Jahleel (48 page)

A laugh rumbled through him, as he caught my hand and touched the tattoo on my forearm. “And I’m Faceless Hoodie Guy.”

He turned, stretching off the bed to nab his sketch pad from the chair and turning back to me. He held up the sketch so I could see it. It was the same sketch of Singing Girl, except now she had a head. My head. I looked fierce, dominant, like I had the world spinning in the palm of my hand.

“So, this means I’m constant now?” I asked, grinning like I swallowed too much happy pills.
Oops. Forgot. I did, didn’t I?

“Now, you’re mine,
constantly
,” he told me.

Moving in closer to him, I pressed my body tight against his, just to feel his heat, to smell his scent, to breathe his air.

Jahleel set the sketch pad on the pillow above our heads and pressed us together even closer, wrapping his arms around me.

His lips touched mine, and I parted them, inviting him in.

Before his tongue slipped inside, he whispered, “365 starts at 6.”

He’d watched my bloody goodbye performance.

My lips curved against his as I agreed, “365 starts at 6.”

Author's Note

J
ahleel
 is a spinoff from the last book of my Billionaire Brother’s series,
I Choose You
. So if you haven’t read that book already and would love to know more about JK, his background, and the whole Krissy/Saskia/Marsha complication, then I suggest you read
I Choose You
, as that book answers a lot of questions you might have at the end of this.

Want to know the full story of what happened on that night with Krissy and JK?

Want to know more about this Marsha person?

Want an 8year old JK POV?

Want to know if Krissy ever felt the same about Jahleel?

Then go ahead and grab 
I Choose You
 by clicking the title. 

The first half of Jahleel takes place in the same timeline as
I Choose You
, so you’ll find that some of the scenes are repeated, except it’s from Krissy’s POV this time. (The meet at the dance studio, the kiss interruption at JK’s home, and the night of cheating…)

Follow-up novella…

Jahleel was inspired by true events, so this book was meant to be a standalone. However, after receiving feedback from beta readers, with questions about “the next book” (Huh? What next book?), I gathered that readers weren’t gonna be too kind to me if I ended the story this way, without an HEA.

As my editor puts it, “
I miss the days when you had to use your own imagination when a story just wouldn’t let you go
.
”

So, with a great sigh, I opened a new Scrivener template and began penning a follow-up novella,
Keeping Jahleel
.

This will be around 50-60k words, set to be released in June. Then it’s Timberley’s story (
Free Hostage
), then Chad’s (
Chad’s Chase
), then Alina’s.

Stay tuned!

~

B-e-g-g-ing for Reviews…

I’ve said this many, many times: I have shitluck with reviews.

Roughly, for every 100 books sold, 0-1% of readers will leave a review, even if they enjoyed the book. Weird, huh? Reviews aren’t that easy to acquire—well, not unless your name is like
up there
—and I
refuse
to buy reviews to hype up my books.

No.

Just no.

I need honest feedback.

So, please, if you enjoyed this book, take a quick second to leave a review, real quick before you get distracted and forget. Thanks in advance.

*If
Jahleel
was not your cup of tea, I totally understand, but please remember that
writing an unfavourable review and bashing an author is two completely different things
.

If you don’t like an author’s work, you don’t need to be mean about it. Your beef is with the story, not the author. Just state your respectful reasons why you didn’t connect with the story and I will respect your opinion. Because reviews are all about
opinions,
right?

But I do not respect
bashing
or
bullying
. At all.

~

On another note, thank you for taking a chance on my book!

Acknowledgement

T
HANK YOU:

To the Almighty, the Everlasting One, my provider, my protector, my healer, my deliverer, my all,
Jehovah
. I proudly declare, I LOVE YOU.

To Christopher, for keeping me sane during my many freakouts over this book. For your unfailing faith and belief in me. For taking care of me when I was being brutally beaten by the flu for almost an entire month and still had to weakly write this book in bed under the covers. And just for being
you
. I adore you…I appreciate you.

To Al(hey, rockstar!), for your constant support. I swear, dude, you da best :).

To my superawesome editor, KarenAnne L., for beautifying
Jahleel
, sticking it to me where it hurts and encouraging me always. Seriously,
I appreciate you
.

To beta readers VJ, Tj (Tish Johnson), Kaydeen, Jacquie Hogue, Elaine Tyra and Lisa McCarty.

To my Forever Girlfriends: Vashti, K. Wignall(hey wifey!) and Tirza. I love you all.

Last but definitely not least, to
you
, the reader who took a chance on my book. Authors are
nothing
without you voracious readers.

And a very
special
thanks to those who take the timeout to shoot me an email expressing how much they love my books. Those emails, I appreciate them more than anything else, because they keep me writing. And on days when I feel like I suck big time at this writing thing, they give me the encouragement I need. So, thank you for your kind words. In case you didn’t know, they
heal
.

And to all, I say:

ONE LOVE

About The Author

S
. Ann Cole is a passionate writer and reader, and a lover of anything that distracts her from the real world. Ms. Cole is not your typical girl. She hates chocolate, candle-lit dinners and all that hearts and flowers stuff makes her feel awkward, coffee makes her drowsier than ever, and she tends to talk to herself,
a lot
.

Having an obsessive and unquenchable affair with the written word, she’s naturally a recluse who dwells inside her imagination and has to suffer continual bashings from her friends for being a neglectful pal who does nothing but sit around the computer all day, writing.

Like a big kid, Ms. Cole loves watching Disney Channel, enjoys a big bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and prays to our God like it’s nobody’s business — well, it really isn’t. When she isn’t abusing her computer keyboard, you can find her nosing a novel, nursing a glass of red wine, tweeting about every minuteness of her life, or disturbing her neighbors with her rugged voice, trying and failing to hit those notes of Beyonce’s
Listen
(she really ought to leave the singing department alone!)

Lean in a little closer, here’s a secret she wants to share with you. Yes,
you
. S. Ann Cole can
easily
be bought with a really, really good bottle of red wine. Shh, don’t tell anyone, okay? *wink*