by Vivi Anna, Sylvia Day, Delilah Devlin, Cathryn Fox, Myla Jackson, Lisa Renee Jones
Five
The metallic sound echoed in Sangria’s ear. She knew that sound all too well.
Opening her eyes, she had the displeasure of staring into a barrel of a handgun. By the shape and size, most likely a 9 mm Beretta.
“Good morning, sunshine,” the big brute holding the gun chirped.
Vance, who had been underneath her, finally opened his eyes and flinched. “Oh fuck!”
Sangria slowly sat up and surveyed the situation. There were two of them. The hulk holding the gun, and the shorter chubbier brute leaning against the wall by the door, a smug smile on his round pudgy face. Leg-breaking goons, if she ever saw any. They were in deep shit.
“Hello, Vance. Nice to see you again,” the hulk said.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Vance sat up and sighed. “What’s up, Leon?”
“It seems you missed your appointment in Vegas.”
Sangria cleared her throat. “I can explain that. A semi hit me and flipped my vehicle. The case broke open and…well, Vance fell out.”
The guy at the door started to laugh. “You’re kidding?”
Vance shook his head. “It’s true.”
Leon looked over at Sangria, and then did a long thorough perusal of Vance. Sangria thought she saw something feral in his eyes as he scrutinized Vance’s body. Hmm, was there something there? Lust, affection?
“We did find your Hummer. It looks pretty banged up, as do the both of you.” Leon lowered his gun and took a step back as if to assess the situation.
“I didn’t know what to do.” Sangria sat forward and tried to convince Leon. He was obviously the one in charge. “I didn’t have the number, and as it stood, since I saw what was inside the package, I didn’t think Ms. Madison would let me live.”
Leon gave her a half-smile. “You got that right.”
Sangria glanced at Vance. He reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. “So, what are you going to do, Leon?”
“My job for one.”
Sangria watched Leon. Although he looked like a killer, he didn’t look like a stupid man. In fact, the way he eyed Vance convinced her that he was not pleased with his assignment. Obviously, the two men knew each other, and by the way they spoke, even had once liked each other. Maybe, there was hope yet, that they could get out of this alive.
“Take the money,” she blurted.
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” Leon responded.
“Take the fifty thousand and pretend you couldn’t find us.”
Leon shook his head. “I get twice that much for killing you and taking Vance back.”
“Okay, take the fifty thousand and give us twenty-four hours. Then come after us.”
Vance squeezed her hand in question. She glanced at him and shrugged. She was making it up as she went. Anything to get them out of this predicament.
It was working. She could see Leon start to waver. He was definitely thinking about it.
“Six hours,” he countered. “We’ll give you six hours to run.”
“Eighteen.”
“Twelve.”
“Deal,” she said and held out her hand to him. Grinning, he took it and shook, sealing the bargain.
“You got balls, girl.” Tucking the gun back in its holster, Leon looked around the room. “Where’s the money?”
Sangria nodded to the black bag on the table.
Leon unzipped it, looked in, and then zipped it back up. He slung the strap around his shoulder and tipped his head to Sangria and Vance. “We’ll be seeing you in twelve hours. Enjoy it while you can.”
With that, the man at the door exited, and Leon followed him out, shutting the door behind him.
When they were gone, Vance grabbed her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. “I thought we were dead,” he whispered into her neck.
“Not yet we’re not.”
He kissed her on the side of her neck under her ear. Shivers rushed over her again. Damn it! Even in moments of severe panic, he could make her squirm with lust.
Obviously sensing her growing desire, he moved his lips down her throat to her shoulder and lightly nipped her there. He ran his hands down her back to her ass, and kneaded her cheeks firmly.
Wriggling, she tried to push out of his hold. “Vance, we need to get our shit together and go.”
Slipping his hands lower, he slid two fingers into her still sensitive pussy. “We have twelve hours,” he murmured while trailing his tongue down her shoulder to her breast. “Lots of time.”
She sucked in a breath as he pushed his fingers deep, swirling them around inside. She couldn’t deny her desire to fuck him again, but they needed to get going. She bought them twelve hours; they needed to make the most of it.
When Vance reached her breast and sucked in a nipple, she closed her eyes and arched her back, pushing her breast into his hot wet mouth.
“Okay, you have twenty minutes,” she moaned.
