ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Unlike the hero of this book, I love Christmas! The tinsel, the carols, the tree, the lights. So it was super fun to give my surly rancher a big, fat, OTT Christmas with every wonderfully kitschy thing I could find on the internet thrown into the pot! I hope you enjoyed the sweaters, dominatrix Barbie and the cat baubles as much as I did putting them down on the page.

My thanks as always go to the team at Entangled Publishing who do all their magic behind the scenes to get a book from a Word document into a state where people can buy it in whatever form. Thanks to Curtis Svehlak who collates everything I need and gives it to me in one succinct place exactly when I need it. To Riki Cleveland and Holly Bryant-Simpson who hold my hand through the publicity stuff, which I suck at—really, I do. And thanks to Melanie Smith who pays me—you totally rock!

Special thanks to Stacy Abrams for the copy editing—sorry about the commas, the which’s, and the choking thing. And extra special thanks to my editor, Liz Pelletier, who is my biggest cheerleader, who believes in me and seems to know the exact moment my ego needs stroking. I totally forgive her for sending gratuitous drinking pictures of her and my best friend Leah who, through freakish coincidence, ended up on the same Alaskan cruise together, while I was slaving over a hot keyboard, in Australia, finishing this book.

I forgive Leah, too.

Two last thank-yous. Firstly, to Naima Simone who told me all about melting butter on top of pecan pie to make it a whole other level of yummy. One day you and I, Naima, will have to eat pie together. And secondly to Janeen Wagner Phillips who provided the name Zoom for Grady’s turtle. Turtle lovers unite!