by Score, Lucy
“Oh, definitely the pie. There’s whipped cream in the fridge,” he said, ignoring my demand.
He got up and loped into the kitchen. Returning with a spray can, he paused in the doorway and sprayed a dollop into his mouth.
“Jonah, I’ve seen you sweaty and shirtless. I’ve seen you do pull-ups until the veins in your arms tried to explode. I’ve seen you completely naked and wet in the shower. But I have never been more attracted to you than I am right now.”
He grinned. And when he kissed me, it tasted sweet and full of promises.
Billy Ray bayed from upstairs. There was a thump when he threw himself off the bed and stampeded down the stairs, barking accusatorially.
“We’re right here, buddy,” I assured him. He nosed at the food on the table. “You may have one dino nugget. But that’s all I’m willing to share.”
“Hey, how many kids do you think we should have?” Jonah asked, picking up the remote control. “You like kids, right?”
I let out the air that had trapped itself in my lungs. “I like kids,” I said carefully.
“I think it would be cool to have a family here, surrounded by family. They’ll have cousins and aunts and uncles.”
I felt a warm gooey sensation in my stomach.
He settled on the couch and arranged me between his legs so I could lean back against his chest. Outside the birds chirped, and the sun shone. Neighbors poured sweet tea and gossiped. My parents walked their grandpig. Jonah’s mama snuggled up to her boyfriend at the ice cream shop.
And everything felt just about perfect.
“Hey, did I tell you about the bear I saw?”
60
Shelby
I was pedaling my butt off, sweat beading on my arms and dripping from my chin. Jonah was next to me in the darkened studio. It was just the two us. The music thumped off the walls, reverberating in my bones. I could see the last mile ticking down down down.
“Almost there!” He flashed me his heartbreaker grin in the dark. “Keep going!”
My legs were burning. A white-hot fire under the skin had consumed the muscle and was now devouring bone. And I kind of almost sort of didn’t hate it.
“Go, Shelby honey, go!” Jonah crowed as the screen on the far wall clicked over to fifty.
I slumped over the handlebars in relief.
“No, you don’t. Keep moving. Bring the heart rate down slowly,” he said, stepping off his bike. He rested his hand on my neck, his thumb brushing the scar I bore there. A reminder of how close we came to nearly losing it all. A reminder that every day together was precious.
But the past was officially the past. Never to haunt us again. And the future stretched on in front of us like an endless happily ever after.
“How come you get to stop?” I huffed, but I managed to make a wobbly revolution of the pedals while I complained.
He crossed the room and grabbed two fresh sweat towels off the shelving system next to the festive fake Christmas tree and returned to me, still grinning. “Fifty miles, Shelby. Not bad for a little ankylosing spondylitis.”
I took the last of the resistance off the bike and let the momentum carry my legs around and around.
“That century ride isn’t going to know what hit it,” I predicted breathily.
Jonah and I had signed up for a romantic 100-mile bike ride through Canada this coming summer, and we were spending the cold West Virginia winter training in his new gym space.
He changed the music on his phone from hard-driving, celebratory rock to a slow, sweet country ballad. It was adorable how Bootleg Springs had claimed yet another victim.
“How you feeling?” he asked as I took a swig from my water bottle.
“Tired but good,” I said. “I promise.”
He looked… nervous? Excited?
“What’s going on with you?” I asked pointing a finger in the direction of his handsome face.
My flares had been few and far between since meeting Jonah, and when I did get knocked down by one, I had my handsome, pushy boyfriend to pull me back up. I was thriving. We were thriving.
Jonah’s new gym was a bustling gathering place year-round for townsfolk trying to work off a few extra pounds during the holidays, for summertimers trying to maintain lake bodies. To his loyal elder following who mostly just wanted to gossip and watch his back muscles flex.
With my PhD hot off the presses, I’d landed a research professor gig at the nearby Buck State University where I was heading a decade-long study on the opioid crisis in communities. My survey was also being rolled out as a nationwide initiative to identify, among other things, loneliness within communities and potential solutions. And I was working on a book. The story of how Bootleg Springs claimed me as its own.
Billy Ray was now almost full-grown, though he still acted like a puppy. Fortunately our paper towel consumption had finally returned to normal.
Best of all, we finally had a home. We’d saved and searched, weighed our options and overthought. And then on Thanksgiving Day, just last month, crowded around the huge table in Scarlett and Devlin’s new home, the Bodines had handed Jonah a set of house keys.
The keys and deed belonged to the Bodine childhood home, now stripped of old, sad memories. Refreshed and renovated. Ready for a new family. Our family.
“Jonah, I—” I lost my train of thought immediately.
Jonah Bodine, my boyfriend of a year and a half—scratch that, my boyfriend of exactly eighteen months—was on bended knee in front of my bike.
“Shelby Thompson.”
