Master No (51 page)

After a few moments, all the voices drifted away until all he could hear was her. The blonde shark he’d been caught by.

She talked, telling him things that made no sense.

He closed his eyes and dreamed of a red-haired beauty.

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In the tradition of Masters and Mercenaries comes the next great brotherhood…

SCANDAL NEVER SLEEPS

The Perfect Gentlemen, Book 1

By Shayla Black and Lexi Blake

Coming August 18, 2015

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They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives...

Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him...

Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true...

As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target...

* * * *

“I want to see you.”

Even in the low light, he noticed her breath hitch. “You want me to turn on the lights?”

“That’s not what I meant.” He never took his burning gaze from her. “I want to see you naked. Take off your dress. Show me your breasts.”

“I’ll close the curtains.” She started to turn to the windows.

He caught her elbow, gently restraining her. “Don’t. We’re high up. No one can see in. Take off your dress. Let me see you in the moonlight.”

Her gaze tangled with his, and he could see a hint of her trepidation. A gentleman might have backed down. But he knew what he wanted. She must want him too or she wouldn’t have agreed to spend the night with him. He wasn’t giving Eve the easy way out.

Finally, she turned her back to him and lifted her arms, struggling to reach the metal tab. “There’s a zipper down the back.”

He moved closer. “Let me.”

Gabe ran his hands up her spine before finding the zipper. She lifted her curls out of his way, exposing the graceful column of her neck. Her skin looked pale, almost incandescent in the low light. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her nape, feeling her shiver under his touch.

Slowly, he eased the zipper down, his fingertips brushing her spine. Once he passed her neck, she let her hair fall free, the strawberry-blond mass tumbling well past her shoulders, gliding over her skin. Her tresses were soft, too. Not severely flat-ironed. Different, like the woman herself. Fuck, he could lose himself in Eve.

She shrugged, allowing the straps of her dress to fall past her shoulders and drop to her waist.

Her bra looked plain and white. He was used to delicate garments meant to entice a man, so he had no idea why the site of her utilitarian bra made his cock jerk. She hadn’t been seeking a man this evening, much less intending to seduce a lover. When she’d dressed, it had been for comfort. But now, she was here with him, slowly peeling away her clothes.

With practiced ease, he unhooked her bra with a twist of his hand and slid his fingers under the straps to strip them off. He closed his eyes and allowed his hands to roam across the wealth of smooth skin he’d just exposed. He drew her back against his chest and grazed his way up her abdomen until he found her breasts. Full and real, he loved the weight of them in his palms. He drew his thumbs over the nubs of her nipples and Eve rewarded him with a long intake of breath.

“That feels so good.” As she leaned back against him for support, she shuddered and thrust her breasts up like twin offerings.

He would absolutely take everything she had to give.

Gabe filled his hands with her flesh, cupping and rubbing and discovering every inch of her breasts before he grew impatient to have her totally bare and pushed the dress over the curve of her hips. It pooled on the floor at her feet.

Her underwear matched her bra. If she were his, he would buy her La Perla. He would dress her like a goddess in silk and lace and know that she wore the most come-hither lingerie for his eyes only. She could wear her ladylike dresses and cover herself with all appropriate modesty if she wanted—but only until they were alone.

As he stripped off her panties, a wild possessiveness blazed through his system. Gabe turned her to face him, well aware that he needed to slow down but utterly incapable of doing so. He took in the sight of her breasts. They looked every bit as perfect as they’d felt.

“You’re beautiful.”

“I don’t feel that way.” She tilted her face up to his, drinking him in with her stare. There was nothing coy about her expression. She looked at him with naked yearning. “Not most of the time. But you make me feel sexy.”

“You are. I want to be very clear about how beautiful I think you are.” He kissed her again, lifting her up and out of her dress, heading back to the bedroom while his mouth ate hungrily at hers.

She didn’t fight him, didn’t fidget to make him set her back on the ground. She simply wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her. Her fingers sank into his hair and she held tight while her tongue danced against his.

Luckily, he knew Plaza suites like the back of his hand. He maneuvered her toward the bed, his cock throbbing insistently.

He wouldn’t last long. God, he couldn’t believe he was even thinking that. Usually, he could go for hours, but Gabe knew the minute he got inside Eve, he was going to lose control. He needed to make it good for her now because he’d barely touched her and already he wanted to throw her against the wall and shove his way inside her.

As he approached the mattress, he stopped and eased her onto the luxurious comforter. She lay back on the elegant duvet, her hair fanned out and her legs spread. Wanton and yet so innocent. He pulled at his shirt, hearing a button or two pop off, but at the moment he didn’t give a shit. The need to be skin to skin with her drove him to haste. He unbuckled his belt and shoved his pants down.

“Foreplay.” Freaking hell. He was so ready to go, he’d forgotten about that. Women liked foreplay. It tended to be necessary for them.

She shook her head. “The kissing was foreplay. We’re totally good.”

Shit. He had to slow down. He wasn’t exactly a small guy. She needed to be ready to take all of him.

Gabe took a deep breath. “Need you aroused. It’s okay. Just give me a minute.”

“Gabriel, I am as aroused as I have ever been in my life. I’m a little worried about what kind of stain I’m going to leave for the staff on this duvet. So really, can we get this train moving?”

