Acknowl­edg­ments are a cru­cial part of any cre­ative project, and I am deeply grate­ful for the sup­port and con­tri­bu­tions that have made this book pos­si­ble. First and fore­most, I want to thank every­one who has tak­en the time to read Brid­get and Rhys’s sto­ry. These char­ac­ters have been a sig­nif­i­cant part of my life for months, and now that their jour­ney is shared with the world, I tru­ly hope they res­onate with you in the same way they have with me. Their devel­op­ment and the evo­lu­tion of their rela­tion­ship have been a per­son­al jour­ney for me, and see­ing it come to life through your eyes is a deeply ful­fill­ing expe­ri­ence. Your enthu­si­asm for this sto­ry means more than words can express, and I am thrilled to share it with you.

A heart­felt thank you goes to my incred­i­ble team of read­ers, whose feed­back has been invalu­able in shap­ing the final prod­uct. To my alpha and beta readers—Brittney, Brit­tany (with an ‘a’), Yaneli, Sarah, Rebec­ca, Aishah, and Allisyn—your con­struc­tive insights helped refine the sto­ry and bring out its best ele­ments. Each of you pro­vid­ed such thought­ful and can­did sug­ges­tions that tru­ly ele­vat­ed the nar­ra­tive, and I’m thank­ful for your ded­i­ca­tion to mak­ing this book the best it could be. Your atten­tion to detail and will­ing­ness to be hon­est with me about your thoughts have made a sig­nif­i­cant impact on the qual­i­ty of the final prod­uct. It’s rare to find such a sup­port­ive and reli­able group of read­ers, and I feel for­tu­nate to have had you all by my side through­out this process.

I would also like to extend my deep­est grat­i­tude to Amber, my per­son­al assis­tant, for keep­ing me ground­ed through this entire jour­ney. Amber’s unwa­ver­ing sup­port has been a con­stant source of com­fort and assis­tance. From pro­vid­ing sec­ond opin­ions to help­ing me main­tain focus dur­ing the most chal­leng­ing moments, I tru­ly don’t know what I would have done with­out her. Amber, your patience, guid­ance, and com­mit­ment to my suc­cess have been invalu­able, and I am for­ev­er grate­ful for every­thing you’ve done to keep me sane dur­ing this wild ride. It’s a priv­i­lege to work with some­one as ded­i­cat­ed and pas­sion­ate as you, and I can’t thank you enough for being there when I need­ed you most.

My thanks also go to my edi­tor, Amy Brig­gs, and my proof­read­er, Krista Bur­dine. Your exper­tise and skill were cru­cial in pol­ish­ing the sto­ry and ensur­ing that the final draft was smooth and error-free. I tru­ly appre­ci­ate the flex­i­bil­i­ty and pro­fes­sion­al­ism you both exhib­it­ed while work­ing on tight dead­lines and accom­mo­dat­ing my some­times unpre­dictable sched­ule. Amy, your keen eye for detail, and Krista, your thor­ough review of every word, helped make this book what it is today. You are both rock­stars in your own right, and I’m incred­i­bly lucky to have had you work­ing along­side me. Your hard work and ded­i­ca­tion have made this book shine.

I want to thank Quirah at Temp­ta­tion Cre­ations for design­ing the stun­ning cov­er that per­fect­ly cap­tures the essence of the sto­ry. The visu­al impact of the cov­er is the first impres­sion read­ers get of the book, and I couldn’t be hap­pi­er with how it turned out. Addi­tion­al­ly, I am deeply grate­ful to the teams at Give Me Books and Wild­fire Mar­ket­ing for ensur­ing that the release day was an absolute suc­cess. Your sup­port and efforts in pro­mot­ing the book have made the entire expe­ri­ence seam­less and excit­ing. It’s thanks to your hard work that the release of this book has been a dream come true.

Final­ly, I want to express my appre­ci­a­tion to every­one who has sup­port­ed me along the way, whether through their words of encour­age­ment, their under­stand­ing when dead­lines were tight, or their patience as I nav­i­gat­ed the ups and downs of the writ­ing process. Writ­ing this book has been an adven­ture, and hav­ing such an amaz­ing group of peo­ple around me made it all the more reward­ing. Thank you to my fam­i­ly, my friends, and every read­er who has tak­en the time to get to know Brid­get and Rhys. Your sup­port and enthu­si­asm mean the world to me, and I can’t wait for you to join me on my next jour­ney. With­out you, none of this would have been pos­si­ble, and for that, I am eter­nal­ly grate­ful.