Always Kiss Me Goodnight
MEGAN GAUDINO
Evernight Teen Publishing
YA Paranormal Romance, 67k words
Released: August 28
Sophia Destino is supposed to die.
All seventeen-year-old Sophia wants is
to coast through her junior year. But with her parents obsessed with her
Olympic-swimming-hopeful brother, a psychic best friend with a penchant for
reading tarot cards, and prophetic dreams that predict her death—that won’t be
easy. As her nightmares begin to come true, Sophia finds herself dodging death
and longing for the time when getting over her ex-boyfriend was her biggest
problem. Until she meets Leo Knight. The mysterious stranger seems determined
to keep her alive—and steal her heart. But Leo has a secret that is about to
change everything and Sophia is about to learn that sometimes…your number is
up.
14+ due to adult
situations
Excerpt:
What a waste last night was. I would’ve laughed out loud
about how tragically ironic it all was if I could have. My lungs started to
twinge at the thought of laughing. They wanted to be filled with fresh air.
The finale of my life was playing out before me. I recalled
the peaceful feeling from my dream. I was just waiting for it to happen. My
lungs were screaming at me to breathe. This was it. Time was almost up and I
was waiting for my life to flash before my eyes when movement out of the water
caught my attention. Leo was standing on the edge of the pool. He was shirtless
and surrounded by the light, making me question if I’d died and gone to heaven.
He dove into the pool an instant later and scooped me up in
his arms, obelisk and all, just as he had the night before, then pushed up to
the surface of the water in no time flat.
The extra couple hundred pounds of weight I and the
obelisk—mostly the obelisk…I think—added did nothing to slow him down. We shot
out of the water as if we had the help of a cannon, not just Leo’s legs.
I gasped for air as soon as my face was free of the water.
The breath felt so good my lungs craved more and more. I kept inhaling the air
as if it were being funneled down my throat.
Leo swam to the side of the pool, using only his legs to
keep us afloat. With one hand, he threw the obelisk all the way in the bed of
wildflowers and pulled us up out of the water.
We sat on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water
and me on his lap, vowing to never again take air for granted and wondering
what happened that made my dreams start coming true.
Using his thumbs to push the water out of my eyes, he laced
his hands through my soaking wet hair and rested his palms on my cheeks.
“Sophia?” I coughed up some water and he turned my head to
the side. “Sophia, are you okay?”
The air was flowing easily in and out of my lungs. They felt
calmed; they knew they would be getting air on a regular basis.
“I’m okay.” I coughed one more time, then took another deep
breath to clear my reeling mind and tried to speak again. “I’m fine.”
Physically I was fine but mentally I wasn’t. The world I
lived in up until this point didn’t consist of anything supernatural or
unexplainable happening except the occasional perfect hair day and the beauty
of an aquamarine crystal.
Leo stood easily from his seated position with me still in
his arms and crushed my chest to his. Of course I couldn’t help but wrap my
arms around his bare torso but his skin felt so hot to the touch. Between the
freezing cold of my body and the warm temperature of his I felt overwhelmed.
Everywhere our bodies came in contact with each other little puffs of visible
steam arose.
When we made it to the living room Hercules began lapping up
the puddles of water we left behind us. Leo yanked the gray blanket off of the
armchair and wrapped it around me because I was suddenly shaking.
He moved a salt stone lamp out of his way and sat on top of
the coffee table, motionlessly taking in my expression. Before he even spoke I
just knew he was reading me all wrong. I felt like I could read him already
too.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sophia,” he groaned.
“For what? My idiotic carelessness or that you saved
my life once again? You shouldn’t be sorry about either of those
things.”
“I shouldn’t have let that happen. I shouldn’t have been
sleeping still. I promised you I’d protect you and look what happened. Do you
have any idea how close you were to dying? Even closer than you were last
night. If I was just one second later I would’ve been too late.”
“I know. I was there. But you weren’t too late. It’s all over
now—I’m fine.” He put his head in his hands and scrunched his hair in his
palms. “Leo.” I reached forward and placed my hand on his arm. He was still so
hot to the touch. “Why’s your skin so hot again?”
He flinched away from my hand, stood up, folded his arms
across his chest and turned his back to me. His reaction made me question my
gesture.
“It’ll go away.”
“Yeah but why does it happen at all?”
He hesitated for just a moment before he answered. “Because
I keep saving your life.”
“I thought angels are supposed to save lives.”
“I already told you. I’m not an angel. I’m not supposed to
save lives.”
* *
* * *
Interview With The Villain
Aiden Varner, thanks for sitting down with us today.
Well, I’m not really sure why I’m here but you’re welcome.
We just think the readers will want more
insight into your life and thoughts about the events in Always Kiss Me
Goodnight.
I’m always up for talking about myself so fire away.
You did something pretty horrible to
Sophia. How do you feel about being seen as a villain?
Wait. People think I’m the villain? Is that why I’m here
today?
If I’m being honest, yes.
I think that’s a huge exaggeration. Maybe I hurt Sophia’s
feelings but let’s not forget someone is trying to kill her. And that person is out there. And that person isn’t me! You’ve got the
wrong guy. I’m not the villain.
To be fair that’s true. But, like you said
Simeon is still out there somewhere so we couldn’t really get him in for an
interview and that leaves us with you.
Great. So not only am I a villain I’m a second place
villain. Let’s not forget that Simeon drugged me. I’m a victim.
Aiden, we didn’t bring you here to talk
about that. We wanted to sit down to discuss your relationship with Sophia. Can
you tell us about you two as a couple?
Me and Soph go way back. We’ve been the cutest couple pretty
much our whole lives. She’s basically a part of my family and sometimes I think
my parents like her more than me. Sophia’s the kind of girl who will always be
there for you and when her parents wanted her to move away she did everything
she could to stay back. And she did it just for me. That’s the kind of girl
Sophia is.
You make it seem like you’re really fond of
Sophia. So why did you cheat on her?
Whoa. Who told you about that?
Everyone is talking about it
Okay, so I made one mistake. I’m only eighteen and sometimes
things happen. I was DRUNK. Does that count for anything? I would never soberly
hurt Soph but I make one little mistake and I’m the bad guy? It was all
Lauren’s idea to get drunk and Lauren was the one who took her clothes off but
no one here is questioning Lauren and calling her the villain.
You’re getting really defensive, Aiden. I
think that means you know what you did was wrong.
Yes, okay? I hurt Sophia’s feelings and that was wrong. But,
I didn’t do it on purpose and I don’t think that’s something that should be
over looked. I’m a good guy.
Is there anything else you’d like to add
before we wrap this up?
Yes! I play guitar at my grandma’s nursing home every week.
Ask any old lady there and she’ll tell you I’m a real catch!
About the Author:
Megan Gaudino works in a high school library by day and
on her own books by night. Always Kiss Me Goodnight his her debut novel and was
first posted on Wattpad where it gained over two million reads. Megan lives in
Pittsburgh where you can find her reading, writing, and Instagramming.
Instagram- https://instagram.com/mkgaud/
Tumblr- http://mkgaud.tumblr.com/
WeHearIt- http://weheartit.com/Mkgaud
Twitter- https://twitter.com/mkgaud
Wattpad- http://www.wattpad.com/user/mkgaud
