by Ivy Banks
“It tastes…” Lily couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Delicious?” asked Beckett.
Lily smiled. “Yes, delicious.”
She looked at him adoringly, taking in his handsome features and giving nature. After a moment, a look of concern slowly spread across her face.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“What now?” she asked, thinking about the entire world which had just come crashing down around her. “Where do we go from here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I don’t know what to do next. What does a vampire do?”
“Well, I think my hitman days are over for now,” he smirked with an adorable laugh. “We have a few details to work out, but I think we should concentrate on having some fun.”
Lily beamed at him. “You know Beckett, when you first met me, you told me that I would regret it. But, I don’t. I think you’re perhaps the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
With that, Beckett brushed her blonde hair back from her face and kissed Lily with renewed passion, sealing their fresh start and bright future.
THE END
Did you enjoy Book 1 in the Vampire Kingdom Series?
Jump into Book 2 today!
Private Lesson by Ivy Banks
The Temp Series (Sneak Preview)
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD, IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO SAMPLE IT ALL…
CHAPTER 1
Ember gently banged her forehead against the black Malm Ikea desk, hoping the motion would clear her fuzzy brain. It served to do little else than cause a loud groan.
She had been awake all night trying to make sense of the jumble of words in front of her, but the lack of sleep had only created more confusion.
Oh my God. What am I trying to accomplish here? I have literally been up all night staring at this resume. What else can I add? It’s not that I don’t have marketable skills – I have tons of them!
And therein seemed to lie the problem; Ember had stuck her self-manicured hands into one pot too many. She had no idea what direction she wanted her life to take, or what career would best suit her insurmountable desire to experience it all. The problem would not necessarily be in getting a job, it would be in finding a career that she could fall in love with it.
It wasn’t her fault, not really. She had been aptly named, Ember Blair, and anyone who truly knew her, knew that the name fit. Her soul was a lit piece of kindling ready to explode with the proper fuel. The key to that eruption was finding the proper combustible.
But how was she expected to find that passion if she had not even begun to live? It was a question which had consumed her for as long as she could remember.
Sighing as if it was the last breath she would ever take, she rose from the computer chair, anxious to get away from the daunting screen. Sunlight trickled into her third story apartment and Ember leaned forward at the waist to open the window. The fresh smell of springtime filled her nostrils, despite her proximity to 2nd Avenue and its endless barrage of traffic.
She slipped her slender body through the window frame and onto the fire escape, pouring over the railing to take in the scene of the already bustling Manhattan morning.
It was not yet eight a.m. and well dressed executives stood on the streets hailing cabs while sleek town cars flew by, leaving Ember to wonder where they were heading.
“What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning?” she asked the crowds conversationally, but of course there was no response. It didn’t matter; Ember knew she would find her calling. It was why she had left her sleepy western hometown of Milltown for the crowds of New York in the first place. She had tried to find the answer in her hometown for seventeen years and it had produced nothing but a deeper yearning for something more. She knew she would never find herself in the backwoods of Nebraska.
Okay, maybe Milltown isn’t the backwoods exactly but it isn’t Manhattan, that’s for damn sure.
Having graduated NYU with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Ember had always assumed she would simply waltz out of the university, toss her cap into the air, and emerge into the real world as a changed woman. She’d imagined that four years was more than enough to find your calling and enter the workforce with unwavering confidence that you were on the right track.
Instead, she was an unemployed, albeit educated, slightly older girl who still had an insurmountable hunger to taste the world. The idea of switching from the classroom to a cubicle, without ever having experienced anything in between, for the next four, or six or twenty years sent a shudder down her spine.
I will, she vowed. I will live the life I always dreamed of. A life less ordinary. I just have to figure out how.
A ray of light bounced off a vehicle turning onto East 14th , catching Ember’s eye. She glanced down at the city bus as it made its wide, lumbering turn, but before the stretch of bus could disappear entirely into traffic, a hot pink word jumped up at her from the advertisement plastered on the side.
Temptation.
It was more than likely an endorsement for a restaurant, but Ember found herself less interested in its publicity function than in the phrase itself.
Her major in school had been English and Ember fancied herself a wordsmith. She was an avid reader, a crossword aficionado and a sucker for a good pun meme. The word rolled around in her mind like the words to a bad 80’s pop song.
Temptation. Temptation, root word, tempt. The Tempest, temptresses, tempt. I could be a temptress temporarily…? She laughed at the thought, picturing herself dressed up in a black latex Catwoman costume twirling a riding crop. She snickered and let the word game continued. Suddenly a thought jumped out at her. Wait, or a temp! Yes, that’s it! I could apply at a temp agency and see where that takes me!
Ember’s face lit up and her brain pulsed with excitement. It made perfect sense; she would be able to sample all the fields which her skill set allowed and then she would be able to set her sights on a tangible career goal. It would enable her to network throughout the city and if she was really lucky, she might end up in the right place at the right time for something amazing to happen.
That’s how most people end up successful – location, location, location. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right?
Ridiculously pleased at her brainstorm and shocked that it had never crossed her mind before, Ember tilted her blonde head back and beamed at the heavens.
“Thank you, New York!” she called out happily. “I knew you would come through for me!”
“Then maybe you can come through for us and shut your hole? I am trying to watch Maury up here!” her miserable upstairs neighbor yelled out her window.
Ember grinned and ducked back into her little apartment. Mrs. Keller’s sour mood could not bring her down.
Nothing was going to stop her now.
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2017!
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Also by Ivy Banks
Vampire Kingdom Series
(Each is a stand-alone story)
The Hitman’s Weakness (Book 1)
Private Lesson (Book 2)
Taming The Billionaire (Book 3)
Billionaire Boss’ Obsession (Book 4)
Cowboy Crush (Book 5)
House Call (Book 6)
Double The Fun (Book 7)
Waves of Pleasure (Book 8)
Rock Hard (Book 9)
The Starlet’s Bodyguard (Book 10)
Billionaire Blackmail (Book 11)
Mountain Mayhem (Book 12)
Nurse On Call (Book 13)
Trouble In Paradise (Book 14)
Dancer’s Delight (Book 15)
Also By Ivy Banks
The Temp
(A fun & sexy contemporary series set in NYC)
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2017!
About the Author
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