Shit. He didn't do sex, and now he was supposed to make out with an unconscious woman? What the hell? If there was any way, any other way, he would do it, but there was nothing else. He had no other choice if he wanted to save his leader. Whatever it took to engage his mission. He'd made an oath, and there was no other path.
With a deep inhale, he calmed his mind, shutting down his physical response to her. He steeled himself against her femininity, and then he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her mouth.
The moment his mouth touched hers, he froze in absolute shock. Her lips were softer than he could even conceive of, like the air itself had come together to form her lips. He'd never experienced anything like it, and his entire body came alive. Energy rushed through him in a violent frenzy, and lust slammed into his gut violently.
He gritted his teeth against the warring urges to drag the woman into his arms and unleashed himself onto her, and the equally strong instinct to hurl her aside and bolt for safety before anything further could happen.
He did neither. He simply kept his mouth against hers, hoping that the closed-mouth kiss would be enough. Even aside from the fact that he wasn't going to have sex, there was no way in hell he was going to take advantage of an unconscious woman, no matter what she'd said during her brief moment of lucidity--
Her lips suddenly parted beneath his.
Desire rushed through him, and before he could stop himself, he kissed her again, deeper this time, running the tip of his tongue over her lips. The moment he did, she responded. She began to kiss him back, her decadently mouth moving under his in a rush of sensual temptation that was beyond anything he'd every experienced.
She slipped her tongue between his teeth, and he groaned when he felt it slide across his in a sensual caress. Sweat broke out on his forehead with the effort of restraining himself, but he kept to the script, deepening the kiss while never moving his hands to her body.
Then she slid her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He lost his balance and went to his knees, falling against the side of the bed as she took over the kiss. Her mouth was hot and sensual, a temptation of the most sinful kind. His cock was hard as a rock, straining against his jeans, and his entire body was screaming for more.
She deepened the kiss, a carnal assault against his defenses, stirring up desire in him that he'd never experienced. What this what his teammates had felt when they'd met their soulmates? Was this what all men felt when they fell under the spell of a woman? For the first time, he comprehended the power of a woman over a man. He'd always kept himself so far removed that no woman could access him, and yet with one kiss, he was consumed with thoughts about what he wanted to do to her, of what her breasts would taste like, of how he wanted to part her legs and—
Shit!
He jerked back, breaking the kiss, but she didn't release him. Her grip was surprisingly strong, and he didn't want to hurt her by exerting the effort it would take to break her hold. "I can't do this," he said.
She met his gaze, her icy blue gaze steady. "You have to," she said softly. "There's no other way."
* * *
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Sneak Peek: Curse of the Dragon
An Immortally Sexy Novel
"I wish I could give this book more than five stars!" ~Kristy O. (Amazon Review)
After making a deal with the devil to reclaim her human form, dragon Theresa Nichols discovers the hunky, dangerous P.I. she's fallen for is an ex-dragon slayer who has inadvertently set a team of assassins after her.
* * *
"Laugh out loud funny, sexy, highly imaginative and grippingly suspenseful." ~Jeanne S (Amazon Review)
Less than forty-five minutes after the attempted assassination, Theresa was still shaking from the incident, and from the realization that Lyman had found her. Her injured wrist was almost healed already, so she didn't bother with wrapping it. Instead, she'd raided Becca's closet for comfort clothes, and had just finished putting on a pair of pale blue sweats and a baby soft tee shirt when someone pounded on Becca's front door. She yelped and dove behind an armchair, her heart thudding.
Oh, God. Lyman?
Someone pounded again, and she realized what she was doing. Dragons didn't hide, not even from other dragons who could kick their ass. Besides, it wasn't as if hiding behind a chair would save her from Lyman. Her only hope was to make him think she was more of an opponent than she was.
She forced herself to stand up, grabbed a nearby lamp, ripped the cord out of the wall and held it over her head. He would kick her ass, but heaven help her, she was going to do her best to damage him before she went down.
