BELLA KEY by Scarlet Chastain

BELLA KEY by Scarlet Chastain

Maddie Jacobs must be crazy. At least that’s what her mother thinks. Professionally, she’s confident and secure; personally, she’s a hot mess. Not even a marriage proposal from a man who adores her can quell her search for something more.

In need of an escape, Maddie flees to Key West’s most southern island, Bella Key, to rest and recharge at Casa Bonita. She almost gives up on weekend retreat when the Bed & Breakfast is closed for repairs until Sunny Rojas, the inn owner, extends an offer of friendship, sweet tea and a room. Still reeling from a breakup with her longtime partner, Sunny is thankful for the diversion from her own broken heart.

The arrival of a fierce storm forces the women’s emotional journey to a head and leads them into each other’s arms. But can Maddie throw her hangups to the wind and go with her heart? The magic of Bella Key teaches her that passion cannot be placed neatly into boxes labeled right and wrong, because love knows no boundaries.

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Excerpt:

 

“Good shower?”

Maddie stopped in the doorway, holding the knot of her towel to her chest. Wet strands of hair produced rivulets of water streaming down her shoulders and chest. “Like a new woman. Although, my northern skin can’t handle the tropical sun. Look at my shoulders!” Sunny’s gaze moved from one shoulder to another. Maddie was right, she was more than sun-kissed. Her shoulders practically glowed. “Oh, chica. That’s an angry burn you have there. I have some aloe —” Sunny picked up and put down five different bottles from her dressing table. “—ah, here it is. This’ll ease the pain and cut down on the peeling, too.”

Sunny flipped the top and squeezed a quarter-sized dab of the green gel into her palm. She nodded toward her bed, signaling Maddie to sit. Rubbing the aloe between her palms, she rested one knee on the bed beside her. Maddie gathered her wet hair and flipped it over her shoulder to allow Sunny access to the other. Her body shivered under Sunny’s hands.

“Sorry, this stuff’s cold. I tried to warm it up a little.”

Maddie closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. “It’s not that. It feels good on the burn. You have a gentle touch.”

Sunny chuckled. “Scooch over a little so I can get your other side.”

Maddie shifted, lifting her feet onto the bed and tucking them under her legs Indian style. Sunny guided her head forward and massaged the aloe along the base of her neck to her shoulder blades, and down to the edge of the fluffy towel. She bent her knee, providing an anchor for Maddie to lean upon. Her inner thighs grazed the thick towel. Sunny closed her eyes and focused not only on Maddie’s sunburned skin, but also on loosening the muscles along her shoulders and upper back.

“I have a confession to make,” Maddie said quietly.

“Other than this is the best massage you’ve ever received?” Sunny snorted.

“Mmm. That too. I-I watched you last night.” Maddie went a few seconds without taking a breath.

Sunny didn’t waver. “I know you did. You were outside of my door.”

“You knew? Why didn’t you stop or say something?” Maddie kept her eyes closed but turned her head toward Sunny as she spoke.

Sunny added another dab of aloe to her palm. “I liked that you were watching me. It turned me on that you enjoyed it too.”

“Never in my life had I thought I’d be attracted, you know, sexually to a woman. It’s different with you. Many things are different with you.” Maddie’s hand trembled as she touched Sunny’s leg, tracing an imaginary line up and down her calf. The rapid rise and fall of Maddie’s back matched the pounding in Sunny’s chest.

Silence filled the room. Sunny had decided against bringing up the episode from the night before unless Maddie did. Now that it was out in the open, Sunny could find out how Maddie felt for sure. “Different, how?”

“You make me feel so focused and honest and alive. I’ve never had that with anyone else before.” Maddie turned and kneeled in front of Sunny. “Would it be forward if I asked you to kiss me?”

Sunny swallowed hard. “Yes, but I like forward,” she whispered as she cupped Maddie’s face with her palms. Dragging her thumb over Maddie’s bottom lip she realized how many times she wanted to taste her lips and explore her mouth over the past two days. Sunny lowered her face and brushed her lips once over Maddie’s. She drew back to study Maddie’s reaction.

“Again,” Maddie whispered, her eyes remained closed.

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UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Desiree Holt and Cerise DeLand

UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Desiree Holt and Cerise DeLand
Book 2 in the Nemesis Series

She's a strong woman who runs her own high-profile security and protection agency. He's a burned-out agent with Mossad on a personal crusade. But when Adam Molloy saves Nicole Wells' life at a Mexican resort, circumstances bind them together. Not to mention the instant chemistry that is so hot it rivals the Mexican sun. One predatory kiss and Nicki's body melts. They may be after drug dealers and killers, but there's plenty of time for powerful orgasms and inventive erotic activities.

It's soon evident that her would-be killer and Adam's crusade intersect. The chase takes them from the Yucatan Peninsula to Washington, D.C., to a private island in the Bahamas. And the sex takes them to a new level of physical pleasure. Can they win this chase and escape the danger before the killers strike again? And will the pleasure last Until Midnight and for many midnights after that?

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An Excerpt From: UNTIL MIDNIGHT

Copyright © DESIREE HOLT & CERISE DELAND, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One



Nicole Welles drew in a deep breath, inhaling the salt-scented air and listening to the rhythmic lap of ocean waves against the sand. She consciously forced every muscle in her body to relax.

The last two weeks had been a bitch. Financially rewarding but no less than a trip to hell deserved. Nemesis had been contracted by Macmillan Global to retrieve their boss who had been kidnapped by one of the largest drug cartels and held for ransom. Since this particular cartel was known for returning their hostages more dead than alive, Macmillan wanted the boss out right now.

They’d done it. She’d led the team herself. There had been some bloodshed but fortunately not on their side. Now she was trying to decompress in a bungalow at a very private, very exclusive resort on the beach in tiny Costalegre near Puerto Vallarta.

She was thinking about heading back to the villa for a shower and turned over to fish her watch out of her beachbag when a heavy thunk! sounded behind her. Instinctively her brain registered what it was and she rolled off the lounge onto the sand, grabbing for her beachbag where her 9mm was stashed. When she lifted her eyes to see what was happening they were met by a pair of very tanned legs dusted with dark hair.