“Jonah Bodine,” I whispered back. My feet froze in the pedal cages.
“It’s been exactly eighteen months since you and I first decided to start this summer fling,” he began. “And as you instructed me, couples shouldn’t even start talking about the future until they’ve survived eighteen months.”
“I do recall imparting that information,” I said, bringing my fingers to my lips. My hand was shaking. My vision was blurring, and I had the distinct suspicion that it wasn’t sweat.
“It’s been eighteen months and one wild ride. You were there with me every step of the way through everything my family went through. You were by my side when things seemed like they were at their darkest. You stuck.”
I pressed my fingers against my lips harder as his words hit bullseye after bullseye dead center in my heart.
“You showed me what a partner is supposed to be. You let me in. Let me fix things on occasion. And Shelby, honey, I can’t wait for the next eighteen months with you. The next eighteen years. The next forever. I’m ready. Are you?”
I nodded, blinking back tears. And kept nodding.
“Good, ’cause I’ve got something real important to ask you.” He revealed a small black box, and I held my breath while he opened it.
It was a simple oval solitaire that glittered like a thousand stars on a delicate gold band.
“Dr. Shelby Thompson, would you do me the great honor of being my wife? Running herd on a bunch of loud Bodine kids. Riding through Canada and running through everywhere else. Growing old here so we can cause a ruckus at The Lookout. Would you do all that with me?”
I could barely get my feet off the pedals. I launched myself at him, mostly out of joy but also a little because my legs weren’t working yet.
He caught me. Jonah always caught me.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, his voice muffled by my sweaty hair.
I nodded and kept right on nodding. “It’s the biggest, loudest yes you’ve ever heard in your life.”
We laughed, fumbling in the dark studio for the box, the ring, the kiss.
It was salty and sweet and everything I’d ever dared dream of. And so was Jonah.
My parents were going to be thrilled. Hell, the entire town was probably going to throw a party.
“This isn’t going to interfere with Gibson’s wedding, is it?” I asked.
Jonah laughed. “My brother and I already discussed it. It’s all good.”<
br />
“It’s better than good,” I said, watching the diamond wink on my finger. The sparkle blurred before my eyes. “It’s perfect.”
“We’ve got about twenty minutes before my phone starts ringing off the hook with Scarlett demanding to know if it’s official yet and insisting we come over to celebrate. She’s making dino nuggets for you.”
I snort-laughed and covered my mouth. “Twenty minutes? We can get into a whole lot of trouble in twenty minutes.”
“I’ve got a bottle of champagne on ice in the locker room. What do you say we pop the cork and get cleaned up?”
The way those green eyes sparkled, brighter than the diamond I wore, I knew exactly what he meant.
“Jonah, you are going to be everything your father never had the chance to be. You know that, right?” He already was. The good man. The generous neighbor. Now, he’d be the dream husband. The wonderful father he never had.
He cupped my face in his big, warm hand. “That’s the plan, Dr. Bodine. And you’re everything I ever wanted.”
PREORDER THE LAST BOOTLEG SPRINGS NOVEL NOW! Releases on July 24th.
Click here is get Bootleg #6 Highball Rush
Author’s Note to the Reader
Dear Reader,
First of all, let me assure you that your questions will be answered in the next (final) book. I PROMISE YOU AND I WOULD NOT MESS WITH YOU LIKE THAT. I mean, I would in my reader group, but in a cute charming way. Anyway…
I’m so happy/sad right now! I can’t believe my contribution to the Bootleg Springs series is over. The Bodine family and their crazy West Virginia town feel so real to me. I’ve had the best time writing these books with Claire Kingsley and I can’t wait for you to see what she’s got in store for you with Book 6 when all will be revealed!
Family for Jonah, I really wanted him to have a sense of rootlessness. So being accepted by the Bodines is the puzzle piece he’s missing. Shelby, our little independent nerd has family, but also knows what it’s like to be a bit of an outsider. Bootleg adopting them both was the icing on the pepperoni roll. I’m just kidding. There’s no icing on pepperoni rolls! But you get what I’m saying.
Thank you for being on this journey with us. For enjoying the little town that we created for you. Thanks for being you.
Now, if you loved Jonah “Drop It Like It’s Squat” Bodine and Shelby “Is That a Bear” (Lucy Note: literally me anytime I am outside) Thompson, please feel free to tell all of your book-loving friends and write a glowing review that brings tears to my eyes. Now, go off and order Book 6 so we can say good-bye to Bootleg Springs together.
Xoxo,
Lucy
About the Author
Lucy Score is a Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestselling author. She grew up in a literary family who insisted that the dinner table was for reading and earned a degree in journalism. She writes full-time from the Pennsylvania home she and Mr. Lucy share with their obnoxious cat, Cleo. When not spending hours crafting heartbreaker heroes and kick-ass heroines, Lucy can be found on the couch, in the kitchen, or at the gym. She hopes to someday write from a sailboat, or oceanfront condo, or tropical island with reliable Wi-Fi.
