unworthy boyfriends like Kevin. Part of being normal meant getting your heart bruised by a guy who didn’t deserve a second of your time, a lesson Talia fervently hoped Rosario learned sooner rather than later.
And really, who was she to judge? Kevin might be a shiftless douche bag, but at least he wasn’t the force behind an international criminal organization that had resulted in the suffering and deaths of countless innocent women. Talia still held the gold medal in the falling in love with the absolute worst person on the planet award.
Talia swallowed hard and forced the memories of David’s threats against herself and Rosie from her mind. David was dead. The truth was out.
He couldn’t hurt them anymore.
She put menus in front of Rosario and Kevin and excused herself to fill an order for the main dining room. When she got back, she automatically put a Coke in front of each of them.
Kevin let out a little huff of disgust and pushed the glass back in her direction. “Can I get a bottle of Budweiser?”
“I don’t think—” Talia started, only to be interrupted by her sister.
“God, Tal, why do you do this every time? He’s legal, and you know it.”
“You’re not, and I don’t think he needs to be drinking with you—”
Kevin started to stand. “Fine. I’m supposed to meet Sam at the Z-bar anyway,” he said, referencing a bar across town that was popular with the students. A bar underage Rosario wouldn’t be able to get into.
Rosie grabbed his arm in a vise grip. “No, she’ll give you the beer!” As she spoke, she shot Talia a look that shouted, Don’t ruin this. You owe me. You owe me big time.
Talia knew she could spot Rosario’s boyfriend a whole truckload of beer and it wouldn’t make a dent in what she owed Rosie for bringing a monster into their lives. She thunked the bottle in front of Kevin and started to ask what they wanted.
A low voice edged with menace cut her off before she could open her mouth. “You better not be driving her anywhere, punk.”
Kevin whirled on his seat with a sullen glare. “Fuck off,” he snapped. Then swallowed hard and shrank back when he got a good look at the man behind him.
Talia couldn’t blame him. At easily six-foot-four with muscles on top of muscles, bristling with hostility as he stared down at Kevin with glacial blue eyes, to say Jack Brooks was intimidating was the understatement of the year.
Talia would have been scared, too, had she not been so shocked by the sight of him, here, in the flesh, after so long.
“Jack!” Rosario squealed, unfazed as she hurled herself in for a hug. Talia felt something in her chest twist as she watched those heavily muscled arms circle Rosario and give her a squeeze.
“Hey, kiddo,” Jack said, as he shot another glare at Kevin.
Then Talia’s heart did a strange flip as Jack met her eyes over Talia’s head and he flashed her a grin that softened the harsh lines of his face and warmed the glacial blue of those eyes. “Hey, Talia.”
“Jack,” she replied with a nod, proud of the way the single syllable did nothing to hint at the turmoil his unexpected appearance was causing.
She held herself still as he released Rosario and did a quick scan of her face and body. There was nothing in his gaze that hinted at anything approaching lust or attraction—for which she was fiercely grateful. Still, Jack had a way of looking at a person that made them feel like he knew all of their secrets, even the ones they didn’t know they were hiding.
Then again, she supposed of all people, Jack did know everything about her. The good, the bad, the horrifically ugly.
“You’ve been working out. You look strong.”
Talia nodded, unsure if she should thank him, unsure it was a compliment. There was a time, a lifetime ago, when she would have come back with something snappy, shown some attitude, run her hands over her own body to make sure Jack got a good look at what she had to show.
Now her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, her brain spinning with a thousand things she wanted to say, wanted to ask.
And yet she remained tongue-tied, unable to make even the simplest small talk with the man who had saved her life.
Rosario was more than capable of taking up the conversational ball. “When I talked to you a couple weeks ago, you didn’t say anything about coming down.”
Broad shoulders shrugged under his jacket. “It came up last minute. Danny just landed a new client and they needed me to come down to help out.” Jack managed the Seattle operations of Gemini Securities, a firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area that specialized in corporate and personal security. The firm was owned and operated by Danny Taggart, one of Jack’s team members from his time as an Army Green Beret, along with Taggart’s younger twin brothers.
“When did you talk to Jack?” Talia asked, wincing at the bite in her tone.
Rosario shot her an exasperated look. “A couple weeks ago?” She looked to Jack, who nodded in affirmation.
“We talk a few times a year, just to catch up,” Jack said.
“Oh,” Talia said. “I didn’t realize you two were so close.” Talia busied herself wiping down the already immaculate bar, telling herself there was no reason to feel this stab of hurt over the fact that Jack and Rosario were apparently BFFs when the only contact she’d had with him in the past year and a half was a terse one-line e-mail refusing any payment for the security services he and Gemini Security had provided while keeping her and Rosario safe from David’s reach. Hadn’t she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his retreating back, because it meant David was no longer a threat and she could finally move on with her life?
“He helped me with physics last quarter,” Rosario offered. “Since that was his major in college.”
