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“Yes,” she said woodenly. “And I told you not
to worry about it since it wasn’t your baby anyway. I told you it
was Derek Danvers and then I walked out and left you naked with
Jane Lawson.”

Crunch time.

“Shit, Bobbi. I…”

“It was pretty awful to see you with, Jane.
But we weren’t together so don’t...I lied to you, Shane. It wasn’t
Derek’s. I was never with Derek, not in that way. I just wanted to
hurt you as badly as I was hurting.” Her voice dropped to a
whisper. “To see you in bed,
in bed
…with Jane Lawson was
almost too much for me.”

She was quiet for a bit, letting the words
sink in and when Shane finally spoke, she jumped.

“So, what happened to the baby?”

“I lost it about a month later.”

“Oh, Bobbi,” he said, his voice full of
sorrow.

Hearing the emotion in his voice was nearly
her undoing. She held her hand up when he would have gathered her
close. “There’s more,” she managed to say. “There’s more you need
to know because earlier at dinner, when you were angry and upset
and confused, I saw something else in your eyes and it’s that
something else that kept me awake tonight. I saw hope, Shane, and
it broke my heart.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you’ll never have a family
with me. I can’t have kids.”

“I don’t understand,” he said slowly. “It was
a miscarriage. It happens.”

“No. I lost the baby because I have something
called endometriosis and because of that I had a tubal pregnancy. I
only have one left and while the condition isn’t as bad, the
chances of me getting pregnant are really low. Like five percent or
less.”

Her voice was wooden. And god, she was cold.
“So you see, if you want a family you better start looking for
someone who’s all in one piece because I’m sure as hell not. I’m
damaged goods.”

There. She got it all out, except one last
thing.

“I’m so sorry, Shane.”

“Sorry?” he asked hoarsely. “What the hell do
you have to be sorry about? You were young and scared and I was a
fucking asshole to leave you alone like that.” He ran his hands
through his hair. “Jesus Christ, Bobbi, I can’t imagine what you
went through.”

“But, if I was strong enough to have been
honest with you then maybe things would have turned out
differently. You would have gone to college instead of jail
and—”

His mouth on hers, stopped everything.

It stopped time and space and most
importantly, it stopped the pain that had thrummed inside her heart
for years. Shane’s hands were in her hair, pulling her into him as
if he needed her so badly it hurt. His mouth spoke without words
and he kissed her until her knees buckled. Until her head swam.
Until the noise in her ears fell away.

Until there was only Shane and Bobbi.

When they finally pulled apart, they were
both breathing heavily and Shane rested his forehead on hers, his
arms still around her so she wouldn’t fall.

“Bobbi, we need to let go of the past. We
need to call it even.”

She nodded, too emotionally wrecked to say
anything.

“We need to live again. We need to be
together again.” His hands moved from her waist upward and he
cupped each side of her head and he moved her enough so that she
had no choice but to look into his eyes. So that she could see the
emotion behind his words.

“Don’t you get it, babe? I love you. I love
everything about you.” A small smile graced his lips. “Even the
annoying shit. I don’t care about anything that happened before
this moment. None of it matters. All that stuff, the good and the
bad made us who we are today but none of it matters. Not really.
It’s just filler, the stuff that filled in the spaces.”

She attempted a smile but failed. “Since when
did you start to sound so philosophical?”

“Huh,” he said. “Since I started listening to
my, dad.”

“But Shane, we might never be able to have
kids.”

He kissed the top of her head and held her
like she was the most precious thing in the world. “Let’s just play
that part of our relationship one day at time. Hell, if you want to
throw Pia in a stroller and take her to the park, I’m down with
that. I’m down with anything as long as we’re together.”

A throat cleared and they both turned, Shane
still holding Bobbi, who desperately needed to feel him because she
was afraid if he let her go she would never be able to get warm
again.

Herschel stared at them in surprise. He
scratched his head and glanced down at his boxers. The same boxers
that usually ended up around his ankles.

Bobbi held her breath as her gramps hauled
them up and kept everything covered that should stay covered.

“We were just,” she began and then stopped
because she wasn’t sure what to say.

