by Vivian Arend
Matt leaned into her harder, every inch of their bodies in contact. He tilted his head and approached her mouth. She was sure he must hear the roaring beat of her heart. He touched their lips together, his eyelashes brushing hers like a butterfly’s kiss and she exhaled with a little moan.
She was on fire. This wasn’t what she’d expected.
Matt spoke against her lips, his voice shaking. Every word punctuated with a soft kiss. “You’re…driving…me…insane.”
Then the storm broke between them and his gentleness vanished. She flung her arms around him and pulled his lips to hers. Lightning flared between their souls, the frenzy of her needs whipping like the whitecaps outside on the ocean. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and she accepted it, sucking it in uneven pulses. Their hips ground together and she wrapped a leg around his hip, opening her body in an attempt to line up her clit with the tempting rock of his erection. He thrust into her, lifting her hips slightly to help and then it was there. Just what she needed—the angle, the pressure. She groaned into his mouth and he swallowed the sound. The air around them heated, rippling with magic as he lifted her to the surface of the counter. Behind her the coffee mug tipped, rolling harmlessly into the sink with a clatter. His hands were busy, unsnapping her shorts, tugging at her T-shirt.
“I need to touch you. I need to see you.” He growled and stepped back, shaking his head like a wild beast. The lightning came from his eyes and she stared in fascination as he leaned on the wall across from her. They were all of three feet apart and it seemed like a mile. “I don’t understand this. I will stop if you ask me to, but God I hope you feel like I do. I have to have you again.”
Panic hit. Then delight. Fear followed rapidly by desire. His need poured over her, echoed by her own arousal. Now? Here? “The storm…”
“The ship is anchored in a bay. We’re as safe as we’re going to get.” His hands clenched into fists, his entire body rigid. A wave of magic floated past her again, overwhelming her senses. She reached deep to try to counter it. It had been so long since she’d used that part of her nature her skin burned. The answering flash of passion that exploded from within was not what she expected. Instead of cooling her ardor for the shaman watching her with lust in his eyes, her fascination grew.
He was willing to stop? Oh God, if he stopped she would die.
Resisting two magical mischief makers definitely wasn’t in the job description.
Vanessa Unveiled
© 2011 Jodi Redford
Vanessa Darby, a bounty hunter and tracker for the Veil Alliance League, figures things can’t get any crappier than her car breaking down on a deserted highway. Until the two dimension-hopping renegades she’s been assigned to capture lure her to their magical love nest in the woods and entangle her in a web of seduction.
How the hell is she supposed to resist a pair of gorgeous male pookas who possess a wicked talent for bringing the sexy?
Rand and Braeden have searched more than three centuries for their one true bond mate. Now that Vanessa’s been dropped into their arms, they have no intention of giving her up. Even if it means agreeing to her terms: If they can’t persuade her within forty-eight hours that the three of them belong together, they’ll give themselves over to the authorities. But convincing a woman who doesn’t believe in love, or the concept of forever, is no easy feat. Particularly with one doozy of a dirty secret from their past waiting to trip them up.
Warning: Two hotter-than-should-be-legal pookas sexin’ it up with each other and the stubborn woman they love. One magical hotel in the woods that isn’t exactly what it seems. And a unicorn who will forever tarnish the image of the species.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Vanessa Unveiled:
She stepped back into the bedroom just as Rand was shrugging from his shirt. Her breath lodged in her throat. All annoyances aside, he was simply beautiful to behold. His sculpted shoulders were powerful, delineated with sleek muscle tone. A series of intricate symbols inked the right side of his breastbone, drawing attention to his firm pectorals. Like Braeden, his torso was hairless except for the sprinkling of dark hair that traversed his chiseled abs and disappeared beneath the waistband of his charcoal trousers.
He turned toward her, his well-defined stomach muscles flexing. “Is the bath to your liking?”
Despite her best intentions, she couldn’t stop ogling his chest. She imagined licking over those delicious curves and hollows. Imagined sucking the hard nubs of his masculine nipples against the roof of her mouth. An intense throb leapt in her clit. She swallowed, corking her whimper. “Y-yes. It’s fine.”
