I posted this in my Facebook group (Notaro's Haven), but I figured I should post it here, in case anyone wants to know what's going on with my Finding My Forever series.

Okay, here goes nothing.

As you know, Declan was originally supposed to be with Matty. Some of you probably know that I have rewritten their story about 4 times and I just haven’t been happy with any of them, so I have thrown out many, many words lol. While I was writing their story, Matty kept pulling away and wanting to go with another character (who you haven’t met yet, but is a big part of Matty’s life). One thing I’ve learned since publishing books is that you always listen to your characters. If you try to force them to do anything, you’ll stress yourself out and the story will suffer for it.

This book was really giving me a hard time to the point that it was affecting my mental health. Every time I opened Declan’s book, I had bad anxiety and would typically have a panic attack (much like right now as I’m writing this). The point is that I had to do something drastic in order to get back to wanting to write Dec’s story, instead of feeling like I had to. I’ve written many versions of his journey and nothing really felt right until I decided to let Matty go and try out Trent. And finally, I was excited to write Declan again.

I know this may not be the story you were expecting, but I hope you’ll give Trent and Declan a chance because I truly feel like I finally found Declan’s missing pieces in Trent. And don’t worry, Matty will get his own happy ending down the line, and of course you’ll find out a lot of what happened between Dec and Matty throughout the book, though much of that is more of Matty’s story than Dec’s.

And lastly, I’m also doing dual POV in this book instead of single, because I want to lol.

Now, before you get out your pitchforks, please read the beginning of Chapter 1 of Trent and Dec’s book below so you can get a sneak peek of them together. Hopefully it will make you want to kill me a little less lol.

~Without further ado, here's an excerpt from Declan and Trent's book, A True Fit: Finding My Forever Book 4~

(Unedited and subject to change. Copyright © Michele Notaro 2018)

Trent~

“Hey, Trent,” a deep voice said from beside me.

I turned on my stool and rolled my eyes. “Oh, hell, no,” I said, then turned back around and took a sip of my margarita.

I heard the guy sigh and say, “So what? I’m not even allowed to say ‘hi’ to you?”

“Nope,” I said without looking at him.

He sighed again. “Seriously? He’s moved on. He got married for fuck’s sake.”

I eyed the guy as secretly as possible, then took another sip of my margarita. The guy was hot as fuck, there was no denying that. It just so happened that he was also the douchey ex of my friend, so I didn’t want anything to do with him. Even if those strong arms, light brown hair, and those gorgeous blue eyes that always sparkled mischievously were like a beacon calling to me. I couldn’t act on it. No. Freaking. Way.

“You know,” Declan the douche said, “it’s not like I was trying to pick you up. I just saw you sitting here, so I thought I’d say hi. You don’t have to be a douche about it.”

I choked on the sip I was trying to swallow as I laughed at that. When I got my coughing under control, I laughed out, “You think I’m the douche?”

He lifted a brow and leaned against the bar as he glanced at me. “You’re the one that’s acting like you’re better than me, so yeah, I do.”

“I am not acting like I’m better than you.” I turned to face him. “I’m acting like you’re the guy that broke my friend’s heart.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, but didn’t deny it. Actually, the longer I examined him, the more upset he looked. For some reason, seeing big bad Declan looking upset made me let down my defenses a little and I found myself asking, “Hey, you okay?”

He looked at me and shot me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I didn’t believe that for a second, but I didn’t know him well enough to call him out on it. I did however know just how to cheer someone up, so I drained my drink and took the beer out of his hand, placing it on the bar. Then I grabbed his hand, stood up and started pulling him with me as I said over my shoulder, “Come dance with me.”

“Really?” He looked doubtful, not that I could blame him after the way I’d treated him a minute ago.

“Yes, silly. Dance with me for a bit, then you can find someone to fuck, or whatever it is you’re doing here.” I stopped on the dance floor and faced him.

He lifted a brow again, but let me use his arm to twirl around. I started doing goofy dance moves and before I knew it, he was chuckling at me. Point, me.

The dance floor started filling up, and unfortunately, I could no longer spin away from him because there wasn’t enough room. I pouted for a second, then thought, fuck it, and threw my arms around Declan’s neck with a big smile on my face. He looked surprised at first, but then smiled softly at me and put his hands on my hips. Facing him this closely, I could smell his spicy cologne, and I indulged myself for just a moment by taking a deep breath. Once my lungs were filled, I snapped my eyes up to Declan’s and mentally cringed. He was smirking, just a little, so I was pretty damn sure he knew I’d just smelled him. Since I couldn’t deny it, I just shrugged a shoulder at him, which made him chuckle again. Two points, me.

Declan suddenly leaned forward, and for a second, I was afraid he was going to kiss me, but then he bent down farther and stuck his nose close to my neck so I could hear him take a deep breath before he whispered into my ear, “You smell good too.”

I smacked his shoulder and couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me. “Shut up,” I said, still laughing. He leaned back and smiled at me with amusement. Point, Dec. I had to give him that one. Smartass.