Clenching the lamp, she eased toward the door, wishing Becca was back from harvesting souls. She could use a little fireball backup. She peeked through the spy hole, then the lamp fell from her fingers and she yanked the door open. "Zeke? What happened to you?"
He had a scratch on his left cheek, and his beautiful shirt was torn and filthy. His hair was in total disarray, and he looked much more like the bad boy she'd imagined him to be. Delicious. Bastard. How dare he be hot when he'd betrayed her?
He held up his hand for silence and leaned against the door jamb. "First of all, I owe you an apology. You were right about my client. I don't know how it happened, but I screwed up."
At his confirmation, she had to grab the doorframe for balance as the room suddenly tilted. Lyman really was after her. He wanted to find her so badly that he'd hired Zeke to find her.
But how could Lyman still be alive? When she'd gone back to hunt him down after escaping from him, everyone said he'd perished in a fire that had destroyed half the town. A fire that had wiped out her family's holdings, the ones Lyman had usurped for himself.
How much worse had he become in the one hundred and eighty years since she'd last seen him? She pressed her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, trying to keep the nausea at bay.
"T? I apologized."
She dropped her hand, lifted her chin, and gratefully focused on being angry at Zeke, instead of afraid of Lyman. "And what about lying to me? Any apologies for that?"
He rubbed his temples and gave a soft groan. "Part of the job. It's what I do, but it's over now."
"It's not over." She glared at him. "You don't get forgiven just like that."
A muscle ticked in his cheek. "Don't push me tonight, T. I'm on the edge."
"Oh, and I'm not? In case you didn't notice, someone tried to kill me tonight."
The muscle ticked more fiercely. "I noticed." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She could practically feel him willing himself to calm down. He opened his eyes and fastened his deep brown gaze on her. "Who are you?"
She shook her head and started to shut the door. "Leave me alone."
"No." He shoved his way inside, a show of masculine stubbornness that made her want to grab his belt and yank him against her. "I'm extremely expensive, and someone paid me a lot of money to find you. Why?"
"Why should I tell you? So you can betray me to someone else?" She stepped back as he paced the living room, a tightly strung energy rolling off him. Energy that seemed vaguely alarming, but familiar as well.
He came to a stop in front of her. "The betrayal was an accident, and I'm here to fix it. Tell me what's going on."
"Hah!" She tried to shove past him, but he caught her upper arms and held her in front of him. Heat flared in her from his touch, and she had a sudden yearning to throw herself into his arms and beg him to ravage her. She tensed and tried to clear her mind. "Let go of me."
He released her so quickly she stumbled, his face strained.
"For your information," she announced. "I don't make it a habit of trusting my secrets to men who lie to me and set me up to be killed. You lost your chance with me, Zeke, so leave me alone."
He studied her for a long moment. "I can't leave until I get the answer to one question."
"Fine. What's the question?"
"Are you a dragon?"
&nbs
p; All her dragon senses flared into self-defense mode, and she eased back from him, her instincts suddenly reacting to him as a threat. "What's it to you?"
He met her gaze for a moment, then her nose was flooded with the most amazing scent of burning pine, of fresh woods, of earth, of melting chocolate. Holy shit. She knew that scent.
She had just enough time to panic, and then her legs gave out and she collapsed in a puddle of ecstasy.
***
Zeke caught Theresa before she hit the ground, cradling her body against him as he swept her up, adrenaline spiking through him as her hot skin burned through his shirt.
"Oh my God," she moaned as she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled the crook of his neck. "You're a dragon slayer."
"Ex-slayer." He staggered as she ran her fingers through his hair and showered frantic kisses on his throat. Shit. He hadn't meant to hit her that hard with his scent. All he'd wanted was to see if she reacted, since he knew she'd never tell him the truth. But he'd taken her down instead. A total fucking screw-up on his part.