“I have a gun,” she said, pointing it upward.

“So do I.” The voice was deep and almost gravelly. “Fucking lot of good yours would do you if I planned to kill you. You’d already be toast.”

Keeping a two-handed grip on the gun, she rolled lithely to her knees and then to her feet. Inches away from her stood what she could only think of as a man who was menacingly sexy. And tall. Much taller than she was, which was a trick since she was five ten. Shaggy black hair framed a face defined by deep grooves in the cheeks, a square jaw and startling blue eyes beneath heavy brows and thick lashes.

Dressed in a loose shirt and shorts, every bit of his muscular body she could see was deeply tanned. And the gun he was holding was even bigger than hers. An Israeli Desert Eagle, one she was very familiar with.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“The man who just saved your life.” His voice was deep and hoarse as if he’d been shouting for a long time. “Who are you?”

“What do you mean, saved my life?”

He looked up and down the private stretch of beach, empty except for the two of them. As far as Nicki knew, only three of the resort’s bungalows were occupied at the moment.

“Put away your gun and I’ll show you.”

Put away the gun? She stared at him for a long moment, something weird sizzling between them, then lowered the 9mm to her side.

“That’s as put away as it’s going to get until I know what’s going on around here.”

“Come on.”

He, too, lowered his gun and closed steel fingers around her wrist, tugging her toward the thick groves of palm and coconut trees bordering the beach. Carefully pulling back a prickly bougainvillea he pointed at a body shoved against the roots of the shrub.

Nicki stared. “Who’s that?”

“Since it’s you he was trying to kill, I thought perhaps that was a question you could answer.” His voice had a faint accent to it, one that Nicki was having trouble placing.

She crouched down to get a better look at the body. Dressed in faded jeans and a dark t-shirt, he had the definite darker skin and features of a Hispanic.

“I’d say Mexican at first glance.” She noted the bullet hole in the back of his head and looked up at the man standing next to her. “Your work?”

He nodded. “I was walking down to the beach and saw him lining up to blow your brains out.”

“Look at him. What’s he doing here?” Nicki peered through the dense foliage that crowded the crushed shell pathways. “This place only has eight bungalows and the owners are very particular who occupies them.”

The man made a sound suspiciously like a grunt. “Tell me about it. And they’ve got enough guards here to protect a third world country.”

She nodded. “People like him can’t just walk onto the grounds and wander around at will.”

“So.”

She stood up, still holding her gun by her side. “Yes, so.” Shifting her gun to her left hand she extended her right one. “Since you saved my life I guess I should introduce myself. Nicole Welles.”

His grip was firm and warm, but Nicki wasn’t prepared for the little currents of electricity that raced through her body when their skin made contact. She schooled herself to retrieve her hand smoothly rather than yank it away, her first reaction.

“Adam Molloy.”

They stared at each other.

“Well, then.” She looked down at the body again. “We need to do something about the trash here.”

“I don’t think we want to take him up to the main building and call the police. Someone sent him. He didn’t conjure this up all by himself. Let’s stash him somewhere and let his bosses wonder what happened to him.”

She looked at him with a speculative gaze. “Interesting solution. Are you someone I should be afraid of?”

He smiled, white even teeth flashing against his dark skin and one dimple winking at the corner of his mouth. “Hey, I’m the guy who saved your life, remember?”

“Yeah, but you could have done that to get close to me.” She took a cautious step backward.

“If I wanted you dead, Miss Welles, you’d already be lying here next to this idiot.”

She realized suddenly that she was wearing the tiniest bikini she’d been able to find and Adam Molloy was letting his eyes take a slow journey over her body. She turned slightly so he couldn’t see the instant puckering of her barely covered nipples. Well, wasn’t this a fine mess. She had no idea who this man really was, who the man was who’d tried to kill her, and her body, all on its own, was thinking about sex.

“Let’s clean the place up.” Molloy’s deep voice cut into her thoughts. He shoved his gun into the waistband of his shorts at the small of his back and lifted the body as if it weighed nothing, hard muscles flexing beneath the tanned skin. “Why don’t you gather your belongings from the beach while I handle this…situation. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He strode away without waiting for an acknowledgment from her.

Nicki stared after his figure as it disappeared onto the trees. What an arrogant ass. And who exactly was Adam Molloy that he was staying in this very private place? Besides a walking sex machine, that is.

Nicole! Snap out of it. Find out what the hell is going on.

She stomped back to where her things still lay next to the lounge she’d been using. Picking up the sarong that matched her bathing suit, she wrapped it around herself and knotted it under one arm. She stowed her gun in her beachbag, drew the drawstring tight and slung it over her shoulder. She was halfway back to her bungalow when tall, dark and mysterious Adam Molloy materialized seemingly out of nowhere.

She stopped in the middle of the path. “Finished already? What did you do, feed him to the fish?”

There was that smile again, making her knees suddenly week and the pulse deep in her womb thump out its rhythm. Holy shit! Nicole Welles never reacted this way. Not to any man. Oh, she was far from a stranger to sex but it was always carefully planned and on her terms. She never allowed herself to react this way.

It must be the situation. It’s not every day someone tries to assassinate me.

“In a matter of speaking. I’ll tell you all the gory details if you buy me a drink.”

“I don’t think I’m much in the mood for the bar. And I’d like to try to find out who that idiot with the gun is. Was.”

He took her arm and urged her along. Her feet moved as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Me, neither. But I’ll bet your bungalow has a fully stocked bar. I know mine does.”

She stopped, pulling against his hold. “We’re not going to your bungalow.”

“No. We’re going to yours.” He tugged her forward again. “Don’t you want to figure out who that guy is and how he got here?”

“I don’t think the answers are at my place.”

“Right. That’s where we’re going to talk about this and dig for answers. Come on.”

She found herself at the door to her bungalow, wondering how he even knew which one was hers. Oh, right. With so few people on the grounds he’d probably scoped out all the guests as soon as he checked in. And when exactly had that been?

