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He remembered the shock How he’d been unable to process the information

“I went back the next day and the next She finally agreed to seeWe had a year I was there when she died”

He re about those last weeks, that last day How her parents had cried, how he’d held her hand and heard her take her last breath He’d been devastated Knoas going to happen and having it happen weren’t the sa

Madeline squeezed his hand “I’m sorry You’ve had a lot of loss in your life”

“No s happen”

He thought she ht say more, but instead she turned to the display and picked up a pair of earrings There was a knot of gold with a drop pearl

“Would Annelise like so like this?” she asked

A graceful shift in subject He recognized the ploy and was grateful Once again Madeline had stepped in to save hi to think that wasn’t just about him That it was simply a part of who she was

Thefor sure was a lucky guy

SEVEN

TWO DAYS LATER, Madeline’s head was still spinning Her afternoon with Jonny had been like a roller-coaster ride Just as soon as she caught her breath, they’d headed around another curve at sixty miles an hour

The kiss had been wild enough Just being close to hih to send her up in flames, but when he kissed her She totally lost it The man was sexy But it wasn’t just because of how he looked—there was how he irlie and safe When she was around him, she could be herself Not that she couldn’t be around other people It was just Inexplicable, she thought That described her feelings exactly

She’d seen the panic in his eyes when the fudge girl had recognized him Madeline had jumped in because she hadn’t knohat else to do She’d liked that she’d been able to be a distraction, but the taste of what his other life was like had also been a revelation Then hearing about his first girlfriend and watching how er Both had surprised her

The erous and she seriously had to stop it i her He’d made it clear that as far as he was concerned, it could never work between them