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Prologue
“I know this is aard and that your pregnant wife is probably pissed you’re here, so I’ll make this quick Will you help me disappear?”
Callie Ward stood with her arainst the blustery Novehts flooding the parking lot She stared at Logan Edgington, nervously tapping her toe The foriven how bratty she’d once been to him, but he was the only person she kneho could ood
He crossed his beefy arms over his wide chest and looked at her as if she’d lost herelse, so why not?
“Disappear?” He glanced at his watch “It’s ht, Callie, so yeah, Tara wasn’t thrilled when you called I left my war et out of town? Didn’t I hear that you’re collared now?”
Autoers to the bare hollow of her throat, old with its delicate lock “Yes, but—”
“You kno this works Talk to your Dom ”
“He’s the one I’ from ” Her voice trembled
The moment Callie had realized the extent of her “Sir’s” betrayal, she’d run like hell She’d gotten too coerously happy
She sniffled, then sucked it back, refusing to cry She would not think about the fact that she’d fallen in love with Sean Kirkpatrick—if that was even his name
Logan’s pissed-off-Doentled as he leaned in, now all protective male “Did he threaten you? Hurt you?”
Not the way Loganeverything away?
Crap The cover story she’d planned on the three-hour drive froan was too sain, sheer utter terror had a way of rattling a girl’s train of thought
She was going to have to trust Logan or he’d walk away It wasn’t as if he’d ever pursued her, so she couldn’t accuse hi the story out of her because he had ulterior motives He’d only ever had eyes for pretty redheaded Tara And he didn’t worship the alht shooter all the way He couldn’t be bought, nor would he ever willingly put her in danger It made sense to choose the devil she knew over the one she apparently didn’t at all
If Logan was going to help her, he deserved the truth—but not here
“Can we sit in your car? It’s freezing ” And she didn’t trust that hers wasn’t bugged
Logan looked as if he didn’t ged and led her to a big black truck He unlocked it with his key fob and opened her door A minute later, he settled himself in the driver’s seat “If this asshole hurt you, Thorpe won’t stand for it, especially under his roof ”
Mitchell Thorpe She closed her eyes, picturing his familiar, stern face So often, she could swear that his penetrating gray eyes saw right through her He’d given her a job, a home, a circle of friends, a lifestyle she craved He was the first man she’d truly loved He’d always have a chunk of her heart
It killed her to know that she’d never see hiain
“I can’t drag Thorpe into this It’s too risky Anyone who knowsher hands “I hate to put you in this position, but no one would suspect that I’d ask you for help Everyone at Dominion knows I’m not your favorite person ”
He frowned “I like you a lot, Callie I just think that, as a sub, you’re bratty as hell You don’t bend much more than an inch and you don’t trust worth a damn ”
Callie drew in a breath and gave him a shaky nod “I know I have reasons ”
“Every stubborn sub does Look, you’re notit out there ”
“I really can’t afford to trust anyone, but you’reyou, but more than anyone I know, you can handle it I have nowhere else to turn I can’t go back to Doether and closed her eyes, praying like hell that she wasn’t est mistake of her life If she was, she could be dead by sunrise
“What the hell have you gotten into?”
“My na that you—or anyone else—thinks you know about me is true ”
He sat back in the shadows, looking somewhere between skeptical and tense “Okay, then who are you?”
“My mother called me Callie when I was little But I’m sure you know me by my full naht choice“I’m Callindra Howe ”
Logan’s eyes nearly popped out “The Callindra Howe, the o?”
Of course he’d heard of her Her name had been splashed all over the news for the last nine years There were als of her as there were of Elvis or aliens Poor little greedy orphan who’d killed her fa to the press Callie wrapped her arms around her middle If they only knew the truth
She nodded “That one ”