“Aren’t you going to open the door?” He had just a touch of amusement in his voice. “It’s not polite to keep people standing outside. Not to mention possibly dangerous.”

Nicki pulled out her key card, shoved it into the slot and pushed the handle down. The artificially cooled air hit her warm skin with a frigid blast. She hurried to adjust the thermostat and threw her bag on a table, then moved behind the built-in bar.

“All right. I suppose I do owe you a drink. And I do want some answers. What’s your pleasure?”

His mouth curved in a wicked smile. “If I said ‘you’, would I be overstepping my bounds?”


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LIGHT ME UP by Rebecca Royce

LIGHT ME UP by Rebecca Royce

Ruth has been a vampire for sixty-five years after being assaulted by a vampire during World War II while her family hid from the Nazis. One night, she is drawn to a house where they are celebrating Hanukkah and the candles are burning in the window. There, she meets a man, Benjamin Fox, who is immune to her vampire charms. Ben is thirty-five years old and dying of a heart problem he's had since he was a child.

Together, they will form a friendship that could be so much more if either could allow it. But when Ben is about to succumb to his illness, Ruth must decide whether to give in to his wishes and make him a vampire too. She is, he's decided, his ultimate Hanukkah gift.

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Excerpt:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Her father had made them learn it both ways. He'd been so sure that someday they'd come to America. He'd told her stories, tons of them, about what their life would be like when they did. He wanted them to be able to pray in the language of the country he told them would be their home.

She didn't think of her family often, and when she did it was as if she remembered someone else's life. Her mother with her round, soft face and gentle voice had been the keeper of all the traditions in their lives. She made sure they got to synagogue on Saturday for services; she made sure they went again on Sundays to study. Even the women, she had told them, had things to learn.

Her brothers would make Bar Mitzvah, well, some of them would. The ones who had lived to be thirteen. The others had studied but never had their turn to perform the ceremony. At least, she didn't think they had. It was possible some of them survived the Holocaust, although it wasn't likely. She'd thought it best she not find out if they lived as she was technically not alive, and her undead arrival might cause them stress.

They'd been a big family. Five girls, six boys. She could no longer remember all of their names. One by one, they had slipped away into the oblivion where her mind put her human memories. So few coherent thoughts about those dead children remained. She was the oldest. Twenty-two when she'd had the blood drained from her body, replaced by the Vampire venom that had made her a creature of the night.

Her father, grey-haired, stooped over from sewing all day, was a tailor; a highly respected member of their community.

He had never gotten to the United States. His little Ruthie had, but not in any way her dead Papa could possibly have imagined.

The three children whose voices beckoned her from her darkness stood in front of the window of the house facing the night. Ruth hunted for blood on this block a lot. Beautiful colonial houses that had seen better days lined the quiet street. The neighborhood was called 'run down.' The elderly tended not to report aches and pains or strange bite marks they found on their bodies, dismissing most things as just being part of old age, which made it an ideal hunting ground for her.

All blood tasted the same to Ruth. It didn't matter if it came from a baby, a marathon runner, or a person on death's door. All she cared about was that she got to feed.

This particular house, the ones with the shutters she thought of as yellow, and even then that was a guess because she hadn't seen that shade in sixty-five years, was home to an old woman who seemed to reside by herself. Tonight, however, and maybe that was because of the holiday, it was filled with people. She could hear their heartbeats inside. At least four adults accompanied the three children who stood by the window.

Ruth looked up at the sky. Darkness had won its nightly battle with the sun, and once again the world around seemed dark and devoid of light. They'd said the prayer late. When she'd been a child, it had always been done at sunset. Apparently it was her lucky night. If they'd done it when they should have, she wouldn't have seen it. Being a Vampire meant staying hidden until complete darkness, unless you wanted to die.

So far Ruth had no interest in that.

She heard the cab approach seconds before any regular human ears would hear it. Ducking back into the shadows, she smelled the two humans —both male— inside the car. The driver, an older gentleman, took the money from his passenger, a man she would guess to be in his mid-thirties, and left him out on the curb.

He stood with his back to her, so she couldn't see his face. His posture, however, spoke volumes. His shoulders slumped, and his head hung low. As he stood facing the house, his back started to shake. A low sound caught her attention, and she slid forward.

The man sobbed on the side of the road. Each silent step she took gave her new pieces of information about him. First and foremost, there was something very wrong with his heart. At first it beat too fast, and then it skipped a beat, resuming its struggle again too slowly. There was no way he wasn't aware of it, and for a second Ruth wondered if he would expire as he stood there on the street.

As she crept closer, his heartbeat regulated itself sounding more normal although still off. She might expect this kind of thing from an older person, but the unknown male who still could be her dinner for the evening was only in his thirties. What a shame, she thought distantly, it was never nice to see a person cut down in their prime by human weakness.

Suddenly, the man ceased his crying and whirled around. Ruth stopped her approach and regarded him. How had he known she was there? She hadn't made a sound he would be able to hear.

Shrugging, she decided she didn't care. She'd wanted to see him, and she was going to. He wouldn't remember his encounter unless she wanted him to. Being a Vampire was convenient in that way.

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REVEALING THORN by Chrismas Knight

REVEALING THORN by Charisma Knight

Demon slayer Thorn Magnusson is paid a visit by Wolfe McCoy, leader of Bad Boys Inc, and coerced into accepting an assignment that will clear his record, for good. His mission is to protect sassy witch, Lena Hendrix from Dirik, a descendant of Grendel.

From the moment he laid eyes on her, Lena invoked feelings deep within Thorn he couldn't understand, or ignore. Their bond strengthens every moment they are together, and eventually he lowers his defenses, while continuing to harbor his dark secret. Who will protect Thorn's heart from the sensual vixen once she discovers his true identity?

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Excerpt:

Lena had just sat down to enjoy a slice of sweet potato pie and a cup of coffee after working the entire day. The diner was deserted, thankfully, and now she had some time to herself. Soon, she’d be closing up and going home. She cursed when she heard the bell to the door, and her mouth dropped open when she saw him. Her instincts had been correct. Her heart fluttered. It was Thorn Magnusson, badass of Cecil High. His presence was overwhelming, and she knew he approached before she laid eyes on him.

