Hearts Aflame Collection II: 4-Book Bundle

by Melissa F. Hart

  Now that thought was a distant memory. Aminah’s presence had not only infused Eden with a renewed sense of direction, she had somehow purified the house like the ceremonial burning of sage.

  Glancing up, she caught Aminah’s look.

  “If you like,” Aminah said, “but I’ll have to ask her first.”

  “Ask me what?” Eden said.

  “My husband wants to meet you,” she said. “Lekan is also familiar with your designs. You have more fans than you realize, Eden.”

  A shiver coursed through Eden. She wasn’t sure why, but the thought of meeting Lekan excited her more than she wanted to admit.

  “He’s more than welcome to stop by,” Eden said. “We’ll have dinner, share some good wine, and see where the evening goes...”

  ***

  Eden was in the kitchen cooking jambalaya when the doorbell rang. Her heart gave a little lurch of anticipation, and admittedly, she was looking forward to spending the evening with Aminah and her husband. She paused to sample the jambalaya and almost swooned at the rich flavor. It had been an impromptu meal choice, but it was one of Eden’s specialties, and now the kitchen resonated with an appetizingly spicy aroma. Food had always been another of her passions and she enjoyed creating new recipes as well as adapting traditional favorites.

  At one time, she and Gaylen had enjoyed cooking together, but after finding herself spending more time alone, Eden had gradually abandoned her chef’s dream kitchen and focused more on smaller, quicker meals that fit into her hectic schedule. Tonight, she had brought her expensive pots and utensils out of the mothballs and was enjoying every minute of it.

  “That’s Lekan,” Aminah said as she finished setting the table.

  She went to answer the door. A moment later, Eden heard animated voices, then approaching footsteps. Though she tried to focus on stirring the simmering jambalaya, her attention immediately wandered when Lekan entered the kitchen. Tall and imposing, he strode toward Eden like a Nubian god, his presence instantly dominating the room as powerful as the sandalwood scent he wore. His smile was dazzling, his grip firm as he clasped her hands. Wearing a beautifully-cut black Armani shirt and black pants, his body rippled like a gleaming oil slick.

  “Eden Valmont,” he said in a rich baritone. “You’re even more beautiful in person. I’m so delighted to meet you. You’re quite a celebrity in our circle.”

  Captivated by eyes the color of midnight, she tried not to stare as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. The contact against her flesh sent a delicious thrill through her body. If anyone had ever been an inspiration for a deity, it was the man standing before her. With sculpted features, sensual lips, and hair cropped closely to his skull, he was as magnificent as Aminah was breathtaking, and Eden suddenly felt like she had stumbled into a dream. Yet even as she gazed from Lekan’s face to Aminah’s, she understood that she had stumbled into a very different reality.

  “The pleasure is mine,” Eden said.

  “Actually, I think the pleasure is ours, Eden,” Lekan said.

  He laughed, the sound reminiscent of gently rolling thunder. “I hope you forgive my insistence in coming to dinner this evening. When Aminah told me about you, I knew there was a reason you had met.”

  Eden looked at him with curiosity. “Why would you think that?”

  “Let’s sit down,” he said, “have a drink, and let the evening unfold.”

  Do you like this book? Be sure to check other books in this series

  Eden Rising - Part 2

  Eden Rising - Part 3

  Eden Rising (Trilogy Bundle)

  New Moon

  Synopsis

  Erin can’t help but be taken in by handsome newcomer to her office, Sean. The way he stares at her with deep, dark eyes sends a sensuous shiver right through her body.

  Erin is drawn to Sean, not just because of his devastatingly handsome looks. One night, when he needs a ride home, Erin is glad to offer, but alone in the car, passions run high and soon Erin is finding out just how intense her attraction to Sean is. But he hides a dark secret. Sean is mysterious and a loner, could he be linked to the spate of murders occurring round town? Could Erin be sleeping with a killer?

