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Additional Titles by the Author
Tales of the Darkworld Book 1: Shifting Winds
Tales of the Darkworld Book 2: Hot Water
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
TALES OF THE DARKWORLD BOOK 1: HOT WATER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © Lex Valentine, 2009
Cover Art ® 2009 by RottNRoll Productions
Edited by Mary K. Wilson
Electronic Publication Date: March 2009
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, Grimes, IA 50111
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Tales of the Darkworld Book 1: Hot Water
By Lex Valentine
Black dragon Eden Antaeus is a bad girl. Or so her brother Sean would have her believe. When Sean tells Eden she's the Queen of Kink, someone who can't get off on normal sex, Eden runs straight to the vampire club Carpe Noctem to find someone to have vanilla sex with. What Eden finds is Colin Granville, her brother Declan's new brother in law. Desire burns hot between them despite the lack of surnames and after one night together, they both want more. Getting past the discovery that their siblings are married, Colin teaches Eden that she's not the Queen of Kink and Eden finds a love, and a life, she never expected to have.
She needed a drink before she contemplated the choice of partners offered by the club’s patrons. As she elbowed herself a space at the end, her nose twitched. The scent of vanilla filled her senses, and her dragon suddenly itched to break free. Holy shit. Who the hell would walk into a social meat market smelling so innocent?
The smell came from her right. She wriggled in the tight quarters, trying to turn. Based on the sweet scent, she expected to see a woman. Instead, she found a tall man with midnight blue eyes smiling down at her.
“You just go right on trying to move,” he quipped. “I’m enjoying it tremendously.”
Eden’s eyes narrowed. Every time she moved, her body rubbed up against his. Her hip dug into his groin and she could feel a slight telltale swelling there. Despite the fact that the man smelled all girly like a sugar cookie, the bulge held promise. She sniffed again. Sweet smelling. Smiling easily. No display of arrogance. A mellow and amused expression, eyes dancing with humor. Beta. He had to be. Her dragon stretched inside her, urging her to take him.
“Oh, really?” She raised one brow and wriggled against him again. The size of the ridge against her hip increased. Oh, yeah. He just might work out after all, she thought as she realized his more than adequate proportions weren’t fully erect yet.
He nodded, his dark blue eyes gleaming as they raked over her from the top of her raven head to the tips of her designer boots. “Of course, we’d both enjoy it a lot more naked in my bed,” he told her candidly.
Eden’s pupils elongated as Blue Eyes roused her dragon. The scent of vanilla intensified.
“You don’t believe in wasting time, I see.” She turned, deliberately rubbing against him, breast to chest. In her boots, she almost matched his height.
He quirked a dark blond brow at her. “And you do? You can’t tell me that the dragon in you isn’t clawing to get at my cock.”
Eden began to smile. He might not be a dragon, but he obviously knew them intimately. Good. One less thing she’d have to train him on. “You’re a bold young thing, aren’t you?”
He laughed. “I’m not as young as you think.” His smile revealed vampire fangs.
Hot Water
Lex Valentine
PPB
Dedication
To Karl, Gooster, and Vahid for letting me morph them into immortals.
And to Jennifer McKenzie, for always telling me that I’m frickin’ brilliant.
Yes, Jen, I am… because I chose you for a friend.
Chapter One
Eden walked into Carpe Noctem wearing a short black dress and thigh high boots. The outfit, along with her long shaggy ‘scene’ haircut, made her seem nearly as young as the crowd that filled the trendy vampire themed nightclub. In truth, as an immortal, she looked younger than her actual years, appearing to be in her late twenties. Her tight, sexually provocative clothing had been chosen to aid the illusion of youth.
Trolling was tough business. Eden knew this from experience. With throngs of beautiful young things packing the clubs, finding someone to fuck could be a major undertaking if you didn’t do something to set yourself above all the other immortals. Everyone wanted to get laid and available partners could be in short supply, especially when it came to vanilla sex. Despite what her older brother Sean thought, she figured her luck would hold better in the vampire bar than the ones she usually frequented. The cheesy vampire paraphernalia, the coffins, stakes and bats couldn’t disguise the club’s sophistication or fun factor. A sea of people, mostly humans dressed as vampires and true immortal Acerbian vampires, filled the club. Proving Sean wrong when he said the “Queen of Kink” would never go to Carpe Noctem, would give her immense satisfaction.
Ignoring the snarl that begged to get out whenever she thought of her elder brother, Eden turned toward the neon lit bar. She needed a drink before she contemplated the choice of partners offered by the club’s patrons. As she elbowed herself a space at the end, her nose twitched. The scent of vanilla filled her senses, and her dragon suddenly itched to break free. Holy shit. Who the hell would walk into a social meat market smelling so innocent?
The smell came from her right. She wriggled in the tight quarters, trying to turn. Based on the sweet scent, she expected to see a woman. Instead, she found a tall man with midnight blue eyes smiling down at her.
