The song she was dancing to is cut short, and in its place is a heavy metal song—“Calling Dr. Love” by Kiss. It’s the song Matthew McConaughey strips to in Magic Mike. When she hears it playing, she looks around, confused, until she sees me in the middle of the dance floor, wearing black leather pants, a matching vest, and the Stetson.
Yes, I’ve McConaughey’d myself for her.
Have I mentioned that my mother is here tonight?
I shake my head and do the routine Suzanne and I practiced.
Turning around, I give my ass to the crowd. Emma is sitting on a couch in front of me. She gives me a thumbs-up, which I find oddly encouraging. I can’t even look at Mr. Paige right now.
I pump my right arm up in the air, and Luke manages to shine a spotlight on me. I didn’t plan on that. When he does, the room applauds. I make a come-hither motion with my hand, and they get louder.
I tap my right foot and feel the rhythm of the song. I close my eyes and pretend like I’m in my room, practicing. I lift my other arm and start rolling my hips.
There’s no one here, there’s no one here…
I open an eye, and Leah’s grandmother gives me a wink and an air-cheers with her glass. I can’t help but smile.
I continue to roll my hips as I lower my arms down and back up, just like McConaughey does in the movie. Makes me wonder why she couldn’t have been a Matt Damon fan. I could have made a badass Jason Bourne.
Here goes nothing.
I turn around and face the roomful of people. I raise my hand behind my neck, and I move my hips back and forth. The girls go crazy, and it’s exhilarating. I’m not gonna lie and say it isn’t a bit of an ego boost. I throw in a few extra roll of the hips, and the room lights on fire with applause.
This is about the time McConaughey puts his hand down his pants, but I go for an ab rub. Some girl throws a five-dollar bill on the floor, and I shake my head with a smile. Dollar bills, a couple of fives—hell, I even see a fifty—it’s all being thrown my way.
Luke comes to my side and hands me a microphone. He eyes the bills on the ground and rubs his hands together. “Motorcycle fund!”
I shake my head. “Put it in the Homes for All Souls fund.”
My future brother-in-law’s shoulders slump down. I let out a loud laugh and carry on with the debauchery. I strut over toward the bar.
Leah is standing there, her perfect Cupid’s bow mouth wide open, those angelic eyes popping out of their sockets, and her hand lurches to her chest in surprise.
The music lowers, so I lift the microphone to my mouth. “There’s only one girl I would ever do this for.” I take off my vest and throw it into the crowd. “And that’s you.”
I climb up onto a barstool and onto the oak bar. The room goes silent.
I walk toward her. “Baby, you are the first person I think of when I wake up, and your name is my last breath before I go to sleep. You bring me laughter with your wit and smile with your beauty, and I fall deeper in love with your touch.”
She walks over to me with her hand out.
I step back and wave a finger in the air at her. “‘No, no, no,’” I say, mimicking the movie. “‘The law says that you cannot touch.’”
She gasps with a laugh. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this.”
“But I see a little lawbreaker in this house tonight.”
The room erupts with laughter and applause, and I swear, my mortification level has just reached an all-time high level. It doesn’t matter. I fall to one knee and look up at the most stunning woman in the world. The one whom I want to spend the rest of my life with.
“I promised you a proposal. A big, huge proposal. If you say no, I don’t know how I’ll ever top this one, so I hope I do this right. I fell in love with you as a teenage kid who didn’t understand what love was. You made me a man who not only knows, but also lives, breathes, and will die with the world’s worth of love in his heart. I don’t want to live a moment without you.” I dip my hand into my leather pocket and pull out the platinum ring with a sapphire stone in the middle. “Leah Marie Paige, will you marry me?”
Her eyes are glistening, wet with tears that are falling down her face. I want to catch them all but not until she utters that one magical word that will make my life complete.
“Yes!” she screams, her feet jumping up and down on the bar. “Yes.”
I slide the ring on her finger, rise up, and kiss my bride.
The bar erupts, and the music blares. Luke’s picked Bruno Mars’s “Marry You.”
I kiss my girl again and whisper into her ear, “Was that a good enough proposal for you?”
She gives a halfhearted shrug. “It was all right.”
I lean back. “All right?”
She pulls me back and kisses me. “It was all right, all right, all right.”
NOW, IT’S EMMA’S TURN TO FIND TRUE LOVE.
RECKLESS ABANDON
A heart-wrenching breakup, an accident, and…a loss.
Every time Emma Paige stretches out her right hand, she is reminded of all the dreams that faded into one awful weekend.
