Publisher: Harlequin Teen (September 5, 2017)
Lena Wise is always looking forward to tomorrow, especially at the start of her senior year. She’s ready to pack in as much friend time as possible, to finish college applications, and to maybe let her childhood best friend Sebastian know how she really feels about him. For Lena, the upcoming year is going to be epic—one of opportunities and chances.
Until one choice, one moment, destroys everything.
Now Lena isn’t looking forward to tomorrow. Not when friend time may never be the same. Not when college applications feel all but impossible. Not when Sebastian might never forgive her for what happened.
For what she let happen.
With the guilt growing each day, Lena knows that her only hope is to move on. But how can she move on when she and her friends’ entire existences have been redefined? How can she move on when tomorrow isn’t even guaranteed?
Hello fellow readers! As you know, I'm a big JLA fan, so I'm so very excited about If There's No Tormorrow, so when this was delivered a couple of days ago...
I was all like...
And I know what I will be reading on my vacation next week! I can't share my book with all of you, but I can share this excerpt. I hope you enjoy!
Sebastian had texted a few times
since Wednesday, but I hadn’t seen him since the kiss. There was no fooling
myself. Things had changed. When Sebastian was home, even when he was dating
Skylar, I saw him nearly every other day if not every day. The only time I
didn’t was when he wasn’t home.
So he was avoiding me.
I cursed under my breath, tapped
out of the app and dropped my phone on top of the book on the floor. Edgy
anxiety churned my stomach, and I shook my head as I stared at the large maple
in the backyard. Was he back with Skylar, a handful of days after I kissed him?
Did it even matter?
It shouldn’t, but it did.
Disgusted with myself, I opened
up the paperback, needing to lose myself in something unrelated to me.
I’d made it a couple of pages before I heard
footsteps on the stairs leading up to the balcony. I lifted my chin and I froze
when I saw the top of Sebastian’s head, torn between wanting to dive back into
my bedroom and rush him with my arms spread wide.
I did neither of those things.
Heart thumping heavily in my
chest, I slowly closed the book as he crested the last step. All the air leaked
out of my lungs.
Oh come on.
Sebastian was shirtless. It
wasn’t the first time I’d seen him half clothed, but each time was like
the first time.
Chest defined, stomach chiseled
like he was cut off marble and hips lean. He wasn’t overly muscled. Oh no, he
was just a prime example of how football could do a body good. And he was
wearing a baseball cap. Backwards.
I just imploded into mush and
goo.
I hated him.
One side of his lips quirked up
as he swaggered across the small balcony.
“Hey, nerd.”
For a moment, I couldn’t respond.
I was thrust back to the lake, me in his lap and his mouth oh-so briefly on
mine. Heat flushed my cheeks and spread lower, much lower.
Oh my God.
I needed to get control of myself
and go about things as if nothing had happened. That was what he was doing. I
could do it, too. I had to, because if I couldn’t, how could we be friends?
He looked up and his gaze briefly
met mine before flickering away. I thought I saw a faint pink infuse his
cheeks. Was he blushing? Maybe he wasn’t as good at pretending as I thought he
was.
Clearing my throat, I cradled the
book to my chest. “Hey dumbass, did you forget to get dressed before you walked
out of the house?”
His eyes glimmered as they moved
back to me. His shoulders loosened. “I was just so excited to come visit you
that I didn’t want to waste time finding a clean shirt.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I thought about texting you.” He
leaned against the railing, next to my feet. “But figured you were out here.”
“Am I that predictable?”
“Yes.”
“Well then,” I muttered,
searching for something to say. “Did… did you have practice this morning?”
Sebastian nodded. “Yeah.
Till twelve. Than I took a nap when I got back.”
“Late
night?” I asked innocently enough, but my pulse was spiking.
He
shrugged one broad shoulder. “Not really,” he answered, and I tried to
determine if that was code word for getting back with Skylar or hooking up with
someone else.
But
really they were just two words that didn’t mean anything.
“Keith
ended up getting plastered and setting off a stash of fireworks.” He folded his
arms, drawing unneeded attention to his chest. “I’m still surprised he didn’t
blow off a couple of fingers. Or a hand.”
“Me
too, actually.”
“Anyway,
I’m over here for a reason. He’s having a barbecue today. Actually, his older
brother is. Only a few people are going to be over there,” he said. “You should
come with me.”
My
heart started dancing all over the place, screaming yes, yes, yes! My
brain recoiled and immediately told my heart to shut the hell up, because my
heart was stupid and it made me do stupid things. “I don’t know….”
“Come
on.” He grabbed my
foot. I tried to pull it away, but he held on, wrapping his fingers around my
ankle. I refused to read anything into that. “We haven’t had the chance to see
each other the last couple of days and I just got back last weekend.”
Yeah,
and I kissed you and obviously you weren’t into it. He was acting normal, totally
normal, though. So much so I almost wondered if I hallucinated the lake.
“Spend
time with me. Quality charbroiled cheeseburgers time.”
I
dropped my book in my lap and grasped the arms of my chair. “I’m not hungry.”
“Turning
down grilled cheeseburgers? Now, I know you’re just being difficult.”
My
eyes narrowed as I tried to pull my leg free again.
Sebastian
dipped his chin. “I’ll drive and you’ll have fun. All you have to do is get
your pretty butt out of that chair and I’ll handle the rest.”
I
froze, eyes wide.
He
thought I had a pretty butt?
The
grin on his face spread, and a second later his fingers danced over the bottom
of my foot. I immediately shrieked. “Stop! Stop it!”
His
fingers hovered over my foot as he raised his brows. “Are you going to come out
with me?”
I
was breathing heavy, paranoid that he was going to start tickling my feet
again. “You’re not playing fair here.”
“Why
play fair when I can just tickle you into doing what I want?” he replied,
placing one finger on the center of my foot. My whole leg jerked. “So, what’s
it going to be, Lena-bean?”
“Lena-bean?”
I shouted, fingers digging into the arms of the chair. When was the last time
he called me that? Before I needed to wear a bra? “I’m not ten years old,
Sebastian.”
His
lashes flicked down, shielding his eyes. “I know you’re not ten anymore.” His
voice deepened. “Trust me.”
My
lips parted as his words cycled over and over in my head. His gaze flickered up
and met mine. There was no dancing in my heart, only a wild beating I felt in
every single part of my body.
Why didn’t you kiss me back?
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# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in West Virginia.
When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time, reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write. She shares her home with her husband, his K-9 partner named Diesel and her hyper Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent her time writing short stories, therefore explaining her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes Young Adult Contemporary, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal and Romance. She writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J.Lynn.
She is the author of the Covenant Series (Spencer Hill Press) the Lux Series (Entangled Teen) and the upcoming YA Don’t Look Back (2014) and untitled YA (Fall 2014) from Disney/Hyperion. She is also published with Harlequin Teen and HarperCollins.
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