Disappointment shadowed his expression. For some weird reason, guilt over her less than gushing response settled in the pit of her belly. “No, that’s not true.”
Rand’s face fell another fraction. “You don’t like it?”
“Actually, it’s amazing.” She sighed. “I could easily spend the next forty-eight hours just soaking in that pool.”
His eyes darkened. “A delightful way to pass the time. Braeden and I could join you. Soap you from head to foot, paying thorough attention to every inch of you in between.”
She visualized their hands stroking her everywhere, wet, soapy palms gliding over her breasts and pussy. Her nipples beaded. Rand licked his lips and she realized he could easily see her body’s reaction through the thin knit of her turtleneck. He stepped toward her and she backed up, the backs of her knees hitting the ottoman. “I—I think maybe we’d better go join Braeden before he wonders what happened to us.”
Rand continued walking toward her, his gait confident and predatory. “He’s not wondering. He knows exactly what’s going on in here.”
“Nothing is going on in here.” She prayed her declaration didn’t sound as weak as it felt.
“You’re wrong, sweetest. I’m seducing you.”
She gulped. “Well, it’s not working.”
He stopped directly in front of her, so close it was a miracle she didn’t suffer a third-degree burn from the intense heat radiating from his bare chest. The earthy scent of forest and the underlying, potent musk of aroused male drifted from his skin, playing havoc with her hormones. She wanted to bury her nose in all that warm flesh until she was lightheaded and giddy. And then she’d lick and nibble him everywhere.
Rand’s fingers curled around her chin, his thumb brushing the dip beneath her bottom lip. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care what you—” The remainder of her denial fell victim to the lush pressure of Rand’s mouth against hers. Every energy storehouse in her body began lighting up like a bank of slot machines that just hit payload. His lips coaxed hers open with more ease than she cared to analyze and his tongue met hers in a slick glide. Her hands braced against his chest—purely to keep from crumpling in an undignified heap, of course—and Rand’s rumbling groan vibrated beneath her fingertips and inside her mouth. He tugged her closer, one palm moving to the nape of her neck and the other low on her tailbone. Her breasts pillowed against him, and the insistent bulge of his erection nudged just above her pubic bone. The knowledge that all that separated her from his cock were a pair of zippers and some flimsy fabric nearly had her panting.
Rand’s tongue stole another slick caress before he sucked her bottom lip between his teeth. His animalistic growl brought a new gush of wetness between her thighs. “You can’t lie to yourself, Nessie. You belong with us.”
His arrogant assertion acted like a cold dash of water on her desire. She shoved away from Rand and glared up at his passion-flushed features. “I belong to no one. And I told you not to call me by that ridiculous name.”
“You’re the most stubborn twit I’ve ever known.” Tunneling his hands through his dark hair, he granted her a scowl. “You need a good, long fucking, you know that? Maybe it’d manage to dilute some of that vinegar in your attitude.”
She bared her teeth. “My attitude is fine. You’re just pissed because I’m not falling at your feet and begging you to rut away a
t me. Sucks to realize you’re not so irresistible, doesn’t it?”
And with that big fat lie hanging between them, she stalked from the room.
He was going to make her eat her words. Amongst other things.
Smothering his snarl, Rand dropped onto the cushion beside Braeden.
“Went that good, huh?”
Slashing his gaze sideways, he met Braeden’s sympathetic look. “Humans are exasperating creatures, but that woman takes it to a whole new level.”
“Yet you want her with every breath inside you.” Braeden chuckled in response to Rand’s glower. “I know because I’m suffering the same affliction. She’s like a decadent treat I’ve waited my entire life to unwrap, and the continued wait is damn near killing me.”
