“I’m on the organized crime squad. I do a lot of undercover work, like Jessica,” John said.
Maya pointed at them with a kebob. “And that’s how you two met, right? Working undercover? By the way, I would know this already if somebody had done more than merely send a text message to announce your relationship.” She threw Jessica a pointed look.
“That would have been more informative. But less fun,” Jessica said.
“Actually, we first met at the Academy. Six years ago,” John told Maya.
Finn looked intrigued by this. “Really? I didn’t know that.” He threw Jessica a cheeky look. “Did you make heart eyes at him there, too?”
“‘Heart eyes’?” John chuckled. “Ah, no. More like daggers.”
“John and I weren’t on the best terms at the Academy,” she explained to her family. “There was a bit of a competitive thing going between us.”
“Hmm. Sounds like there’s a story there,” her mom said.
Jessica shared a look with John. Yes, there was a story there—one about a valiant heroine and an ex-Ranger hero who’d come a long way from their days together at the FBI Academy. They’d hit a few bumps in the road, but six years later they’d ended up right where they were meant to be.
“Come on, Jess—don’t leave us hanging. Tell us the story,” Finn urged.
Underneath the table, she slid her hand into John’s. His lips curved as he linked his fingers through hers.
“I think you have to tell them now,” he said.
And so she would. Which left only one issue to be resolved.
Jessica smiled coyly. “Your version or mine?”
questions for discussion
1. There’s a he said/she said dynamic in the story. Did you agree with both John’s and Jessica’s points of view about what happened at the FBI Academy, or did you side more with one character?
2. Both John and Jessica envy the strengths that the other has at the Academy. Why is it so important that they each be the best? Is that simply part of their personalities, or do they each feel that they have something to prove?
3. Jessica works in a very male-dominated field. Do you think her gender is an advantage or a disadvantage in her job as a special agent?
4. John and Jessica start out hating each other. In which scene do you think this begins to change?
5. What do you think John finds most attractive about Jessica? And vice versa?
6. John refuses to forgive his two friends Lucas and Matt, who knew that Rob was sleeping with John’s then girlfriend, Alicia. If you were John, could you ever forgive them? Do you think Lucas and Matt should’ve told John what was going on, or were they caught in the middle? Have you ever been in a similar situation?
7. If you were in Jessica’s shoes when she finds out that her ex-husband is getting remarried, would you want to know whether he cheated, or would you prefer to never know?
8. Why do you think Jessica is so reluctant to admit her feelings for John? Is it because of her recent divorce and a fear of opening up again, or is it that she’s afraid to fall in love with someone who’s moving halfway across the country?
9. A recurring theme is the strain that undercover work can put on the agents’ personal lives. Often people’s jobs strain their romantic relationships. How is undercover work both similar to and different from a nine-to-five job? Has work ever stressed your relationship?
10. For the sake of her job, Jessica has to put up with Mayor Blair’s flirting. Do you think this is something a lot of women encounter and have to deal with in work situations? What do you think about the way Jessica handled it? Have you ever been faced with a similar situation? How did you navigate it?
11. Jessica doesn’t want John to know that she drove through the night from South Carolina to say good-bye to him in person. Why do you think she keeps this from him? Do you think it would’ve changed John’s decision to leave for Quantico if he had known that she did that?
12. At the end, both Jessica and John are willing to make sacrifices in order to make the relationship work. What do you think about John’s decision to quit HRT? Do you think making the team was something he genuinely wanted, or do you think it was more that he felt he should join the team since he could?
13. If this were a movie, who would you cast as Jessica and John? How about Mayor Blair? What about Nate and Tara?
After graduating from law school, New York Times bestselling author Julie James clerked for the United States Court of Appeals. She then practiced law with one of the nation’s largest firms for several years until she began writing screenplays. After Hollywood producers optioned two of her scripts, she decided to leave the practice of law to write full-time. Julie’s books have been listed on the American Library Association’s Reading List for Top Genre Novels and Booklist’s Top 10 Romances of the Year, and have been featured as one of Cosmopolitan magazine’s Red-Hot Reads. Julie’s books have been translated into seventeen languages, and her most recent novels are The Thing About Love, Suddenly One Summer, It Happened One Wedding, Love Irresistibly, and About That Night. Julie lives with her husband and two children in Chicago, where she is currently working on her next book.
Visit her online at juliejames.com, facebook.com/JulieJamesfanpage, and twitter.com/juljames.
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Julie James, The Thing About Love
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