BooksBarbecue
Back Only With You
Chapters (68)
  1. Copyright Page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Six
  15. Chapter Seven
  16. Chapter Seven
  17. Chapter Eight
  18. Chapter Eight
  19. Chapter Nine
  20. Chapter Nine
  21. Chapter Ten
  22. Chapter Ten
  23. Chapter Eleven
  24. Chapter Eleven
  25. Chapter Twelve
  26. Chapter Twelve
  27. Chapter Thirteen
  28. Chapter Thirteen
  29. Chapter Fourteen
  30. Chapter Fourteen
  31. Chapter Fifteen
  32. Chapter Fifteen
  33. Chapter Sixteen
  34. Chapter Sixteen
  35. Chapter Seventeen
  36. Chapter Seventeen
  37. Chapter Eighteen
  38. Chapter Eighteen
  39. Chapter Nineteen
  40. Chapter Nineteen
  41. Chapter Twenty
  42. Chapter Twenty
  43. Chapter Twenty-One
  44. Chapter Twenty-One
  45. Chapter Twenty-Two
  46. Chapter Twenty-Two
  47. Chapter Twenty-Three
  48. Chapter Twenty-Three
  49. Chapter Twenty-Four
  50. Chapter Twenty-Four
  51. Chapter Twenty-Five
  52. Chapter Twenty-Five
  53. Chapter Twenty-Six
  54. Chapter Twenty-Six
  55. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  56. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  57. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  58. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  59. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  60. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  61. Chapter Thirty
  62. Chapter Thirty
  63. Chapter Thirty-One
  64. Chapter Thirty-One
  65. Chapter Thirty-Two
  66. Chapter Thirty-Two
  67. Epilogue
  68. Epilogue

“It’s necessary. Our clients don’t like to wait.”

“I’ll leave you to do your thing, then. Welcome to your new office. I might be biased, but I think you’ll like it much better here.”

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

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Val

I called my sister Hailey as I flagged down a cab, grateful that this terrible date was over.

“Hey, sis! Where are you?” I asked when she picked up. I knew she was out with our other sister, Lori.

“Uh-oh. Date over so early?”

“Yep. Are you two still out? I can join you.”

“Right.” Hailey rattled off the address just as a cab pulled in front of me. They weren’t far away, which was a relief. Traffic in LA could be madness. I tried to push my crappy date to the back of my mind as the cabbie sped through town.

Half an hour later, I walked inside one of the many beach bars along Santa Monica, twisting my waist-long dark hair into a bun at the base of my head.

My sisters were sitting at a high bar table in one corner of the terrace. Hailey waved enthusiastically. As I approached them, I noticed three glasses of cocktails.

“What’s this?” I pointed to the third glass.

“You sounded like you needed it,” Hailey explained.

“So we thought we’d be prepared,” Lori added.

I climbed on the chair, sipping the cocktail. Yum; it was delicious.

“Spill it,” Hailey said. “The secret to getting over a bad date is to describe it in extraneous detail so we can commiserate with you.”

“Chad seemed like a nice guy,” I began. “You know, on paper. Decent job, not too bad to look at. He had no sense of humor, but hey, you can’t have it all, right?”

“Yes, you can,” Lori said with a dreamy smile. She was married to a great man.

“What happened?” Hailey asked.

“Turns out he’s an ass. Was checking out the waitress right in front of me.”

Hailey wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. You do have bad luck, sister.”

For the past two months I’d been seeing this guy, Ethan. Two weeks ago I discovered I wasn’t the only woman he was seeing. The humiliation of finding out still stung. One of the reasons I’d gone out with Chad tonight was to move on from that. The joke was on me.

“What if it’s more than bad luck? I think I must give off the wrong signal.”

I was usually a confident and optimistic person, but my recent experiences had done a number on me.

“Valentina Connor,” Hailey said carefully, “you are one of the smartest and kindest women I know, and you have great fashion sense. Don’t doubt yourself.”