Behind the Lens (Sexy 1)

“I’m great. How are you doing?” He grins at me and gives me that wink that still gets my panties wet.

“I’m at this amazing signing, and I’ve got you in my arms. I’d say I’m pretty fucking great.” I giggle and hug him as close as I can with my camera between us. “I was talking with Blake and Max, and they want to go check out a few bars while we are in New York. I said I’d check to see what you feel like doing.” He is forever thinking of me.

“I think it sounds like fun.” He swats my ass and kisses me quickly before pulling away.

“Awesome. Now go take some photos.” I shake my head and laugh before moving on to the next author to get her photo. I make my way around the entire room, and I’m happy with the results.

“There’s my favorite photographer.” I smile at Blake. He’s so excited to be at his first signing. He did a shoot a few months back for this author, and it has been a complete success. When he got an email from her asking if he’d like to come, he freaked out. The cover is amazing. Shannon did a great job, and whomever the cover designer is made it over the top fabulous.

“Hey. I didn’t get a photo of you two together. Can I get that now?” They get together, and I have to admit she is beautiful. They actually look good together. “Thank you. By the way, I’m Kallie Gregory.” She sticks out her hand and shakes mine.

“It is such a pleasure to meet you. I’m London Tweed. I love your work. I was hoping we could get together sometime and talk about a few shoots I had in mind.” I like her already.

“I would love that, London. Let me give you my cell number, and we can set something up. Are you in California?” I write down my number and hand it to her.

“Yes, I’m actually close to where Blake lives. Only about a half hour away.” We end up talking for quite a while, and I found out we have so much in common. I actually hated to leave her table, so I invited her out with us tonight, and she happily accepted.

I spend the rest of the day taking photos of everything and anything. Meeting and connecting with a ton of authors and models was great, but when the event was over, I was most happy to be leaving hand in hand with Jax.

We all head back to the hotel, and once we are in our room, I fall onto the bed. He leans over me and smiles. “You want to stay in tonight?” I laugh and push up onto my elbows.

“No, I want to go get my drink on. I actually invited that author, London that Blake was with. She was really cool.” He kisses me, and I lie back when he climbs on top of me.

“We’ll go out and have a good time, but later, you will be screaming my name.” I can’t fucking wait.

We both get ready, and when I step out of the bathroom, I see him sitting on the bed and smiling. He takes my breath away. He came into my life and turned it upside down. He made me question everything, but damn, it was worth it. I never thought I’d find my happily ever after with a sexy model, but sometimes, life has a funny way of working out the complete opposite of how you planned. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do but hold on for the ride, because it might get bumpy, it might toss you around, but when it stops and it’s just you and him, it’s worth it.

Behind the Book

Prologue

London

NO MATTER HOW MANY SIGNINGS I go to I am always just as excited and nervous as I was for the first one. I always hope for a big crowd, to meet new readers, to see readers who already love my books and connect with other authors. There is no better feeling in the world then when a reader tells you that your book, your words, affected them. Whether it be that it helped them escape from reality for a while or that they’ve been through something similar or simply that they fell in love with the characters. It all means so much to me.

I always marched to the beat of my own drum, always did things my way. Even back in high school when everyone was moaning about a writing assignment, I secretly was jumping up and down. I never understood what the big deal was, I loved writing. My mom used to try and push me out the door to go hang out with friends, but I wanted to stay home and write. No one understood it and I lost a lot of friends, but I didn’t care because if I wasn’t writing, I was reading and those characters were my friends. I could connect with a book and let it take me away or write characters that I wanted to be friends with.

When I was in college I majored in journalism and I made some amazing real friends, some of who I am still very close with. I also met Axel my freshman year and by senior year we were engaged. I thought this was the beginning to my happily ever after. We had so much in common, we both wrote, had the same friends and supported each other completely. That is until we moved in together. Things started to change real quickly. He went from the sweetest, most understanding guy to a complete control freak. I wasn’t allowed to hang out with my friends anymore. He needed to know what I was writing and if he didn’t like it, he would delete everything. I started to actually fear him towards the end. He would get angry if I didn’t follow his rules and for a while I did, but when I found myself pretty much a prisoner in a sense, I knew I needed out. He went to work one day and I packed up everything and moved to California.

No one believed me when I told them how he was. They all argued how sweet he was, how happy he made me and that crazy people didn’t have his clean cut look. They all thought I moved to California to pursue my career and that I used him as a scape goat. I didn’t give a shit what they thought, I finally felt safe and last I heard he was involved with another journalism friend.

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When I moved here I had college loans, no job and about a hundred dollars to my name. I was able to find a restaurant looking for help that also happened to rent an apartment above it. I worked there for a few years while I wrote my ass off. I write under the pen name, London Tweed because I was scared that Axel would find me. I only go by that name now.

Once I had the first three books of my series done, I got in touch with a few author friends I’d made and they helped me. They taught me how to self-publish, got me in touch with cover designers, formatters, editors and photographers. This was the start of the most exciting time of my life.

When I published my first book I had no idea what to expect, I was nervous as hell putting myself out there but when readers not only started buying it but promoting it, it felt like a dream. Each book after has been even more successful and I still find it hard to believe I’ve been doing this for three years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a house hold name, I haven’t quit my day job but I am making money, good money. I have a house now, I have a huge fan base and I thank God every day for all of it. It’s a lot of work, takes up an unbelievable amount of time and money but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love what I do, I love creating stories with characters that readers love. I sometimes find myself ignoring my real friends for the ones I’ve made online, readers, authors and models. They get it, they understand what this world is about. How much of yourself you put into it. I love having that connection.

When I decided to have Blake Foster on the cover of my latest book, I was beyond excited. He is extremely sexy with his tattoos, muscles and grin. As of right now I just work with whatever photographer is willing to do a shoot for me, but I’m on the hunt for one I can always use. Kallie Gregory is who I am really looking to get involved with and I’m beyond excited she will be at this signing today.

When I got the photos back from Shannon, I was blown away with how incredible Blake looked. If I could have licked my computer, I would have. I knew exactly what photo I wanted of him and Ivy. It was sexy, romantic and panty dropping hot. This book has been my biggest seller and I have to give credit to Blake and Ivy for pulling the readers in.

When I emailed Blake and asked if he wanted to come to New York with me, he was so gracious and overjoyed. I paid for his plane ticket, but he said he would take care of the hotel, which was a blessing because it gets so expensive paying to have my models with me. I need to cover the travel and hotel for them and myself. If it is a signing across the country like this, one model is all I ever bring. I can’t afford to bring any more than that.

When I got to New York, my stomach was in knots. I’ve been here several times since I moved to California, but just being on the east coast freaks me out. I know Axel is in Florida, but even New York is too close for me. That’s why I usually only stay until the day after the signing and head back home. Not that I think he would even look for me at this point, it’s been five years, but I like being on the opposite side of the country.