She’d crushed on him secretly back then. However, she’d worried what her peers would think of her had she dated him. When he asked her out, she was astonished, but when Myra Jenkins and Betty Hau approached, she’d rejected him just to appease them. What a damn fool she had been!

He must be about six-foot-five. She marveled at his physique and the way he strolled into the diner with brazen confidence. Fire shot through her insides as he glanced in her direction and headed toward a booth nestled in the corner. The magnifying aura around him told her he was not from these parts. His face was stern, his jaw tight, and squared. The telltale signs of age were politely chiseled into his handsome features.

His long, blond hair was pulled back neatly into a ponytail. She shivered as she imagined running her fingers through the silken strands. He hadn’t changed. It all came back to her now. Folks in school stayed far away from him, and for good reason. There was something dangerous about him, something magnetizing, and it drew her near.

Her heart lurched when he sat down, capturing her in his gaze. There was a hint of mischief in those sparkling blue eyes of his. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she averted her eyes straight ahead, not wanting him to see she was ogling him, but it was too late. Heart damn near beating through her chest, she glanced over again. He was still watching her like a hawk. Moisture seeped between her thighs as he continued staring at her. Looking down at the slice of pie, she exhaled, knowing she’d have to take his order.

Blessed with the power to read thoughts, she stole a peek into his mind and was surprised to discover that she shocked and captivated him all in one sitting. She shuddered as he grinned when she slowly rose to her feet, making her way to his side of the diner. Hell, she sure hoped she wouldn’t trip over her own feet. He had that effect on her.

“Hola, stranger!” She noticed his uneasiness when she approached him. She had to be in control of her emotions, had to act like he was just an old friend.

“In the flesh!” he exclaimed with a grin that sent her heart fluttering and her body on fire. It intrigued her to discover he still carried a torch for her.

“What can I get you tonight?” She sure as hell hoped a single cup of coffee would do so she could end her day.

“You, spread out underneath me.”

Hell no, he did not just say that! she thought to herself as anger flickered deep inside her.

“God, she’s so beautiful.”

“What did you say, you ass?” Her chest tightened. She’d open a can of whoop ass on him if he wasn’t careful.

“Uh oh,” she heard him say to himself as he tightened his fist. “I didn’t say anything.” “Oh shit!” She heard him say again.

“Oh shit is right!” She was ready to bust him out, but didn’t want to let on she could read his mind.

“Lena.”

She watched him closely as he cleared his throat. “Look, if this is some kind of joke or something, you can—”

He held his hands up. “Relax, I just need to talk to you.”

“Get the hell away from me. I’ll have you thrown out of here.”

“Do you plan to throw me out on your own?”

“If it comes down to it.”

His chuckling pissed her off. The thought of slapping the taste buds out of his mouth crossed her mind, but she’d be civil, for now.

“You’re in danger, and not from me!”

Before the man could say anything else, a horrid stench infiltrated her nostrils. The thick aura clung to her like a snug-fitting glove. Something she did not want to happen was about to occur.

She backed up, shaking her head. She felt their connection, and it scared the living shit out of her. “Leave me alone or I’ll scratch your damn eyes out! I swear it.”

“I’ve got to get you out of here!” He rose and took her by the arm, but it was already too late. The ground trembled beneath them, and a hideous form in black appeared before their eyes. The pale creature with black eyes peered at the inhabitants of the diner who ran out the side door screaming for their lives.

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CATCALLING CATHERINE by Cheryl Dragon

CATCALLING CATHERINE by Cheryl Dragon

Call it a compliment. Call it offensive. The whistles and shouts of hot, young construction workers have become Catherine's latest sexual obsession. To protect her professional reputation, Catherine uses a service to fulfill her blue-collar fantasy and the two men hired for the job, complete with hard hats and hard-ons, do it just right. Problem solved - or so she thought.

One fantasy isn't enough for Tony. Catherine failed to recognize him as part of the crew who remodeled her office. After the best sex of his life, he wants more - their combined fantasies with no services, no secrets. Anywhere, anytime and anything she wants, if she can handle a little reality in her fantasy life.

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An Excerpt From: CATCALLING CATHERINE

Copyright © CHERYL DRAGON, 2010

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One



Walking back to her office building with her lunch, Catherine enjoyed the warm summer sun. New York had fabulous weather today and she ignored the noisy traffic and construction. Luckily she wasn’t walking with a judge or legal colleague. It was inevitable.

The hooting and whistling from the construction workers began as soon as she was in sight and continued after she’d passed by. Catherine had worked hard to make partner at the prestigious old law firm Archibald and Whitney. At forty-four she’d achieved her career goals and wasn’t about to let harassing men keep her from a nice day. Still, she’d learned not to conduct any work walking by construction workers.

She simply pressed her lips together and looked away. Ice queen, an unoriginal nickname around the firm, but she took pride in it. The only female partner, she hadn’t slept her way to the top. She’d won her cases and worked hard. Professional was professional and anything personal remained completely separate. When in doubt, she did what a man would do and beat them at their own game.

When she entered the building, Catherine relaxed a bit. Once in her thirtieth floor office, she felt in charge again. The dark wood and marble desk, the huge windows and the legal admins who feared her…this was her element.

Still the dirty comments of sweaty and muscled men hung in her mind. Her body reacted completely opposite to her mind. The tingling of arousal had to be ignored in favor of work.

Unwrapping her sandwich, Catherine spotted her admin peeking in the slightly open door. Catherine waved Sara in. “It’s beautiful outside. Go get some air.” The only downside of her office was the huge windows didn’t open.

“I need to study. Maybe I should try it outside?” The pretty young woman smiled. “Here are your messages.”

“Thanks. I’m not sure you’d get any actual studying down with those construction workers. I don’t know what they think will happen, making all that noise.”