But, when Emma and her sister, Leah, embark on a trip to Capri, Italy, a near drowning leaves them deserted in a foreign country. When a stranger offers to help, the sisters follow him to his luxury yacht where Emma faces her greatest challenge yet.
His name is Asher.
Over the course of three days, Emma and Asher enter into an intense, complex, and emotionally-extracting relationship. But, when Emma learns of Asher’s real identity, she finds herself betrayed and stranded by the only man she was ever able to open her heart to.
A chance meeting in New York, a romance communicated through music, and a choice greater than any love she’s ever known, Emma learns of Asher’s demons and is left to wonder…
Is he here to save her, or is he the one who needs saving?
THE ABANDON COLLECTION
PURE ABANDON
RECKLESS ABANDON
WILD ABANDON
WILD ABANDON CHRISTMAS
SINFUL ABANDON
TRUE ABANDON (Fall 2017)
Listen to the audiobook Leah and Adam did in Wrecked!
GRAVITY
By Lauren Runow
Is now available on Audible!
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In 2016, I was asked to write a novella. My husband came up with the idea of telling Leah and Adam’s story. He loved Leah in Reckless Abandon and thought she’d make a great heroine. I jumped on the idea! Problem was, once I started their story, I couldn’t stop! I shelved the novella to turn it into a full-length novel. Thank you, Bryan, for convincing me that Leah and Adam’s story needed to be told.
Over the past three years, I have met an incredible group of women whom I have learned to trust as my alpha and beta readers. Thank you Giovanna Bovenzi Cruz, Laurie Breitspreicher, Stefanie Pace, Kelli Mummert, Grey Ditto, Robin Rene Hill, Wilmari Carrasquillo Delgado, and Jennifer Ristic for your advice, passion, and friendship. And, a special shout-out to Chelsea Holder for your honesty.
Lauren Runow is my true alpha, the first to read my words and the other half of my indie brain. Thank you for letting me steal the words from Gravity to help Leah and Adam find each other.
I don’t know what I’d do without Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations and her beautiful covers or Jovana Shirley and her exquisite editing and interior design. I am also overjoyed to add Virginia Tesi Carey and he
r proofreading skills to my Abandon family.
A special thanks to Emily Smith Kidman for her guidance, and Give Me Books for their promotion. To my A Secret Affair girls for their safe-space to just me and to Autumn Hull for always being there when I need a question answered.
An indie author is no one without the support of blogs. Thank you to every blog who read, reviewed, shared, or commented on Wrecked! A special shout-out to Collector of Book Boyfriends, Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Boyfriends, Maryse, Black, Summers Eve Reads, Naomi’s Reading Palace, True Story Book Blog, Sweet and Spicy Reads, Schmexy Girl Book Blog, Once Upon an Alpha, FMR Book Grind, Shelly’s Book Corner, Andrea’s Book Corner, and Tasty Wordgasms for going the extra mile.
I would be a nobody if it wasn’t for my Roses. Every review, share, recommendation, and like means the world to me. Thank you to the JCol’s Army of Roses for being the best group I could have asked for.
Love to my best friends—Nicole Lancellotti, Tara McCormick, and Nicole Parsons—who have shown this gal what girl power really means.
To Art and Michelle Worden for their tremendous encouragement and love. Thank you, Art, for telling me where to bury the body and how to cuff criminals to walls. You wanted me to write a book called The Sarge. Instead, you’re getting Wrecked. Michelle, I am so happy to have dragged you over to the dark side of contemporary romance.
To my sister, who is always an inspiration, and my mom, who is my greatest support system.
To Jennifer Windstein, the original “Crazy Bitch.” I love your wild ways and the purple whore. This one’s for you.
And to my three tiny loves, who have to share their time with mommy with her books! I love you!
Oh, and to Matthew McConaughey for being so damn amazing!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeannine Colette is the author of the Abandon Collection—a series of stand-alone novels featuring dynamic heroines who have to abandon their reality in order to discover themselves…and love along the way. Each book features a new couple, an exciting new city, and a rose of a different color.
A graduate of Wagner College and the New York Film Academy, Jeannine went on to become a Segment Producer for television shows on CBS and NBC. She left the television industry to focus on her children and pursue a full-time writing career.
She lives in New York with her husband, the three tiny people she adores more than life itself, and a rescue pup named Wrigley.
Jeannine and her family are active supporters of The March of Dimes and Strivright The Auditory-Oral School of New York.
www.jeanninecolette.com
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