"This explains a lot," she mumbled as she tried to unbutton his shirt. "I knew you couldn't have been good enough at cybersex to make me monogamous. God, you're an asshole." She got his shirt open and pressed her face to his chest, inhaling deeply. "You smell so amazing. You're going to kill me, aren't you? Ooh..."
"No." He made it to the couch and set her down. He tried to pull back, but she clutched at his shoulders, fighting to keep him near. Her eyes were closed, her body arching toward him. Old instincts swirled to the surface, and he had to look away from her exposed throat. She was reacting to his scent exactly as nature intended, setting herself up to be an easy kill.
Except he wasn't going to kill her. "I'm an ex-slayer. Ex." Remember, Zeke? Ex.
"You can't be an ex-slayer. You are or you aren't." She tried to punch him, but she missed and nearly fell off the couch in a sluggish mound of female curves.
"Come on, T." He pulled her back up and held her upright on the couch. "I didn't release that much scent. Help me out here."
"Help you?" She blinked at him, her eyes glazed as she swayed toward him. "Help you kill me?"
"No." He stepped back, clutching his fists against the instincts pushing at him to do what he was born to do. "Help me resist."
"Resist? Hah. You slayers don't resist. You bring us down and kill us. It's impossible for a slayer to change sides." She slid off the couch and rolled onto her back, her fingers reaching for him as she ground her hips into the carpet. "I can't believe you're a slayer." She moaned with distress and desire. "I can't believe I want to have sex with you when I know you're about to kill me!"
Zeke closed his eyes against the need raging through him, the primal urge to follow his destiny, to destroy. She's just a dragon, Slayer. They all deserve to die. Kill her now. He cursed and shook his aching head. "I gotta go. I'll be in touch."
"Zeke!"
He sprinted for the door and slammed it shut behind him, his body pulsing with centuries old needs that he'd kept at bay for so long.
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Sneak Peek: Burn
"A fast-paced, heart-racing, mind-boggling, sexy read…and I loved it!!!" ~NanaX8 (Five-star Amazon review)
Don't miss this sizzling romantic suspense in which a serial arsonist targets the biological family he found through an online DNA test. In this high-stakes cat-and-mouse game set in the unforgiving Alaskan terrain, a reclusive ex-military tech expert must protect a spunky, sexy tavern hostess from the killer who has already wiped out the rest of her family.
* * *
"A M A Z I N G…A fast-paced adventure all wrapped up in scorching hot romance. This entire series is a must-read!" ~Christa S. (Five-star Amazon Review)
Mack Connor had been in Alaska for less than an hour, and he was already restless. He wanted to be back in Boston, but when Ben Forsett asked for his help, he got it.
Always.
Every single time.
No matter what.
It had been that way since they were kids, both of them trying to survive the streets, the drugs, and the gangs long enough to get the fuck out of the hell they'd grown up in. Ben had gone to college and law school. Mack had gone into the military and become one of the world's renowned experts on security tech, and all the shit that went with that.
Their connection had never faltered, even when life had blown up around them. Ben was the only friend Mack counted, and the only one he needed.
They always leaned on each other when the shit got real. Always. Until last month when Mack had uncovered a living hell…
"You okay?" Ben looked over at him, his brow furrowed.
Mack cleared his throat and looked out the window at the trees rushing past. So many damn trees. "Yeah. Fine."
"What happened last month?"
Mack shot a sharp glance at Ben. "Nothing."
"Bullshit. Something fucked you up. What was it?"
For a split second, Mack was tempted to tell Ben the truth, to rip the darkness out of him and throw it onto his friend.
But just as quickly, he shoved it back down inside him, deep and hard, where it couldn’t see the light of day.
"Nothing." He wasn't going there. He just fucking wasn't. He hadn't told Ben about it then, and he wasn't going to tell him now.
Darkness settled in him, and he growled as he dragged his thoughts away from the nightmare that had jerked him awake every single night for the last month. "How about you?" Ben had been through hellacious year.
Ben hesitated, and Mack saw the moment that he decided not to push Mack for more answers. "Better. Mari helps. A lot."