“You just go right on trying to move,” he quipped. “I’m enjoying it tremendously.”
Eden’s eyes narrowed. Every time she moved, her body rubbed up against his. Her hip dug into his groin and she could feel a slight telltale swelling there. Despite the fact that the man smelled all girly like a sugar cookie, the bulge held promise. She sniffed again. Sweet smelling. Smiling easily. No display of arrogance. A mellow and amused expression, eyes dancing with humor. Beta. He had to be. Her dragon stretched inside her, urging her to take him.
“Oh, really?” She raised one brow and wriggled against him again. The size of the ridge against her hip increased. Oh, yeah. He just might work out after all, she thought as she realized his more than adequate proportions weren’t fully erect yet.
He nodded, his dark blue eyes gleaming as they raked over her from the top of her raven head to the tips of her designer boots. “Of course, we’d
both enjoy it a lot more naked in my bed,” he told her candidly.
Eden’s pupils elongated as Blue Eyes roused her dragon. The scent of vanilla intensified.
“You don’t believe in wasting time, I see.” She turned, deliberately rubbing against him, breast to chest. In her boots, she almost matched his height.
He quirked a dark blond brow at her. “And you do? You can’t tell me that the dragon in you isn’t clawing to get at my cock.”
Eden began to smile. He might not be a dragon, but he obviously knew them intimately. Good. One less thing she’d have to train him on. “You’re a bold young thing, aren’t you?”
He laughed. “I’m not as young as you think.” His smile revealed vampire fangs.
She pondered the fangs for a moment. People often pretended to be vampires at Carpe Noctem. He could well be one of the wannabes. After all, she’d never met a vampire who smelt of vanilla before. Usually, the real ones smelled of blood. He didn’t smell like a human either though. That vanilla scent masked his true nature and it annoyed her a little.
He shifted his hips against her and the hard ridge of his cock bumped against her belly. Her dragon poked her with its claws. Her thong grew damp as she rubbed against his erection. She finally decided he must be a real immortal, an Acerbian vampire.
“I just have a feeling I’m older than you. Indulge me,” she said. “I like being a cougar.” She reached down and boldly stroked the front of his jeans.
His engaging smile widened. “I’ll be teacher’s pet, I promise,” he joked.
Her eyes narrowed. “Not a bad game. Have you been bad today? Do you need a spanking?”
As the words fell from her lips, she could have kicked herself. Tonight was supposed to be about vanilla sex, not toys or fetishes. However, the blond man just shrugged. “I’d rather just fuck you. All that other crap isn’t necessary for me. As you can tell, I’m pretty much good to go.”
His eyes gleamed preternaturally, answering her earlier questions about his status as an immortal. One hand cupped the side of her face, the long elegant fingers sliding into her dark hair. Angling his head toward hers, he dropped a quick kiss on her lips. An electric tingle went through Eden’s body and her dragon came rushing to the surface of her skin.
When he deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue, she sighed into his mouth. His free hand slid over her hip and curved over her taut buttock. She rubbed herself against him again as that sugar cookie scent grew stronger. Lifting her arms, she draped them over his broad shoulders, feeling the hard muscle and bone beneath his silk shirt. He sucked on her tongue and heat pooled deliciously between her thighs. Gods, he was hot!
“You know, at your ages, you should really get a room,” a snarky voice spoke behind Eden.
The blond man lifted his head, his expression tinged with annoyance that only lasted a moment. Recognition bloomed in the midnight blue depths of his eyes and his lips twitched into a smile.
“Hey, I know you. You’re…”
“Karl with a K… that elf with the internet gossip show… yeah, yeah,” the elf said with a sarcastic laugh. “Everyone knows me, kid. Especially here.”
Eden turned and looked at the man on the bar stool behind her. He had a half empty glass of Guinness in front of him and a bowl of bat-shaped pretzels. His grey-green eyes stared at her unblinkingly from behind wire-rimmed glasses. She frowned.
“You’re immortal. Why are you wearing glasses?”
Karl gave her a look that would have withered most people. “I’m told wearing glasses gives you character. Since I don’t have any character, I figured I’d manufacture some,” he drawled.
Her blond hunk openly grinned now. Apparently, he found Karl’s snarky sarcasm amusing. “I watch your show all the time. You have plenty of character. You’re funnier than all the shows on TV.”
“Tell that to my producer. He bitches daily that he’s gonna fire me.” Karl took a sip of his ale. “I meant what I said, you know. Get a room. All this grinding and humping is for the kids who got nowhere to go. You two are obviously old enough and wealthy enough to afford the room. So go there and grind. I don’t like having to protect my drink from elbows that are in the throes of lust,” he complained.
Mr. Sugar Cookie Scent chuckled. “Sure, Karl. Nice meeting you.” He took hold of Eden’s elbow.
