by Lexi Blake
“He was your brother. We want to believe the best in the people we love.” Maybe it was a good thing for Gray to travel for a while, but I couldn’t let him leave like this. He had no hope. It was like his spark was gone. “Can I touch him before I go?”
Gray looked down at the tat that had started to glow, and I wondered if he could feel it vibrating. He took a moment and I thought he would tell me no. Finally, he nodded.
I couldn’t reach the man. The man was stubborn, but the demon knew what he wanted. The demon wanted to fight for our future. I ran a hand over the dragon, sighing at the connection I felt.
Gray’s whole body shuddered.
I stared up at him, my hand still petting the dragon. “Do you know what I saw in this room, Gray Sloane? I saw our children. I saw them laughing and happy and whole, and I will fight to make that possibility come true. So run all you like, but we will be right back here someday.”
I turned to go and he caught me, dragging me back into his arms. His warmth encased me.
“Don’t talk. Just let me hold you for a minute. Just let us be.” He wrapped me up, holding on to me like he would never let go.
We stood that way, not speaking, simply holding on until the sun finally went down.
* * * *
Marcus turned to me as he stopped the car in front of the small house that was my destination. It had only been a few days since I’d done in old Father Winter, but the streets were snow free and I hadn’t seen a single snow monster. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another one of those. The weather was back to being perfectly Texan, and by that I meant predictably unpredictable. Today had been a nice toasty sixty-five, with light winds and not a single snowflake. I’d spent the day with Liv, who was mourning Scott.
Oh, he wasn’t dead. He’d survived, but the whole experience had made Liv realize she needed something more. Apparently Liv’s version of mourning included Mexican food, margaritas, and a whole lot of tears.
I was already mourning Gray, though I hadn’t cried. It was easier to concentrate on Liv.
“Are you sure you’re all right, bella?”
“I’m going to miss him. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you that, but it’s the truth.” I fiddled with the bag in my hand. It contained all the necessaries for the evening. Snacks, beer, gaming dice. I was getting back to my geek roots tonight.
Marcus leaned over and kissed me. “I know you will. I have a feeling he’s going to be coming back, and then we will have to make some decisions of our own.”
We would have to decide how to proceed because I loved two men. I tried not to think about Trent. I’d been avoiding him the last several days because every time I saw him, all I could think about was how good he’d looked naked.
And the fact that one of those children I’d seen had been a little she-wolf.
I tangled my fingers with Marcus’s. “I love you.”
He squeezed my hand. “And I you, bella. I’m going to take this time to reconsider some of my long-held beliefs.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I never thought I could share my lover, but if I don’t, I could lose you. I’m not ready to lose you.” He brought my hand to his lips. “We have time. Your training is simply moving along a bit faster than expected.”
He was afraid I wouldn’t need him soon. I was afraid I might always need him. I hadn’t told him about the woman in the prophecies. I couldn’t quite see her face now, but I knew the one Marcus had waited for was out there. She was a woman, and his fate would be on us sooner than I expected.
For now, I kissed him. We had this time. For however long it lasted, I wanted to love this man. “I’ll catch a ride back with Dan.”
Marcus chuckled. “It’s Dan now? Are we no longer cursing the king’s name?”
The king and I were cool. I’d actually read a couple of those histories Marcus had tried to hide from me. Hunters could go dark. I mean seriously kill whole towns and lay waste to the land kind of dark, if they weren’t properly trained. Dan was used to being the bad guy. He made the hard decisions, but once I’d proven I wasn’t going to burn down a large portion of Dallas, we’d found a good place.
We’d been friends once. Before I’d known he was a king, he’d been my online gaming buddy. “Dungeons and Dragons is a bonding experience.”
So was saving the supernatural world. I kissed my boyfriend and thanked him for the ride before stepping up to the house. Justin and Angelina lived here. From the smells coming out of the place, I was betting Angelina had cooked. Nice.
Marcus drove off. Tomorrow we were going to have dinner with my mom and Jamie, but tonight there was another family member I needed to see. I knocked on the door.
There was some male laughter and then the door opened.
Nathan. My brother stood there for a moment, his eyes wide. “Kelsey?”
I’d been so wrong to not talk to him. “Hey. Dan invited me. I brought your favorite beer.”
