by Mary Hughes
“Fourteen minutes.” Julian lifted his head. His rumble caressed me. “We can do that three more times.”
“Before dinner, that is.” I smiled into his laser blue eyes. “After, well, we have the rest of our lives.”
To Julian Emerson on his wedding day, from Bo and Elena Strongwell
Nixie’s Slang
404 - page not found. To come up empty
411 - information
baka - stupid. from Japanese
bump the jams - turn the music loud: don't bump the jams means don't get excited
crunchy - the hippie macrobiotic lifestyle
daggy - unfashionable
dip out - leave without telling
fap - comic-book rendering of sound for sex
feen - fiend, addict: Nixie uses it in terms of obsessing
foozle, shizzle, fuzznucked-up, etc. - any swear word with zzn inserted or zzle ending
hawt - hot
HxC - hardcore
Kraft singles - lettuce, dough, what's with the food terms for money?
leet - elite, top of the food chain
MMO - massively multiplayer online
OMG - oh my God
playa - a person who plays the social game well, usually for their own gain, esp. sexually
pwn - gamer term meaning own
skrilla - money
tats - tattoos
tossing - solo sex
über - ultimate, from German
WTF - what the f*ck
About the Author
I write steamy, wickedly fun romance including the Pull of the Moon series of witch/shifter love and the Biting Love series where sexy, gritty vampires meet small town mayhem. My martial arts background means the action is real.
I’m a lover of stories that crackle with action and love. A mother, a flutist, a binge-TV-watcher of NCIS, The Flash, Elementary, and Agents of SHIELD.
Strong men. Stronger women.
I’m online and would love to hear from you!
Newsletter signup http://eepurl.com/orpxf
Website http://www.maryhughesbooks.com/
Blog http://maryhughesbooks.blogspot.com/
Group Blog http://www.lustwithalaugh.com/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MaryHughesAuthor
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/MaryHughesBooks
Look for these titles by Mary Hughes
Now Available:
Biting Love Series
Bite My Fire—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Biting Nixie—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
The Bite of Silence—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Biting Me Softly—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Biting Oz—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Beauty Bites—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Downbeat—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Assassins Bite—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Passion Bites—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Biting Love Short Bites
Biting Holiday Honeymoons
Oz Bites
Murder at Chipmunk Lake
Serendipity Bites
Biting Love Nibbles (A Short Bites collection)
Pull of the Moon Series
Masked Attraction (Prequel)
Heart Mates—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Mind Mates
Stand-alone romantic adventures
Edie and the CEO—Crimson Romance
Falling on for the Billionaire
Hot Chips and Sand
Black Diamond Jinn (A Hot SF/Fantasy Novella)
Box Sets
He’s the Boss (Edie and the CEO)
Happily Ever Alpha (Falling on for the Billionaire)
Coming Soon:
Night’s Caress (The Ancients Book One)—Entangled Select Otherworld
Continue reading for an excerpt from Downbeat (Biting Love Book Seven) coming March 2014 and Biting Me Softly (Biting Love Book Four) now available!
Striking the right note could shatter more than their hearts.
Downbeat
© 2014 Mary Hughes
Biting Love, Book 7
After an attack that slaughtered his family, vampire Dragan Zajicek walled off his heart and went on a sixteen-hundred-year rampage with the bad boys of history.
Now a rock star of the concert podium and master freelance spy, he’s taken the baton for a small orchestra near Chicago to investigate rumors of a monstrous, undefeatable vampire dubbed the Soul Stealer.
But it’s the lovely, unassuming Raquel “Rocky” Hrbek who mesmerizes him from the first touch of her luscious lips on her flute.
Rocky, a shy shadow scarred by middle school cruelty, is mystified as to why core-meltingly gorgeous Dragan would notice a mouse like her. As his stolen kisses draw her dangerously close to the edge of her carefully constructed comfort zone, he exposes her secret—she’s investigating the monster herself.
As their quest draws them closer together, the monster zeroes in on the woman Dragan’s rebellious heart tells him is his mate. Now they must find a way to destroy the indestructible before Rocky is utterly consumed. And Chicago is bathed in the blood of innocents.
Warning: Contains a master of seduction and symphonies, an awkward and innocent flutist, small-town humor, heart-stopping action, and an exodus to Iowa. Oh, and the cheese balls are ba-a-ack—and deadlier than ever.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Downbeat:
“May I accompany you, Ms. Hrbek?”
I jumped and nearly tripped. Zajicek caught my wrist to steady me. His fingers were long and slender but amazingly strong—and fiercely warm. Like iron filings to a magnet, my skin aligned instantly to him. Hot sensation juddered through me, knocking me even more off balance. I scrambled to regain my equilibrium, only to have my feet scud into one of the semi-vertical sidewalk stones. My flute bag slipped off my shoulder and nosedived into the crook of my arm, yanking me sideways. I went down.
Powerful arms wrapped around me and saved me from severe pavement burn. The arms were gentle righting me, and I stood in their comforting embrace a moment to get my breath back. A strong heart beat under my cheek. My palms pressed against warm, crisp cotton. The body under the cotton was a solid, cloth-covered cliff, so unlike my own soft limbs. I shivered.
“Are you all right, Ms. Hrbek?” Zajicek’s deep honeyed tones, tinged with amusement, came from somewhere over my head.