Karl raised one brow at them. “We haven’t been formally introduced, but I know who you are. And more importantly, I know who you are,” he said, his eyes landing on Eden with a wicked gleam.
She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up when he waved a hand at her in a shooing motion. “I’m not telling. Names or lack of them is strictly between you two grinders. Now, would you mind letting me get back to my drinking here? Fucking horny immortals,” he grumbled, turning away from them.
The blond man pulled her away from the bar toward the exit. “Where to?” he asked as they stepped out onto the street.
A cab whooshed up to the curb beside them and she opened the door, getting in. The blond man followed her. She gave the cabbie the name of a posh hotel on Park Avenue. As the cab took off, the blond man smiled. “From out of town? Me too.”
Eden shrugged. “I’m here more than anywhere else. I travel almost constantly for work so I don’t have a permanent place to live unless you count a dozen boxes of crap at my brother’s house,” she said in a dismissive tone.
“I can’t imagine not having a home. I’m from the west coast myself.”
Tall, blond, and vanilla’s chatty behavior started to annoy her so she slid her hand up his jean-clad thigh and squeezed his half hard dick. It responded instantly to her touch. She smiled at him, her curved dragon fangs showing.
He sucked in a breath, his hand coming up to cup her breast. “I gather you’re not much for chitchat,” he said, his thumb teasing her nipple through the soft material of her dress.
“Nope,” she replied. Naturally reticent, when her horny dragon raged, she was even less inclined to words. Only action of a sexual nature would calm the beast inside her. “Just looking for some vanilla sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“Well, just in case you feel the urge to shout my name later, it’s Colin,” he said and grabbed her by the back of the head.
Shock rippled through Eden as he held her firmly. He kissed her deeply, ravaging her mouth with the kind of kiss she’d expect from an Alpha, not a Beta like Colin. If his kiss hadn’t completely overwhelmed her and made thinking next to impossible, she would have wondered if she had pegged him wrong. Where his kiss had been leisurely before, now it burned hot and urgent, demanding a response from her rather than accepting what she doled out to him.
Abruptly, he let her go. Her chest heaved as she sucked in great gulps of air. Colin’s eyes glinted enigmatically at her in the dim light of the cab. “You gotta be more careful about judging a book by its cover,” he growled.
She blinked. He looked at her with a feral light in his eyes. Ho-ly shit. She’d never misjudged an Alpha before. Of course, her familiarity with vampires fell far below that of dragons and fae men. She’d always been rather skittish around vamps. All that biting and blood sucking…
Colin took her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. The midnight blue irises glowed preternaturally again, and she could feel the steely strength in his long elegant fingers. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy and all I want is to fuck your pretty pink pussy,” he whispered. “Walking into a vampire club and making snap judgments about my kind can get you drained, despite the fact that you’re a dragon.”
Her eyes widened a little. He smiled then, and the sunny, amusing persona he’d displayed at the club, the persona that had shouted Beta to her, snapped back into place. “You are going to let me fuck your pretty pink pussy, aren’t you?” he asked as his fingers turned from steel to silk, sliding warmly across her skin.
Eden nodded. Several strands of her raven hair caught in the golden stubble that covered his jaw. His vanilla, sugar coo
kie scent grew stronger and she realized his arousal intensified it. The more aroused he became, the stronger the scent grew. The sweet smell flooded her entire being, making her mouth water. She wondered what he tasted like…
In a split second, the dragon within her roared to life. She pushed Colin against the back of the cab’s seat and kissed him hard, her lips and tongue sucking urgently at his. The heat and depth of the kiss pushed her arousal up several notches. It had been a long time since a man had affected her so strongly, and never had one’s scent overpowered her as Colin’s did. Potent and distinctive, she would have been able to find him in a crowd of thousands at Madison Square Garden. Definitely something to remember if she ever had to hunt for him.
Colin’s hands slid up under the hem of her mini dress, his fingers digging into her ass. She rubbed herself against him and he rewarded her with another growl. Pure sex emanated from the sound, with none of the male fierceness that had colored it previously. The sound skittered along her nerve endings, reaching her inner dragon and rousing the beast’s tremendous sexual appetite.
Heat and wetness rushed to the sensitive flesh between her thighs. Colin’s nostrils flared and she knew he had caught the scent of her sex. Beneath her hand, his cock had swollen to a satisfying proportion. The long thick ridge behind the zipper of his jeans promised to fill her as no one had before. Size had never mattered to her, but then, she’d never had someone as big as Colin promised to be.
The cab screeched to a stop, the centrifugal force pushing her back against the seat and away from the press of Colin’s body. She sprawled awkwardly; her skirt hitched up so far her thong showed. The driver didn’t even bother to look in the rear view mirror at her. Colin ran his hands over his face, then opened the door and got out. He reached in, holding out a hand for her. She put hers in it and let him pull her out of the cab. Tugging her dress down, she waited as he paid the driver.
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