A smile crossed his face. “I told them I wasn’t coming. I haven’t played a lot lately. I’ve been concentrating on school and work. Blake hijacked me and said there was a surprise for me. I was about to leave.”
He’d been concentrating on his guilt, and I needed to do something about that. “Please stay. Can you forgive me for being a bitch?”
“Can you forgive me for lying to you? Kelsey, I’m so sorry.”
But I understood now. He had read those histories. He knew there was a darkness inside me and if he’d told me, I very likely at that point would have run. “I love you, Nate.”
He sighed and opened his arms. I walked into them and hugged the brother who had gotten me through all the hard times when we’d been younger. Forgiveness, I was discovering, was a gift that gave the giver as much as it did the person she was forgiving.
“Yo, Owens, get your ass in here. We’ve got a campaign to run,” the king yelled.
“Sorry, he gets bossy when he’s the DM,” Nate explained.
“I think he’s bossy all the time. Keep your panties on, Dan. I’m having a moment with my brother here.” He wasn’t the king now. He was just one of the guys and so was I.
“Angelina made us nachos,” Nate said as he drew me inside. “I like it when she-wolves host. They know how to cook. When we go to Blake’s, he puts out a bowl of chips and thinks that’s a buffet.”
“Oh, we’re going to have to work on that if I’m playing regularly.” This girl needed fuel to roll her dice.
I walked in, took a seat, and flipped open a beer.
Yeah, I was starting to feel at home.
Kelsey, Gray, Marcus, and the entire Thieves family will return in 2016 in Sleeper.
Author’s Note
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About Lexi Blake
Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places. Lexi believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome or foursome may seem. She also writes contemporary Western ménage as Sophie Oak.
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Sleeper
Hunter: A Thieves Novel, Book 3
By Lexi Blake
Coming 2016!
Neil’s past comes back to haunt Kelsey and
the crew...Sleeper, Coming 2016
Master No
Masters and Mercenaries, Book 9
By Lexi Blake
Now Available!
Click here to purchase.
Disavowed by those he swore to protect…
Tennessee Smith is a wanted man. Betrayed by his government and hunted by his former employer, he’s been stripped of everything he holds dear. If the CIA finds him, they’re sure to take his life as well. His only shot at getting it all back is taking down the man who burned him. He knows just how to get to Senator Hank McDonald and that’s through his daughter, Faith. In order to seduce her, he must become something he never thought he’d be—a Dom.
Overcome by isolation and duty…
All her life, Dr. Faith “Mac” McDonald has felt alone, even among her family. Dedicating herself to helping others and making a difference in the world has brought her some peace, but a year spent fighting the Ebola virus in West Africa has taken a toll. She’s come home for two months of relaxation before she goes back into the field. After holding so many lives in her hands, nothing restores her like the act of submission. Returning to her favorite club, Mac is drawn to the mysterious new Dom all the subs are talking about, Master No. In the safety of his arms, she finds herself falling head over heels in love.
Forced to choose between love and revenge…
On an exclusive Caribbean island, Ten and Mac explore their mutual attraction, but her father’s plots run deeper than Ten could possibly have imagined. With McKay-Taggart by his side, Ten searches for a way to stop the senator, even as his feelings for Mac become too strong to deny. In the end, he must choose between love and revenge—a choice that will change his life forever.
* * * *
“Do they really call you Master No?”
He chuckled. “Apparently. But you’re not going to call me that. Are you?”
He was right back to staring at her lips. Actually, it was nice to see the horny side of Tennessee. She loved his name. It fit the man. Enigmatic. “Why do they call you that?”
He scooted closer to her, so close their chests almost touched. “Because I don’t play around. Not with women who don’t mean something to me. I have my duties at Sanctum and I fulfill them, but I’m not indulgent with women who don’t belong to me. I tend to be very much the opposite.”
Another thing she didn’t understand. Even in their texts and Internet conversations, he’d been indulgent with her. He seemed to want to see her do things that pleased her. He’d ordered her to eat chocolate one night when she said she shouldn’t because she was worried about her weight. She did not make that mistake twice. He’d watched as she’d had her first real chocolate in almost a year. “You’re not that way with me.”
“I have a contract that states very plainly you do belong to me.” He stared at her for a moment and she had an unnerving thought that he could see right through her. “You’re not afraid of what could happen to you after yesterday. You’re afraid of what could happen between the two of us.”
