by Lexi Blake
Dev did not want that woman to be Evan.
But Marcus wasn’t violent. He wouldn’t come after a person for questioning him. Not ever. Of course, I’d just seen what happened when the right influence was placed on a person. Gray hadn’t meant to spout all that bile Trent’s way the last couple of months.
“Kelsey, I’m sorry,” Uncle Zack said. “I know you’re supposed to be on a plane in a few hours. I tried to avoid calling you.”
“Don’t worry about it. This is my job and I wouldn’t be anywhere but here,” I promised as I opened the door to the king’s office.
The door closed behind me and I was left with an eerie quiet. The king’s office was large and befitting his place in our world. There was a sitting area where he took meetings and his desk was cluttered with papers and books.
I found Lee’s tablet on the couch where he’d likely been sitting, playing some game while his father worked. When he wasn’t meeting with bigwigs, the king liked having his children in the office. He didn’t mind the sounds of them playing while he worked. I would often come in to find King Daniel passing a tablet back and forth, taking his turn in the games they played. Or with Evan cuddled up while he read to her.
Of course when that door was locked, I knew not to walk in because the king spent time with Quinn and the queen, and they were not always working.
I stood in the middle of the room and tried to open my senses.
I could smell my uncle and the king and queen. They’d been here recently, like within a few hours, but I could smell Quinn as well.
And Marcus.
God, Marcus had been in here, and around the same time as Quinn, if my nose could tell time.
Could Marcus have gotten angry enough to hurt the Faery? Quinn could push a saint to violence at times.
Marcus’s scent was stronger in the far corner of the room. Of course it was. That was where the painting Myrddin had given Daniel the year before was mounted. Marcus had been fascinated with it from the moment he’d seen it.
The colors seemed vibrant in the dark-paneled somber room. The painting showed a field of gold and green. In the background was a forest and a woman was running. At least she seemed that way to me.
Over the course of the year, she’d gotten closer. Marcus had explained to me that the painting had been done by a wizard and the story would play out over time. Slowly but surely, the woman had run across the field.
I stepped in, unaccountably attracted to the painting. I was never in here alone. There was always a reason I came to the king’s office, so I’d never had occasion to simply stare at the canvas.
The woman was closer now, close enough I could see she had red hair and a lovely body. I couldn’t see the expression on her face yet, but something about it made me think she was fleeing from danger, as though the woods would spit out an enemy at any moment. There was an ominous feeling coming from the painting.
And it was different than before because I could see two new figures in the background. They stood at the far end.
Two men.
I swear they hadn’t been there a few days before. I hadn’t studied the painting, but I’d certainly seen it enough to know those two small figures in the distance hadn’t been there.
Two men with dark hair, one dressed in black and the other in all white.
Like Dev Quinn had been dressed when he’d allowed Bris to take over his body and bless us with his unique magic.
Fuck me.
I leaned in, trying to see if I could get a better look, and the world shifted around me. My vision went blurry and I felt tight, as though my skin was suddenly two sizes smaller. A great whooshing sound overtook me. It filled the world and I felt myself sucked in, the scene changing from a graceful office to…something else.
And then I hit the ground with a resounding thud and blinked at the brightness of the sun. I could feel the heat on my skin, the rough ground under me. I was in the middle of a field, my mind trying to wrap around what had happened to me.
I wasn’t in Daniel’s office anymore. I was betting this wasn’t Kansas either. The ground was hard under my ass and I mostly saw wheat. It rose all around above me.
What I knew was I wasn’t where Gray and Trent were. I wasn’t where my son was. Fen was asleep on another plane of existence. I had promised to take care of him. I kissed him before he went to sleep at night and held him in my arms. I ate breakfast and dinner with my boy. When I could, I got back for lunch with him because we were wolves and food meant something. Panic started to rise in my veins.
Where the hell was I? How did I get home?
I forced myself to stand. Sure enough I was in the middle of a massive field. I glanced around to see if I could find Quinn and Marcus. Maybe they knew how to get home. At least I would know someone here. They’d been at the edge of the forest, but I couldn’t see trees in this moment.
“Hey! Hey!” A woman ran up to me, her long red hair flowing behind her. I’d totally been right. She looked somewhat panicked. Her deep blue eyes were super wide and her chest heaved as she caught her breath.
She also looked a whole lot like Zoey Donovan-Quinn. Like an almost duplicate except for those eyes. The eyes were all Donovan. She reached out and took my hand.
“Hello,” she said with a harried smile. “I don’t know where you’ve come from, but my name is Summer and you need to come with me. Unless you’re evil. Then I would like to know up front.”
Summer. It wasn’t a season. She was a person. Summer was here and she was the key to everything.
“I’m Kelsey. Totally not evil.”
She nodded. “Good, then we should run because there’s an army behind me and they’re planning on killing everyone.”
