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From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new, sexy STANDALONE novel.<\/p>\n
We met in the least likely of places. It started out innocently enough. I was \u201cScreenGod\u201d and she was \u201cMontana,\u201d but of course, those weren\u2019t our actual names, just the virtual cloaks we hid behind.<\/p>\n
Logging in at night and talking to her was my escape\u2014my sanctuary.<\/p>\n
Her real name was Eden, I\u2019d soon come to find out.<\/p>\n
From the first time we connected online, I found myself transfixed.<\/p>\n
She was an addiction.<\/p>\n
At first, we knew nothing about each other\u2019s real identities\u2026and she was adamant that we keep things that way. Anonymity had no effect on our unstoppable chemistry, though. If anything, it allowed us to open up even more in ways we may not have otherwise.<\/p>\n
Eden was funny, intelligent, gorgeous\u2014everything I\u2019d ever wanted in a woman.<\/p>\n
But I couldn\u2019t really have her.<\/p>\n
I had accepted things would have to stay the way they were\u2014until the day I found a clue that led me straight to her.<\/p>\n
So I took a chance.<\/p>\n
And that was when our love story really began.<\/p>\n
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Copyright \u00a9 2018, Penelope Ward<\/b><\/p>\n
Needing a few seconds to prepare, I closed my eyes the moment I knew he was about to turn on the camera. <\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know why I was so afraid to see him. Maybe I was worried his looks would somehow change the way I viewed him. I hated that I\u2019d even had that thought. I didn\u2019t want to be unattracted to him physically because I was so very drawn to him in every other way. Shouldn\u2019t those be the ways that mattered? I was scared I would somehow feel differently about him, and he deserved better than to be judged on his physical appearance. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can open your eyes,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest.<\/span><\/p>\n Here goes.<\/span><\/p>\n One, two, three\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n When I saw him right in front of me, my mouth fell open. <\/span><\/p>\n Oh.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Oh my.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Oh wow.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Big, glowing eyes. Perfect nose. Stubbled, angular jaw. Full lips. Strong arms. I just kept blinking because I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. He looked like a model or a movie star. A rush of insecurity hit me.<\/span><\/p>\n Is this a joke?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n No, it wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n It was really him.<\/span><\/p>\n Ryder.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh my God.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The lust consuming me made me feel almost guilty. But I was so damn relieved that he was truly as beautiful on the outside as I believed him to be on the inside. He was almost <\/span>too beautiful, <\/span><\/i>if there were such a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n He looked nothing like the vague image I\u2019d formed in my head, which was sort of like a silhouette without a clear face but with a brown beard, kind of like a hipster. Not sure why I\u2019d pictured him like that. It was kind of funny how off base I was. This was not what I\u2019d been expecting. Because how could someone so thoughtful, attentive, creative, and considerate be so strikingly handsome that he made me speechless? And it was clear now that his sexy voice absolutely fit him.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026\u201d I hesitated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh shit.\u201d He laughed. \u201cWhat are you thinking?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo. No, no, no. Nothing bad at all. I just don\u2019t even know how to articulate it. You\u2019re\u2026beautiful, Ryder. Absolutely beautiful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He let out a breath. \u201cAnd you\u2019re\u2026<\/span>handsome<\/span><\/i>, Eden. Very handsome.\u201d His impish grin was so sexy.<\/span><\/p>\n I chuckled. \u201cI know beautiful is an odd term for a man, but you are. All this time you\u2019ve been hiding from me when you\u2019re drop-dead gorgeous. Why?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou really did think I was ashamed of my looks, huh?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019d be lying if I said that didn\u2019t cross my mind. I wondered if there was something you were self-conscious about. That always made me a little sad. But it never mattered to me, because I\u2019ve been connecting with you on a deeper level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s exactly why I didn\u2019t want to change things,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy fix something if it ain\u2019t broken?\u201d When I fell silent, he asked, \u201cWhat are you thinking?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A nervous energy overtook me. \u201cNothing. I\u2019m\u2026still just taking you in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOkay. Let me know when you\u2019re done so I can stop sucking in my abs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance. With over one-point-five million books sold, she is a twenty-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over twenty novels.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FACEBOOK<\/a> | WEBSITE<\/a> | TWITTER<\/a> | INSTAGRAM<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Releasing Monday 27 August 2018 iBooks\u00a0 | \u00a0B&N \u00a0| \u00a0Kobo \u00a0| \u00a0Google Play \u00a0| \u00a0Paperback\u00a0 | \u00a0Audio **No Amazon e-book preorder. Will go live on\/around release day. Sign up to be alerted when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[432,132],"class_list":["post-35880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-news","tag-excerpt-reveal","tag-penelope-ward"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Love-Online.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-9kI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAbout the Author<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\nShe grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.<\/p>\n
\nPINTEREST<\/a> | GOODREADS<\/a> | FB FAN GROUP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nCheck out our Penelope Ward Author Spotlight <\/a>more great reads!<\/strong><\/h4>\n