“Huh?” Not the snappiest of rejoinders but I was cheek-to-massive-chest with Dragan Zajicek, the posterboy I’d had the hots for half my life.
He was definitely not pasteboard now. The longer I stood there the more I felt. Every ridge of his taut abdomen, the roped muscles of his long thighs, the poke of his belt buckle; they all became alarmingly three-dimensional. His warm breath stirred my hair. Something else stirred too, at hip level…and silent laughter rippled through him.
My brain churned. The intimate way he held me made no sense, but the laughter, well, my clumsiness had lightened the room on more than one occasion.
Then Zajicek’s long fingers slid under my chin, raising my face. His brilliant eyes were shuttered by slumberous lids. I stared in bemusement as his face expanded in my vision…
His lips found mine.
Warm. Smooth. Exciting. “Some Enchanted Evening” sang through my right brain.
My left brain locked up in utter confusion. A man was kissing me. Zajicek was kissing me. The sum of my kissing experience was a slobbery grandmother and a few rushed awkward sexual encounters. I never really saw what the fuss was about. Until Zajicek.
I always thought kisses were simply the press of lips. His mouth didn’t simply anything. It rubbed, it tasted, it gently teased. Warm, velvety soft, his tongue began to explore.
I stood there in stupefied awe.
Until he murmured against my lips, “How clumsy you are, Ms. Hrbek. How very fortunate I was here to catch you.”
He thought I’d done it on purpose.
I struggled out of his embrace. He was slow letting go, his fi
ngers firm on my arms. With a little tilt of his head, he perused me. Whatever he saw on my face made him release me with an extravagant sigh. “I beg your pardon. Apparently I misread your…desires.”
I flushed, because he hadn’t misread my “desires” at all. Just my intentions.
He’s a candy box of sex appeal wrapped with a golden bow. She’s on a diet.
Biting Me Softly
© 2010 Mary Hughes
Biting Love, Book 4
Blood, sex, violence. Blood, okay, but computer geek Liese Schmetterling had enough S&V when her cheating ex fired her. Now security expert—and lip-smacking gorgeous—Logan Steel saunters into her Blood Center, setting fire to her libido. And threatening her job.
Visions of pink slips dancing in her head, Liese tries to push Logan away without touching his jutting pecs…or ridged abs. Or petting the Vesuvius in his jeans. He’s hiding something, but it doesn’t seem to matter when his smiles stun her, his kisses crank her to broiling and his bites rocket her to heaven. Fangy bites which, if she weren’t grounded in science, would make her think ampire-Vay.
Centuries old and tragedy-scarred, Logan’s mission is to fortify the Blood Center’s electronic defenses against his nemesis, the leader of a rogue vampire gang. He’s ready for battle but not for Liese, who slips under his skin, laughs at his awful puns, charges beside him into dark, scary places—and tastes like his true love.
No matter how often Logan declares his love, Liese can’t bring herself to trust him. But when his archenemy comes after her, not trusting him may cost her life...
Warning: contains explicit vampire sex involving absurdly large male equipment (hey, they’re monsters), unbelievable stamina (just how long can he stay underwater in a hot tub?), hide-your-eyes violence and horrendously bad puns. And, just when you think it can’t get any worse, a computer geekette trying to play Mata Hari.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Biting Me Softly:
Steel grinned at that, a smile so sharp and white that I was momentarily blinded. “Nice pun.”
Wow. Mr. Fortune 500 (and Body 300) thought I was amusing?
Then reality kicked me in the teeth. I was a geek. When I talked, eyes glazed over. Amusing? Sure, and the Sex Fairy was real. “Why are you actually here?”
“Here’s the work order, if you don’t believe me.” Mr. Logan Great-Ass pulled a paper out of his back pocket. Since his jeans were so tight they must have been painted on his incredible tush, I wondered how there could possibly have been room. He unfolded the paper and tossed it onto my desk with as much flair as the card. “You’re wrong, Ms. Schmetterling. Gorgeous, but wrong.”
Gorgeous? I shot to my feet. “Now I know you’re lying. Fun time’s over. There’s the door.”
Sleek eyebrows arched. “I assure you, everything’s in order.”
“You’ve forged those papers. Or…or maybe they’re real, but the company’s been typed over. I don’t know what your game is, Mr. Steel, but this woman’s not playing.”
“No games, Ms. Schmetterling.” Leaning across the desk, he hooked my chin with one long finger. “Though if you want games, I could be persuaded.”
And he pressed his sculpted mouth to mine.
Steel’s lips were smooth and warm and he knew how to use them. His kiss was the magical brush of angel wings. Heavenly golden heat spread through me, stunned me. My eyelids fluttered closed. Excitement hit me low in the belly, hot, shocking excitement that bubbled up as a soft moan of pleasure.
At the sound, Logan licked my lips open. Angel wings became angel fire. “You taste wonderful. All hot and wet. Mmm, can’t get enough.” His kiss deepened, his tongue started to plunge.
Heat flamed through me, spiraling quickly past my temperate zone. I was kissing a virtual stranger but it was so good, better than seven-layer chocolate sin cake. Logan nibbled at my lips, his teeth extraordinarily sharp. Instinctively I knew I was about two seconds from clamping my ankles around his superb ass, and damn the consequences.
