No In Between (23 page)
Authors: Lisa Renee Jones
“We won’t have your engagement ring for another month because of some of the stones I ordered, but it’ll be ready in plenty of time for the wedding in February. But my first vision for the ring wasn’t the roses. And I’ve had that first ring created and sized for your right hand—the same side as my ink.” He holds out a black velvet box and lifts the lid, and I gasp at the sight of a ring twinkling with reds, yellows, and blues.
“A dragon,” I whisper.
“To represent the strength you are to me.”
Tears prickle in my eyes and he pulls the ring from the velvet and slips it on, an intricate dragon’s tail wrapping my finger. “I love it.” I wrap my arms around him. “And I love you.”
And he holds me to him, molding us close, hugging me a little too tight, just the way I like it.
Epilogue
Ricco
“Hello, Alvarez,” I hear as A.J. Wright falls into step with me in the center of the busy Saturday Pier 39 crowd, meant to disguise our meeting from prying eyes.
“The kid?” I ask, glancing at the stocky ex-mercenary whose new job is doing my unavoidable dirty work.
“Badly beaten but alive, just as you ordered,” he replies. “The police will get a call to locate him later this evening.”
“A shame we had to do that, but he shouldn’t have helped Ava with the boat. And what of her?”
“As requested,” he replies. “Suffering terribly.”
My lips curve. “Excellent.”
“How long do you want this to continue before I kill her?”
“Drag it out. I have plenty of cash to pay for your time. We’ll discuss her conclusion in our next meeting. What about Mark Compton?”
“Operation ‘Fuck Mark Compton’ is well under way. You have nothing to worry about.”
I smile.
To be continued in
I Belong to You,
coming from Gallery Books in September 2014.
The wedding is on!
Find out what happens on the day Sara and Chris say “I Do” on Valentine’s Day, in February 2015.
About the Author
Author photograph by Teresa Lee Photography
An award-winning,
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
bestselling author, Lisa Renee Jones has published more than thirty novels spanning many romance genres: contemporary, romantic suspense, dark paranormal, and erotic fiction. In each book the hero is dark, dangerous, and sexy. You can find Lisa on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog for regular updates.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
authors.simonandschuster.com/Lisa-Renee-Jones
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
The Inside Out Series
by Lisa Renee Jones
If I Were You
Being Me
Revealing Us
Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol. 1: The Seduction
Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol. 2: The Contract
Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol. 3: His Submissive
Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol. 4: My Master
The Master Undone: An Inside Out Novella
My Hunger
His Secrets
Rebecca’s Lost Journals
(print edition)
Can't get enough of the Inside Out series? There's so much more headed your way!
Mark desperately needs his control back, but will that push Crystal away for good?
My Control
Find out everyone's deepest secrets in one place. You'll uncover Rebecca's deepest desires . . . and meet "him" in
The Master Undone.
Rebecca's Lost Journals
ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY!
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Julie Patra Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition August 2014
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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui
Cover photograph by James A. Guilliam/Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jones, Lisa Renee.
No in between / Lisa Renee Jones—First Gallery Books paperback edition.
pages cm (inside out series)
1. Man-woman relationships—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3610.O627N73 2014
813'.6—dc23
2014013005
ISBN 978-1-4767-7241-7
ISBN 978-1-4767-7249-3 (ebook)
Contents