by Sarah Fine
He reached into his center console and removed a ziplock bag, which he tossed onto my lap.
I blinked down at the bag, then slowly pulled out its contents. Two passports—one for a Mr. Kenneth Doubledee, a dark-haired man with a knifelike smile and a crooked nose. And another for a Mrs. Griselda Doubledee, who happened to be wearing my face. “When did you get these?”
“I told you I was gonna plan for every outcome.”
I smacked his arm with Griselda’s passport. “Are we married?”
He smirked. “Do you wanna be?”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Asa, I meant it when I said I needed this to stay professional. I have some things to sort out.” I waved over my shoulder at all I’d left behind.
“I know you do.” His smile was wicked. “But you’re gonna want to try me out sooner or later. I can tell you’re curious.”
“Once again, you think you have me pegged.”
“Well, not yet, but . . .” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Time,” I said, even as my body drew tight. “I need time.”
“Take all the time you want, baby. We’ll see how long you can hold out.”
“Game on, sir.”
“Dammit, Mattie.” He was grinning as he turned onto a state road and hit the gas. “This is gonna be fun.”
I covered my mouth to hide my own giddy smile. I was headed into the unknown, about to write my story all over that vast blank slate that had terrified me for so long.
And I wasn’t about to admit it, but I was pretty sure Asa was right.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A huge thank-you to my team at 47North. I am so grateful for the unwavering support I’ve received for this book and these characters. I’m most grateful to Jason Kirk for wrangling all the priorities, deadlines, players, and details, providing leadership and vision, and for being the champion for this series. Thanks as well to Courtney Miller and Britt Rogers for additional enthusiasm, management, and the occasional lovely surprise in my mailbox. More gratitude goes to Janice Lee for excellent and thorough copyediting and to Jill Taplin for ushering the book through production.
Once again, thank you to my developmental editor, Leslie “Lam” Miller. You give me so much more than excellent revision guidance. I am so utterly grateful for your patience, wit, savvy, flexibility, creativity, and general awesomeness.
Kathleen Ortiz, my agent, has been my advocate for over five years now. KO, we have come so far, and I am so lucky to have you as my partner in this journey—you’re the one who ensures that I don’t wander off the trail and drown in a bog or get myself eaten by a bear. And to the rest of the team at New Leaf Literary & Media, thank you for all that you do.
A special thank-you goes to Amber Lynn Natusch for her incredible cheerleading throughout this series. I am so fortunate to have had that fuel and inspiration as I let the tale unfurl. And thanks to both Amber and Shannon Morton for providing early reads and insightful feedback.
Lydia Kang and Brigid Kemmerer . . . you ladies are such dear friends. Thank you for being there for me this past year, for listening, for your wisdom, for GIFs of screaming goats, for being the green dots I most look forward to seeing, for being such amazing, strong women. I adore you both.
For Paul, Liz, Jim, Susanne, Claudine, Sue, and Craig, thank you for providing me with a haven whenever I needed it, for laughter and drinks, and for making absolutely sure I always knew I was cared about.
To my parents, thank you isn’t really enough. You know what you’ve done for me, and I hope you know how grateful I am. And to Asher and Alma, thank you for being my reason, day and night and always.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2012 Rebecca Skinner
Sarah Fine is a clinical psychologist and the author of the Servants of Fate and Guards of the Shadowlands series. She was born on the West Coast, was raised in the Midwest, and is now firmly entrenched on the East Coast.