Full Package

That’d be the end of his voodoo sex tricks on my brain. Tonight, I’d kick him out of my head, no matter what it took.

“Look,” I hissed to my girls. “It’s Tyler The Juggler Nichols.”

Penny’s amber eyes simulated moons as her mouth fell open. She jerked her head to Tyler. “Holy smokes, he is hot,” she whispered, as she ran with her little chihuahua trotting along with her.

I could so trip her for that. But I loved her too much, and her dog as well.

“He’s not hot,” I muttered, as I breathed hard from our pace.

But Tyler Nichols was indeed a specimen, just like he’d been when we were in college. From the day we met in an advanced poli sci seminar, the man hooked me, he lined me, he sinkered me. He was my best friend, my boyfriend, my most fearsome competitor, my greatest ally, and my first love.

Then he’d broken my heart, and a few weeks after that my ego shattered too, smashed to bits too when he’d finished me off at a debate tournament.

That was devastating . . . and yet, at the same time it wasn’t. But before I could linger too long on all the ways my future shifted during the tumultuous ending to my senior year of college, the present shifted too. When Tyler opened his eyes and met mine, the expression in his was priceless. He blinked, then recognition flashed in those dark brown irises.

He was clearly shocked to see me, and yet, he seemed excited too. Like he was gazing upon his favorite work of art. The way he stared at me almost made me think I was a regular attendee at his private one-man shows.

And if that was the case, the man could eat his heart out.

This time, I was going to have the words. All of them. All the hurt and the sadness that had crashed back into me morphed into something beautiful and wholly necessary—the right words at the right time. “How’s the juggling working out for you now, Tyler?”

As I ran past him, he uttered a strangled string of words: “Great. I kept it up.”

“Evidently,” I said, locking my stare briefly with his pretty little girl.

I looked away, and I thanked the lucky stars that I finally had all I needed to eject him from the driver’s seat of my fantasy life. Even as he called my name, we kept running.

Leaving him far behind where he belonged.

If I had to go on a Tyler starvation diet, I’d sign up right then. Because no way, no how was I getting off anymore to a man who’d fathered someone else’s baby.

Goodbye, Tyler Nichols curse.

It ended today.



* * *



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Acknowledgments





Thank you to Helen Williams for the gorgeous cover! Thank you to KP Simmon for all the things. Big hugs to Kelley for running the ship, and to Candi and Keyanna for all they do. Love to Nelle for her NYC eyes and ears. Huge gratitude to my girls, Laurelin, CD and Kristy, and a special shoutout to Lili Valente.

Big love Jen McCoy and Dena Marie, who loved Chase and Josie, and helped bring their magic to the page. I am grateful to Lauren McKellar for her keen eye, to Karen Lawson for her eagle eye, and to Janice and Tiffany for their fine attention to detail.

Thank you to my family and my husband, and to my fabulous dogs! Most of all thanks to YOU – the reader.

Xoxo

Lauren