He gripped her ankles and slid her down the bed, spreading her legs wider in the process. His cock twitched when he saw that she was right. Her pussy was wet. Juicy. He could see its slick gloss from above, even in the shadows. A little kissing, some groping, and she was ready to go. He’d never had a woman respond to him so readily. “Tell me again.”

“I’m ready,” she vowed. “I am really ready.”

“No, tell me this isn’t normal for you,” he corrected. It was stupid. She was right there, able and willing to give him the pleasure he sought—but he craved more. He needed to know that tonight was special for her. “Tell me you want me and not just sex.”

She gave him a sheepish smile. “This isn’t at all normal. I guess I’ve gone a little crazy tonight, but I don’t do one-night stands. I can count the men I’ve had sex with on one hand and I wouldn’t need all my fingers. And I’ve never, never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now. Gabriel, I don’t need foreplay, just you.”

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ADDICT

Hunter: A Thieves Novel, Book 2

By Lexi Blake

Coming September 22, 2015

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When Kelsey Owens returns home to Dallas, she is a changed woman. After months of training with Marcus Vorenus, she has more control over her abilities. She’s ready to start her new job, even if it means dealing with the King of All Vampire and his partner, Devinshea Quinn. Her first assignment, however, will force her to face her past. Grayson Sloane is in trouble and she has to find him.

With the help of Gray’s brother, a full empath demon, Kelsey tracks her one-time lover down. Before she knows it, she’s pulled into Gray’s undercover operation in a demon sex club and sitting across from a Duke of Hell. Abbas Hiberna plans to use her city to test his new drug, Brimstone. It doesn’t just give supernatural creatures a high. It also leaves them vulnerable to demonic persuasion.

When the king’s own men begin to turn against him, even the royal family is in danger. Keeping them safe will put Kelsey in the duke’s crosshairs and test her fledgling relationship with Marcus. With her new life crumbling around her, a dark secret about her former lover is revealed and Kelsey will have to choose between saving Gray Sloane and the revenge she’s waited a lifetime for.

* * * *

I turned and there he was. He was sitting on a couch, his big body lounging negligently. He was wearing tight black jeans and a dark shirt he’d left open as though he’d walked out of the bedroom without bothering to button his shirt. It left his perfectly cut chest on full, mouth-watering display. The tattoo that covered the left half of his torso looked sexy as hell in the low glow of the room, and I wondered if it still vibrated on his body after I left. His face was a tribute to masculine perfection. Marcus was the perfect European male, all fine lines and aesthetic grace. Gray was an all-American hunk of masculinity. He screamed dominant male and for good reason. He was and made no apologies for it. He was the kinkiest man I’d ever met. He preferred to tie up his sexual partners and when I was that partner, I’d been happy to do it.

I was thinking about doing it right now.

His deep blue eyes glanced lazily around the room. He had a female at his feet, her head resting on his lap. He didn’t seem terribly interested in her. He was talking to another man, whose face I couldn’t see. He was smaller than Gray with almost white hair. Gray stopped midsentence when his eyes caught sight of me.

“You do seem able to catch my little brother’s attention, don’t you?” Matt said, satisfaction oozing from his pores.

Gray sat up, and I noticed that his hair was longer than it had been when we were engaged. He used to wear it in a strict, military-style cut. It was a little shaggy now, reaching to the tops of his ears. It was thick and wavy. I’d always wanted to run my fingers through it. I flushed under his gaze, unsure if it was just the outfit I was wearing or complete and abject shame that I had a man who cared about me and I couldn’t help but think about someone else.

He was the ultimate bad boy. Grayson Sloane was a half demon who lied to me, used me, and had potentially tried to trick me into going to Hell with him. And I was shaking at the thought of his hands on me. I was also resolute. No matter how much I was attracted to the man, I was going to resist because I knew the score.

Marcus was good, and Gray was bad.

Gray was also observant. He stood up abruptly, his face going cold. He stalked across the room just as another big man moved to intercept me. He was shorter than Gray, though he still towered over me. He didn’t have great control over his form. His eyes gave him away. They flashed between red and brown.

“New girl, huh?” the demon said. His shirt was off and he had a girl on a leash trailing behind him. She didn’t look terribly upset to be on a leash. I wondered how much she was getting paid. I hoped it was a lot.

“This one is for my brother.” Matt attempted to dismiss him with an imperious wave of his hand.

“Oh, it’s you,” the man said, bowing at the waist. “I didn’t recognize you, My Lord. His Lordship has enough pretty brunettes, don’t you think? This one looks practically angelic. That’s really not his style.”

“I’ll decide what my style is, Kall,” Gray snarled at the smaller demon. “Go away and don’t look at her again or we’ll have a problem. Do you understand?”

Kall bowed from his waist again, his head down as he murmured, “Yes, My Lord.”

Kall slunk away, pulling his girl behind him. Gray turned to Matt, his face tight. “Explain yourself, brother. How dare you bring her here.”

Matt looked perfectly innocent. “I thought you would be thrilled, brother. This is the woman who caused you such distress, is it not? Here she is. I didn’t even have to threaten her. The moment she heard you were in trouble, she was scrambling to get here to you. There’s no doubt she still cares for you. You know I can’t stand to see lovers kept apart. I know the feeling too well myself.”