In high school, Malia Clark found the man of her dreams.

Darius Tucker.

But life hits them full in the face way before it ever should. Darius makes a drastic decision to keep his family safe and Malia leaves town with a secret.

When Malia returns, she seeks Darius to share all, but Darius finds out before she can tell him. At the same time, she finds out just how much Darius has changed in the years she’s been away.

She just refuses to give up on him.

Until he forces her hand.

Secrets come between Malia and Darius, at the same time Malia has to worry about weird things going on at the law firm where she works, her kid wants a car and she’s stuck in slow-cooker hell. Luckily, her ride or dies have her back.

And in the meantime, she might just learn she never should have lost hope in Darius Tucker.

Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.

Series:

Rock Chick Series

Book Type:

Romance

Series Reading Order:

Excerpt: Rock Chick Rematch

“You love me?” I asked.

“I love your big, chocolaty eyes. And I love your pointy chin.” Ugh.

“I don’t have a pointy chin. My face is oval.”

“It’s a beautiful chin,” he muttered before he kissed it. “It’s still pointy.” “Whatever,” I mumbled.

“And I love how short you are,” he carried on.

For heaven’s sake.

“I’m not short, I’m average,” I told him, though, in all honesty, maybe I was a tad bit on the low side of that. “It’s just that you’re tall.”

“So…short to me. Still short,” he teased.

I pushed at his shoulders (however, it must be noted, I did this half-heartedly). “Darius, be serious.”

When he looked me in the eyes again, my heart stuttered to a halt.

Because he was being serious.

Deadly serious.

“I love your perfect nose and your thick lower lip and the shape of your eyebrows,” he continued.

I wouldn’t say my lower lip was “thick,” more like “full” (though, even I liked the arch of my brows, it rocked). But I wasn’t going to interrupt him.

No way.

Thus, he kept going.

“And your gorgeous skin and your huge smile and the fact you use words like ‘alcove’ and

‘omnipotent’ that no one else knows what the fuck they mean.” I started giggling even though I kind of wanted to start crying.

Darius wasn’t done talking.

“And I love how you get on with my sisters, even though they’re pains in the asses, and when you’re over, you always help Mom with dinner, and you sit and listen to Dad going on about the

Rockies or the Nuggets or whatever, like you give a shit, when you don’t.” One must say, I wasn’t a sports person.

But I loved Darius’s dad, and he was, so there you go.

“Darius,” I whispered.

“But I’m not gonna tell you until we’re under the clouds, or the stars, or whenever we stop talking, even though something else I love about you is that we always have something to talk about.”

Okay, it was safe to say, I was feeling this.

Feeling everything.

I knew what my dad would say about what I was feeling. He would say it’s too soon, being sixteen and finding the guy of your dreams that you know you want to spend the rest of your life with.

My mom would say that too.

(Lena wouldn’t, she adored Darius and already told me she wanted him as her brother.) But I knew it.

I knew it now and ten minutes ago and when he tickled me so much last week, disaster nearly struck because I was this close to peeing my pants.

And when he helped my dad, who had no sons, but had started treating Darius like one, put in our new kitchen cupboards.

And when Darius took me out to a fancy dinner on our one-month anniversary.

And again on our two-month one (you get the picture).

And on our first date in the wildflowers.

And all the times in between.

I knew it.

I might not know everything about myself, who I was or who I was going to be.

I just knew, whoever that was, I’d be her with Darius.

“So, yeah, it’s gonna be special,” he concluded. “When I say that and when we do that.” “Okay.” My reply was soft.

His answering smile was tender.

I touched my fingers to it in wonder, even if I’d seen it before. It was just that wonderful.

I lifted my eyes to his. “But can I say it now?”

His arms around me got tighter and he shook his head.

But he said, “You don’t have to say it, baby. You show it all the time.”

Okay, the tears were coming.