A chill made me shiver, even though it was hot wherever the hell I was.
Because this was what the prophecy had meant. I’d fallen for the trick and now I was trapped.
I let Summer take my hand as we began to run.
Kelsey, Zoey, and Summer – and the whole Thieves crew – will return in Stealing Summer.
Author’s Note
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Evidence of Desire
A Courting Justice Novel
By Lexi Blake
Coming January 8, 2019
Click here to purchase.
Isla Shayne knows she's in over her head. As former all-star linebacker Trey Adams's personal lawyer, she's used to handling his business dealings and private financial matters, not murder charges. She needs to find an experienced criminal attorney who speaks her client's language. David Cormack of Garrison, Cormack and Lawless is exactly what she needs in the courtroom—and the only man she wants in the bedroom.
For David, taking on the Adams case means diving back into a world he thought he'd left behind and colliding head on with tragic possibilities he's in no mood to face. There's a reason professional football is in his past and no matter how close Isla gets to the truth he intends to leave it there.
But long days working on the case together lead to hot nights in each other's arms. As their feelings grow, the case takes a deadly twist that could change the game between the two lovers forever.
* * * *
Isla couldn’t believe she was doing this, but the minute she got a good look at David Cormack without his su
it on she knew there was no going back. She’d been ready to make a pot of tea and wait for him to come out of the shower when Erin Taggart had appeared in the kitchen.
“Not jumping his bones, then?” she’d asked as she dragged a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“He wants to take it slow.” She was aware of how disappointed she’d sounded.
“No man who looks at a woman the way that one looks at you wants to take things slow. He’s scared you’re too good for him or something stupid like that,” she said. “I should know. I held off my gorgeous hottie for way too long because he was a tiny bit younger than me. Don’t waste time. Take command. And then when he’s all in, give that control up. That always works for me. ’Night.”
There was something in the way the redhead smiled, something intimate and soft. Something Isla wanted for herself again. She’d had it as a girl with Austin. She wanted to know how it felt to have that connection as a woman.
So she’d made the decision. Maybe for the first time in her life, she’d genuinely made the decision to be brave, to go after what she wanted with a singular purpose, to put herself out there and see if she was bait enough to catch the one fish she wanted.
Though first she needed some fishing gear. According to Noah, that was in the nightstand drawer.
She’d stepped in and taken off her clothes. All in. Just like a poker game. If he refused to play, she would be devastated and potentially never be able to face the man again, but she’d felt almost compelled to undress and walk to the entry of that sexy natural stone shower. She’d stood there and looked, really looked at David Cormack. He’d been turned away from her, his back on full display. He was beautifully male, his muscles defined by years of athleticism. His back was strong, his butt practically perfect, and he was held up with strong legs. But his head hung low and she could swear she felt how lonely he was.
She hadn’t realized how lonely she was until she’d met him. “David?”
He started, every muscle tensing, and then he turned, though he mostly moved his torso as though trying to keep his private parts private. His eyes latched onto her, but he didn’t say a word.
Oh, she wanted to run. He was far too gorgeous. She wasn’t in his league. She knew she was attractive, but she wasn’t even close to being in the same condition he was in. He’d been an elite athlete and he’d obviously never stopped working out. She could stand to lose a few pounds.
And if those pounds and the roundness of her hips ran him off, then so be it. She was done sitting around and hoping she got what she wanted. At least she would know. “I don’t want to go slow.”
For a second, she was almost sure he would tell her to go. Then he turned and he was standing there in his full glory, as though letting her see what he had to offer. When she simply stared, he crossed the space between them and, without a word, his hands cupped her face and his mouth was on hers.
The minute they touched, something sparked to life inside her, something wild she’d never felt before. It seemed to start in her toes, making them curl as the sensation rushed through her system. Heat and anticipation and pure joy.
It had been forever since a man kissed her like this. Maybe never. The only thing that compared was the sweet high school fumbling between her and Austin. He’d been eager, but he had no idea what he was doing.
David Cormack knew how to kiss. He mastered her mouth with his, soft when he needed to be and then rough, sending a thrill through her system that burned a path straight to her pussy. He brushed his lips against hers and then zeroed in on her lower lip, biting gently and sucking briefly before another soft kiss allowed her to breathe again. And then when she was ready to beg, his tongue surged in, rubbing soft velvet against her own.
“Tell me you’re sure,” he said against her mouth as his hands moved down.
“I’m sure,” she replied with a breathy whisper. He could throw her up against the side of the shower and take her then and there and she would be perfectly satisfied.
“Because there’s no going back. I’ve been a good boy up until this point. I’ve been civilized, Isla. I’ve played the gentleman around you, but if you let me in, I’ll invade and you’ll see the real man underneath the suit. I’ll be demanding and overly protective and I’ll want you every fucking minute of the day.”