Mack nodded. "Good." He was glad Ben had found someone who fit him. "I can't believe you proposed to her."
Ben smiled, a legit grin that lit up his face. "She changed my world, bro. She's a gift."
A sliver of envy flickered through Mack at the happiness on his friend's face. He'd never seen him like that before. It hadn't even occurred to him that either of them would ever feel that, that it could be a part of their lives. "Damn, man," he said softly. "I'm almost jealous of that stupid grin."
Ben's smile faded into seriousness. "I'm staying in Alaska. I've found peace here."
"Not coming back to Boston?" Mack felt darkness settle in him again. He and Ben had both been in Boston for the last few years, and it had settled him to have Ben around again. Having him move to Alaska? Shit. But he grinned at his friend anyway. "Good for you." He meant it, too.
Ben cocked an eyebrow at him. "You might like it here, too. It's an amazing place."
Mack snorted and jerked his thumb at mountains in the distance. "Where are my skyscrapers? No fucking way."
"That's what I thought, too. Things change."
"Not for me." Mack shifted, suddenly restless to get back to topics he felt comfortable with.
They'd spent the first part of the drive from the airport going over the serial killer he'd helped Ben track a few weeks ago, and now it was time to focus on the present.
"Talk to me," he said. "What do you need me for?" He knew it must be bad for Ben to ask him to fly to Alaska for it. The fact Ben had refused to give any details over the phone about why he needed him had jacked up his adrenaline even more.
Ben glanced over at him as his truck bounced over the rutted dirt road. "Mari's friend. Charlotte."
Charlotte. Mack liked the name. He wasn't sure why. It was soft and strong at the same time. He knew nothing about soft, and he didn't particularly want to, but her name seemed to settle in him whenever he heard it.
"The one who got kidnapped." He'd tracked her phone for Ben to help find her. "She doing okay?"
Ben inclined his head. "Sort of."
Mack narrowed his eyes, studying Ben. "You brought me here for her?"
At Ben's nod, Mack settled into the familiarity of business mode. "What's she into?" He unzipped his backpack and pulled out his computer. It booted up instantly, and he created a file with her name. "Her las
t name is Murphy, right?"
"Yep." Ben rattled off her address, and Mack entered it into the computer.
"What else?"
"That's it."
Mack looked up. "What do you mean, that's it? What's going on with her?"
"I don't know." Ben took a right, the truck lurching over a big rut in the dirt. "It's something though. Something from her past."
Mack frowned. "A person? A man? Something someone else did? Something she did?" The last question stopped him hard. He knew all about someone who had done something bad, something that came back to haunt him. He was not getting involved with someone who had done bad shit. Not again. He cast a suspicious look at Ben. "How well do you know her?"
"Not well, but she's good. She's been Mari's friend since the day she arrived in town."
Not well. Mack closed the lid to his computer. "Look. I owe you a thousand times over, but I'm not feeling this one."
"You will." Ben slowed the truck. "I arranged for you to stay at her place with her."
"No." Mack put his computer away and zipped up his backpack. "Absolutely not. I live alone. I hate people, except for you. And even you I don't want in my space."
At that moment, Ben's phone rang. He hit the speaker button. "Hey, sweetheart."
Sweetheart? Mack frowned at his friend as a woman's voice filled the car.
"Hey, babe. We have a problem," she said. "Charlotte says Mack can't stay with her, and she's leaving town. She's inside packing right now."
Mack couldn’t help but grin. He liked the fact that Charlotte was refusing to be railroaded by Ben. The woman had backbone. "See? It's been decided."
"Mack? Is that Mack?" The warmth in Mari's voice surprised him. "I'm so glad you're here. Ben's told me so much about you. Charlotte needs you."
Her words ripped the smile off his face. "Charlotte appears to disagree with you both." He tried to sound civil, but he knew he wasn't particularly good at it.
Darkness Awakened Page 69
