After You by Sam Mariano

My name is Nicole Harmon, and I want to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a clever young girl who followed her foolish young heart and fell madly in love with a very bad boy. He broke her heart and made her cry. She loved him still. She feared she would love him always.

She ran away—not from Prince Charming in a lavish ballroom, but toward a future she could make for herself. A safe, reliable future he would have no place in. A future wherein her shattered, stupid heart could be pieced back together and tucked away somewhere it couldn’t bring her any more pain.

The girl grew up. She chased her dreams and built herself that future. She became a young woman who did not a fall for any bad men. She focused on building up her own life instead of letting her dim-witted heart out of its cage.

But then the boy came back—as bad as ever in the ways she liked, but this time, he was determined to show her he could be a very good man…