“Who’s chicken now?” he asked as he held aside one of the curtains to the candlelit room beyond.

“Not me. I’m coming. Really. That’s all I want.” She sauntered past him, happy that she’d won and said, “To come. That’s all I need.”

He dropped the curtain, enveloping them in privacy as he came toward her. “Too bad, because that won’t be happening anytime soon.” His hands were so warm. His grip so strong and the way he commanded the space between them took her breath away. But his words? “Let me guess, dragoncita. Now that we’re alone you think I’ll rip this robe off you and…”

Oh, God, his voice. Sensual, husky and deliciously carnal as he began to describe what he’d do to her. He was so precise in the telling that she closed her eyes and escaped into her rapidly heating up imagination.

Naked and in his arms, she dipped backward and let him nip and suck on her neck, collar bone and breasts. A bite and then a kiss, over and over while one of his hands slipped down, crossing her navel, belly, resting on her with palm flat just above the apex of her thighs. He refused to go lower, to slip that hand between her legs until she opened for him. The ache and need, she had no choice and when she widened her stance he didn’t hesitate.

Gentle, yet strong fingers slid through her warmth, circling her clit as he sucked on her breast. Slowly he worked her delicate flesh until she flexed forward to offer more of herself to his touch. Begging without words for his fingers to sink into her heat. To stroke it to…Ummm, he buried his middle finger in deep. So deep…  

“You’ll want to come, bad, but I’m afraid you’ll be doing it on my time. My terms.” She barely heard these words as he curled down and leveled his mouth to where her ear was beneath the thin fabric of the hood. “And you’ll come when I order you to. Not before.”

She shuddered. “Oh, no.”

“Yes.”

“No, I really mean no because I just did. I’m so sorry,” she groaned.

Anyone watching what happened next would have thought she punched him in the face. His head snapped back that fast. “Excuse me?”

How embarrassing. What could she say? “Let me make it up to you. I’ll give you a hand job.”

“Hand. Job?”

The way he separated those two words made her cringe. Clearly that offer didn’t excite him, but she didn’t really know him well enough to offer more. “I don’t know you so well that I’d be comfortable—”she gave a curt nod in the direction of his groin, “—putting my mouth on that.”

Silence. There was nothing but silence as he stood there…

(end of excerpt)

*sigh* These guys are so much fun. Laren is a real character. She keeps poor Michael on his toes, that’s for sure. I know I say this about all my hero and heroines, but seriously, I LOVE these guys. They go from fun and sexy one moment to hot fry-the-old-eyeballs off the next. Oh, and there’s a scene in this story that made me sob. Honey didn’t know what to make of that when he heard me. He came flying into my office. I didn’t know what was more pathetic. Me hiccuping trying to explain the scene to him or him scowling as he figured it out. Here’s the conversation.

Me taking a deep breath.  ”It just broke my heart.”

“I don’t like that.” He pulled me out of my chair and hugged me. “Why do you read shit that upsets you?”

“Read? No, I wrote it.”

“Okay, that’s just messed up. Do you need more tissues?”

“Nah, I’ll be okay. I know how it’s going to end.”

“And you call me a strange creature?”

Hm. He did have a point. But my point in telling you this is simple. I love these characters. I love this story and I’m having a really hard time saying goodbye to them. I know I have to and as soon as I get an official date from my editor I shall post it. I’m hoping it will by the end of the month. *fingers crossed*

Riley