“I’m here now. We’ll fight together. That’s what I want.”
“Believe me, I’m not going to let you push me away again. I love you too much.”
“You know what?” I take a deep breath, a smile tugging at my split lower lip. “I think I love your stubbornness.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Please tell me you love me and not just my stubbornness.”
I trace his well-defined mouth with my fingers. We can’t kiss because of my injuries and my beat up lower lip, but I need to feel his lips against my skin. I run my fingers past his delicious lips over his goatee and smile at the memory of it against the crook of my neck and on my face when he kisses me. “I think it was obvious the first time I found you at the cemetery,” I whisper with a bittersweet smile.
He sees it and because he gets me so well he knows what’s on my mind. “It’s still hard to have lost Juliet, but when I told you I’d never give us up it was the truth. You’re my future and I don’t love you any less than Juliet. With you everything feels different and more exhilarating. Juliet was my best friend, the girl I knew everything about; we knew where we were both heading. With you, it’s like I have a whole new life and I’m crazy about you. Never doubt that. Please, never doubt me.”
My heart is beating loudly in my chest. I never thought colliding with someone could change lives, but it is possible. I hit the bottom tonight, I experienced a true nightmare, but I know it’s over now. I don’t have to live with the fear of seeing Sean again. I can focus on this amazing guy, this guy strong enough to open up his heart all over again. He is strong enough to fall in love again and fall for a scared and broken girl like me. In turn, he saved my life time and time again. He even saved me from the shell I built for myself.
“Say it again.”
He smiles softly at me, his eyes never wavering from my bruised face. He bites once on his lower lip and softens it with the tip of his tongue. “I love you, Skye. You’re in my heart, in my head, under my skin. You’re my present and my future.”
I sigh and feel my eyes getting all watery. My emotions are all over the place, but my heart is warm. For the first time in a long time, I feel a new peace take hold of me. I don’t just feel safe, I feel peaceful, too. “I never thought it was possible to love someone so much that he can make you forget all the wrong things that happened.”
He comes closer, his soft breath fanning my face hot with pain and the explosion of all my feelings for him. “So, you really love me?”
Instead of saying anything, I bring his head to mine and kiss him. To hell with my injuries. I love this man. We’ve got time to patch up our lives now. Together.
Did you enjoy Skye and Duke’s story? Find more about them in the sequel coming soon.
Acknowledgements
With this novel I ‘met’ virtually amazing people who are book lovers just like me, and who believed in me and my story enough to work hard by my side to make it the best possible. Without you ladies, it wouldn’t be published. Thank you with all my heart.
First, thank you Wendy Shatwell. You’ve been FABULOUS! (I really love this word now). You read the worst draft ever known to man and enjoyed Patch Up like I never thought someone would have. Without your help, your emails and support, I don’t think I would have been able to go through with this story. You were the first one to tell me to write a sequel and a companion novel with Derek and Kate’s story. The sequel is written, but I’ll wait a little longer for Derek and Kate’s story. I hope you’ll be there to beta read it.
Then, I have to thank someone who told me that Patch Up is different from other New Adult novels out there and that it deserved to be published and read. Thank you Laura Carter. Your help, your comments and enthusiasm on Twitter are invaluable. Not only did you push me to dig deeper on some scenes, but knowing that my characters moved you was the best thing ever. I know you’re rooting for a novel with Kate and Derek’s story so I can already tell you that I’ll start writing it before the end of the year!
Maria Raycroft, thank you for your time, your comments, your ideas and your support. It means a lot that you enjoy my stories enough to beta read them all. I really hope that you’ll love my other ones because I’ve got many ideas and it’ll keep me busy for a while!
Stacie Drake, thank you for reading the last draft of Patch Up and for your support. It means a lot when someone is moved by my stories and Patch Up will probably be the one meaning the most to me. So, thank you for reading it, telling me how you loved it, and for enquiring when it’d be published. I hope you won’t be disappointed by the sequel.
Karen Swart, thank you for reading the first draft of Patch Up and telling me that it was a good story when I was doubting. It changed quite a lot since the version I sent you, but the emotion is the same. Thank you for being there since my very first story. You believe in me and in my stories and it means the world to me.
Stacey Rourke and Melissa Ringsted, thank you both for being there and ready to publish my stories. Knowing that people believe in what I have to write is the best thing that I could ever dream of.
I often doubt, often question myself, often freak out when I send my chapters to my beta readers and publishers, but knowing that I have you all to read me and tell me what you think—bad or good—is such a rush that I couldn’t stop writing even if I wanted to.
So thank you to everyone who bought Patch Up and read it. I hope it moved you, I hope to see you for my next novels. In the meantime, I wish you many more discoveries of books.
About the Author
Stephanie Witter is a French dreamer. She started learning English at three, and fell in love with the language. Always with a book, or two close by, she started reading in English when she couldn't wait any longer for Harry Potter to be translated in French. After a while, reading wasn't enough. She started writing Young Adult and New Adult Contemporary novels filled with drama. Now she hopes to translate English novels into her mother tongue as her everyday job
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Contact me by email at [email protected]
Coming soon from
Throughout Lydia’s life she has always had her best friend, Greyson, at her side. Their bond is unbreakable and undefinable. At the age of twenty-four, she has everything that she’s ever wanted ... a family. Unfortunately, her husband dies in a tragic accident and she’s left to raise her one-year-old son by herself. She pulls herself together with the help of her close friends, especially Greyson, who has always been there for her. As life's tragedies and obstacles collide with them, Greyson and Lydia find themselves together. Their bond, stronger than ever, that grows into so much more than friendship.
Releasing fall 2013
Patch Up Page 27