“You let them get to you. Just smile, put your ear buds in and act like you can’t hear them. They do it for the reaction.” Sara shrugged.

“They’re not children.” Catherine wanted to be outraged but the image of many of them, shirtless but for the bright safety vests, wet her sexual appetite. The hard hats. The sunglasses. The muscles.

“Catherine? Hello?” Sara snapped her fingers. “You okay? Maybe you got too much sun. You work too hard. Take half a day off.”

Shaking off the fantasy, Catherine bit into her sandwich. “I’m fine. It’s humid out there.”

“Okay, I’m going to the coffee shop downstairs. Want anything?”

“Caramel coffee. Iced. Thanks.” Catherine handed over some cash and tried to focus on the messages Sara left.

As soon as the door closed, Catherine pulled out her private cell phone. All summer with these construction workers would make her crazy. She needed to get rid of the fantasy or she’d do something stupid.

She logged in to her private account at Elite Fantasy Match and reviewed the fantasy she’d input last week. It wasn’t posted, only in review for her eyes. The service matched people discreetly to fulfill fantasies. No real names, never at home, they used an upscale hotel and false names plus a safe word to break the fantasy roll play scenario.

The service had saved her several times over the years. Always safe and discreet, that was exactly what she needed. A judge she’d dated as a young lawyer introduced her to it. No wild clubs or key parties permitted if you wanted to make partner or be a judge someday. That guy turned out to be too kinky for Catherine’s tastes but she used the service still.

The fantasy was basic, uptight executive woman needs to be roughly satisfied by two hot construction workers. They catcalled her and she had them written up. It was silly back story but it added a layer for her. In the notes, it spelled out what was acceptable and her limits. Her pussy throbbed just reading it over. Her trembling thumb activated the fantasy request.

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DAMAGED CARGO by Sandra Sookoo

DAMAGED CARGO - A emotion-packed space drama-turned-erotic tale by Sandra Sookoo

When survival is of the utmost importance, it's best to shoot first and ask questions later, especially if you won't like the answers.

The 22nd century is heinous. Finding a comfortable life in the Levinese Galaxy grows increasingly difficult.

Emma Gardine, one of a handful of female pirate captains in this throwback Victorian society, begs, borrows, steals and cheats her way through the planetary system on the hunt of a profit. An expert of guarding her heart and keeping people out, she never shows remorse and uses people until she gets what she wants, yet the hope for a normal life glimmers just beyond her reach. Then she meets Tarik Vartouth and her world splinters with new emotions and possibilities.

Tarik survived the murder of his sisters and the collapse of his laid-back existence. He's sick of the mandatory breeding programs for genetic supremacy on Nazulara that sends innocent people to death and desires to campaign for democracy for his species. When the opportunity to befriend Emma is presented, he takes it and makes a play for her ship in order to carry out his own plot for revenge against his father - the Premier and ruler of the planet. Stakes are raised when sparks between him and Emma fly. Now their future and Nazulara's, hangs in the balance.


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Excerpt:

Illumination from a few overhead light bulbs cast distorted, lengthening shadows on the metal grating of the floor. Emma’s boot heels echoed in the cavernous space. She didn’t try to disguise her approach; she wanted Tarik to know she was coming. Stacks of freight boxes rose around her like silent sentries.

And then she saw him.

He stood near one of the boxes she couldn’t open earlier with several empty plastic containers at his feet, obviously done with the job of watering the cargo. She mentally berated herself for feeling sorry from his tale of genetic selection just so he could hitch a ride. No more.

“You son of a bitch.” She strode over the floor. Tarik turned to face her as if he expected she’d rush to the cargo hold exactly like she’d done. Anger boiled in her veins and spilled out to cause her pulse to pound at her temples. “You brought the live cargo onto my ship.”

“Think again. I merely heard the knocking and had the know-how to open the lock.” His voice was mocking enough, but it was the smirk and barely lifted eyebrow that set Emma off. “No matter, Captain Gardine. They’ve been watered and should survive until someone checks on them tomorrow.”

“Bastard.” She threw herself into his personal space, pleased when he crashed into the freight container. “You endangered my crew and put my ship in jeopardy. As it is, we’re in a shitload of trouble.”

“Oh, you do care about someone else beside yourself.” Tarik shoved her away, sidestepping her next attack. “And here I thought you were ice all the way down to your core. You must not be since rumor has it you warm beds at every port you put into.”

“You’ll never know for sure.” Grabbing his arm, she planted her hip and flipped him over her body, much the same way she’d done in the Marketplace, except, this time, he didn’t go down like a sack of vegetables. He landed on his feet and slammed her against a shipping container on the other side of the aisle. The back of her head glanced off the metal. She briefly saw bright spots behind her eyes before blinking. “You’ll pay for that.” She raised a hand, determined to slap his hated face. He blocked her as if she were a child who threw a tantrum. “Damn it.” Taking a chance, she lifted her left hand. His free hand darted out and grasped hers.

“Too bad, sweetheart. Looks like you’re losing your edge.”

Emma stared at him in the dim light. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths from the exertion, and she struggled in his hold. It didn’t lessen; instead, Tarik pressed her arms against the cool metal of the container. He held her wrists firm in his fingers. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll release me at once.”

“That’s exactly the problem. I don’t know what’s good for me.” His own breathing was heavy. “If I did, I certainly wouldn’t be here.” Tarik pressed against her, effectively pinning her to the freight container and stopping her knee before it could find its mark between his legs.

The blueness of his eyes drew her in and the smug smile that curved his lips muffled the last of her sanity. Emma held his gaze, tested the strength of his hold, and when he still wouldn’t release her, she did the only thing she could think of that would shock him.

She thrust her head forward and pushed her mouth against his. At first, the hard set to his lips resisted the assault. Slowly, they softened with acceptance. All too soon, it was over and he pulled away. His gaze bore into hers for a few long seconds, then he returned the impromptu kiss.