“Twenty minutes? That’s hardly enough time for foreplay.”
Opening her eyes, she glanced down at him. “Twenty minutes, take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it.” Vance pushed her back onto the bed, grabbed her around the hips and flipped her over onto her stomach. “On your knees, woman.”
Laughing, Sangria obliged him. The moment she was on all fours, he gripped her hips tightly and thrust into her pussy, hard and quick. Gripping the sheets on the bed, she held on as he rammed into her. Already she could feel an orgasm quickening deep inside her sex.
Sweat dripped off him as he slammed his cock into her. He went so deep she swore she could feel him in her throat. Panting, she reached back and slid her fingers into her open wet sex, quickly finding her clit. Pressing down, she rubbed at it hard.
Within minutes, that hard ball of pleasure at her center exploded into a million little pieces of delicious delight all over her body. Crying out, she pushed back into Vance driving him so deep she came again, harder, faster.
Clamping her eyes shut and twisting the sheets in her hands, Sangria groaned as wave after wave of intense pleasure crashed into her. She could barely breathe as the sensations whipped at her like electricity. Each time she thought she was done, another swell surged through her, pulling her down. Drowning her in its delicious torment.
Vance cried out as he thrust once more into her, digging his fingers into her hips. “Oh shitfuckdamn!” He flung himself forward over her back, pushing her down into the mattress.
She didn’t know how long they laid there but it felt like an eternity before she could move again. Testing her limbs, she wiggled her fingers, then her toes. Good, both still working.
Vance groaned and slid his hand up to cup her breast. Where he got the energy, she’d never know.
“I think we still have ten minutes left. Time for another round.”
She burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. The man was incorrigible. “You’re a nymphomaniac.”
He raised his head and grinned at her. “Yeah, hello, I’m a man, aren’t I?”
She crawled out from underneath him and slid off the bed. “We need to get going.” Shaking her head, she padded over to her duffel bag on the floor, unzipped it, and made sure she still had everything they’d need to disappear. She pulled out a slim black leather book and her cellphone. She still had a few tricks up her sleeve.
As she punched in some numbers, she glanced over her shoulder at Vance. He was lying on his side watching her, heat still evident in his eyes. She didn’t think she could ever get tired of seeing that particular look.
“How’s the Caribbean for you?”
He smiled. “I think I could get used to lying around on a beach every day.” Then his eyes sparkled. “A nude beach?”
Laughing, she put the phone to her ear. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What are you doing?”
“Calling in a favor.” She only had to wait three rings before someone picked up. “Carlos? Remember that thing I did for
you last year? Well, I’m calling in my chit, amigo.”
A few seconds later she flipped the phone closed and tossed it back into her bag. Turning, she stared at Vance who was still lounging on the bed, like a pleasure God. She shook her head. How did she get so lucky to have this sexy man fall out of her vehicle?
“Now what?” he asked.
“We wait for the helicopter.”
He chuckled and held out his hand to her. “That’s convenient.”
She took his hand and allowed him to pull her down to the mattress. “Yup.”
“How long do we have?” he asked, while trailing a naughty finger back and forth across her thigh.
“Hmm, I’d say about another twenty minutes.”
Laughing, he grabbed her around the waist and flipped her onto her back, settling between her legs. He pressed his lips to hers. “Just enough time.”
A bad girl at heart, VIVI ANNA likes to burn up the pages with her original unique brand of fantasy fiction. Whether it’s in ancient Egypt, or in an apocalyptic future, Vivi Anna always writes fast-paced action-adventure with strong independent women who can kick some butt, and dark delicious heroes to kill for.
Credits
Cover design by Robin Bilardello
Cover photograph © Mamad Mossadegh/Getty Images
Copyright
This is a collection of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALLURING TALES. “Lover’s Locket” copyright © 2007 by Cathryn Fox; “Kili’s Ice Man” copyright © 2007 by Delilah Devlin; “The Hottest One-Night Stand” copyright © 2007 by Lisa Renee Jones; “Out of the Shadows” copyright © 2007 by Mary E. Jerningan; “Tempting Grace” copyright © 2007 by Sabrina Ingram; “A Familiar Kind of Magic” copyright © 2007 by Sylvia Day; “Quick Silver” copyright © 2007 by Tawny Stokes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Microsoft Reader February 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-128782-4
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