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Acknowledgments
Smooshyface Clairebear Kingsley for writing this series with me and being a super cool human.
Dawn, Jessica, and Amanda for those eyeballs.
Cassy Roop from Pink Ink Designs for Gin Fling’s cover design.
My BRAs for being forever wonderful.
Cleo for shedding all over my desk during edits.
Joyce and Tammy for watching endless Queer Eye episodes with me. Oh and doing all the work, all the time.
My secret street team that came together accidentally and made beautiful magic together.
Winston the free-range patio pillow for turning me into the neighbor other neighbors avoid.
Mr. Lucy for remaining devastatingly handsome.
Panera for feeding us when I’m on a deadline and can’t be bothered to cook.
Tacos for always, always making life better.
Lucy’s Titles
Standalone Titles
Undercover Love
Ashley is given the keys to revenge on her cheating fiancé when she teams up with billionaire Jason Baine to bring him and his mistress down.
Pretend You’re Mine
Harper starts her life over again with a fake relationship with real-life hero Luke. But fake and real and hidden truths soon turn into one unforgettable love story.
Finally Mine
Wounded veteran Aldo wishes for his old life, while Gloria tries to build a new one. Between scars and second chances, these two collide. Will they help each other heal or do more harm?
Mr. Fixer Upper
Gannon King’s on-set clashes with his field producer Paige drag them both further into the spotlight. And as the network pushes for more drama, things heat up behind closed doors.
The Christmas Fix
Cat King arrives in Merry with a camera crew, a big budget, and the intent to put the town back together again after a devastating hurricane. Christmas is just around the corner. Can she convince the surly city manager to trust her?
Heart of Hope
Single mom Bristol begins to fight through her grief with the help of sexy stranger Beau. But Beau has a secret that will affect her entire family.
The Worst Best Man
Business mogul Aiden has never met a woman who can hold his attention for longer than a month or two. Until Franchesca, a smart mouth girl with a big Brooklyn attitude. Can he conquer the unconquerable?
Rock Bottom Girl
What if you peaked in high school and high school sucked? Marley Cicero is 38, broke, and her parents’ new roommate in the town she couldn’t wait to leave after graduation.
The Blue Moon Small Town Romance Series
Where It All Began
Find out where Blue Moon got its start in this prequel. John Pierce is a farmer enjoying his solitude until the grad student he reluctantly agreed to take on turns out to be a woman.
No More Secrets
Carter Pierce is a gorgeous veteran who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty tending the family farm, but he’s not in the mood to be shadowed by a big city journalist.
Fall into Temptation
Beckett Pierce is the charming mayor of Blue Moon with a soft spot for women who are trouble, especially when they live in his guesthouse.
The Last Second Chance
Jackson Pierce is the returning prodigal son. With a successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter, he has everything. Everything but the girl he left behind.
Not Part of the Plan
Emma’s got her whole life planned out. And that plan doesn’t include a detour with hunky fashion photographer and notorious ladies’ man, Nikolai Vulkov.
Holding on to Chaos
Sheriff Donovan Cardona has his hands full when his town loses its collective mind, not to mention the red-headed disaster who’s keeping secrets and accidentally flashing him every five seconds.
The Fine Art of Faking It
Can two enemies fake a relationship long enough to take down the meddling Beautification Committee? Find out in this new chapter in the Blue Moon small town romance series.
Bootleg Springs Series
Whiskey Chaser
Scarlett is a hell-raising tomboy with a tool belt. She’s only being neighborly when she makes her sexy next-door neighbor her new pet project.
Sidecar Crush
Leah Mae Larkin, crash lands in her hometown of Bootleg Springs to lay low while a scandal threatens her mode
ling career. There she reconnects with childhood friend Jameson Bodine, a sexy metal working artist in the midst of his own family mess.
Moonshine Kiss
Cassidy is the girl-next-door turned small town deputy investigating Bowie’s father despite their friendly history. Spoiler Alert: She is NOT just like a sister to him.
Bourbon Bliss
When June Tucker’s fantasy football receiver turns into her real life boyfriend she’s not sure she can handle the reality. While George woos her, June does her best to make sense of the latest developments in the Callie Kendall case.
Gin Fling
When personal trainer Jonah and nerdy Shelby are forced to share a cottage for the summer, he has to decide if he’s ready for a steamy fling. But the past and its secrets are about to make things interesting.
Sinner and Saint
Crossing the Line
It’s hate at first sight when Xavier, a by-the-book bodyguard, meets starlet Waverly who is desperate to leave the sparkle and danger of Hollywood behind her.
Breaking the Rules
A dangerous game brings Xavier back into Waverly’s life. He’s the only one who can get her out alive, but will she ever trust him again?
