The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,431

as possible, THANK you for your time, your honesty and your trust.

To my editor, Lauren Clarke - you are a star. Having you as my partner in this process made all the difference and I am so grateful for the care and thoroughness you showed this manuscript.

To my colleagues who walk this very unique path alongside me, I’m glad to have you in my life and am grateful for your constant support.

To my Day Dreamers and my DREAM TEAM I LOVE you guys! You make my day, every single day! You inspire me to keep writing and I am so thankful for the parts of your day that you spend with me.

To all of the blogs who have tirelessly and graciously read and then promoted my work— you are my heroes. I couldn’t do this without you.

To the readers who buy my books, who email, message and tweet me! Thank you SO much for everything. You’re amazing and I write with your wind at my back every day!

Thank you to my family—my parents, my sisters, my brothers-in-law and my cousins—you are my village. Thank you for being wonderful and loving.

Finally, thank you to my husband and children - You are the heartbeats of my life. Thank you for inspiring me, loving me and supporting me. I love you all more than anything else in the universe!

* * *

Love,

Me.

Also by Dylan Allen

Loved it and want more? Here are all of my currently published titles.

Rivers Wilde Series of stand alone stories:

The Legacy

The Legend

The Daredevil

Symbols of Love Series of stand alone stories:

Rise

Remember

Release

Complete stand alone stories:

The Sun and Her Star

Thicker Than Water

The Sound of Temptation (Coming January 2021)

I love to hear from readers! email me at [email protected]

Are you on Facebook? Come join my private reader group, Dylan’s Day Dreamer. It’s where I spend most of my time online and it’s a lot of fun! Click here.

The Gathering

Copyright © 2020 by Dylan Allen

THIS IS AN ADVANCED READER COPY FOR REVIEW PURPOSES.

IT IS NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUTION OF ANY KIND.

* * *

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Chapter 1

Remi

Surprise

I walk into the sunlit kitchen of my house and glance around briefly and realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this kitchen in broad day light. The patter of footsteps on the stairs lets me know Kal is on her way down. I put the bags of food on the center island and shrug out of jacket.

“Remi?” Kal rushes into the kitchen and skids to a stop on the other side of the island. “What’s the matter? Are you sick?” Her dark eyes are wide with worry as the making an assessing sweep of my body.

I smile and loosen my tie. “Never felt better.”

She rests one hand on the counter and presses the other to her chest. “You scared me.”

“Sorry. You sounded so excited and I didn’t have any more meetings today.” I nod at the bags between us. “Figured we could celebrate over a late lunch from Maggiano’s. Got that baked ziti you love.”

Noticing the food for the first time, her expression brightens, and a grin splits her full lips. “This is so perfect, thank you.” Her smile turns sly and she saunters over to the fridge. “I’ve got a little something special, too.”

Hypnotized by the sway of her hips and silky-smooth skin of her bare thighs, I move around to her side of the counter, and lean back to watch her. She bends over to rummage through the freezer and the flimsy cotton dress she’s wearing clings to her ass the way my hands are dying to. .

She turns around when I groan, worry lining on her face again, until her eyes land on the hand palming my hardening dick. Her gaze narrows and a smile peeks through the grip her teeth have on her lush lower lip. “Oh...it’s like that?”

I wink and return her smile. “You know, it’s always like that.”

She giggles and closes the fridge. “Then let’s pop this baby and get to the fun part of this celebration, shall we?” She holds up a bottle of Moet and twirls to the cupboard where we keep our champagne flutes.

“Is it okay for you to be drinking that?” It’s like a wet blanket laid atop my ardor when she removes the foil covering the