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WOLF'S MAGIC by Rebecca Royce

WOLF'S MAGIC by Rebecca Royce is the story of Azriel Kane, fifth brother in the royal Westervelt wolf pack. Always different from his siblings, Azriel prefers to spend his time underground in a lab than out fighting battles to save the pack from destruction. In his own way, he feels he is contributing to the pack's success. However, when fate plants his destined mate in a cage where he can't ignore her, Az will be forced to face up the demons that have plagued him since childhood and be the shifter she needs him to be.

Leah St. James has no idea who she is or how she came to be trapped in a cage in Azriel's lab. The only thing she is certain about is that she is not a wolf and that she wants out of her false wolf body as soon as possible. Counting on Az to save her from the same doomed fate as the other wolves Az is given to study, from the distance of her cage she can see Az for who he really is and not the false front he presents to the world.

But Kendrick Kane is not done with Westervelt and when he steps up his game to eliminate the Kanes from Westervelt, Az and Leah will need each other to discover the truth behind his evil plans, that is if Azriel can finally reveal the secret he has been keeping since he was a child.
With Leah's help, can Azriel finally take his place in the pack hierarchy or will they fail and lose Westervelt forever?

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Chapter One


Leah woke up covered in brown and white fur still trapped in a cage. Dear God, please let me not be a wolf, please let it all be a dream.

Blinking twice, she looked down, her whole body deflating as she realized it wasn’t a dream--she was actually covered in fur. How could any of this be happening? Her moments of lucidity were becoming fewer and fewer and even more frightening were the fact that her memories of her insane times had grown more vague. Now, not only could she not control what she did when the madness overtook her, she also had no recollection of what happened.

Maybe it was a blessing. The things she’d remembered from the earlier episodes had left her feeling horrified.

And then there was him, the man who watched her from outside the cage. Other wolves came and went from the cages, he paid attention to them, but not like he’d been attentive to her. Not to mention she couldn’t figure out why all of the other wolves--or maybe they were actually people trapped in wolf bodies too--got to go somewhere and she was kept locked in her cage.

She couldn’t talk, couldn’t do more than growl or whine, and even those abilities were pathetic at best. The beagle she’d grown up with, Max, had done a better job of communicating than she could.

The man stood up from his desk. When he wasn’t poking and prodding at her or the others, admittedly gently, he was always sitting at that black wooden table that seemed to function as his work station, hunched over a book or staring at a computer screen. The last she remembered before she’d had her previous episode was him falling asleep in the chair, head down on the desk. Didn’t he ever leave? Wasn’t there some family somewhere wondering where he was?

On that same note...wasn’t there someone looking for her?

That was part of the problem. Other than her name--Leah St. James--and the absolute certainty to the pit of her soul that she was not a wolf and should not be in the body she inhabited, she had no idea--zero--who or where she came from.

The man’s hair, brown to the point of almost being black, stuck up like he was a child instead of an adult she guessed to be around thirty years of age. Thin but broad shouldered, he was muscular and looked like he could handle himself in a fight. Hmmm...that was a funny thing to think. Evidently she was the kind of person who thought of others in terms of their ability to fight. Did that mean she came from someplace violent?

His destination was clearly her cage. All the others were empty. Her heart picked up speed. She admitted it; she liked looking at his eyes. It was fun seeing the concentration and intensity in his brown-eyed gaze. Also, his smell was enticing. His scent reminded her of water, or at least the way the ocean smelled on a clear, crisp morning when no one else was on the beach.

She added the thought to the pile of interesting observations she was making about her inner dialogue. Maybe some of it would give her a clue as to who she was.

“Hello there.”

Huh, usually he didn’t speak other than unintelligible mutterings when he took her temperature or swabbed one of her claws. It’s not like she could answer him. Still, if he wanted to talk at least it was nice to hear someone else’s voice...

“Can you understand me?”

His voice was like chocolate syrup being poured over vanilla ice cream. It was just a perfect combination of taste and texture, like the universe had designed those two things to go together, in other words it was heavenly. She shivered from the intensity.

He noticed her small shake and hesitantly reached inside the cage. She couldn’t blame him for his nerves. She was a wolf, she might bite him. After a moment, he reached farther and stroked her fur.

“Are you okay? Are you cold?” He drew his eyebrows down in a slant. “You’re eyes are so intelligent, so different from the others.”

Others? Did he mean the wolves that came and went? She flipped her head around just to make sure there weren’t any others around that she didn’t know about. Belatedly, she realized she could sniff the air to tell but using her nose to know anything was still pretty foreign to her. Half the time she wasn’t sure what any of the sensory input she received even meant.

“And your fur...it’s brown and white, it still hasn’t lost its luster. It’s soft.” He was downright petting her now. She wished she were a cat, so she could purr. Oh wow, when was the last time she’d been touched? She closed her eyes. Really touched? He was gentle and he knew all the right places to rub. Behind her ears, it really itched; he moved his hand and scratched there. Her tongue fell out of her mouth.

Dear heavens, she panted. Her eyes flew open. If she were human, she would blush with humiliation. Here was this stunning man just barely touching her and she was acting like a real wolf for goodness sake. Daring to look at him, she didn’t see the horror she expected to find at her behavior.

Instead, he seemed to be considering her even more closely. He’d put both hands in the cage. With one he continued to scratch between her ears while the other made long, divine strokes up and down her spine.

“You like that, girlie? I bet that feels better.” He leaned his head up against the bars of the cage and she could see that a small scar, a thin line really, marred his face from the tip of his left eye down to his chin. It wasn’t noticeable from afar but up close it gave him a sexy, scary look. “Can I tell you a secret? I’m not sure how much more of this I can do. I’m so tired of all of you dying. I’m exhausted from not being able to figure this out.” Dying? Terror poured through her blood, she wished she could scream but it only came out a whimper. He stroked her harder. “Did you actually understand what I just said?”

Staring straight in his eyes, she willed him to understand that she did--she knew everything he was telling her.

Pulling his head off the cage, he nodded. “You did. None of the others ever could. I’m sure of it.” This seemed to excite him. She could hear his heart rate increased. The wolf senses would be cool if they weren’t so terrifying and bizarre.

