Swoon (28 page)

Afterward we lay together lazily. Part of me wanted to drift off to sleep, but instead I let my hands continue to roam and whispered in her ear how much I loved her. Because she needed to be worshipped and loved every time I touched her, to make sure she knew how unbelievably attractive, unbelievably sexy, and just plain unbelievable she was.

And she was. Everything life had thrown her way was handled with grace and strength. She never gave up, even if she faltered.

So I kissed her scars and her curves. I kissed her smart mouth and her tired eyes. I lovingly placed my hand on the bump carrying the two lives we had somehow created. I again sank into her heat and swallowed her moans. All this time, all the waiting, all the heartache and missed opportunities, all we needed were moments like these.

I felt her heart racing and I listened to it, I felt it pounding in rhythm to my own. But that wasn’t what mattered. I breathed into her soul and she breathed into mine because that was the only way we could be. The way she made me feel alive was measured by more than the beating of my heart.

The End

Thank you!

Thank you so much for reading Swoon! I hope you enjoyed Steph and Lawrence as much as I have.

Before I became a writer, I was a blogger. Through that experience, I started to learn all about this indie author world, particularly the importance of reviews. Through your feedback, you help other readers decide which books to choose. Please consider leaving a review on whatever avenue you purchased from.

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Acknowledgments

I am so blessed to have the most wonderful and supportive friends and family, and they make this process endlessly fun.

My first, most heartfelt thank-you will always be to my husband and children. Tom, thank you for eating cheese and crackers for dinner and loving it every time. And to my kids, thank you for playing nicely together (most of the time) and for really trying not to read over my shoulder.

To Lizzie: There are no words. I heart you. And your feelings.

To Courtney: Sorry about the breeches thing.

To the Book Whoreders Delights: (Melissa, Chris, Chrissy, Wendy, Sally, and STEPH!) I love you all Hulk hard. Thank you for distracting me constantly in the best possible way, for making me laugh and cry, and Chrissy for the verbal orgasm. Thank you for reading my stuff and for your blind support. Because that’s what real friends do.

To K. Langston: My sister-wife. Whatever would I do without you? I don’t ever want to know. You have been a huge light to me in the world of self-publishing, and I’m thankful for you every day.

To Erin Spencer: Thank you for every late-night and early-morning text, and for your support and encouragement.

To Erin and Katie and the
Southern Belle Book Blog
: You guys rock my socks off, and I don’t even wear socks. You both have been completely instrumental in my books and promotion, and you make the whole thing so damn fun. Plus wine.

To Shannon, Alissa, Maggie, and Mariah, beta readers extraordinaire: Thank you for your perfectly constructive criticism and helping to pull the whole thing together.

To Melissa and Whitney: Thank you for reading 457 versions of each chapter and picking it all apart again and again.

To Kim Holden and BN Toler: for creating me out of your love. You two have the best hearts and are a true inspiration to me as an author and a person.

The Legion of Moist, Kim, Brandy, Lindsey, Amy, Gemma: Thank you for the hilarity and your love of all things Lawry. You all make me…

To Erin Noelle: I’m not quite sure how we found each other, but I love your resting nice face. Thank you for all your advice and support.

To my little, awesome Indie group: You know who you are. Thank you all for the advice, laughs, awkward autocorrects, and support. Thank you for the happy place and positivity.

To Victory Editing: Anne, you are amazing. Thank you for pushing me to make every word the right one, for your honesty, professionalism, perfectionism, and hilarious commentary. And to Linda and Crystalle, for fine-tuning and catching all my oops, big and small.

To Book Covers by Kim: Thank you for the beautiful cover, done so promptly.

To Streetlight Graphics: For the awesome formatting and cover editing, done so quickly and spot-on. You make my life easier and take stress away, and I dig that about you guys.

And never ever least, to you, the reader: I’m consistently humbled by anyone who picks up my books outside of obligated family members. That someone would take the time to read something I wrote fills me with awe. Cheers to you all!

Bio

I live in beautiful Northern Virginia with my incredible husband, two awesome kids, three dogs, and two of the strangest goats. My husband and I both grew up riding and competing horses and have our own equestrian operation that we run together. In my spare time, I read through the hundreds of stories awaiting me on my e-reader.

My love of books started early, and my mom used to ration my reading time so I didn’t go through them too quickly. I love all things romantic, whether it’s dark or light or silly or dirty, but I really love a happy ending!

In my small moments of quiet time, you’ll find me sipping on wine and reading while any movie where people randomly burst into song or dance plays in the background.