Talia nodded and refilled another customer’s glass of sauvignon blanc. She didn’t even know Jack had gone to college, much less studied physics. She wasn’t, she told herself, jealous of the fact that Jack apparently took the time to talk to Rosario on the phone when he didn’t even bother to get in touch last month when the Seattle Tribune had rehashed the lurid details of Talia’s past.
Not that she’d wanted him to, she reminded herself forcefully. Jack was a six-foot-four, two-hundred-plus-pound reminder of everything she wanted to leave buried.
And yet, seeing him here…it awakened something inside her, something struggling to dig its way through the rubble left over from the life she’d left behind.
“So, is this the guy you told me about?” Jack’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Yes, this is Kevin, my boyfriend?”
Talia winced at the uncertainty in her sister’s voice. She looked up and caught Jack’s gaze. As their eyes met, she knew his thoughts echoed her own.
Douche bag. His mouth tightened in resignation and in that moment she felt a little crack in the wall that had always existed between them, even after Jack had pulled her out of a basement and saved her from a psycho killer.
Kevin, so sullen his bottom lip was practically protruding, reluctantly reached out his own hand to take the one Jack offered. His thin hand was swallowed up by Jack’s massive palm, and Kevin winced as Jack gave it a firm squeeze.
“Kevin,” Jack said, his voice scarier for its icy calm. “Let’s get something straight, okay?”
Kevin nodded.
“These two have run into enough creeps for three lifetimes. I’ve taken it upon myself to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t run into any more. Got it?”
He released Kevin�
��s hand, and the younger man glared sullenly as he absently rubbed his sore palm. “Yeah.”
“Good,” Jack said with a baring of white teeth that couldn’t quite be called a smile. “I’m going to be in town for a few weeks, and while I’m here, think of me as their very big, very protective older brother, who will come after you if I find out you’re giving either of them any trouble.”
Kevin gave a grunt and heaved himself up from his seat. “Yeah, that’s cool and all, but I think I’m out of here. Rosario, I’ll catch you at school. It’s getting a little heavy in here.”
“No!” Rosario grabbed her coat and purse and started after him, shooting daggers at Jack.
Talia went after her and grabbed her arm. “Rosie, let him go. This is one of the only nights of the week I get to see you—”
Rosie jerked from her hold. “Damn it, Talia, let me go! Jack, you’re as bad as her, thinking everyone in the world is out to get us. Just let me live my life,” she said, whirling dramatically as she stomped after Kevin.
“Be back at my place by midnight,” Talia called to her sister’s disappearing back. She sighed and turned to Jack, whose usual poker face had cracked to reveal a faint sheepishness.
“I’m sorry if that was out of line,” he began.
Talia waved him off as she went back behind the bar. The crowd was thinning out and it didn’t take her long to refresh a handful of drinks. “It’s okay. Kevin is a jerkoff but he’s mostly harmless. But I can’t say I don’t wish she could find someone more motivated, not to mention someone who’s actually nice to her,” she said as she rejoined Jack where he was leaning against one end of the bar.
His full lips quirked into a rueful smile, revealing the flash of a dimple in his lean cheek. “Why is it the good ones always go for the assholes who don’t deserve them?”
“I don’t know,” Talia said and sighed with a tired smile. “But with my track record, I’m hardly in a position to question her judgment.”
Jack’s eyes darkened. “Don’t tell me you’re still blaming yourself.”
Talia felt like a fist was squeezing her insides as the guilt and the shame over her own bad decisions tried to claw free from the dark corner where Talia had shoved them. “I really don’t want to get into this right now,” she said, faking a smile at a customer a few seats down. God, five minutes in Jack’s presence and she was already back there, scared and powerless.
Guilty.
“Shit, Talia.” Jack reached out a hand, stopping short of actually touching her. “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t come here to upset you. I’m looking after you too, Talia.” There was something in his face that made her swallow hard and made her feel…something…she couldn’t quite pinpoint. An ache, a curiosity—
“Hey, who’s your friend?”
Whatever it was got pushed away in a wave of perfume and blond hair striding across the room, a glint of interest in her blue eyes and a toothpaste-commercial-worthy smile on her face.
“This is my, uh, this is Jack Brooks,” Talia said. “And Jack, this is Susie Morse, the owner of Suzette’s and my boss.”
Talia watched Jack’s huge hand swallow up Susie’s much smaller one. She grabbed a rag and gave the bar a vigorous wipe down so she wouldn’t see the inevitable flare of attraction on Jack’s face. Who could blame him? With her thick, honey-colored hair, blue eyes, and tall, athletic body, Susie was a dead ringer for Christie Brinkley in her Sports Illustrated days. Normally, Talia didn’t pay enough attention to her own looks to let the contrast bother her, but suddenly she felt like a small dark mouse in the shadow of Susie’s blazing sun.
“Nice to put a face with the name,” Susie said, though the way her eyes were raking up and down Jack’s body, she was appreciating a lot more than just his face.
Something was odd though. “Why would you know Jack’s name?”
Something flickered across Susie’s face that looked suspiciously like guilt, but then her smile was back in full force. “Oh, Alyssa told me all about you.”
