Marlowe frowned. “What the hell does that mean? Why can’t you talk normal?”
“Like you?” He smiled seductively.
Her heart pounded being this close to him again, resurrecting feelings it had no business bringing to the surface. She’d dismissed him from her mind, body, and soul, and he’d turned into nothing more than a somewhat pleasant nightmare.
“I’m through with you.” Marlowe was angry, and she let him see it. “I don’t want you anymore. Maybe I never did.”
The warmth emanating from him wafted over to her, caressed her.
“There’s no place for you in my life,” he said. “There’s a part of me that I can never share with you, that I never want you to see, Marlowe.”
“Too late. I’ve seen it already.”
He shook his head. “No, you haven’t,” he said patiently. “You won’t. Not if I can help it.”
“And what do you think I’m supposed to do with the part of you that’s left?”
“You can let me in, Marlowe.”
The devil was asking for permission to come in?
She eyed him suspiciously. Why did he say it like that? Why was he looking at her like that? His voice resonated through her in ways that weren’t natural, warming her, arousing her.
“I am not always a monster. You showed me that. I don’t have to be. I can be the man that I was when it was just us, me and you.” Emotion—not sarcasm or deceit, but real emotion filled his eyes, genuine, inviting, pleading. “I’ve resolved myself to the fact that my life will never be what you need, baby, but I do love the idea of us. And I’d like to wallow in it a while longer.”
He was saying all the right things, putting out the right vibe, and Marlowe could feel herself begin to melt. She wanted him—them together. Your head, Marlowe. Not your heart. Use your head.
Tears filled her eyes. “But what does that mean for me? I get half of you? A third?”
He thought before answering. “It means that when I’m here, I’m all the way here. When I’m here, I’ll offer you all that I have, and I’ll be exactly who you need me to be.”
He was so convincing, so compelling, and she desperately wanted to buy into the beauty of his promise. He seemed to have needed to say it as much as she’d needed to hear it. But a question remained.
“And when you’re not here, Plato,” she asked shakily, “then what am I supposed to do?” Wait to see him being arrested on the news? Wait to find out that he’s dead?
“You’re supposed to know that I want to be here, that I’m rushing to get back to you, and that I’m lonely without you. I crave you. I ache for you, and all I want to do is to put my arms around you and hold you close.”
“That’s supposed to be enough?”
“God! I hope so.”
Did he really expect that she was supposed to be satisfied with only a part of him?
“I can’t,” she said, letting the tears fall. “I can’t love part-time. I can’t be loved part-time. I deserve better than that.”
He nodded. “I agree. I agree wholeheartedly, baby girl. You most certainly do and you are more than I deserve.”
Without saying another word, Plato leaned in close, pressed his warm lips against hers, wrapped one strong arm around her waist, and pulled her to him. Marlowe’s body betrayed her, dissolved into his, hungrily mated her tongue with his.
“Whatever you want,” he whispered after breaking the seal of his kiss. “Whatever you need, Marlowe, if I can give it to you, I will. If I can be it for you, I’ll be it.”
She wanted to tell him to stop. Stop the killing. Stop working for people who paid him to kill. She wanted to tell him, but Marlowe knew better. He wouldn’t stop. Not until he was good and ready. It was the nature of him. Marlowe could accept it. Or she could let him go.
“Can I come inside?” he whispered, holding her close.
She stepped back, stared long and hard at his handsome face, took hold of one of his big old hands, and sighed. Your head, Marlowe. “You hungry?” she asked, leading him inside. “I’ve got some chicken in the refrigerator.”
ALSO BY J. D. MASON
And on the Eighth Day She Rested
One Day I Saw a Black King
Don’t Want No Sugar
This Fire Down in My Soul
You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
That Devil’s No Friend of Mine
Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It
Somebody Pick Up My Pieces
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
Drop Dead, Gorgeous
Crazy, Sexy, Revenge
About the Author
J. D. Mason is the author of Crazy, Sexy, Revenge; Drop Dead, Gorgeous; Beautiful, Dirty, Rich; Somebody Pick Up My Pieces; Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It; That Devil’s No Friend of Mine; You Gotta Sin to Get Saved; This Fire Down in My Soul; Don’t Want No Sugar; And on the Eighth Day She Rested; and One Day I Saw a Black King. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her two children. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Drowning on Dry Land
Six Months Later …
Bone Talk
The Ritual Begins
Shaking This Tree
To Be Well
Sharpen Your Knife
Never, Ever Break Down
Hold Back the River
Where You Hide
Can’t Buy a Thrill
Belly of the Whale
Fresh Poison
Clear a Space
Open Your Eyes
Hungry Work
It’s Still Burning
When I’m Alone with You
Then I’m Cool
You Go Hard
Life Got in Between
In the Stable
The Faithful
Taking in the Shape
Bad Moon
Tell You My Sins
Like a Dog
By Moonlight
Born Sick
Worshipped
Against the Tide
Wash Out the Pain
Go Through Hell
Evil Coming Through
Creepin’ In
The One You Need
You Go Hard
Keeps Me Awake
But Your Ghost
Worship Her
Poison
True Face
To the River
Another Skin
Close to Me
Deathless Death
Keeps Me Awake
I Never Learned
Be Well
Let Us Wander
A Sacrifice
In Another You
One Month Later …
Let Me Give You My Life
Also by J. D. Mason
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE REAL MRS. PRICE. Copyright © 2016 by J. D. Mason. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by David Curtis
Cover photograph © Netfalls—Remy Musses and JStudio/Shutterstock
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05225-4 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5375-1 (e-book)
; e-ISBN 9781466853751
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First Edition: May 2016