The Jack*ss In Class (The Cocky Kingmans, #5)

by Amy Award

“The world is always going to try to tell you how much space you’re allowed to take up. Too loud, too quiet, too big, too much. But here’s the thing, the only person who gets to decide that is you.”

Tomorrow, I would face my parents not as the dutiful daughter desperate for approval, but as Tempest Navarro, best-selling author, college senior, and a woman who was finally ready to take up exactly as much space in the world as she deserved. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t going to make myself smaller to fit someone else’s expectations. I was going to stand tall in the fullness of who I was, and that felt like the most revolutionary act of all.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I looked at my reflection and saw not the girl who took up too much space, who didn’t quite fit, but a woman who filled her space exactly as she was meant to.

Tempest stood at the top of the stairs, a vision in shimmering black and silver. The Rose Vond dress flowed over her curves like liquid starlight, the fabric catching the light with every breath she took. Her dark hair was swept up in an elegant style that left a few curls framing her face. The necklace I’d given her glittered at her throat. She was breathtaking. But it wasn’t just the dress or the hair or the makeup. It was the way she held herself, shoulders back, chin high, a small smile playing at her lips. Confident. Radiant. Taking up exactly the space she deserved.

“To stories,” Flynn said, raising his glass. “The ones we read, the ones we write, and the ones we live.”