Almost Just Friends Read online

“And then—”

  She sank her teeth into his lower lip and gave a playful tug. “Let me save you some time, soldier,” she whispered, and slid her fingers into his hair. “Anywhere. Anytime. For the rest of my life. I’m all yours.”

  He let out a breath and pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes soft and warm and full of more emotion than he usually showed. “And I’m yours, Piper. For the rest of our lives.”

  Sounded like the perfect plan.

  P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*

  About the Author

  * * *

  Meet Jill Shalvis

  About the Book

  * * *

  Reading Group Guide

  You’re My Honey Bun Muffins Recipe

  Read On

  * * *

  Coming Soon . . . An Excerpt from The Summer Deal

  About the Author

  Meet Jill Shalvis

  New York Times bestselling author JILL SHALVIS lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is . . . mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold, and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  About the Book

  Reading Group Guide

  Piper has a very hard time asking for help. Is this something you have in common with her? Do you think men or women are more prone to not asking for help?

  Piper loves keeping lists, even if she doesn’t always cross everything off them. Do you find to-do lists and journals helpful or harmful? What are the benefits? What are the downsides?

  Gavin struggles with drug addiction. Is there someone in your life who has dealt with this? How did it affect you?

  What did you think of the way Piper and her family handled Gavin’s situation? Would you have done anything differently?

  Do you think Winnie was justified in lying to Piper about her pregnancy and dropping out of college? If not, how do you think she should have handled it?

  Are there situations where you think lying is the right thing to do? How do you decide what those are?

  Was Piper correct when she made the decision to sell the property without talking about it with her siblings?

  How much of Cam’s decision to help Winnie and Gavin was influenced by the death of his brother?

  Was Cam right to keep Winnie’s secrets? If you were Piper, would you have understood?

  You’re My Honey Bun Muffins Recipe

  In Almost Just Friends there’s a lot of talk about comfort food. That’s probably because comfort food has gotten my family through a lot over the years. It solves problems, eases the tension after family arguments, and brings people together in the kitchen, where good things always seem to happen even on a bad day.

  You should know that for me and my family, comfort does not necessarily equal healthy. ☺ It means things like mac and cheese, cinnamon and sugar toast, and anything warm from the oven that includes butter.

  In the story, our main character Piper doesn’t really cook. She’s actually downright bad at it. She leaves that for her brother, Gavin, who’s aces at it. But she can pull it together when she needs to. For instance, she’s really good at boiling hotdogs to chop up and put in Gavin’s homemade mac and cheese.

  But I like to think that she could bake the heck out of a good muffin. And I’d like to think that if she could, she’d bake these You’re My Honey Bun Muffins (honey banana). It’s a recipe I got from an old friend a long time ago and have made a gazillion times for those trying days when you just need something warm and comforting. Give them a try. And think of Piper when you do . . . ☺

  Things You’ll Need:

  12-cup muffin pan

  Nonstick cooking spray

  ½ cup (1 stick) butter

  ½ cup brown sugar

  ¼ cup honey

  1 egg

  3 or 4 ripe bananas

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  ½ teaspoon almond extract or black walnut extract

  1½ cups self-rising flour

  Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by coating the cups with nonstick spray or lining them with cupcake holders.

  Heat the butter in the microwave until softened. Combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, and egg in a mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and mash them on a plate with a fork. Add them to the bowl and stir until smooth. Add the vanilla and almond or walnut extract. Add the flour and stir until it forms a thick, smooth batter.

  Spoon the batter into the muffin pan.

  Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan immediately to cool.

  Serve the muffins warm with milk and try not to eat all of them in one sitting.

  Read On

  Coming Soon . . . An Excerpt from The Summer Deal

  Chapter 1

  Brynn Turner had always wanted to be the girl who had her life together, but so far her talents hadn’t gone in that direction—although not for lack of trying.

  She mentally recapped the week she’d just endured and let out a stuttered breath. Okay, so her life skills needed some serious work, but as far as she was concerned, that was Future Brynn’s problem. Present Brynn had other things on her mind.

  Like surviving the rest of the day.

  With that goal in mind, she kept her eyes on the road, and three point five long hours and two 7-Eleven hotdogs after leaving Long Beach in her rearview mirror, she pulled into Wildstone, a place that had reinvented itself many times over since it’d been a late 1800s wild, wild west town complete with wooden sidewalks, saloons, and haunted silver mines. It sat smack dab in the middle of California, sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the green rolling hills filled with wineries and ranches.

  Parking in the driveway of her childhood home, Brynn took a minute. Once upon a time, Wildstone had been her favorite place on earth, but it’d been a decade since she’d lived here. She’d gone off to college and to conquer the world. Only one of those things had happened. She’d been back for visits, though even that had been a while. Six months, in fact. She’d stood in this very spot and had asked both of her well-meaning moms to butt out of her life, that she knew what she was doing.

  Note to self: she’d had no idea what she was doing.

  Clearly she still didn’t.

  With a sigh, she pulled down her visor and glanced into the mirror, hoping that a miracle had occurred and she’d see someone who had their shit together. Her hair was knotted on top of her head with the string tie from her hoodie because she’d lost her scrunchie. She was wearing her old glasses because she’d run out of contacts. Her face was pale and her eyes were puffy and red from a bad combo of not sleeping and crying. She wore yoga pants that hadn’t seen a yoga class since . . . well, ever, and in spite of being nearly thirty, she had a big, fat zit on her chin.

  In short, she looked about as far away from knowing what she was doing with her life as she was from solving world hunger.

  Knowing her moms—sweet and loving and nosy as hell—were going to see right through her, she pawed through her purse for a miracle. She found some lip gloss that she applied, and then on second thought also dabbed on each cheek for some badly needed color. She also found two peanut M&Ms, and since she didn’t believe in wasting food, she ate them. Hoping for more, she shook her purse, but nope, she was out of luck.

  The theme of her life.

  With a sigh, she once again met her own gaze in the mirror. “Okay, here’s the drill. You’re okay. You’re good. You’re happy to be home. You’re absolutely not crawling back with your tail between your legs to admit to your moms that they were right about Dickhead.”

  Swallowing hard, she got out of her hunk-o-junk and grabbed her duffle bag and purse. She’d barely made it to the porch before the front door was flung open and there stood her moms in the d