Well, he wasn’t pussyfooting around the situation. “Like I said, it feels different than I thought it would. I feel more than I thought I would.”
He moved in again and she could suddenly feel his heat all over. Not just his heat. Something really big and really hard was resting against her thigh. It was fairly close to where it should be. Could be. Might be soon.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, Faith. Did you really want to sleep with a man you didn’t know?”
That three weeks had been the difference. She supposed she’d expected they would get in touch but not a lot more. They would come together to play and have sex. It felt like more than sex. Being so close to Tennessee felt more intimate than actually having sex with Roger. “No. I thought I did. I thought it was kind of the right thing to do. Real relationships are hard for me. My career is kind of demanding.”
His fingertips brushed over her collarbone. God, he was killing her. “Yes, it’s demanding, but you know what I think?”
He leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose, a sweet gesture.
He was being so tender with her and she wanted to scream at him to just jump on her and have his wicked way. Her body was getting primed. Her nipples were so hard. They might climb off her body and try to get between his ridiculously sexy lips. “I don’t. I don’t know anything right now.”
Except the fact that she wanted him. It was probably a bad idea, but she wanted him.
“Then let me help you out, darlin’. You don’t have to think for a while. Let’s both stop thinking and follow our instincts for once.” He moved in and his lips caressed hers.
Easy, thoughtful, at first he simply pressed his mouth to hers, letting them rub together as though taking stock of the feel of her. Ten didn’t overwhelm her. He started slow. He let her sigh against him as he brushed his lips over hers and let her taste the mint on his mouth.
She gasped and pushed against him. “You already got up and brushed your teeth.”
The most devilish look went over his face and he stopped playing. He rolled over and his body was on top of hers, his hips coaxing her legs to open wide. Before she really knew what he was doing, his cock was right on her core. “Yes, I did. I woke up and I showered and brushed my teeth, and my poor little sub slept the morning away. I came back out here and climbed into bed with you and waited for my moment. I’m going to eat you up, Faith.”
His mouth covered hers and she couldn’t fight him. It felt too good. His tongue surged and he seemed eager to devour her. His mouth slanted over hers again and again, his body heavy but in the best of ways. She loved his weight bearing her down into the mattress. There really wasn’t enough space for the two of them, but they didn’t need it. They simply nestled together until she wasn’t sure how to untangle their limbs. His chest pressed down, warmth flaring through her as his tongue invaded.
He’d gotten up and prepared himself for her. Oh, he wasn’t giving her the same courtesy, but he didn’t seem to need it. He wasn’t acting like a man who wasn’t enjoying himself.
“Stop thinking, Faith,” he growled against her lips. “You taste good. You’re fucking perfect and I dreamed about doing this all night. Best dreams I’ve had in forever. I’m not waiting for you to decide you’re good enough for me. I’m telling you. You’re perfect and I want to fuck you more than I want my next damn breath.”
He took her mouth before she could respond and she just kind of melted under him. There was nothing else to do. He’d taken control and she needed this.
He kissed her and his hands explored, running under her tank top and up to the under curve of her breast. His cock was suddenly right on top of her mound. Only her pajama bottoms, thin undies, and his boxers were between them. She could feel the hard line of his erection jutting between her thighs, dragging over her pussy in a blatant imitation of what he would do once he got inside her.
“Dreamed about this all damn night.” He shifted off to the side and his hand suddenly cupped her, one thumb brushing over her nipple. “Hell, I’ve dreamed about this since we started talking, Faith, and I think you have, too. That’s why you’re acting so skittish this morning. You like me.”
So arrogant and so damn right. She couldn’t help but smile at him. “I do. I like you a lot, Tennessee.”
He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “Well, that’s a good thing because I like you, too, Faith.”
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Scandal Never Sleeps
The Perfect Gentlemen, Book 1
By Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
Now Availab
le!
Click here to purchase.
They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives...
Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him . . .
Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true...
As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target...
* * * *
“What are your plans tonight, Eve?”
That was a loaded question. Her current plan included going to a lonely apartment where she could worry about her future and try to figure out if someone had murdered her friend. She could be alone with her fear and doubt . . . but she didn’t really want to. “I was getting ready to leave. What about you?”