“What was that?” Herschel asked.

“I just came to get my girl,” Shane said, his
hand on the small of her back. “If that’s alright, Sir.”

“Bah,” Herschel said gruffly. “You don’t need
to be asking me permission. We all know that Bobbi doesn’t do
anything unless she wants to.”

“That’s true,” Shane whispered near her ear.
“But before you answer you gotta know that my place is forever. I’m
not interested in any of this part-time bullshit. I don’t want to
get a text telling me that you’re too goddamned tired to come home.
I want to be your home, Bobbi. I want to be your everything.”

She turned in his embrace and whispered,
“Your forever, everything.”

He bent low and pushed her hair away from her
neck. He licked the Celtic tattoo that was there. The tattoo that
symbolized, forever. “Is there any other way?”

“No,” she answered slowly, with meaning, and
then she rested her head against his chest and listened to his
heart. She closed her eyes and smiled. There were going to be
things to work out. Her father’s illness. Billie’s pregnancy. And
what the hell was up with Betty?

But she had Shane in her life again and as
she listened to his heart, as she listened to his soul, she knew
things were going to be alright.

Is there any other way
?

She shook her head and murmured, “For us,
there isn’t.”

Please read on for an exclusive look from the
first book in my hot new series for Sourcebooks,
The
Bad Boys of Crystal Lake
….

Molly O’Keefe, author of Can’t Buy Me Love,
says, “Everything I love in a book: A hot and tender romance and a
bad-boy hero to die for!”

Sometimes the best place to find love is
right back where you started…

Falling asleep in a different bed every night
has made it easy for Cain Black to forget his past. It’s been ten
years since he packed his guitar and left Crystal Lake to chase his
dreams. Now tragedy has forced him home again. And though Cain
relishes the freedom of the road, one stolen moment with Maggie
O’Rourke makes him wonder if he’s missing out on something bigger
than fame.

For Maggie—single mother and newly settled in
Crystal Lake—love is a luxury she just can’t afford. Sure, she
appreciates the tall, dark and handsome looks of prodigal son Cain
Black. But how long can she expect the notorious hellion to
stay?

The last thing either of them wants is
something complicated. But sometimes love has its own plans.

Juliana Stone

Sourcebooks Casablanca

Dusk fell, bringing with it the sharp
dampness of a Michigan June night. Cain was drunk. Hell, the three
of them were a sorry-ass bunch. They’d sat on the beach for hours,
drinking beer until there was none left. Then they’d moved on to
the hard stuff, sharing a bottle of vodka as they talked crap,
caught up, and reminisced about every detail of Jesse’s life.

The men had kept in touch after they went
their separate ways, but as was the way of it, time expanded and
filled with other things. Phone calls and emails became less
frequent, and Cain couldn’t remember the last time he’d had an
actual conversation with his friends.

Mac had moved to New York after graduating
from Michigan State and was now an architect on the fast track to
partner at a prestigious firm. The twins had joined the armed
forces straight out of college and were never in the United States
for long—military leave didn’t allow it. When they had the good
fortune to come home, they’d spent their time in Crystal Lake.
Jesse of course had had a wife waiting for him, and Jake had never
been far from either one of them.

Cain glanced at his friend and frowned. Jake
was in a place of transition. The loss of his brother had hit him
in a way that left scars beneath his skin. There was a darkness
inside him that didn’t belong. He’d always been the easygoing
twin—the light to Jesse’s intense, moody personality.

It was all wrong.

“So, Mr. Guitar God of the Year,” Jake
slurred.

“Yeah.” Cain grinned. He couldn’t help it.
“Pretty damn cool.” The latest issue of
Guitar World
had
featured Cain and a host of up-and-comers, though he’d snagged the
all-important cover and had been humbled when Springsteen sent him
a note. Apparently the man liked his playing and songwriting
skills.

“I want my copy autographed,” Mac joked. “You
should send one to your ex. Let her know what she’s missing.”

Cain’s lip curled. “Natasha only cares about
herself. Trust me, she’s moved on.”