  Erin eagerly sipped at her morning coffee, hoping the caffeine would help perk her up. She’d not slept at all the previous night, which haunted by nightmares of being attacked by a figure she couldn’t quite distinguish. She blamed the sudden spate of murders in the local area for troubling her sleep.

  “Bad night again?” Coleen, her co-worker, asked from her desk opposite.

  “Yeah,” Erin sighed, running a hand through her shoulder length black hair.

  “I blame all these unexplained murders,” Coleen shook her head and pursed her lips in disapproval.

  Coleen was in her late thirties and a kind-hearted woman. She was heavyset, short, and a peroxide blonde, the complete opposite of Erin, who was long and lean with alabaster skin and piercing green eyes.

  Coleen was forever an unnatural shade of orange thanks to her obsession with self-tanning products. It was upon Erin’s insistence that she stopped using tanning beds and resorted instead to the lotions, which whilst safer, gave her the most unnatural neon glow.

  “They found another body last night,” Diane, the office manager, paused by their desks and whispered the news conspiratorially.

  “Really?” Erin’s eyes widened in horror and she leaned forward in her seat.

  “Another woman?” Coleen asked, also gripped by the update.

  Diane glanced around to ensure that no one else was listening. Her husband was on the local police force; he worked as a homicide detective, which gave her unprecedented information to any local murder scandals. She perverted the knowledge she gained for the purpose of turning it in to office gossip. It proved a useful way of keeping employees loyal to her.

  “You didn’t hear it from me, but yes, they will be announcing it this morning, another woman. Got her while she was out jogging last night.”

  “Terrible,” Coleen shook her head but there was a morbid delight illuminating her eyes, like when you drive past a car accident and you can’t help but stare and be drawn in to the terrible scene.

  “Be careful what you say around this one though,” Coleen said maternally, gesturing across at Erin.

  “She’s already having nightmares, poor thing.”

  “I’m fine,” Erin protested, though the bags beneath her eyes said otherwise.

  “You live alone, don’t you?” Diane asked, her eyes focusing on her young colleague in concern.

  “Yes but I don’t go out jogging at night,” Erin smiled sweetly.

  “Good girl, you need to keep safe. Especially when there’s a killer on the loose.” Diane’s voice was stern but warm.

  Killer was perhaps an understatement for whomever or whatever was attacking local women. Even the newspapers refrained from relaying the full gruesome details of the ordeal which befell the victims.

  Over the last month, several women had been found. Each body was dismembered almost beyond recognition, as though something had torn straight in to the flesh. Originally, they believed the killings to be animal-related, that the perpetrator was a bear or large cougar. But as the attacks continued, it seemed less likely that one animal could keep overpowering these women and soon, people in the town were coming home early, locking their doors and drawing their blinds to keep out whatever evil was prowling around their now unfamiliar streets.

  “I’m sure they will catch the killer soon,” Erin said a little too hopefully. She hadn’t been brave enough to confide in anyone that her nightmares started two nights before the first body was found, making her believe that somehow she was linked to the terrible things that were happening.

  “Any day now,” Diane smiled confidently, sure of her husband’s abilities. “Anyway, enough death and gloom, I’ve some good news for you girls.”

  “Oh?” Coleen titled her head to the left, resting on her medley of curls. />
  “We’ve got a new hire starting today. I interviewed him himself. Very handsome young man, I think you’ll be impressed,” she winked at the two women behind their desks and then sauntered off to her own private office.

  “Ohh, new hire!” Coleen cooed excitedly, her mood immediately brightened as though the previous dark conversation of death and murder had never happened.

  “That means fresh meat!” she continued, delving in to her desk drawer and retrieving a compact mirror and some lipstick which she proceeded to carefully apply.

  “Coleen, you’re a married woman,” Erin teased.

  “Married, not dead,” Coleen chuckled. “There’s still red hot blood flowing through these veins, I can assure you!”