Braeden’s choice of words stirred a gloomy brew of worry within Rand. He’d known all along the risk they took pursuing Vanessa. Hell, the delicate nature of their predicament was the only thing that’d kept him from staking a claim on her the first time he’d spotted her five months ago, on that fortuitous and fated day he’d noticed her outside the Veil Alliance’s detainment center. But he didn’t have only himself to consider. Would his heart be able to take the loss of Braeden if Vanessa rejected their bond?
For that matter, would his heart be able to take the loss of Vanessa?
Apparently reading his morose thoughts, Braeden cupped Rand’s cheek. “We promised each other no regrets over doing this.”
“I know. I just—”
Braeden’s mouth stopped any further protest. He licked the seam of Rand’s lips, his groan husky. “I can taste her on you.”
A fierce throbbing coursed through Rand’s cock. Braeden’s innocent pronouncement prodded more wicked fantasies of delving deep inside Vanessa’s dripping slit. He’d pull out slowly and offer his cock to Braeden for a lingering taste before plunging to the hilt in her pussy again and again. Until she was shaking and coming, his name a constant scream upon her lips.
A nip along the underside of his stubbled jaw brought him crashing back to the present. Braeden’s hand trailed low on Rand’s abdomen. “Your skin is on fire. You need sex. Bad.”
Braeden was right. The ferocious demand boiling inside him wouldn’t be appeased by anything less. He clamped a hand on the back of Braeden’s neck, dragging him up for a lush, openmouthed kiss. Their tongues tangled and sparred, amping his insistent desire to full blast. “Take off your pants.”
“Not yet.”
“Yes. Now.” Rand hissed the command through clenched teeth.
Braeden’s mouth curved in mischief before descending over Rand’s stomach. “Patience is a virtue.”
“Fuck that.”
“No, fuck me.”
“My thoughts exactly, you idiot.”
“All in good time.”
Rand growled low in his throat. “Tease.”
Braeden gripped Rand’s zipper, tugging it down. His cock sprang free and Braeden’s laugh caressed over the taut, swollen head before his mouth followed suit. The suction was perfect and sublime. He rocked his hips, his hand riding the back of Braeden’s head. A faint rustling noise slipped past the edges of his awareness. Lifting his focus from his lover’s bobbing motions, he locked stares with Vanessa. Her pupils were huge and dark, her nipples straining against her top. His cock pulsed, swelling inside Braeden’s mouth, earning an appreciative moan from his lover.
“I—I’m sorry. Didn’t realize…” Her hard swallow echoing in the room, Vanessa started to turn tail and run.
“Stay.”
Her foot hovering in mid-spin, she gaped at Rand. “What?”
“Watch. You know you want to.”
Her cheeks grew redder than the anthurium blooms behind her. “That’s ridiculous. I have no interest in—” She broke off when Braeden reached inside Rand’s pants and played with his balls.
She was going nowhere.
It’s not every day a woman faces down the bitch who owns her man’s soul.
Dark Currents
© 2010 Mima
Elementals, Book 1
Xia is sick and tired of having her ass served to her every bloody night. Exhausted, she soldiers on, working the Scottish dream beat alone, seeking to identify those who plot to awaken Aqua, one of the four slumbering elements. Should Aqua fully open her eyes, she won’t be happy until she picks her teeth with the bones of the last human on earth.
When an assassin tags Xia, her new guardian arrives—a seal shifter linked to the very element she fears. Adam is certain that Markos, Xia’s boss and sometimes lover, is putting her in unnecessary danger. But Xia has tasted the inhuman cruelty that is Aqua and will do anything to stop her, even relive a terrifying, perilous spell.
Now that Adam has been assigned to protect her witchy spirit wanderings, Xia has to trust him. It isn’t his power or ability she’s uneasy about, but the fact he’ll have to take all the pain meant for her.
Then the Chamber ruthlessly deploys Xia and Adam in a dangerous ritual. Adam can protect her body and defend her mind…but nothing can safeguard her from the backlash of the world-changing knowledge she discovers.
