“I’d say you look lost, but something tells me you are exactly where you want to be,” a deep male voice said at her back.

Kara whipped around, her long blonde hair blocking her vision before she brushed it aside, and stared at the man reclined on a padded chaise lounge on the beach. A man and chaise that hadn’t been there only moments before. A man who was vaguely familiar though she couldn’t figure out why.

“I…who are you?” she asked.

“Who do you want me to be?”

His question made her blink. Who did she want him to be? She had no idea. All she knew was that an odd heat was building inside her. One she’d never experienced before.

When he only continued to stare at her, she narrowed her eyes, running her gaze from his thick dark hair down his very muscular body. With his hands clasped behind his neck, his expression expectant, he looked relaxed and just the slightest bit amused. But there was a mysterious glint to his blue-green eyes that belied his stress-free exterior. And though he was gorgeous—tall, dark, and handsome in every way with that chiseled jaw, lush lips, and mesmerizing eyes—something in the back of her mind warned her to be careful.

“Where did you come from?” she asked hesitantly. “We both know you weren’t here two seconds ago.”

One side of those perfect lips curled. “I’m sure if you concentrate, you’ll know exactly where I came from, Zakara.”

She didn’t like his riddles. And she didn’t like that he knew her name when she was still struggling to figure out who he was and why he was so familiar. But the longer he stared at her, the warmer she grew. And as his words circled in her head, it suddenly hit her like a baseball bat right to the forehead.

“You’re that guy…” Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. “From my dreams.”

He chuckled—a low, deep, captivating sound that was too perfect to be real. “That I am.” 

“Years ago, my husband bought me Scarlett: The Sequel to Gone With The Wind. If you ever saw the book, you know it’s a long one. I sat and read that thing from cover to cover, and dreamed of one day being a writer. But I didn’t actually try my hand at writing until years later when I quit my teaching job to stay home with my kids. And my husband? After that week of reading where I neglected him and everything else until I finished Scarlett, he vowed never to buy me another book again. Little did he know I’d one day end up sitting at a keyboard all day drafting my own stories.

“My writing journey has not been easy. I didn’t just sit down one day, decide I was going to write a book and voila! sell my very first attempt. As most authors will probably agree, the path to publication is filled with hours of work, pulling all-nighters I thought I’d given up in college, sacrifices, rejections, but a love I discovered along the way I just can’t live without. Instead of a big, thick book to read by lamplight (I do read much smaller ones when I get the chance), I’ve traded in my reading obsession for a laptop. And I’ve never been happier.

“I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful family and fabulous husband who put up with my writing—and obsessive personality—even when life is chaotic. More than once my kids have been late to swimming or baseball because I needed just five more minutes to finish a scene. Their support and encouragement mean the world to me. I also have amazing friends and a support network I couldn’t survive without. So to all of you out there who have encouraged me along the way, sent me emails and fan letters, phone calls and congratulations, I just want to say, thank you. You make this whole writing gig that much more enjoyable. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.”

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