Jake punched him in the arm. “Natasha fucking
Simmons. How in the hell did a redneck from Michigan end up with a
Hollywood hottie like that?”

“Don’t ask.” Cain was tight-lipped. His
ex-wife was not someone he cared to discuss. He took a second to
gain his balance and grimaced. “Boys, we need food.”

“I second that. Liquid lunch is fine, but it
only goes so far.” Mac nodded toward the house. “Let’s go.”

There were a few lingering guests, his mother
among them. Lauren Black was a tall, attractive woman who took
great pride in her appearance. Her hair hung past her shoulders, a
silken sheet of gold. Her figure, enviable by women half her age,
was shown to perfection in the classic cut of the simple black
dress she wore. At her ears were small pearls, and at her neck, the
matching pendant.

She’d come a long way, his mother, and pride
rolled through him as he studied her. She’d grown up with nothing
and hailed from the wrong side of the tracks. But she was made of
good stuff—her roots were humble and strong. They were the kind of
roots that went deep and she’d kept the both of them anchored. He
might have been poor for most of his youth, but he’d never known
it.

She was chatting with Raine Edwards—Jesse’s
young widow. The petite woman looked gaunt, her features pinched
and her skin much too pale against the ebony hair that fell past
her shoulders.

Cain glanced at Jake. The soldier’s gaze was
locked on to the widow with an intensity that was heartbreaking.
Everything had changed, and yet so much remained the same. The
hunger, the
want
, was hard for the soldier to hide, and Cain
looked away, uncomfortable.

Marnie and Steven Edwards were in the family
room, a large open space just off the kitchen. It boasted an entire
wall of glass that brought the outdoors inside, and in the distance
the stars reflected on the lake like diamonds on black velvet. They
sat together on a leather sofa, an open book of photos displayed on
the coffee table. A small group was gathered around them, their
voices low in that polite, mournful way.

“Here.”

Cain turned and accepted a plate of
sandwiches from Mac. There was tuna, salmon, and, no surprise, the
always-crowd-pleasing ham. It didn’t last long. He hadn’t eaten
since the plane.

“Oh shit, here she comes.”

Cain turned at Mac’s harsh whisper.
“Who?”

“Rebecca Stringer.”

“Stringer?”

Mac guffawed drunkenly. “Seriously? You don’t
remember? ‘Stringer-dinger, she’ll ring your bell’?”

It came back quickly. Blond. Plastic. Head
cheerleader, homecoming diva, and queen of the back-seat. They’d
each dated her at one point or another—
dated
being a loose
term.

He stifled a groan and glanced at Jake. He’d
changed out of his military dress, but the plain white T-shirt and
jeans did nothing to detract from the powerful energy that
surrounded him. His short dark hair and even darker eyes only
emphasized this. Afghanistan had changed the man in more ways than
one.

The soldier was quiet, stuffing sandwiches
into his mouth, his eyes still on his brother’s widow.

“Well, well, well…the Bad Boys of Crystal
Lake all together again.” Rebecca’s candy-red lips were glossy, as
if they’d been coated in syrup. They were porn-star perfect and
somehow out of place in northern Michigan. “In case you hadn’t
noticed, we’re missing one.” Jake glared at Rebecca, his eyebrows
knit into a frown, his mouth tight.

Rebecca’s face flushed deep red, and for a
moment she was speechless. “I’m sorry. Of course…I didn’t mean…”
Her voice trailed into silence as Jake shoved past them.

“Whatever,” he muttered. “I need another
drink.”

Cain took a step, intending to go after Jake.
The man was hurting.

Rebecca’s hand on his chest stopped him. Her
fingers grazed the fabric of his shirt a little longer than was
necessary.

“Cain.” The way she purred his name reminded
him of his mother’s old cat—all soft and fuzzy, with claws waiting
in the wings. “Shame on you for not coming home sooner.” Her shiny
lips loosened into a pout.

She smiled so wide, Cain was afraid her
makeup was going to crack. “Tell me,” she said, and sidled up as
close as she could. Cain glanced at Mac, but his buddy raised a
bottle of water in a mock toast and moved away.