“Okay, listen to me. I don’t know how they did this to you. I know everything about wolf magic, I’m an expert and even I can’t figure out how the witches did this to all of you. We thought at first that after the change they addicted you to a chemical to make you obey but now we know that’s not true. You all just like the stuff so you go looking for it. With or without it, you’ll die.”

She had no idea what he was talking about. Wolf magic? The change? She whined in confusion.

“All right, I’ll start over. Do you remember what happened to you? Do you remember when the witches did this to you?”

She lowered her head onto her paws. It was so frustrating to not be able to speak. No, she wanted to scream, I have no idea, I have no memory and did you say witches?

An alarm sounded in the room, loud and piercing it caused pain to vibrate through her body like nothing she’d ever felt before. The man jumped back like he’d been struck, he jerked around.

“Shit. They’re here.”

Who was here and what was that alarm? Couldn’t he make it stop? She was howling now and she couldn’t seem to stop.

A boom sounded in the room momentarily covering the alarm. A bright orange light temporarily blinded her. Oh God, this was panic. Anything she’d felt before being locked in the cage and being a wolf was nothing compared to this. What the hell was going on? Was she going to die in this cage?

Smoke filled the air. She choked and gagged. This was hell. These wolf senses in this place with these horrors happening were too much. She needed it to stop. Where was the man? What had happened to him? She hadn’t seen him since the bright light that had blinded her. Had he died in the explosion?

The cage shook from beneath. It jarred her like she was on an airplane not quite steady in the sky. Two hands appeared on the cage bars in front of her followed immediately by the man’s face as he pulled himself up. He was coughing, his eyes unfocused.

He pulled keys out of his pocket and inserted them into the lock. After turning it, he opened the cage.

“Run.” He coughed, his eyes losing their focus as he collapsed to the floor.

She leapt out of the cage onto the floor. It had, evidently, been some time since she’d used her legs. They felt unsteady and difficult to move. Her heart pounded hard as she stared down at the man who had kept her captive in a cage for weeks. He’d been gentle when he’d touched her and she’d actually been able to start communicating with him just minutes earlier. Plus, it seemed like he’d hurt himself to set her free.

Not to mention there was probably no way in hell she was going to stop being a wolf without his help. Ignoring the voice in the back of her head that wanted her to acknowledge she also thought he was adorably cute, she bit down hard on his shoulder.

He didn’t even react to the assault from her teeth. Dragging him as hard as she could, she realized she’d never have been able to do this as a human. He’d be way too big for her to manage with her hands but her wolf abilities were stronger. They’d made it to the back of the lab and up some of the stairs huffing and puffing from the exertion when she smelled the people behind her.

Dropping the man for a second, she lunged around. The door to the lab was closed and someone--she sniffed the air--no two people were pounding on it and shouting. She forced herself to listen past the siren. What were they saying?

“Azriel, can you hear us?” Pound, pound, pound. “They welded the door closed from the outside. Hang on in there, brother. We’re getting it open.”

Someone had welded the door closed? She growled at the thought. This was horrendous. People died in fires and lord knew with all of this fur she was getting really hot. The man on the outside had called him brother. Was that a term of endearment, like you might call someone ‘man’ or ‘buddy’ or were the people out there his family?

Leah shook her head from side to side. No, she couldn’t go through this alone. Maybe it was wimpy to admit it but she was terrified of dying in the flames that she could see were rapidly approaching the staircase. Bending her head, she licked the man’s face. He needed to wake up. Maybe there was another way out of the lab. He needed to tell her.

The man groaned, his head moving from side to side before his lids opened showing his brown eyes. He coughed, violently. Covering his mouth with his arm he sat up as he looked at her. One hand reached out and stroked the top of her head. “Hey, lady-wolf, did you drag me over here? I told you to run.”

Well, she wasn’t any frickin’ good at following directions evidently. If she lived through this she would add it to the list of things she was learning about herself. Gesturing with her head, she whimpered at the door.

The man narrowed his eyes and struggled to his feet. She noticed he dragged one leg behind the other slightly, an old wound or something that had happened today? She didn’t remember seeing him do it before. As if the limp didn’t bother him, he took the stairs two at a time.

“Theo, Gabriel...is that you?” He shouted over the noise toward the door.

“Az, fuck, that’s a relief. We’ve almost got it open.”

The man nodded, which she found funny considering the people on the outside of the door couldn’t see it. It was almost as if he was talking to himself in his own head. Leah thought the man who had answered from the outside, either Theo or Gabriel, sounded genuinely relieved.

“No, no...listen...speak to me with your voice, okay? I’m not alone in here. The wolf--the one I’ve told you about, the one who hasn’t died--she’s with me, she saved my life, Theo.” He turned to look at her. “She’s really something, she can understand me, which means, if you can, speak so she can hear us too, just in case something happens to me.”

“Alright. Are you sure the fumes aren’t getting to you?”

The man laughed. C’mon, they were going to die and she’d placed all of her hopes on a person who found something about this funny? Maybe it was she who wasn’t right in the head.

“I’m sure, Theo.” The man turned back to her and crouched down. He turned his head back to the door and shouted. “Listen, I’m going to shift to get some extra protection from the flames. Keep talking aloud.” Reaching forward, he pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear. “Don’t be afraid. It’s still me.”

Internally, she gasped as a warm, blinding light surrounded the man--no wait, she had heard his name, and what was it?--Azriel shifted in front of her eyes into a wolf. His limbs reshaped quickly, dark brown fur pushing out of his arms and legs to recover him. He shook his head and the eyes that stared at her were wolf eyes.

She blinked twice. It was all so familiar, like she’d seen it before. Not that she’d seen it happen to him but to someone whose face she couldn’t recall. Maybe it had happened to her. How else would she have become a wolf? Azriel, the wolf, moved forward, nudging her with his head to get closer to the door. He’d told her not to be afraid and strangely enough, she wasn’t. The fire and the smoke had taken up most of her nerves. Azriel’s turning into a wolf was nothing in comparison to the rest of it. Besides, maybe it meant he could teach her to do it and then she could shift back too.

