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He opened his lips to answer. To agree to anything I wanted. Thatbeautiful mouth was going to make a promise I didn’t want him to keep. Itightened the muscles of my face and the walls of my heart. That was theright thing, and he was going to do it.He was going to say yes.Please say yes so I can be good.“No.”OceanofPDF.com
2 3E L L ANo.Just no.I didn’t expect it or know how to respond. I was frozen in place when hecame to me, put his hand at the base of my throat and—with a steady,gentle, and unrelenting pressure—pushed me until my back was against thewall.“No,” he repeated in my ear. “I will not stop caring about you. I will notlimit what I want to the terms of the deal. I will not help you be good.” Hislips drew a line across my cheek, stopping when his nose was astride mine.“I’ll agree to one thing only.”With his hand on my throat, I swallowed so hard I heard it. “What?”“I won’t touch you.”His palm bent, and his thumb stroked the length of my collarbone. Itwas suddenly the most erotic place on my body, pulling the breath out ofme, eyes fluttering.“Say that’s what you want,” he said. “Say my feelings are mine, but notyour body. Tell me never to put my skin on yours. Say I should never laymy hands on you again.”He took his hand off my neck but kept his body an inch away, and hislips close enough to brush mine. I wanted those lips and the tongue behindthem. I wanted the teeth and the breath, the jaw and the hunger.“Say it, Ella.”If there was a future past this moment and a place past his body, it hadnothing to do with me.“Yes,” I said.
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CROWNE OF LIESCD REISSOceanofPDF.co
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CONTENTSPart IChapter 1Chapter 2Cha
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OceanofPDF.comPART I
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Dad came in and shut the sliding wo
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“Mind your business, twerp,” By
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Thank God. Thank fucking God.“Tha
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She tapped the edge of her wine gla
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the bride. Boom. You’ll make a hu
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“But it won’t be perfect.” I
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“You look tired.” She lifted he
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“It was. Were you late for work?
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“No, no.” Tap tap on the keyboa
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4L O G A N“I think we should win,
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“No drug arrests.”“Right.”
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The white wall had a single, seven-
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5E L L ALeaving Logan in the workin
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“Why?”“Sugar?” I called.“
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“Right. So, where do we start on
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“Imagine if you married me.” He
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“That’s not enough?”“No. It
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6L O G A NOne minute, I had her. Th
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“You’re saying you have a histo
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“Dad.”He looked at his watch be
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I waited for my father to congratul
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I put down the container. My Blind
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“Fine,” I said, pacing the leng
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Jean-Claude came out of the closet
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Logan sat in the chair across from
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“Haven’t tested it without a co
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She jerked her mouth away, but I he
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“I’m not spending the next five
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Was I?I wasn’t made of stone. I w
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1 0E L L AI was married.Not just ma
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Non. Again. Non. Again. Non. Again.
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With the speed of a criminal unencu
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—I’m sending Loranda to getyou.
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She was not to smile at Caleb Hawki
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We walked up to the rooftop togethe
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She held out her right hand and the
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1 2E L L AMy quickened heartbeat st
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“Eyes on the prize.” He spun me
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I gasped. “No feelings. It means
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“Here.” Reaching toward my pant
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The bathroom door opened, and Ella
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“That thumb taste good?” she as
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I took my wife’s hand and pulled
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1 4E L L AIn the suite’s living r
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“Good morning.” He hit the ente
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in the fence from my window, so I g
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When I felt him get under the cover
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me, the harder I sucked. If I wasn
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They existed as a soreness where I
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“Olivia says she knows your new w
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“Don’t you dare,” she objecte
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“How long will it take?”“As l
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1 6E L L AAs I changed into jeans a
Page 116 and 117: “Nah,” he said. “I’ve done
Page 118 and 119: Colton pointed his fork at each of
Page 120 and 121: “I’ll cream you after lunch,”
Page 122 and 123: to journals under a pen name. I did
Page 124 and 125: outstretched for his wife as if she
Page 126 and 127: about who ran Crowne. He was concer
Page 128 and 129: One year, separate rooms. Functiona
Page 130 and 131: commercial space, so I’m not allo
Page 132 and 133: As if I was being honest with mysel
Page 134 and 135: Logan’s face was tense, waiting f
Page 136 and 137: PART IISIX MONTHS LATEROceanofPDF.c
Page 138 and 139: outside our marriage, I could barel
Page 140 and 141: that time of day added a level of c
Page 142 and 143: I checked the stock ticker.Maybe it
Page 144 and 145: Malibu was a wreck of traffic at lu
Page 146 and 147: without the sex. She asked for noth
Page 148 and 149: “I can’t be the only one mainta
Page 150 and 151: 2 1E L L A“Talk to me,” Logan h
Page 152 and 153: “But… I thought the Collective
Page 154 and 155: Alone with the Big Blank, I pried o
Page 156 and 157: “I want you to want to go. If you
Page 158 and 159: Or I was imagining it.It was possib
Page 160 and 161: He hadn’t shaved before we went o
Page 162 and 163: how to get there, but he looked com
Page 164 and 165: I pressed the tape to alert the dri
Page 168 and 169: “Yes, what?”“Touch me.”He p
Page 170 and 171: “Fuck me. Please.”“Are you be
Page 172 and 173: 2 4L O G A NWhen our sticky bodies
Page 174 and 175: I didn’t want to hurt her, but I
Page 176 and 177: “No, you’re not.”“Wanna try
Page 178 and 179: A dress form in my size sat in the
Page 180 and 181: The door closed behind me as he cal
Page 182 and 183: “So,” Logan said, staring at me
Page 184 and 185: 2 6L O G A NElla and I had things t
Page 186 and 187: “Sure.” She put in two more pie
Page 188 and 189: shredded and fringed with the loose
Page 190 and 191: 2 7E L L AShredding my father’s d
Page 192 and 193: the night. They took down streetlig
Page 194 and 195: “I thought you were being modest.
Page 196 and 197: “Of course you did,” she called
Page 198 and 199: say I was a little disappointed wit
Page 200 and 201: “Can I stay here?”“Of course.
Page 202 and 203: “Sorry, yes. I know, Ella.”“D
Page 204 and 205: 2 8L O G A N—I’m going home—N
Page 206 and 207: I hoped she’d tell me more so I c
Page 208 and 209: “That was the reason you got into
Page 210 and 211: With a knowing smile, she swung the
Page 212 and 213: “You’re in luck.” I craned my
Page 214 and 215: want that?”“Do it. Take me.”I
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“Say something!” I cried.“Com
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OceanofPDF.com
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refrigerator. Then Colton had come
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“You mean, a little different? Or
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The anniversary party wasn’t a te
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“I have no idea,” Ella said.“
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wrong of me to work so hard to not
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look my family in the face. Nothing
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where the soil is rich. And sometim
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I didn’t want to be this way, and
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Shit.I had the desire to reach out
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3 3E L L ALogan and I were on oppos
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grabbed a glass Liddy had filled.
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I lifted my glass and picked up a l
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“No, but it’s what we both need
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“I’m leaving too.”He looked a
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My father hadn’t cleared the mias
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I looked at my watch. My meeting wi
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“Can you meet him in the middle?
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“Me neither,” his lawyer grumbl
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“I’m trouble, you know.” I gr
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into the elevator with her arms wid
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E P I L O G U E T W OE L L AFrogtow
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“Yes,” Logan said, taking my ha
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“Let’s talk about Dante,” Col
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Or maybe you’re curious about Byr
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A L S O F R E E I N K I N D L E U N
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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T SBefore
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