From New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis comes a captivating story of love, second chances and new beginnings…
THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE, the second standalone novel in Jill Shalvis’s Heartbreaker Bay Series, is out today! Check out the excerpt below and grab your copy of this fantastic new novel today!
The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #2
Releases on September 27, 2016 by Avon
If she has her way …
Willa Davis is wrangling puppies when Keane Winters stalks into her pet shop with frustration in his chocolate-brown eyes and a pink bedazzled cat carrier in his hand. He needs a kitty sitter, stat. But the last thing Willa needs is to rescue a guy who doesn’t even remember her …
He’ll get nothing but coal in his stocking.
Saddled with his great-aunt’s Feline from Hell, Keane is desperate to leave her in someone else’s capable hands. But in spite of the fact that he’s sure he’s never seen the drop-dead-gorgeous pet shop owner before, she seems to be mad at him …
Unless he tempers “naughty” with a special kind of nice …
Willa can’t deny that Keane’s changed since high school: he’s less arrogant, for one thing—but can she trust him not to break her heart again? It’s time to throw a coin in the fountain, make a Christmas wish—and let the mistletoe do its work …
Excerpt
Willa sighed and headed to the door.
Again Keane held the pink bedazzled cat carrier, which should have made him look ridiculous. Instead it somehow upped his testosterone levels. His sharp eyes were on her but they turned warm in a way that melted her right through her center as she moved toward him. She stopped with the glass door between them, hands on hips, hoping she looked irritated even if that wasn’t quite what she was feeling.
His gaze lowered from her face to run over her body, which gave her another unwelcome rush of heat. Dammit. Now she was irritated and aroused—not a good combo.
His mouth quirked at the saying on her apron that read Dear Santa, I Can Explain.
Drawing a deep breath, she opened the door. “You’ve got Petunia again. I hope that means your great-aunt Sally isn’t still sick.”
He looked surprised that she’d remembered his aunt’s name, or that she’d care. “I don’t know,” he said a little gruffly. “She left me a message saying that I was in charge for the rest of the week but for two days now Pita’s been happily destroying my jobsite. I’m throwing myself on your mercy here. Can you help?”
Wow. He must be really desperate since he was actually asking and not assuming. But since Petunia was a sweetheart, she knew she’d do it.
“I’ll even tell you where I went to high school,” he said, adding a smile that was shockingly charming.
Wow. He hadn’t lost his touch when it came to turning it on. “Not necessary,” she said, painfully aware of their audience.
Keane’s attention was suddenly directed upward, just above her head. She followed his line of sight and found a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the overhead display of small portable doggy pools. Mistletoe? What the hell? She glanced behind her and what do you know, suddenly Rory and Cara were a flurry of movement racing around looking very, very busy. “When did the mistletoe go up?” she asked them. “And why?”
“FOMO,” Cara said from behind the counter.
“Fear of missing out,” Rory translated. “She was hoping a hot guy would come in and the mistletoe would give her an excuse.”
Willa narrowed her eyes and her two soon-to-be-dead employees scattered again.
“Interesting,” Keane said, looking amused.
“I’m not kissing you.”
His mouth curved. “If you take Pita for the day, I’ll kiss you.”
“Not necessary,” she said, gratified no one could see her heart during the two-step in her ears. “I’ll take Petunia for the day. No kiss required or wanted.”
Liar, liar…
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About the Author
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New York Times and USA Today 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 sexy contemporary and award-winning books wherever romances are sold and click on the blog button above for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
The only semi-superstition I have is saying knock on wood or trying not to jinx things by saying they’ll happen. I don’t really believe that I can jinx things, but I still worry!
My family has a few holiday traditions. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Since I got my dog, nine (almost ten) Christmases ago, I started a new tradition where I wrap one present for each family member on the 23rd and put a dog treat in with the present then label it from my dog. Then, when that present is unwrapped, the family member gives him a treat. It helps keep him involved and obedient during the unwrapping of presents (at least that’s the goal if not the outcome). New Years we do a buffet of snack foods and watch movies all night. That’s really about it.
I’m with Jill – I traditionally have cookies!
Our Christmas Eve tradition is to eat pizza. That’s followed by gift opening accompanied by a plateful of goodies. Fun times!
We have lots of family traditions around holidays–Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Mardi Gras. I’m superstitious about sporting events, such as wearing the right team colors, etc. But that’s about it. I’m looking forward to this book. Thanks for the giveaway.
Chocolate! I think most traditions in my family are food based.