Ignite (Explosive)
Page 34
I smile at the memory as I walk through the terminal. Before I know it, the sweetest sound a man can hear is filling my ears. Tiny arms wrap around my legs as I hear the sound of Maya, our rambunctious almost three-year-old, squeal, “Daddy!” I drop my bag and scoop her up into my arms. She throws her arms around my neck and her little lips plant firmly on my cheek.
I tickle her tummy and she giggles with delight. “I’ve missed you, sweetie. Were you good for your momma?”
She nods as she answers me. “Missed you, Daddy. I was good when Mommy was tired. ”
I press my nose to hers, rubbing gently. She gives me a toothy grin and my heart melts at the sight. I can hang with the bravest of them, but one smile from his child can bring any soldier to his knees.
“Why was Mommy tired, baby? You wear her out watching too many silly movies?” I tease.
She frowns and a serious look crosses her face. She leans in close, as if to share a secret.
“Mommy’s belly’s getting big, and I think that’s making her sleepy,” she whispers, and I immediately turn around in search of Alexa.
She’s standing off in the corner, leaning against a wall as she watches Maya and me. She’s grinning and she throws me a small wave. My eyes sweep down to her stomach, and I notice immediately that the usual flat, taut tummy has been replaced by a small bump that’s highlighted through her form fitting dress. Grabbing my bag, I quickly make my way towards her, sweeping her up in my arms as I hold both of my girls in my arms.
“You’re squishing me, Daddy!” Maya proclaims, and I loosen my hold on her mother.
Looking up at me with shining eyes, she whispers five amazingly beautiful words. I smile and give her a smacking kiss as they replay over and over in my mind. Congratulations, Soldier. It’s a boy.
The End
Stayed tuned for Incinerate, Knox’s story. Coming early 2014.
Testing the Strong Ones- Copeland
How- Regina Spektor
Heaven- DJ Sammy feat. Do
Hesitate- Stone Sour
Underneath the Stars- Mariah Carey
You Never Know- Jon McLaughlin
If You’re Not the One- Daniel Bedingfield
Can’t Forget You- My Darkest Days
Stars- Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
If I Knew Then- Lady Antebellum
Dancin’ Away With My Heart- Lady Antebellum
I Don’t Want This Night to End- Luke Bryan
I Will- Usher
Shake the Sand- Luke Bryan
Don’t- Billy Currington
All I Ever Wanted- Chuck Wicks
Faster- Matt Nathanson
Without You Now- Jon McLaughlin
Timekeeper- Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Talking to the Moon- Bruno Mars
Hold That Thought- Chuck Wicks
Lay You Down- Usher
Wanted- Hunter Hayes
Everything- Michael Buble
Live and Die- The Avett Brothers
Run- Matt Nathanson feat. Sugarland
Hot Summer Night- Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Breaking Your Own Heart- Kelly Clarkson
What If You- Josh Radin
Try- Pink
Distance- Christina Perri feat. Jason Mraz
The Last Time- Taylor Swift feat. Gary Lightbody
Ready to Love Again- Lady Antebellum
Between the Raindrops- Lifehouse feat. Natasha Bedingfield
Wow, I think this part might be even harder than writing a full length novel. When I first started writing Ignite, I never expected to receive the crazy, insane, amazing amount of love and support, and I will forever be thankful to those who walked this journey with me.
Derek, Ignite would not exist without you pushing me to do it. I don’t know how many times you kept encouraging me to write before it finally clicked that it was something I could do. And then the weeks of a messy house, you making all the meals (okay, that’s par for the course), and me being so absent-minded when you tried to talk to me… I couldn’t be more thankful for your love, support, and patience. Now if you call one more of my lines cheesy, I might hit you with a pillow. I love you!!
My Alpha Team, a term I learned from the amazing Sarah Ashley Jones, I could never had done this without you ladies. I feel like we’re the Sisterhood of the Emailed Work in Progress and I can’t believe this journey is over. All of your emails, tweets, texts, words of encouragement gave me the push to keep going even when I wanted to give up. I think Stacy said it best with “I feel like I just watched my kid grow up right before my eyes, and then move away to college.” It’s crazy bittersweet that ‘our baby’ is going out into the world now. I love every single one of you and cannot wait for the next chapter!
Teri Beth, you’re like top dog alpha. Your intense notes blew me away and I can’t imagine what kind of a hot mess Ignite would be if your hawk-like eyes hadn’t read it for me. The Pronoun Plague would’ve never been beaten! I’ll never be able to thank you enough for the amount of time and attention to detail you spent with this book. If there was a job for professional beta readers, you’d be at the top of the list.
Erica, not only did you send me kick-ass notes and highlights for good teasers, you also rocked at picking up my slack from Gutter Girls Book Reviews. I never would’ve finished Ignite on time if I was still having to do blog tours and reviews, so I’m extremely thankful to have you as an amazing partner and alpha reader.
