Nobody But You (Cedar Ridge #3)
Author: Jill Shalvis
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Synopsis:
After an overseas mission goes wrong, Army Special Forces officer Jacob Kincaid knows where he must go to make things right: back home to the tiny town of Cedar Ridge, Colorado. All he needs to scrub away his painful past is fresh mountain air, a lakeside cabin, and quiet solitude. But what he discovers is a gorgeous woman living on a boat at his dock.
Sophie Marren has nowhere else to go. She’s broke, intermittently seasick, and fighting a serious attraction to the brooding, dishy, I’m-too-sexy-for-myself guy who’s now claiming her dock. Something about Jacob’s dark intensity makes her want to tease—and tempt—him beyond measure. Neither one wants to give any ground . . . until they realize the only true home they have is with each other.
Excerpt:
She eyed the bench a long beat but did eventually sit,
perching primly as far from him as she could get and yet still be close enough
to grab the bottle.
Smart woman.
She took the Scotch and drank. Her eyes watered and she
coughed as she handed it to him. With a sigh, she leaned back to study the
night sky. Her bared throat was slim and creamy smooth. An unexpected
temptation. Remembering the flash of pain and vulnerability she’d unwittingly
revealed, and that for whatever reason he’d somehow added to it, he spoke. “I’m
sorry.”
She glanced at him as if she’d never heard a man apologize
before in her life. “For…breathing?” she asked. “Having a penis? What?”
“You were upset because you didn’t know I was a Kincaid.”
She sighed. “That was just me looking for a reason to be mad
at you so I wouldn’t…”
She bit her lower lip, clearly not wanting to go on.
But now he had to know. “So you wouldn’t what?”
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just that I’m trying to make
better choices.”
“Of which I wouldn’t be one.”
“It’s not necessarily your fault,” she said. “It’s that
you’re a man.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“And I’m off men right now.”
“And on…women?” he asked with admittedly more than a little
fascination.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m on no one, but thank you for proving my point on men.”
“I get that,” he said. “But being off men doesn’t seem to be
making you very happy, or sound like a whole lot of fun.”
“Maybe I don’t need fun.”
He understood that. He’d felt the same way since Brett died.
“What do you need?” he asked,
honestly wanting to know more about her.
Instead of answering, she reached for the bottle. He waited
until she met his gaze before letting go.
“Nothing,” she said a little too quickly.
“Everything’s…perfect.”
“And your glass is half full,” he said. “So you’ve said.”
But he didn’t believe her. “How about a game?”
“I don’t play games.”
Now, that wasn’t exactly true. Whether she knew it or not,
she’d been playing with his head since
he’d first laid eyes on her. “Three truths and a lie,” he said.
She stared at him. “As in you tell me three truths and a
lie, and I pick out the lie?”
“Yes.”
She considered this. “What do I get if I win?”
“What do you want?”
For the briefest of beats, her gaze dropped to his mouth.
Oh, hell yeah, he thought. Want me…
“My first boyfriend taught me that game,” she said.
“What did the winner get?”
“A kiss.”
Definitely still playing with his head… “Is that what you
want, Sophie? A kiss?”
Again she stared at his mouth before dropping eye contact
and wrapping that eye-stopping pink robe tighter around her body. “Do you?” she asked.
“Hell yes.”
Her gaze flew to his.
“Problem is,” he said conversationally, “if I kissed you, I
don’t think I’d be able to stop.”
Her mouth literally fell open. The pulse at the base of her
throat jumped. And she seemed to lose her words.
He went on. “But you should know, I don’t lose. That means
you’ll have to tell me three truths and a lie.” And he’d hopefully get to know
more about her.
She closed her mouth to bite her lower lip in what could’ve
been indecision or excitement. Obviously he was hoping for the latter. “But
hey, if you’re not sure you can handle losing, we can just forget about it,” he
said.
The challenge lifted her chin and put sparks in her eyes. That’s it, babe. Show me what you’ve got.
“Bring it,” she said.
Jill Shalvis does it again with Nobody But You, the long awaited story that brings Jacob home to Cedar Ridge. A broken man, Jacob comes home to heal himself and his relationship with his family. But it isn't easy. The rifts run deep for all of the siblings and Jacob has to find in himself what he needs to mend the relationships. His character is very realistic, a truly alpha male who is emotionally wounded.
Enter Sophie. She is the perfect match for Jacob. She's a hot mess in the true sense of the word and there were many laugh-out-loud moments in this story. But she and Jacob are perfectly suited. She is stubborn, often to her own detriment, and that forces Jacob to work that much harder for what he wants. She's a wonderfully-strong woman who is digging herself out from some life-changing struggles, which leaves her vulnerable to Jacob's advances. Neither is looking for something permanent, but we all know how that works out. The struggle is real and we the reader struggle along with Jacob and Sophie as they fight for their happily-ever-after.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author:
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.