Alyssa was Alyssa Taggart, married to Derek Taggart, who worked with Jack at Gemini Securities. Alyssa and Susie were childhood friends, and when Talia had moved to Palo Alto, Alyssa had hooked her up with Susie, who happened to be in the market for a new beverage manager at her popular restaurant. While Talia hated feeling like a charity case, she’d been happy for the introduction and had worked her ass off to make sure Susie never regretted the decision to hire her.
“Last time she and Derek were in, she said I had to meet you the next time you came to town, and I can see exactly why she was so insistent.”
In her time at Suzette’s, Talia had come to like and respect Susie a great deal and counted her as one of the few people she trusted enough to call a friend. But right now, watching as Susie looked at Jack like he was a juicy piece of meat, Talia had to squash the urge to smack her friend’s hand away from where it lingered in Jack’s.
Talia wasn’t positive in the dim lighting of the bar, but she was pretty sure Jack was blushing. “Uh, thanks. It’s, uh, nice to meet you too,” he said and gently disengaged his hand.
“Dinner service is wrapping up,” Susie said, “but I’m more than happy to set up a table for you and have the chef put something together—”
Jack silenced her with a raised hand. “Thanks, but I’m fine. I’ll just sit here at the bar, if that’s okay?” He quirked a thick brow at Talia as if asking for permission.
Which struck her as odd. In her short but intense interactions with Jack, he never asked her approval for anything. “Fine with me. What can I get you?”
Jack settled into a stool as she slid the requested beer in front of him. Talia saw another customer signaling her from the corner of her eye. “I need to—”
“Go right ahead,” Jack said. “I’m good.”
Talia got the customer his check, and as the crowd thinned, that sensation of being watched came back, ten times stronger now. But it didn’t creep her out, having Jack’s intense gaze track her. Instead of prickles on the back of her neck and between her shoulders, she felt a strange ache, almost like a yearning.
As she gathered up glasses from an empty table, she heard Susie’s tinkling laugh from the main dining room and felt a sudden burst of envy. For the easy way her friend was able to smile at Jack, toss her hair, laugh, and make her interest clear.
Talia had been like that once. Friendly, flirty, ready and willing to use what she had to attract the attention of any man she set her sights on. She’d been normal once. She knew she had. Able to talk and banter and be attracted to a man as gorgeous and compelling as Jack.
But when she tried to remember what that was like, it felt as though she was parting the curtains on some distant, foggy past that belonged to another person. She’d tried to reclaim that part of herself in the past two years. She’d dated a few men, nice, normal men who took her out to dinner and didn’t expect her to sleep with them. But none of them had been able to wake her body from its apparent coma. No one made anything that felt remotely like attraction spark in her belly.
Until now.
Of course. Because no matter how much she longed for a normal life, of course her fucked-up past and twisted psychology would make her yearn for the one man who knew exactly who she was, what she’d done, and what had been done to her.
The one man who’d made it all too clear he didn’t want a damn thing from her.
The Dish
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Jill Shalvis
Dear Reader,
It’s been a fun, exciting year for my Lucky Harbor series. Thanks to you, the readers, I hit the New York Times bestseller list with The Sweetest Thing. Wow. Talk about making my day! You are all awesome, and I’m still grinning from ear to ear and making everyone call me “N-Y-T.” But I digress…
In light of how much you, the readers, have enjoyed this series, my publisher is putting Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing together as a 2-i
n-1 volume at a special low price. CHRISTMAS IN LUCKY HARBOR will be in stores in November—just in time to bring new readers up to speed for book three, Head Over Heels, in December.
When I first started this series, I wanted it to be about three sisters who run a beach resort together. I figured I’d use my three daughters as inspiration. Only problem, my little darlings are teenagers, and they bicker like fiends. Some inspiration. But then it occurred to me: Their relationships are real, and that’s what I like to write. Real people. So I changed things up, and the series became about three ESTRANGED sisters, stuck together running a dilapidated inn falling down on its axis. Now that I could pull off for sure. Add in three sexy alpha heroes to go with, and voilà… I was on my way.
So make sure to look for CHRISTMAS IN LUCKY HARBOR, the reprint of books one and two, available both in print and as an ebook wherever books are sold. And right on its heels, book three, Head Over Heels. (Heels? Get it?)
Happy reading and holiday hugs!
www.jillshalvis.com
From the desk of Margaret Mallory
Dear Reader,
Bad boys! What woman doesn’t love a rogue—at least in fiction?
I suspect that’s the reason I’ve had readers asking me about Alex MacDonald since he made his appearance as a secondary character in The Guardian, Book 1 of the Return of the Highlanders series.
Alex is such an unruly charmer that I was forced to ban him from several chapters of The Guardian for misbehavior. Naturally, the scoundrel attempted to steal every scene I put him in. I will admit that I asked Alex to flirt with the heroine to make his cousin jealous, but did he have to enjoy himself quite so thoroughly? Of course, if there had been any real chance of stealing his cousin’s true love, Alex would not have done it. A good heart is hidden beneath that brawny chest. All the same, I told the scene-stealer he must wait his turn. When he laughed and refused to cooperate, I threw him out.