Flynn's Kiss (Disarmed & Dangerous)

by Diane Saxon

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “And like this…?” He wrapped his arms around her and untied her bikini top. She gasped at his cheek and watched as he spun it around his head and tossed it aboard the boat.

  “What did you do that for?” She blinked furiously.

  “Because you have a beauty Joanne that needs to be admired.” He cupped a breast in his hand and lowered his head to suckle. She groaned as she felt a tingle of desire course around her body. “Please do not worry, there is no one to see us here like this.”

  He pushed her up against the boat; the water was so clear, so aquamarine and warmer than she thought, though that might have been because he had switched on her button of desire. She noticed some fish swimming down below in amongst the fronds and rocks, and gasped.

  “Yes, this is a good place to catch fish, Joanne. I have been scuba diving here. You should join me some time.”

  She laughed. “I think this is as much of the ocean I can stand, Dante. I can swim but I’m not a strong swimmer.”

  He ran a wet finger along her cheek. “Ah, you are frightened, I can see that, but you need not be when you are with me. I can teach you about so many things.”

  She shivered involuntary, absolutely sure, there were many things Dante Alphonso could teach her about, not least of all love making. He was her tutor and she was about to become a very willing student.

  Hip Deep in Dragons by Christina Westcott

  I noticed the cat as I hurried along Naples’ trendy Fifth Avenue, heading for home. In the east, out over the Everglades, a thunderstorm built, winding up to deliver one of Florida’s infamous frog-stranglers. As I reached the sheltered walkway leading back to the tearoom, I paused to peer down the shady length. Its old world charm always drew me with its splashing fountain and bright impatiens in terra cotta pots. The concrete bench, where I often savored a takeout cup of Earl Gray, now hosted a feline. The cat nestled in the single patch of sunlight, its front paws tucked under its chest, looking like nothing so much as a large and contented meatloaf.

  “Bob?” I called.

  The chances of it being my long lost pet were near to impossible. The last time I’d seen him had been the summer I turned thirteen, the summer everything had changed.

  Like Bob, this cat was black and white, not an uncommon pattern, but the regularity of the markings reminded me of my old friend. An inverted vee blazoned his face, the white just kissing the inside edge of each green eye. The two colors bisected his ears vertically, black on the inside edges, white on the outside. I took an involuntary step forward, to see if he shared the other distinctive identifier with Bob—the lack of a tail. A Manx cat, he’d had only a couple of kinked vertebras on his back end, giving him a ridiculous, fluffy-tailed-bunny look.

  By now, my kitten would be nearing seventeen, but with a loving home and the proper care, cats reached that age and beyond all the time. His gleaming coat and muscular shoulders suggested he’d spent those years as someone’s pampered housecat.

  Alerted by my call, the cat swiveled his ears, eyes opening to scan his surroundings. He swept his gaze past me, and then did an abrupt, almost comical double take and stared at me for long seconds. After a slow blink—the cat equivalent of a smile—he rose and stretched, his broad paws extended, and his back end—crowned with that silly pom-pom tail—held high.

  I noticed he was still very much the tomcat as he jumped down and sauntered away. I hurried after him, both to renew an old acquaintance and to see if he had a collar to show who owned him. Some kind family had cared for him for those years, and I wanted to thank them…and perhaps remind them of the importance of neutering and spaying their pets.

  “Bob. Here kitty, kitty,” I called in the high, singsong voice appropriate to addressing pets and small children. In that maddening way of felines, he managed to stay just out of reach. At the end of the walkway, he trotted around the corner and disappeared.

  I rounded the edge of the building and collided with a solid wall of masculine muscle. Strong arms reached out to grab my shoulders, steadying me. Startled, I looked up into an angular face with full lips that seemed on the edge of a smile, as if he knew some delicious secret about me.

  “Begging your pardon, milady, did I frighten you? Are you okay?”

  Conflicts of Interest by Nulli Para Ora

  Her friends were right, she did need it.

  When she cried out, he gave her what she wanted. He suckled, nibbled, licked, and swirled her sensitive flesh. When her first orgasm rocked through her, he held her hips in place until her breaths calmed. When she released her death grip on his hair, he chuckled, masking his satisfaction. “Still in a hurry?”

  He didn’t give her a chance to answer; he started right back in on her, learning her, memorizing her preferences, enjoying himself. Sara came to life in his bed, and for the first time ever at The Palace, so did he.

  The agreement he had with Jake was based on the vampire just working. No feelings, no real enjoyment, just fulfilling fantasies for clients. What the hell am I going to do now? How would Jacob react when he found out?

  Could this just be a freak occurrence?

  I need to finish her sessions and decline any future visits she may want beyond the package. There’s something off about this woman.

  •●•

  Vasily drove home with thoughts of his lion floating through his head. The shifter wasn’t the only thing on his mind. The events of the evening played through his thoughts. His last client caught him off guard, made him want to help her.

  But he was home now, and work was over. Right?

  When he walked in, Jacob was in the kitchen. As soon as the shifter spotted him, he pulled the vampire close and kissed all rational thought from his brain. Vasily leaned into his lover, more than happy to let things progress over the nearby island. That is, until Jacob’s body went rigid.

  The lion pulled back, eyes glimmering, canines extended, and breaths short. “Who were you with?”

  “What?” In fifty years, Jacob had never asked such a thing. “Clients, you know that.”What spooked him?

  “Why do you have that smell?” Jacob sniffed at Vasily’s chest and all but jumped backward before covering his eyes. “No. No. No!”

  The only time he’d seen Jacob so upset was when his coworker died. He understood paramedics had a special bond, but this distress wasn’t work-related. “What’s wrong, durak? Talk to me.”

  “This can’t be happening.” Jacob’s golden gaze bored into Vasily before he closed the distance between them and gripped his shirt. “Tell me who you were with. I need the names.”

  Vasily stepped back, more than a little confused at this cross-examination. “No. That’s confidential, you know that. What’s going on? Why are you freaking out?”

  Jacob took a deep breath and dropped his gaze to the floor. “I need the names because— He hesitated. “Shit, why the hell is this happening?”

  “Why is what happening? Jake, you need to tell me what’s wrong.”

  “One of your clients is my mate.”

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