There is nothing I wouldn't do for this woman. There is nothing I wouldn't give up, nothing I wouldn't sacrifice for her. She is the most important person in my life and always will be, because she showed me that life is about overcoming struggles and opening yourself up to possibility. She brought color into my otherwise gray existence, and for that I owe her everything.

She'll always be first.

Above all else.

Forever.

To my daughter, Parker.

All I do, I do for you.

Acknowledgments.

First and foremost, I would like to give my dad, Jerry, a big old high five for introducing me to the sport of hockey many years ago. He took me to Pittsburgh to watch his beloved Penguins play the Islanders. I remember one of the players took a puck to the face, right in front of one of the goals. He bled all over. The refs just kicked and scraped at the frozen spot of blood until they made a big pile of blood slush, and then kicked it out of the way into the back of the goal. I turned to my dad and said, "This is a cool sport!" I've been a fan ever since.

I have found this business to be a lot about chance.

I want to make sure to give my heartfelt thanks to my editor, Sue Grimshaw. Thank you for reading my work and for taking that chance on me. I'm a big believer in partnership and I think we make a hell of a team!

The other person who took a chance on me is my agent, Pamela Harty. She was the first one in this business to believe in me, and as she pushed me forward, she made me believe she wouldn't be the last.

To the man who took the biggest chance when he married my crazy ass, my husband, Shawn. He supported me when I decided to stop being a lawyer so I could become a romance author, and he's been my biggest cheerleader ever since. If you want to know where my source of romantic inspiration comes from, well...you can guess.

Finally, thank you, thank you, thank you to my readers. You are the reason I do what I do. Without you, I am nothing.

BY SAWYER BENNETT.

CAROLINA COLD FURY HOCKEY SERIES.

Alex Garrett (early 2015)

THE OFF SERIES.

Off Sides Off Limits Off the Record Off Course Off Chance

THE LAST CALL SERIES.

On the Rocks Make It a Double Sugar on the Edge Shaken Not Stirred (coming soon) With a Twist (coming soon)

THE LEGAL AFFAIRS SERIES.

Objection Stipulation Violation Mitigation Reparation Affirmation Confessions of a Litigation God

THE FOREVER LAND CHRONICLES.

Forever Young Forever Lost (coming soon)

BOOKS OF THE STONE VEIL.

The Darkest of Blood Magicks To Catch a Dark Thief If I Return Uncivilized (fall 2014) PHOTO: MARIE KILLEN.

USA Today bestselling author SAWYER BENNETT is a snarky Southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. Her husband works for a Fortune 100 company that lets him fly all over the world while she stays at home with their daughter, Parker, and three big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report that she doesn't have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.

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The Editor's Corner

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and every year I decorate my house to the nines with ghosts and goblins, jack-o-lanterns, and spider webs. There's nothing like good old scary fun to get your heart racing...well, almost nothing. Romance novels may not be frightening, but they do make your heart beat faster...just in a different way. Our new Loveswept releases will give you heart-pounding entertainment, I promise.

Our first release in October is Cecy Robson's raw and steamy series debut, Once Perfect, which is perfect for fans of Monica Murphy and J. Lynn. Then comes USA Today bestselling author Sawyer Bennett's Alex, the first novel in a new hockey series that's hot enough to melt the ice. Then we end the month with a bang with Sidney Halston's Full Contact, the sexy second book in her fun Worth the Fight MMA series. And to kick off the holiday season, we're also re-releasing three tantalizing holiday novellas from amazing authors: Play with Me, a warm and enticing Thanksgiving romance from Lisa Renee Jones; Snowfall, a moving Christmas tale from Mary Ann Rivers; and After Midnight, an explosive New Year's story from Serena Bell.

In Flirt news, Lori Adams reaches new heights in Unforgiven, the final installment in The Soulkeepers series, where questions are answered, secrets are revealed, and immortal love is tested. And we also have an exciting debut from Renita Pizzitola, Just a Little Crush, an emotional novel of heartache and seduction, where a college freshman's little crush could prove to be a huge mistake or the first step to forever.

~Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel Associate Publisher

Read on for an excerpt from

Truth or Dare

A Dare to Love Novel

by Mira Lyn Kelly Available from Loveswept In Maggie Lawson's defense, the apartment door had been open. Wide open. And she'd tried to warn him. But with the hard rock sound of Queens of the Stone Age pounding out of the speakers within, her new upstairs neighbor hadn't heard. So he didn't know she was standing there when he walked by...rucking his T-shirt overhead as he stopped at a stack of cardboard packing boxes marked "Office."

She should have said something. She started to, but whatever apology or alert she'd been poised to deliver died on her tongue as she stood transfixed by the hypnotic shift and flex of this man's half-clad physique.

Because, wow. Just, wow. Talk about some ripped jeans, skin showing.

Okay, it wasn't like she'd never seen a shirtless male before. They were everywhere, littering magazines, billboards, and TV. Chicago wasn't suffering any shortage when it came to quality hotties. But up this close, and not just one of the guys, it caught her by surprise. Enough to stall out her brain function mid-ponder on whether she should bring her plate of "welcome to the building" cookies back later or try again to announce her presence behind him.

And now, all she could see was skin.

An abundance of it.

Dark and flushed from hours of exertion. Glistening with a sheen of sweat that beaded up even as she watched, until one fat drop slid over a hard-cut terrain of taut flesh and banded muscle before soaking into the low-slung denim at his hips.

Trim hips. On a body that was tall and broad and distracting her in a way she wasn't accustomed to being distracted.

She should probably take off.

Dragging the rag he'd made of his shirt across his face, her neighbor gritted out a curse that had her mouth snapping closed and her chin pulling back. Not because of what he'd saidaplease, she heard worse on an almost hourly basisabut because of the way he'd said it. There was something altogether too revealing in that one word. Something broken and tired and raw and, yeah, she should definitely go. She'd keep the cookies.

Except, then his head swung around. "What thea?"

"I'm sorry," she gasped on a nervous laugh, trying to pull it together in front of this guy who'd just busted her fresh off the ogle and was going to be living above her for some unspecified duration. "I justaI came up and thenathere you wereaand I wasn't expectinga"

This was totally something they could laugh about, if he got with the program and gave it a shot.

Only, the flinty gray eyes that locked with hers were totally devoid of humor. Shoving his arms back into his shirt, he stalked to the door, making his big body as imposing a "Do Not Enter" sign as she'd ever encountered. "What do you want?"

Well, she had cookies. Still warm from the oven. And a pint of milk. He had spent hours moving into the apartment directly above hers. He was her new neighbor.

What did he think she wanted?

It didn't matter. An instant on the receiving end of this guy's glower was enough to tell her he wasn't going to be another swell addition to her group of friends.

Not a problem. But for the sake of civility and because she was actually standing there, baked bounty in hand, she pushed into place an imitation of the smile that had been genuine when she'd started and tried again.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just stopped up to say, aHey, neighbor,'a" she offered, adding one of those cheesy half-circle waves that smacked of a Karate Kid wax-on. "Tyler, right? Yeah, okay. So. I'm friends with Fordaour landlordaand he asked me to swing by. I live down in Apartment Two."