Warning: This adventure is blatantly Scottish and dives into save-the-world sex with two of the hunkiest magical men you’ll ever meet.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Dark Currents:
When Xia shuffled into the kitchen, still finger-combing her hair, she stopped in awe. An acre of food stretched out along the counter space between the living room and the kitchen. Sausage and bacon and toast and fish and scrambled eggs and jam and butter and scones and yogurt and granola and Cheerios and strawberries and orange juice and a china teapot that was not hers, along with a new two-cup personal coffee brewer.
“Whaaa?”
Adam stood in the kitchen, wearing the clothes he’d come in with last night. He clicked off the stove and slid the crunchy mess onto a plate. He added it to the last spot on the counter.
Taking the serving platter she’d never used from the highest cupboard shelf, he began to fill it with a bit of everything. “I need to leave in a few minutes.”
Xia closed her gaping mouth with a snap of her teeth. “Good morning.”
“Aye.”
See, now, this man was going to drive her to drink. During breakfast. “Where did all this come from?”
“Anne.”
“Anne? Delivered this?”
“Most of it, aye.”
“How do you know Anne?”
He just slid a look at her and went to sit in the living room. With his platter.
“I didn’t know she opened so early.”
“She doesn’t.” He began to eat the food like he’d never seen any before.
Xia looked over the impressive outlay. “The teapot is beautiful. Is it hers?”
“’Tis yours.”
Delighted, Xia picked it up, studying the wild roses hand-painted on the side. “Really? Where’d you find it?”
“I asked Anne to pick a nice one.”
Oh. She put it down. “Adam, what is all this?”
“Breakfast.”
She was going to brain him with the lovely teapot. She got a mug and filled it half-full with honey, then poured her tea. Taking it to the couch, she sat next to him. Maybe it was time to buy a chair, a nice lady’s recliner. He stood and went to the counter, filling his plate again.
“Are you going to eat any of the pudding and kippers?”
“No, thank you. I don’t care for meat at breakfast.”
He shoveled it all onto his plate and sat back down, eating with a steady motion. Between bites, he managed, “Only one nightmare, and I detected no magic in it.”
Xia froze. A sudden image flashed and faded in her brain. A tiny round boat, a rawhide stretched over a wood frame, very old, strangely deep, but the edge rode only a few inches above the water. A storm blowing up. She crouched in it, wearing a wool dress and leather shoes that were cold and wet. Staring up at the seething sky, she despaired as the gray wat
er around her began to toss.
Looking over at Adam, she blinked to see him considering her as he thoughtfully munched through a strip of bacon. His eyes looked flat today.
She snapped, “You look like Macgregor with your jaw working like that.”
He nodded. “There’s something you should know.” Standing, he put his platter in the sink and poured a glass of orange juice in his coffee mug. Ewww. “Do you remember the nightmare you had last night? Of being in a boat on a stormy loch?”
“Just a bit.”
He nodded, his gaze going far away, a tic pulsing twice in his jaw before he downed the juice and set the mug gently on the counter.
“I cooked. You get the dishes.”
She bit her lip against her protest. The mountain of dishes in the sink, the four pans on the stove, and the still-full army of offerings on the counter was not what she preferred to face in the morning. Drawing in a deep breath, she kept back her words. She did not want to start this partnership arguing over dishes. They’d work out their patterns soon enough. At this point she didn’t know if this was his preference after a night watching over her, or an offering to her, like a gift for a hostess.
He went to the door and bent to pull on his battered hiking shoes. He now had wool socks on. She tried not to look, but couldn’t help glancing at his ass as he presented it so. His jeans were old and outlined the hard globes nicely. Pulling open the door, he said, “Around seven?”
That would give them an hour before sunset. It would be enough if they were merely facing a normal dreamtime foray, but for what Markos had in that letter…
“Just a minute.”
She went and got the letter from the top of the TV. Handing it to him, she said, “Read this today. Come earlier if you can.”
He turned it over, his thumb brushing over Markos’s emblem. “You haven’t opened it.”
Crossing her arms, she shrugged. “I know what’s in it, mostly.”
He stared at her, but she couldn’t hold that black gaze.
“Your dream was mine.”