Lydia, what the heck would I have done without your bubbly enthusiasm? There were so many days that I just wasn’t feeling it, but I’d get an excited email or tweet from you that sparked a fire under my ass so I could send you more, just to see what you thought. Your promoting skills are beyond compare, and I’m so lucky we connected!
Stacy, I can’t begin to think how Jace and Lexi’s story would’ve turned out if it hadn’t been your input in the beginning. You fundamentally changed the whole thing, and I’m so thankful that I listened to you! Not only that, but I’m so thankful that you’ve let become a sounding board for me when I’m ready to lose it. You never fail to make me laugh at the perfect times! And that amazing book trailer? I love the hell out of it and you! You definitely went above and beyond, and I can’t thank you enough.
Abby, I’ve been following your reviews at Fiction & Fashion for as long as I can remember, so when you started reading Ignite I was excited and nervous. Your feedback was always spot on and I love our wine night Gmail chats! You helped shape Jace and Lexi in some very important ways, and I’m glad you taught me certain words not to use, but I’m also proud I was able to get you to like one! I look forward to many, many more wine chats in the future!
Jenna, you were a little late the party, but I am so glad Erica brought you in! All of your input was definitely needed and such a big help to finally getting this book out there! I can’t wait to get to our Tennessee boy’s book. I’m going to be bugging you so much about all things Tennessee. Hopefully there’s not too much fighting over him, but I think you might just win!
Summer, I was terrified to give it to you, but you ended up being my champion! All those nights spent around the fire talking all things Jace and Lexi were so important to the process, and I can never thank you enough for listening to me go on and on about them! I should probably thank Travis for that, too! I’m so excited for the future; it’s going to be amazing!!
Jennifer at Love Between the Sheets blog, you were a freaking rockstar! I have no idea how you generated so much interest in me, but you did! I can’t believe we broke the cover reveal record, and the numbers you generated for the release blitz and blog tour still astound me to this day. Thank you for being such an amazing part of the promotion process. Ignite would be left off of so many Kindles if it weren’t for you.
Seth and Trox, you two… what do I even begin to say? Seth, you listened to me talk the whole book through before I even started, and you helped give me the push to get to writing. I’ll never forget that day in Denver, because
that’s the day I opened up my laptop and started typing. And then both of you talked me through a crazy writer’s block and then helped shape the rest of the story as you listened to me drone on and one. Now I’m sorry I didn’t kill everyone in the end, but I think you’ll still like the way it ends. I love you guys!
The entire 127th FME flight, I owe all of you! Who would’ve thought that a group of crazy military men would be so supportive of this girl writing a romance novel? I should’ve known, because that’s who you guys are. Every time I see y’all you are asking about my book and are genuinely interested to hear where I am in the process. From that and then telling your wives and friends they have to read, I cannot thank you enough. I love each and every one of you, and I hope I make you proud!
Robin at Wicked by Design, you are incredible! I was so nervous for the cover process, but you made it so easy. It was killing me to sit on your amazing work for two months before the reveal. I’ve gotten so many compliments on it and it’s all thanks to you!
Mickey at I’m a Book Shark, thank you so much for making the editing process so easy! I can’t wait to work with you in the future! You freaking rock!
Lastly, to all the bloggers, facebook fans, and Goodreads readers, thank you from bottom of my heart for giving a chance on an unknown debut author. The daily tweets, messages, and emails make every single second of this worth it, and I can’t wait for what’s in store.
I’m a twenty six year old book junkie who is also obsessed with sports. Bengals, Buckeyes, Reds are my teams! I work for the government during the day, hang out with Air National Guard on the weekends, and am married to a guy 15 inches taller than me. We’re quite the pair! We currently live right outside of Dayton, OH with our two cats.
I’ve been reading since I was a kid. My mom was a librarian, so it was a given. Heck, she even made sure we watched Wishbone instead of the Smurfs. In 2011 when I graduated from college, my mom bought me a Nook, and then in the summer of 2012 I found this amazing site called Goodreads. I was introduced to so many amazing indie/self-published authors. After reading almost 400 books that year, my husband gave me the push to finally sit down and write my own. It was a rocky start, but over time the words started flowing and I couldn’t get Jace and Lexi out of my head.
If I’m not writing or looking through tons of photos of hot men, all in the name of research, then you can probably find me curled up with my Kindle, ignoring the rest of the world. I love my sports almost as much as I love my books. My other obsessions include red wine, hot men, country music, and all things Grace Potter.
On deck is Knox’s book, Incinerate, and then, Inflame, book 3 of the Explosive series will come out. I’m simultaneously working on an NA spinoff which with start with Combust, the story of Knox’s brother Cohen. After that, a Jeremy/Sierra novella will be in the works. 2014 is going to be an exciting year!
I LOVE to hear from readers, so please feel free to contact via any social media site listed below.
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Goodreads
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Epilogue
Playlist
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright
About the Book Designer
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Epilogue
Playlist
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright
About the Book Designer
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