Following him to the door, she heard one last pound. Turning around, she saw the black and grey smoke making its way up the stairs. She’d never be able to breathe that stuff. If it reached them, they’d have very little time to get away before they both suffocated.

The door flew open. She didn’t need to be told to run through it. Azriel hung back until she passed him and darted through the entrance first. After the blazing heat of the lab, the outside felt freezing. She shivered as she looked at the two men who were shouting for them to move away from the door.

They were tall--maybe taller than Azriel--but she could see the family resemblance immediately. The same dark hair and high cheekbones on each of them meant that they were family traits. But to Leah, that’s where the similarities stopped. In the afternoon sun, she could see that their eyes, although brown, were not as kind or warm as Azriel’s had been.

Just the same, she ran after them, turning around to see if Azriel followed. He was but that wasn’t what made her feet falter. The door that had been opened led underground. She’d been so busy getting free she hadn’t noticed she’d had to travel up three steps to reach the outside once she’d gotten through the entrance. She’d been trapped in an underground lab?

What the hell was this place? She sniffed the air as she looked around. It looked as if she was deep in the middle of the woods. Whatever was going on, Azriel and the rest of these people had held her in a cage in an underground lab in the middle of the woods. It was like something out of a teenage angst novel.

Note to self, evidently she knew about teenage angst novels. She sighed and it came out of her mouth like a moan.

Strong arms picked her off the ground. She yelped before she realized it was Azriel and relaxed.

He turned as he held her to the taller of the two men. “Give me that blanket.”

Looking down she became suddenly aware that Azriel was completely naked as he held her. She gulped, at least internally. His body, well the parts she could see since she was held up against him, was sculpted like Michelangelo’s David. It was as if someone had decided to sculpt the perfect man and Azriel had been created. Of course, a very important portion of the male anatomy was totally hidden from her view...

She shook her head. It was disgusting that she was even thinking about it. Did she need to make a mental note that perhaps she was a sex addict or maybe it had just been a very long time since she’d had sex? No, she had to quit that line of thinking. Clearly, she was not focusing on the things she needed to be thinking about at that current time.

“Here.” One of the other men, the taller of the two who had scars on his face, handed Azriel a blanket, which he quickly wrapped around her. Grateful for the warmth, she again wished she could wrap herself up in it and never move.

“Dude,” the shorter of the two brothers spoke. “She has fur, you’re buck naked. We brought the blanket for you.”

“Thanks, but I’m okay. The lady wolf has been down in the lab for several months--it’s always hot--and she’s just been through a fire. I don’t want her to catch a chill.”

“That’s awful considerate of you, little brother.” It was the taller of the two again. So far, Leah preferred him to the other one.

Azriel coughed. “Who did it?”

“We were hoping you could tell us.”

“How could I do that?”

“The magic alarm went off and then we saw on the monitors that your place was on fire. By the time we got here, the door was welded shut.”

She snuggled closer to Azriel, he still smelled like the ocean, as he had in the lab, but now he also smelled like the woods after a storm and that made her smile. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and the three men started walking. At the moment, she had no idea where they were going and for some reason she was completely fine with that.

“I never saw who firebombed the room. I was overwhelmed with the smell--you know that sick, sour milk smell that spreads before the fire from one of those things starts?”

The other two nodded their assent.

The shorter brother spoke again. “You’re holding her kind of tight there, Az. What have you been doing down there in that lab with her for so long?”

Leah wished she could bite him. If she had to be a wolf, maybe she should act like one. It could be fun.

“She can understand you, remember?” Azriel sighed and she remembered her impression of him from earlier in the day. He was tired, the kind of tired where he’d long since noticed how exhausted he really was. She thought there was an expression for that: bone weary.

She wondered why she cared.

Az continued. “I’ve been trying to figure out why she’s still alive.”

“Does she behave any differently than the others?” This time she appreciated the shorter one’s questions. She’d like to know the answers to that too considering she couldn’t really remember too many details since she’d opened her eyes about an hour earlier. No, that wasn’t entirely true; she knew lots of things about Azriel, just nothing about anything else. Was that odd?

“She has longer times of clarity--or at least as far as I can tell it’s clarity. I only started talking to her this morning so I don’t know if she’s been able to understand me this whole time or if it’s a recent development that’s going to precipitate some kind of change.” He paused. “I’m hoping it’s not the kind of scenario where she gets absolute understanding before she completely degrades and then dies.”

Oh wow, she hoped that too. Please, please, please don’t let it be that.

As if remembering that she understood him perfectly, he gave her a squeeze. “Anyway, she does have episodes where she is like the others: aggressive, almost feral, and desperate for the serum. I keep waiting for her physical appearance to alter like the others. Her fur should be falling out or oily and disgusting, her eyes should be glazing over. One of the last stages is the drool. It’s everywhere and damn if it doesn’t stink something fierce.”

The shorter man took a sniff. “She smells pretty good to me. For a wolf, she has a scent resemblance to lilacs.”

A growl formed from Azriel’s throat that had Leah’s ears poking backwards. She shivered; in no way did she like that sound.

“You don’t need to be smelling her, Gabriel.”

“I can smell whoever I want. What is the matter with you?”

The taller man laughed aloud, his eyes filled with laughter. “Oh boy, do I remember this phase; I all but killed Rex.”

Azriel’s whole body had gotten very still. All Leah could feel was the beating of his heart. “What does that mean, Theo?”

“It means from the way you’re behaving towards that ‘made’ wolf, Azriel, I would say the reason she is still alive and not altered like the others is because she is your mate.” Theo patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the party, brother.”

His what? Okay, someone was going to have to explain that. Wolf or no wolf she was going to make them go into more detail about exactly what that meant. She knew nothing about herself. No way could she be his ‘mate’. It was simply out of the question.

She might have a husband at home waiting for her; searching all over the place and not knowing that she had somehow become a wolf. Azriel’s ocean scent mixed with the smell of the woods hit her again and she wanted to smile.

Maybe it wasn’t such an impossibility that she belonged to him, but it was still scary as hell.

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