An Exceptional Twist (61 page)

They’d just come back from their honeymoon in
Spain
, and Leah
was taking some time to enjoy the dance studio she now owned with
her husband.

A
few months back, she’d relinquished control
, allowing Stefen to hire some
professionals to come in and help get the flower shop up and
running. Deciding not to let her previous experiences define who
she would and wouldn’t trust in the future, she employed an
entirely new crew, who were well trained and able to run the store
when she wasn’t around.

Spanish music
blasted on the surround sound as she infused the moves of Latin,
hip-hop, and belly dancing. Nobody danced that style better than
Shakira, but Leah enjoyed imitating her as best as she
could.

Gliding and
gyrating her hips through this large space was a dream come true.
She still couldn’t believe Stefen had proposed to her in this exact
room. Now three months later, they were married.

Entranced by
the music, she rolled her body downward, flicking her hips from one
side to the other.

The next song
began to play, encouraging her. A Latin melody filled the room as
she shifted her hips seductively back and forth. Swaying her arms,
Leah closed her eyes, getting completely lost in the
music.

Strong hands gripped her hips, startling her out of her
trance
and moving
her into his fantasies. “Like this,” Stefen whispered suggestively.
He swirled their attached hips in synchrony.

Caught in the
moment, she reached back, cupped his behind, and drew his body even
closer, letting him know that she was his.

He
growled, then pulled back, taking her by the hand toward
the office. “As much as
I’d love to take you right here, I have another plan.”

Batting her
eyelashes, she tiptoed behind him, pouting her lips. “Mr. Hunter,
are we going to enjoy some private time on your desk
again?”

He
groaned,
opening
the door attached to the side of the office space. “As appealing as
that sounds, this is even better.”

She scrunched her nose.
“The storage room? Well, that’s not as sexy as I
thought.”

There was
a
wicked gleam in his eye as Stefen pulled her by the fingertips,
encouraging her to take a look inside. “It’s not the storage room
anymore.”

Her eyes
slowly adjusted to the low lighting as she stood in the open
doorway. A huge couch filled the majority of the room. Candle-lit
sconces covered the back wall, and soft, sensual music was
playing.

“
I’ve reformed in a lot of ways, Leah. But
I’m still a greedy son of a bitch, and I want to be the only one
that gets to see you dance like that.”

Leading her
deeper into the room, he brought her attention to the pole attached
from the ceiling to the floor. She was filled with both excitement
and surprise as she leaned into him and breathed out. “I thought
you were kidding about that.”

He
placed soft kisses below her ear
. “Oh, Mrs. Hunter, I take loving you very
seriously.”

Leah
beamed.
“Well, hot damn.”

Chris King never saw it coming…

In some ways, closing the book on my first
love was the worst day of life. I was gutted, and yet I was
completely at peace with my decision. I walked away knowing that I
did what was best for her, unsure if I could ever recover.

Little did I know that one concert would
change the entire course of my life.

There I stood, signing autographs and
snapping pictures with fans when a familiar face in the crowd
catapulted my mind back in time—Salem Honeycutt, once a balm to my
pain and a calm in my storm. Yet again, her smiling face gave me
hope.

Only one question remained: did she still
see me as a wayward teenage boy who was completely off limits, or
could she see the man I'd become…focused and driven, yearning for
another chance at love?

Countless people helped in so many different ways to get this
book published. I’m grateful for each and every person that walked
beside me during this journey.
I will keep the acknowledgments here to a minimum
since the last book had six pages

There are three women in particular that I need to give
special thanks to. Each played
a vital role, at different stages in my writing
process.
Jessica,
T and Megan, I already dedicated the book to you but need you to
know that I couldn’t have EVER completed this novel without your
help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks to my beta chicas, who got the first draft of this
book, I was able to reevaluate how I wanted the story to feel and
to find my characters’ voices.
Thank you Julie and Debi for the countless hours you
spent with me private messaging back and forth, helping me work
things out (especially when I was in tears). Thanks Stephanie,
Elle, Teri Beth and Danielle for raking through my manuscript,
pointing out the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Thank you Karrie, Kathy and K for
reading through my entire 125,000 word document
(I
know!) in such a short amount of time so I
could
publish this
with minimal errors
.

I
have to
give thanks to my author friends who’ve been there for me during
the highs and lows.
You guys have celebrated with me when I felt like I was on
cloud nine and have encouraged me when I felt like throwing it all
out of the window. Jess, T and Megan
(yep, you guys are in here three times),
Melanie Anne, Audrey,
Mel, Tania, Lisa, Jaimi, Becca, Erika, Nacole, Elaine, Beverley,
Samantha, Jaime, Katy, Jennifer, Emily, Liam, Lynetta, Angel, Tara,
Kelsie, Susan…
I’m
missing a million more but I’m thankful to ALL of you!

Bloggers…
I
love
you!!! Hardest working
people ever! I’m not going to name names on here because seriously,
there are so many of you that I
adore
, I would feel awful if I left a name out. Thank you to all of
the blog that participated in my cover reveal and those that are
signed up for my blog tour. Like I said in my last book, I want to
shout from the rooftops, “
I love bloggers!!!
”

I
cannot go without gushing about Cris from the
The Book
Avenue
.
Cris you
are not only a giving woman who does everything you can to help
others but you are an amazing friend. Thank you for everything you
have ever done to help promote me but more importantly, thank you
for your friendship!

Now how about that cover?
Pure
gorgeousness!!! Kelsey (photographer), Cameo & Eric
(models) make an amazing team. Add in Kari (cover artist) and I’m
beyond thrilled with how the cover turned out.
Thank you so much for making my
vision a reality you guys!

And…thank you
most of all to my family and friends who have put up with me as I
worked on this book. We experienced the loss of a family member
while I was still writing and at times, it was difficult to
continue.

Thank you everyone for encouraging me to keep going, finish
and now publish
An
Exceptional Twist.