  Erin rolled her eyes and looked at her computer monitor. Already her inbox was stacked up with jobs for the day. Her head throbbed from lack of sleep and her eyes ached. It was going to be a long day and doubtless would be followed by another sleepless night.

  “I wonder which department he’s in?” Coleen asked, glancing around the vast open space of the office as she did so.

  “Who?” Erin asked, distracted by the conversation from her emails.

  “The new guy!”

  “Oh.” Erin shrugged. “No idea.”

  Coleen continued to glance around the room, then her gaze locked in on someone and a sly smile crept across her plump face.

  “Hold the phone!” she declared, clasping her hands together in glee. “I do believe we have a winner!”

  “What are you on about?” Erin asked, not glancing away from her monitor.

  “I’ve located our new guy and he is delicious! I could eat him up!”

  “You’re going to get smacked with a sexual harassment lawsuit one day. You know that right?” Erin asked.

  “For him, it would be worth it,” Coleen declared, seductively raising an eyebrow. She watched Erin continue to type away at her keyboard, distracted by her screen, and became impatient.

  “Erin, just look at him, please!”

  “I’m busy.” Erin shook her head.

  “Come on! You’re young and single, you have to let me live vicariously through you!” Coleen pleaded. “Just check him out! He’s right over there, you won’t be disappointed.”

  Sighing, Erin turned with resignation in the direction Coleen was gesturing and immediately spotted the newest member of their firm.

  An unfamiliar yet devastatingly handsome man who was wearing a white shirt and grey trousers was stood talking with another manager, nodding intently at what they said. He had short brown curly hair and the faint shadow of stubble extending up to his defined cheekbones.

  You could that tell beneath his shirt, he had an amazing physique and toned muscular arms. As Erin looked over, she had to admit that Coleen was right; she wasn’t disappointed by what she saw.

  But as she watched, the new guy turned and locked eyes with her. His eyes were unbelievably dark, almost the color of coal. He stared intently at Erin until she could take no more and had to look away.

  “Isn’t he gorgeous?” Coleen giggled, oblivious to Erin’s now-blushing face.

  “He’s…handsome,” Erin admitted, daring to look back at him. He was once more locked in intense conversation with his manager but she couldn’t shake the feeling that had come over her when he looked at her. It was as if an electric impulse had shot through her whole body, making every nerve suddenly come to life. It was the most turned on she had ever felt and she wanted to feel it again.

  “Do we know his name?” she asked Coleen who shook her head.

  “Maybe I should try and find out,” Erin suggested cheekily.

  “Ooh yes, do!” Coleen clapped her hands together with glee. She loved any sort of office flirtation; she found it more entertaining than any of her television shows as she got to witness it all firsthand.

  Erin slid up out of her chair and headed over to the other side of the office under the pretense of using the copier. The hot new guy now sat behind his own desk, which was conveniently located on the way to the copy room.

  As she approached him, Erin noticed all the other women looking over at him with hungry eyes, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was busy typing in to this computer when Erin stood nervously at the edge of his desk. This close, she could see that his chest was just as muscular as his arms and he smelled of cedar wood and lime; it was an intoxicating scent.

  “Hi,” she coughed nervously, clearing her throat. The new guy didn’t look up at her; she was beginning to think that the intense moment between them across the office hadn’t even happened and that she’d imagined it. She was on the cusp of being dangerously sleep-deprived, so she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d started hallucinating at the office.

  “I’m Erin, I thought I’d come and say hi since you’re new and all,” she shifted uncomfortably, waiting for him to respond.

  He looked up and held her once more in his dark, intense eyes. There was something unnerving about the way he looked at her, as though he’d seen her before.

  “Hi.” He replied flatly, his voice deep and husky.

  “So, what’s your name?” Erin asked directly, not wanting to return to Coleen empty-handed.

  “Sean,” he replied with the same masculine voice, his eyes wrinkling slightly in amusement at her boldness.

  “Sean, is that an Irish name?” she felt foolish asking but was trying to make conversation. She felt as awkward and self-conscious as her thirteen-year old self would have if she were chatting up the most handsome guy in school.

