Jennifer McKenzie - This Just In...

A lead on love

Sabrina Ryan is a successful reporter—until a mistake sends her back to her hometown. But when she takes a job at the local paper, she finds an unexpected perk: an interview with the town’s oh-so-sexy mayor, Noah Barnes. He’s hot, he’s charming and suddenly her days are looking up.

But even as things heat up between them, Noah seems hesitant. Okay, so Sabrina has a reputation for slanting her articles to get what she wants. That doesn’t mean she’s using him, does it? As Sabrina starts to earn Noah’s trust—and glimpses the man behind the mayoral role—she finds it’ll take more than words to win his heart.

When he turned to go, Sabrina caught his forearm

Her fingers felt warm through the material of his dress shirt. “Will you think about the interview?”

Her face was open and seemingly sincere. But Noah knew how easy it was to fake emotions for the camera or, in this case, the potential interviewee. “Yes.” He let her hand remain on his arm a moment longer then nodded. “Have a nice day, Sabrina.”

“You, too, Mr. Mayor.”

“It’s Noah.” He didn’t know why he said it. If she wanted to call him by his title, as so many in town did, he shouldn’t care. Didn’t care. He attempted to cover his verbal hiccup. “Most people call me Noah.”

“I’m not most people.”

She was standing only a couple of inches away. The breeze caught her hair, tugged the strands toward him. They whispered across his cheek, just as soft as they looked. Noah exhaled slowly. “I’ve noticed.”

Dear Reader,

The summer I turned thirteen, I attended a family reunion in a small town. Up to this point, I’d never experienced small-town life: a hotel that had a grand total of four rooms, a single thoroughfare aptly named Main Street, and residents who not only knew each other by name, but were versed in all the tiny details of each other’s lives. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to grow up in that kind of close-knit community and what might make a person leave or stay.

Noah Barnes never considered living anywhere but the small town he calls home, while Sabrina Ryan hoped never to return. But when their lives connect, they start to see that maybe home isn’t a place, but a person.

I loved writing This Just In… and hope you enjoy it. If you’re curious about the music I played and the actors I pictured while writing the book, visit my website, www.jennifermckenzie.com.

Happy reading,

Jennifer McKenzie

This Just In…

Jennifer McKenzie

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer McKenzie lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she enjoys being able to ski and surf in the same day—not that she ever does either of those things. After years of working as a communications professional and spending her days writing for everyone else, she traded in the world of watercoolers, cubicles and high heels to write for herself and wear pajamas all day. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, eating chocolate, trying to talk herself into working off said chocolate on the treadmill or spending time with her husband.

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For my dear friend Jenn who always cheers me on, offers support when I need it and laughs at my jokes. Just for you, the P-word is nowhere to be found in this book.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

EXTRACT

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

SABRINA RYAN HAD NEVER planned to return home.

Not that Wheaton, British Columbia, the small town where she’d grown up—population: 4500, number of ATVs: 600, movie theater: 1—was home anymore. Not for the past nine years, at least. So finding herself there, for more than just a quick weekend visit, was a real kick in the teeth.

“What can I get you?” she asked the teenager at the front counter of her parents’ coffeehouse. Yes, that’s right. After living on her own and making her way in the world as a Vancouver newspaper columnist, becoming semi-well-known for her celebrity interviews in the process, she’d been reduced to working as a barista. In Wheaton.

She got irritated just thinking about it.

The teenager requested a latte and Sabrina set to work steaming the milk. At least he didn’t try to strike up a conversation, ask her what had brought her back and try to share all of his own life’s little details with her. Not like the previous ten people she’d served. And the ten people before them. And the ten people before them. And, really, everyone who’d made their way into the cozy coffee shop in the two weeks since her return.

So different than Vancouver, where a person could lose herself in the masses. Where a sudden appearance after years away brought no more than a single raised eyebrow, if anyone noticed at all. Sabrina sighed and watched as the milk began to froth. But anonymity was an anathema to small-town residents. Something she’d cheerfully forgotten in her years away because she hadn’t planned to come back. Ever.

She turned her attention to pulling the espresso shot, ignoring the pinch of her high-heeled boots around her right pinky toe. Considering she was going to be on her feet for the next seven hours, heels might not have been the most sensible choice, but it was bad enough that she’d had to leave her fabulous city life, amazing job and cultured friends behind. She wasn’t giving up her style, as well.

She rolled the milk to create a smooth, glossy surface and then poured it into the coffee with a couple of added wrist flicks and shakes to create a perfectly presented leaf. A latte that any Vancouverite would be proud to sip. Or take a photo of to share online.

Sabrina handed over the beverage, smiling through the pain in her foot and reminding herself that her visit was only that. A visit. A way station in her journey of life. Just as soon as she was able, she’d be on her way back to the city and Wheaton would be nothing more than a speck in her rearview mirror.

She made three more lattes, two espressos, eight plain black coffees and one hot chocolate in the next thirty minutes. She was asked about her return seven times during the same period, but though her answer remained the same—“Why am I back? My newspaper wants me to write a book about the celebrity interviews I’ve done over the years”—her smile began to feel strained. She might not have visited Wheaton since she was eighteen, but it still felt wrong lying to people. Even her parents didn’t know the real reason for her return. It was simply too embarrassing to admit she’d been fired. Too embarrassing to admit that she’d blown through her savings in less than six months and, with no cash to pay for food or rent or any other necessity, had been forced back here.