The Street Where She Lives. Jill Shalvis

her life, her heart. She loved it here and didn’t want to leave, not even for Ben. If she left, her life with him would be no different than it was now—just a blur of moving, moving, moving, when all she wanted was a home.

      “Rach?”

      “I want to stay.”

      “No, we have to go. There’s nothing for me here, you know that.”

      Actually, she’d only guessed, as he never told her about his family. It was the one thing he’d always refused to discuss.

      “It’s my future,” he said hoarsely, telling her only how much this meant to him, but not why.

      Oh, God, letting him go, watching him walk away, would be like ripping out a part of her, the best part. “I can’t.” Her heart got stuck in her throat because she knew. He was destined to go.

      And she was destined to stay.

      “You’ll come,” he said confidently. But they didn’t speak of it again because shortly after that Rachel caught the flu—a nasty bug that dragged on and on, weakening her, tiring her.

      After watching her throwing up every afternoon at four o’clock on the dot for a week running, Ben took her to a clinic. “Does she need antibiotics?” he demanded of the doctor, squeezing her hand as they waited for an answer.

      “Nope.” The doctor shook his head. “What you’re cooking isn’t contagious. It’s a baby.”

      CHAPTER SIX

      THE PHONE WOKE Melanie Wellers at what felt like the crack of dawn. Opening her eyes, she stretched lazily…and came in contact with a warm, hard, undeniably male body.

      Oh, yeah, nice way to wake up.

      Those male arms tightened on her, and a low growl sounded in her ear. “Mmm, you feel good.”

      Yes, yes she did. She always felt good with a nice warm body to strain against.

      Jason, no, Justin…yes, Justin, she remembered with a fond sigh, had so gallantly offered her a ride home from the bar last night where she’d gone after work in need of a stiff drink.

      Her boss had been a son of a bitch all day, she had bills coming out the wazoo and she hadn’t gotten the raise she’d counted on. And yet Jason—damn it, Justin—had promised to make it all go away for a night.