The Billionaire's Matchmaker(21)

“I’m sorry. I never should have talked you into half the stunts we did.”

“You didn’t talk me into them. I wanted to do those things, even if I argued sometimes. I’m damned grateful for every chance I took, for every single adventure, and for all the consequences. Because that gave me the courage to start my own business. To come after you in a helicopter and make a big statement about how I felt.” He took her hands. “Now I’m asking you to do the same. To go after what you want instead of running away.”

She gestured toward the camera sitting in the bag a few feet away. “I am going after what I want.”

“In your career, yes, but not in here.” His fingers danced up her chest. “I’m in love with you, Gabby. I have been since that day you ate the chips in the chemistry lab. You confounded me and challenged me and made my life better just by being my friend. I couldn’t forget you, and now I know why. Because I still love you. These few days have been some of the happiest I can remember in a long, long time. And now I know I want more than what we shared back then, I want it all. I don’t want to spend a single day without you ever again.”

“T.J.—” She shook her head, then paused and faced the truth about herself, about the years apart from T.J. He wasn’t the one who had deserted her—she had done it to him. And right now, she felt the old familiar fears rising in her, pushing her to run again. Instead, she held her ground. “I’ve been afraid all my life, of getting close, of trusting, of screwing up. When you told me how you felt that day, I panicked, instead of being honest. And I pushed you away.”

“I would have understood, Gabby. We all make mistakes.”

She moved away from him and crossed to the pyramid. The triangular shaped walls offered a break from the wind and a shadow beneath the winter sun. “My biggest mistake was pretending I wanted you and me to be just friends when I really wanted…”

“What?”

Gabby pivoted toward T.J. and looked up into the eyes that she’d first noticed years ago, back in elementary school. “From the day you made that little explosion in chemistry class, I was hooked on you. I invited you along on my adventures because I wanted to spend time with you, to see you. You were smart, funny, and sexy as hell in those glasses.”

He grinned. “I can go back to wearing them.”

Gabby reached up and placed a palm against his cheek. “I don’t know. I kinda like seeing your eyes all the time. I’ve loved these eyes for a long time, even if I took years to tell you.”

“Then I’ll make sure you see them every day.” He reached in his breast pocket and tossed his sunglasses to the side. Gabby laughed, Charlie barked, and T.J. took the woman he loved into his arms. “What took us so long to finally figure out what we wanted?”

“Life’s a journey, T.J. Some of us just take the long road.”

“As long as it leads me to you.” He leaned down and kissed her, a sweet kiss filled with love and promise and a taste of forever. She curved into him and thought she could stay in his arms for the rest of her life.

But not on this windy plain in Wyoming. After a while, T.J. waved off the helicopter and they walked back toward Gabby’s car, arm in arm. “You promised we’d see the world’s largest ball of popcorn, you know,” T.J. said. “It’s back in Iowa somewhere. We missed it.”


“Who needs the world’s largest ball of popcorn?” Gabby asked. She smiled up at T.J. and held his hand tight. “I have everything I need right here.”

Charlie barked in agreement, then pressed his little body against their legs, as content and happy as a matchmaking, career-saving terrier could be.

The three of them hopped in the car, pointed west, and embarked on a brand-new journey together.





About the Author



New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shirley Jump spends her days writing romance and women’s fiction to feed her shoe addiction and avoid cleaning the toilets. She cleverly finds writing time by feeding her kids junk food, allowing them to dress in the clothes they find on the floor and encouraging the dogs to double as vacuum cleaners.





The Sheriff’s Secret





Susan Meier



This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright ? 2013 by Susan Meier. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

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Edited by Shannon Godwin and Libby Murphy

Cover design by Libby Murphy

Ebook ISBN 978-1-62266-217-3

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition October 2013

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Mercedes Benz, American Heart Association, Jack Russell, James Bond