Just For Now (A Flirting With Trouble Novel) (17 page)

“Baby?”

I glance up, wiping my eyes, to see Owen standing in the doorway. He looks alarmed and I shake my head.

“I’m fine—they’re happy tears, I swear.”

Owen grins and comes closer to my desk, leaning forward over mounds of files to press his mouth to mine.

“Come on out here with me,” he murmurs against my mouth. “I want you to enjoy every moment of this day.”

I nod, then grab his outstretched hand. As he helps me rise to standing, I pull him closer to me.

“I love you, you know,” I whisper to him. “More than I ever realized until this very moment.”

“Does that mean you’re content with me being the boss after all?” he asks, brow raised.

I laugh lightly, then shrug. “Just for now.”

“And how about for later?”

I tip my head back, meeting his warm gaze, before pressing my mouth to his one more time.

“Later, I’ll show you who’s really boss.”

Owen grins against my lips, then kisses me in earnest.

“Now, that’s a promotion I can really get behind.”

I’m indebted to my agent, Suzie Townsend, along with Danielle Barthel, Jackie Lindert, Sara Stricker, and everyone at New Leaf Literary. They are the best people to have on your side and I owe them lots of crepes filled with Nutella. Or, you know, jars of Nutella—served with spoons and thanks.

My editor, Jennifer Fisher, has allowed me to reach and stretch and become a better writer with every draft. I’m so glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with her on this book. Likewise, everyone at Berkley/Intermix has been supportive and welcoming and has succeeded in making me feel like I belong in the romance world. I’m incredibly fortunate. Oh, and my covers totally kick ass!

To my readers, who follow the trials and tribulations of these characters with enthusiasm. Your love makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I owe you all a big hug and I am definitely a hugger, so be ready.

To my friends and family, for their endless quantities of support. I have friends who literally buy every single thing I write and there is honestly no greater love than that. I’m indebted to so many great writer friends, including Dahlia Adler, Sharon Morse, Tess Sharpe, and Jess Capelle, and equally as many non-writer friends, including Ali Lazorchak, Missie Kirkner, Carly Keane, and Sarah Malasky. To my cheer mom friends, my Facebook friends, my writing group friends—all of you are invaluable.

My beautiful, frustrating, perfectly flawed, and gorgeously growing children keep my world spinning and, man, does it spin! Life would be completely lifeless without their heartbeats to guide my way. Thanks, littles.

And, most of all, to my husband, Josh, who makes every day I live like a page in a romance novel. Case in point: today, I asked him what I should wear to work and his response was, “Does it matter? I’m just going to take it off of you later.” That, dear readers, is the kind of love you write books about.

And I hope that love exists for all of you—that you’ll get romance in your worlds that make you compose bad poetry and lose sleep and smile at nothing in particular. That crazy giddiness is the best way to live and you deserve it. We all deserve it.

Annie Kelly
is the pen name for writer Kelly Fiore-Stultz and the author of the Flirting with Trouble novels (
After Tonight
,
Until Tomorrow
). After graduating from Salisbury University with a BA in English, Kelly went on to get her MFA in Poetry from West Virginia University. When she’s not writing romance, Kelly loves cooking, rocking out to 80s hair metal, and spending time with her husband and children.

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