  “I think so,” Sean replied politely. He didn’t look at Erin again but she was desperate to have his eyes on her once more, to feel her whole body tingle with energy.

  He continued to type at his computer, making it blatantly obvious that he didn’t want to talk anymore, which left Erin feeling dejected. Most men fell over themselves to talk to her; she wasn’t accustomed to being over looked.

  “Well, if you need anything, I’m just over there,” Erin pointed to her desk, spotting Coleen staring over, entranced by their conversation.

  “Okay,” Sean said politely once more, still not looking up.

  Unable to press the conversation further, Erin proceeded to the copy room, documents in hand. She glanced back slyly to see if Sean had followed her with his eyes and was disappointed to see that he had not.

  As she stood over the copier she felt someone enter the room, accompanied by the strong scent of vanilla.

  “He’s so gorgeous!” Coleen declared, unable to contain her excitement and wait for Erin to return to her desk.

  “Did you get his name?”

  “Sean,” Erin answered, glad to have at least learned something about the handsome stranger.

  “Sean,” Coleen tried the name on for size, rolling it off her tongue with delight. “A nice, strong name for such a strong, handsome man.”

  She gently headed to the doorway and glanced back up at Sean, but he was still diligently working.

  “You’re not very subtle,” Erin commented, smiling.

  “You should ask him out!” Coleen declared jubilantly, as though it were the best idea ever to be conceived within the living memory of the world.

  “What? No,” Erin protested though she had thought about it. She felt drawn to Sean in a way that she couldn’t describe or understand.

  “Yes, you’re stunningly gorgeous! If he likes women, then you’re going to be his type!”

  “Thanks, but he might like men,” Erin countered.

  “You don’t know unless you try,” Coleen pressed. “Besides, if he turns down a stunning girl like you, then he probably does prefer men, and at least then we’ll know!”

  “Let’s give him a day to settle in before we start harassing him, shall we?” Erin suggested, not sure if Sean would accept a date with her and not wanting to endure the humiliation if the whole office saw her being turned down.

  “Okay, okay,” Coleen backed down and relaxed a little. “But tomorro
w, you need to pounce, else someone else will.”

  “Do you mean you?” Erin joked.

  “Yes, I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a cougar!” Coleen growled jokingly at Erin. “Or would I be more of a Milf?” she pondered aloud.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Erin smiled, laughing. And for a pleasant moment the fearful thoughts about the lurking killer in town were gone and replaced by something lighter.

  ***

  That night, Erin didn’t dream of some phantom lurking in the darkness beyond her house. Instead, she dreamed of Sean.

  In her dreams, he was with her in her bed, running his hands up her body, pressing his lean torso against her flesh. As sensuous as the dream was, there was something wild about it, too.

  Sean would aggressively move her into a variety of positions as Erin gasped in gleeful delight. With him inside her, she felt more turned on than she had ever been in her life. And as they made love, he frantically kissed her neck as he cupped her breasts.

  Erin awoke panting and in a sweat, her sheets sodden around her. It took her a moment to realize that she was alone. The dream had felt so real, she’d half expected to wake up and find Sean sleeping naked beside her.

  Dazed, she got up out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower, knowing that she’d need it on the coldest setting. As the cool water washed over her, she tried to clear her mind from the images of the dream, but was powerless to keep them at bay. She couldn’t stop thinking about Sean’s hands upon her body, how good it had felt to have him inside her.

  Unable to distance the dream, Erin had no choice but to succumb to the intensity of her fantasy. She reached down between her legs and in the coolness of the shower, began to tease her clitoris with her fingertips, imaging Sean’s kisses cascading down her back, his roving tongue licking her entire body, tracing a line between her breasts, down her stomach, over her hips, until finally…

  Gasping, Erin came in the shower. She leaned her head against the door and tried to catch her breath, her body still shuddering with pleasure.