Wrapped Up in You - Jill Shalvis Page 0,2

and turned her attention to the third man.

She’d never seen him before; she most certainly would have remembered. Like the others, he was in running gear that fit his leanly muscled bod, which he held in a way that suggested military or cop. And just like that, the always-on-alert scared little kid she’d once been sent an automatic danger warning to her brain.

But she was no longer helpless, she reminded herself. She no longer had to pretend to be tough and brave. She was tough and brave. So she kept her smile in place, forcing herself to relax. She had nothing to hide. Well, almost nothing, anyway.

And it wasn’t exactly a hardship to look at him. His smile certainly was heart-stopping as he added his charm to both Caleb and Jake’s. And there was considerable charm. He had dark eyes and dark hair cut short, and in spite of his smile, when those eyes met hers, they gave away nothing of his thoughts.

Yep. Cop, she thought, which was a damn shame.

Kel O’Donnell stood there in front of The Taco Truck, starving and aching like a son-of-a-bitch. Pushing his body on a five mile, full-out run hadn’t been the smartest of ideas after what he’d been through. But his more immediate problem was that if he didn’t get food and fast, his stomach was going to eat itself.

The woman inside the truck looked to him for his order. “And you?” she asked, her voice slightly amused, as if life wasn’t to be taken too seriously, especially while ordering tacos.

But he was taking this very seriously, as his hunger felt soul deep. “What do you suggest?”

This caused twin groans from his cousin Caleb and their longtime friend Jake, which Kel ignored.

Not his server though. She quirked a single brow, the small gesture making him feel more than he had in months. Certainly since his life had detonated several months ago when he’d chased after a suspect on foot, only to be hit by the getaway car, getting himself punted a good fifteen feet into the air. That had hurt. But what had hurt more was his perp turning out to be a dirty cop. And not any dirty cop, but a longtime friend, which had nearly cost him life and career.

But hell, at least neither were on the line this time. It was just a pretty woman giving him some cute, sexy ’tude while waiting on him to decide between avocado and bacon tacos or spicy green eggs and ham tacos.

“You’re going to have to excuse my dumbass cousin, Ivy,” Caleb said. “Kel hasn’t lived in San Francisco for a long time and doesn’t know that you’ve got the best food truck in all of Cow Hollow. Hell, in the whole Bay Area.”

“It’s true,” Jake said and nudged Kel, and with Jake in the wheelchair, he got the nudge right in the back of the knee and just about went down.

“Everything on the menu,” Jake said, “and I do mean everything is gold. Trust me, it’ll melt in your mouth and make you want to drop to your knees and beg Ivy here to marry you.”

Ivy sent Jake the sweetest smile Kel had ever seen. Then those compelling eyes were back on him, the sweet completely gone. She leaned out her serving window a little bit, bracing her weight on her elbows. Her hair was the color of fire, a stunning pile of red held back by an elf headband, which left a few strands falling around her face, framing it. Her apron read I don’t wanna taco ’bout it. “What do I suggest?” she repeated.

“Yeah.” Just looking at her, he could feel himself relax for the first time in . . . way too long. Something about her did that to him. Instant chemistry. He hadn’t felt it often in his life and it always ended up a train wreck, so why the hell he felt relaxed, he had no idea. But it had him flashing another smile. “How about you pick for me.”

Her lips quirked at that. “Fair warning—I like things hot.”

“I love things hot,” he said.

Jake just grinned. “Aw man, she’s gonna eat you up and spit you out. I’m so happy.”

“Shh,” Caleb said. “I don’t want to miss him getting his ass handed to him.”

Ivy just cocked her head at Kel. “Think you can handle the heat?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Five minutes.” And she shut the window on them.

They moved to one of the two picnic tables at the entrance to