My pulse speeds up with hope, but I say nothing. I’m still not convinced this guy isn’t taking me somewhere to kill me, though if that was Raze’s ultimate goal before he died, certainly it could’ve been easier than going to all of this trouble.

As promised, about an hour later, the car pulls up in front of a modern home that appears to be in a rather secluded, upscale community. The driver turns the engine off and jumps out of the car, hurrying around to open my door for me. I unfold my shaky legs and push myself off of the bench seat, grabbing my bag as I exit the vehicle.

I follow him to the front door in silence, trying my best to take in everything around me, but I’m having such sensory overload my brain is having issues processing any of it. I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing, but all I can hope is that this will all turn out okay. Actually, I want better than okay. I want her.

Reaching out, the man grabs hold of the doorknob and turns it, but before he pushes it open, he looks at me over his shoulder. “Mr. Covey, Miss Anastasia has been waiting for this day for quite some time, and I hope for the both of you that you will find the happiness you both seek here. Together.” I mentally trip over the Miss Anastasia part, but when he swings the door wide open and I see my Blake—with hair the same faux black as mine—standing in the foyer, I tune out everything else.

Better than the best scene in the best romantic movie, when our gazes meet and we sprint into each other’s arms, the entire world shifts on its axis. Angels play trumpets. Stars are born. Bells ring. And my heart heals.

She’s alive. She’s real. I’m touching her. I’m kissing her. Our tears mix together. And there’s never been a more perfect moment in the history of the earth. It’s impossible to top this.

“You came,” are the first words she manages to squeak out in between our breath-stealing, heart-pounding onslaught of kisses.

“To the ends of the earth, sweet girl,” I reply, inhaling her intoxicating scent. “I’d follow you anywhere. I love you more than life itself.”

“And I love you,” she lifts up on her tiptoes and presses her lips to the tip of my nose, “Sir.”

I have a love/ hate relationship with the acknowledgements. On one hand, I love that I get an opportunity to show my appreciation for all of the people who help me along the journey of writing a book, because truly, without them, this book wouldn’t even exist. These people support me mentally, emotionally, and physically, and I’m so very grateful to have them all a part of my life, both personally and professionally. However, on the flip side, it never fails that I forget to mention someone who should be in here, and by the time I realize it, they’ve probably already flipped to the back of the book to see what nice or funny thing I said about them, only to find their name nowhere. Suddenly, I’m an ungrateful asshole. And even if they don’t say it, I feel like it. I could give you all kinds of reasons why this happens—sleep depravity, mental exhaustion, and borderline insanity, to name a few—but at the end of the day, it still sucks. So my first acknowledgement in this book is for those people.

Everyone I’ve ever forgotten ~ Thank you for putting up with my temporary ungrateful assholishness. Thank you for buying another one of my books, even if it was just to flip to this page to see if I forgot again. I sure hope I didn’t. And thank you for understanding that I love and appreciate you too.

My husband and girls ~ *Garcia family hug* I love you all crazy hard.

Jill Sava ~ Always my Bright Side. There aren’t enough thank you’s in the world. I love you more!

Dani Sanchez with InkSlinger PR ~ My incredible publicist and psychotherapist. Thank you for everything you do.

Murphy Rae with Indie Solutions ~ Thank you for being so understanding and flexible.

Christine Borgford with Perfectly Publishable ~ Thank you for always being so patient with my five thousand emails and for making my stories so beautiful to read.

Kirsten Papi & Trina Marie ~ I did it! I finally wrote this fucker. Thank you for not driving to my house and threatening me.

Stacy Kestwick ~ I can’t wait to skip with you again. Now stop reading this and go write! Love you!

Jennifer Van Wyk ~ I owe you sooooooo much credit on this book. Thank you for talking me off the ledge on more than one occasion. Thank you for loving these characters like I do. Thank you for proofing and editing and betaing and brainstorming and helping me with the music and a bunch of other stuff I’m forgetting. Just thank you.

Michelle, Alison, and Allison ~ Thank you for not only being kick-ass betas, but even better friends. I look forward to our conversations every single day, whether it’s about a book I’m writing or life in general. I love all of you so much.

Hang Le ~ I’m running out of ways to say how fucking awesome you are.

Mo ~ Casey-creator. No matter what, you’ve always got that in life. It’s the best comeback ever. “Shut up. I created Casey.” And I love you for all those other jammy jean reasons too.

Aly ~ I’m in awe of you. How you handle the everyday with all you have on your plate is nothing less than awe-inspiring. I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.

Meggan ~ I’m blessed to get to call you my friend. You are the perfect combination of sweet, sassy, and sexy (God, I hope that doesn’t read too weird), and I love that I get to talk to you every day.

Natasha ~ They didn’t have sex!!!! Yeah, everyone can thank you for that. And I can thank you for being my most favorite opinionated bitchy friend with great taste in shoes. I love you and your “eh”.

Kayla ~ Another one in the books, Twinnie! Thank you for everything (I can’t list it all).

Clare ~ Sometimes I think we’re like the same person, but other times you post pictures of goats and horses and shit, and I think we couldn’t be any different. I’m not sure, but I think this means we’re soul mates. Let’s not tell our husbands.

Jessica Prince~ The best life cheerleader ever. And polygamous book wife.

Steph ~ For the unwavering support

Ever Afters ~ Love you all! I can’t ever thank you ladies enough for your continued support and constant pimping.

FTN ladies ~ What an amazing group of authors I get to call friends! Thank you for being my escape from the real world.

Novel Spot Loungers & fellow bartenders ~ Thank you for taking a chance on this group with me!

Bloggers ~ The hardest working people in the business that get little credit and no pay. I greatly appreciate the time you spend reading, reviewing, and/ or promoting the books we authors pour our heart and soul into. We couldn’t do it without you.

Readers ~ I have the most incredible readers ever. I absolutely love getting feedback from you and visiting with you on a daily basis. You’re the main reason I continue doing this! Love you all!

ERIN NOELLE IS A TEXAS native, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters. While earning her degree in History, she rediscovered her love for reading that was first instilled by her grandmother when she was a young child. A lover of happily-ever-afters, both historical and current, Erin is an avid reader of all romance novels.

Most nights you can find her cuddled up in bed with her husband, her Kindle in hand and a sporting event of some sorts on television.

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