And that was bad, how? She’d been on the outside looking in for so long, the idea of being someone’s center, being the person for him, made her heart ache with longing. “Please touch me, David. I want the real you, every dirty, possessive part of you.”
His hands found her hips and he dragged her against him, their bodies coming together for the first time. He was warm, his skin soft over the steel of his muscular body.
She took a moment, letting her arms wrap around him, her breasts against his chest, that hard erection of his cradled to her belly. This was sweet intimacy. Yes, it would lead to something wild, but for a moment she basked in the comfort of another body against hers.
He stepped back, taking her with him and bringing them into the warmth of the shower. He seemed to understand she needed a moment, and he followed her lead perfectly. One hand held her to him while the other smoothed back her now-wet hair as he brushed light kisses over her forehead and down to her nose, lavishing her with affection she’d been starved without. He stood like that with her, learning her body with his hands and mouth.
“See,” he said with the sexiest chuckle as he leaned over and ran his tongue along the shell of her ear. “We’re still taking it slow. I could do this for hours and I haven’t even gotten to your tasty parts yet. You’re sweet, Isla. I could eat you up. Are you going to let me eat you up?”
She nodded.
One hand tangled in her hair, gently drawing her back and forcing her to look up at him. His eyes were hot, his jaw tight with arousal. “Talk to me. I won’t let you disconnect from me when we’re intimate. Tell me. ‘‘Yes, David, I want you to eat me up.’”
“Yes, David. I want you to eat me up.”
Lost and Found
Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten, Book 2
By Lexi Blake
Coming February 26, 2019
Click here to purchase.
Owen Shaw and his “brothers” lost everything, their entire existence erased. Science had robbed he and all the Lost Boys of their memories and their past, but not their future. Hunted by every intelligence agency in the world, they are focused on two goals: find a cure for what was done to them and ensure that the technology that ruined their lives doesn’t get out into the world. Rebecca Walsh might be the key to achieving both. Owen has been studying her closely, living in her building, and he cannot resolve how such a beautiful, giving woman could have helped design the evil process that destroyed his past.
Dr. Rebecca Walsh has dedicated her life to researching the secrets of the mind. Her atmospheric rise in her field was fueled by the horror of watching her mother’s agonizing journey into madness at the hands of a disease with no cure. She vowed to never rest until she finds it. But obsession takes a heavy toll, and when Owen moves into her building she realizes how much of her life she has missed out on. Owen opens her eyes to a whole new world, filled with joy, laughter, and possibly love.
Owen and Rebecca grow closer, unraveling more about each other and the mysteries surrounding her connection to Hope McDonald. As the sinister forces working against the Lost Boys descend on Toronto, secrets long buried are uncovered that could shatter the bonds holding the Lost Boys together and cost Rebecca her life.
* * * *
“Becca.” Owen’s voice was low. “Concentrate on me, on our conversation. You’ve done incredibly well. You’ve been able to hold it off, but this has gone on far longer than you ever should have been expected to handle it. This elevator is tight. I feel it, too, but we can hold off the anxiety together.”
She doubted very much the man in front of her was anxious. He looked solid, like the kind of man who took whatever came his way and simply
dealt with it. He wouldn’t have needed two freaking years to figure out what he wanted. He would have signed his divorce papers and moved on, not hiding in his work.
It struck her forcibly that she might never have met a man like Owen Shaw. Her childhood had been fairly sheltered. She’d constantly been surrounded by intellectuals, men and women who were far more concerned with their work than anything else.
The ground beneath her shifted and the elevator dropped what felt like ten feet, but she knew in her head it was mere inches. Her heart rate tripled, and she grabbed on to the closest thing she could—him.
His arms went around her, holding her up, and she heard it. He was so tall that her head naturally rested on his chest, and she could hear his heart beating in rapid time.
He was nervous.
The phone rang and Owen cursed, reaching out to grab it. The shaft was so small, he didn’t have to let her go to grasp it.
“What the bloody hell is happening, Colin?”
She could hear his voice over the line. “Sorry. So sorry. We had to lower the shaft the tiniest bit. I should have warned you. It’s not going to fall. Just needed to reposition to get to the problem. Not long now. Another half an hour or so and I’ll have you right out of there.”
“If you do that again, do you know what I’m going to do to you, Colin?”
There was a pause over the line and she could practically hear Colin’s gulp. “Write my father a tersely worded letter of complaint?”
“No, I’m going to pull your heart out through your throat and then I’ll shove it back up your arse.”
“You sound very much like Liam Neeson in that movie.”
“Liam Neeson is Irish. I’m a Scot. I assure you what I’ll do to you will make you run into Liam Neeson’s arms and beg him to save you.” He reached back and hung up the phone with a resounding clang.
