Kim Karr is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.
She grew up in Rochester, New York, and now lives in Florida with her husband and four kids. She’s always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, she wanted to teach at the college level, but that was not to be. She went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise her family. Kim currently works part-time with her husband and recently decided to embrace one of her biggest passions—writing.
Kim wears a lot of hats: writer, book-lover, wife, soccer mom, taxi driver, and the all-around go-to person of her family. However, she always finds time to read.
Kim likes to believe in soul mates, kindred spirits, true friends, and happily-ever-afters. She loves to drink champagne and listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.
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And don’t miss Toxic, where, as a reader you’ll first meet Logan. It is an unforgettable stand-alone romance! Available now. Continue reading for a preview.
TOXIC
Familiar Faces
My mother taught me many things . . .
To stand up straight.
To be thankful for what I had.
To never talk to strangers.
And to always answer when spoken to.
I didn’t always listen.
“I miss you.” The text had arrived early this morning and I hadn’t been able to reply. I didn’t know what to say but I knew why Dawson had sent it.
It was October fifteenth.
Our wedding day.
Or it was supposed to have been anyway.
The rain was steadily falling as Lily and I left the movie theater and quickly made our way to the waiting car.
As soon as I got in, I collapsed in the smooth leather seat and looked next to me. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For always being there for me.”
“That’s what best friends are for,” she smiled.
And that’s what she was. Lily Monroe had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. And like me, she was in a strange place.
“Has he called yet?” I asked, uncertain if I should bring it up.
Lily shook her head.
“You should just call him.”
She shot me an if looks could kill glare. “No, I will not. And we’re not talking about him. As far as I’m concerned, Preston Tyler is dead.”
Okay then.
I knew when to shut up.
Lily and Preston were always breaking up and getting back together but this was the longest they had been apart in the three years they had been a couple. The breakup was going on nearly four weeks.
Lily opened her purse. “Here,” she said as she unscrewed a small bottle of wine. It was the kind you get when you’re flying. A glass for one.
I took it and gave her a smile and when she pulled out a second, I had to laugh. “Always prepared.”
“You know it,” she said raising her hand. “To rainy days.”
“And rainy nights.” I clinked her bottle.
“To new beginnings.”
“And old endings,” I said, and then I drank the wine.
All of it.
I needed it.
After a final gulp, I let my forehead fall to the window. The sound of faint raindrops that drizzled down it as I stared out into the night triggered something inside me—that lonely ache that I couldn’t seem to ever shake. And for the first time since I had woken up that morning, I allowed a melancholy wave of sorrow to wash over me.
I’d second-guessed my decision to end things with Dawson every day. So when I woke up this morning, I thought I’d be sadder than I had been.
But I wasn’t sad at all.
I was relieved.
I was ready for the shadow that had been looming over me since I broke off the engagement to be gone. Even after the wedding was canceled, the countdown to the big day was still there. Just because two people ceased to exist as a unit, it didn’t mean you no longer felt the other person’s presence in your life.
And Dawson Vanderbilt, even with his gallant stand-up and let’s be friends attitude, had felt like a constant mark of failure in my life.
The seemingly perfect man, a wedding planned with all the trimmings, and I still couldn’t go through with it. I knew the chemistry wasn’t there to sustain a life of happiness together.
I loved him, yet the spark I wanted to feel each time I saw him and the leg I wanted to kick back with a pointed toe when he kissed me—neither ever came.
My phone rang and glancing at the screen, I rolled my eyes.
“Your mother again?” Lily asked.
I nodded. “She’s called me every hour since I left her at lunch. She says she’s checking on me but I can’t help but feel like it’s more. Like she’s punishing me for not going through with the wedding by reminding me of all the things we would have been doing today.”
“She means well, you know she does.”
“I suppose,” I said as I glanced again at the ringing phone.
“Give it to me.”
I looked at Lily questioningly.