Vegas Vacation (Destination Desire)

by Crystal Jordan

  He glanced away. “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Yes, I do.” She pulled Hugo a bit closer, until she stood right in front of Finn and looked him straight in the eye. “I love you. And I need to apologize for being too gutless to admit it before now. I need to apologize for hurting you and leaving you.”

  “I knew when we started our affair that I might not come out of it unscathed.” His blue gaze was hooded, and whatever reaction he’d had to her declaration of love remained hidden.

  This was not going well. The queasiness in her stomach made bile burn its way up her throat, but she refused to back down. “I want another chance, if you’re still interested. Maybe we could have dinner or coffee or something.”

  He sighed, closed his eyes and swallowed. “Meg, I don’t know. It would kill me if you changed your mind again.”

  “I won’t.” She edged closer, dared to lay her hand on his chest, felt the warmth and vitality of him beneath his sweatshirt. “History is my specialty, but in this case, dwelling on the past didn’t serve me well at all. I’ve been running scared for a long time, pretending that I was just being logical about my relationship choices, and you made me stop and question why I was doing all of that. Yanking someone out of a rut is usually uncomfortable for everyone concerned, and you didn’t exactly see me at my best.” She licked her lips, and she watched his eyes follow her movements. Heat flared in his gaze before he banked it, but it gave her some hope. “I didn’t treat you very well and I wasn’t entirely honest with you. I’d like the chance to change that.”

  “What makes you think this will go better than it did last time?”

  It was a fair question. She’d spent the last year holding him at arm’s length because dating a colleague was a mistake that would end badly. “Because you were right. You’re not Brandon, I’m not the woman I was when I was with him, and I think you’re twice the man he could ever hope to be. You would never treat a woman the way he did or the way my father did my mother, and I think if you weren’t happy with a relationship, you’d be adult enough to bow out of it instead of straying.”

  His gaze darkened, and she could see his inner turmoil. “You know, I’d given up on you.”

  “Don’t.” Her heart clutched, pain slicing through her. She balled her hands in his sweatshirt, a tear escaping the corner of her eye. “Don’t give up on me, please.”

  “Meg.” His hand lifted to cup her cheek, wiping the moisture away.

  “You love me, and I love you.” She laid her forehead against his chest, willing him to listen to her, to believe her. “We can make this work, I know it. We don’t even have to make any kind of commitments now. Just agree to have dinner. We can go really slowly, if you want.”

  “I don’t think that will work for me.” His hands closed over her shoulders, holding her away from him.

  She gritted her teeth to keep in a sob, but she couldn’t stop another tear from escaping. “Please reconsider, Finn. I promise I’ll do better this time. I’d be a fucking awesome girlfriend, if you’d let me.”

  A faint smile curved his lips. “I meant that taking it slowly and not making commitments wouldn’t work for me.”

  “Oh. Oh.” Joy broke through her as what he’d said finally processed. Her heart skipped a beat, then raced.

  His fingers dug into her shoulders. “I would want you to be my fucking awesome girlfriend. Publicly.”

  It was a test. One she had to pass. It was scary, but he wasn’t a man for half-measures. Either she was in or she was out. She swallowed and nodded. “Okay. I’m willing if you are.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Very. I’m not going to change my mind.” She hated the doubt in his gaze. Reaching up, she cupped her hand on his jaw. “I love you, Finn. Making you stick to our bargain had nothing to do with how I felt about you and everything to do with my fears. You were right about that. You were right about everything.” She let out a shaky breath. “I had to work through a lot of stuff, and I probably have more to work through. I’m hoping you’ll help me with that. But believe that I love you. I don’t think anyone will ever fit me as well as you do.”

  His throat worked. “I love you, too. Don’t ever leave me again.”

  “I won’t. I promise. I can be very tenacious when I want to be, you know.”

  “Oh, I know.” Then a smile broke across his face, tender and wicked and exactly the way she remembered. “Let’s just promise to always be honest with each other, no matter how difficult the truth might be. I think that’s how we make sure we don’t end up where we don’t want to be.”

  “Deal.” It sounded like the best plan she’d ever heard. She could see love shining in his gaze and knew everything was going to be all right. “Kiss me?”

  His fingers threaded through her hair, and he brushed his lips over her forehead, her cheek, the tip of her nose, her jaw, her chin, before settling on her mouth. It was sweet and hot at the same time, hungry and reverent. Perfect. He parted her lips with his tongue, and she twined hers with his. His hands streaked down her back as if relearning her shape. He cupped her backside, pulling her tight to his hard body. Need filtered through her, rising like a slow tide, but for now she was content to kiss him, love him.

  God, she loved him.

  She threw her arms around his neck, and a canine yelp of pain brought her back down to earth. She still had Hugo’s leash in her hand and she’d yanked it too hard. Bending down, she stroked a palm over his head. “Sorry, buddy.”

  He flopped down onto the sand, the picture of despondence.

  “Wow, he really is a depressive mutt.” Finn knelt beside her, scratching the dog behind one ear.

  She spread her hands. “I know, right? I swear I don’t abuse him. He’s spoiled rotten.”

  “Come on. I know a great spot to sit and watch the sunset. Even Hugo here will like it.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he stood and proffered a hand. “Then we can head back to my place for a more private reunion.”

  She slipped her fingers into his and let him help her to her feet. “That sounds just right. And tomorrow you’ll let me take you out to dinner at the Moonside.”

  His eyebrows arched. “Go big or go home. I like it.”

  “I thought you might.” It was about as public a statement as she could make short of taking an ad out in the local paper. Everyone knew her at that restaurant, and tongues would definitely start wagging.

  Good. Let them. She knew what she wanted, and she didn’t care if everyone else knew it too. No more hiding, no more allowing the past to rob her of the future she wanted.

  What do you know? The truth really had set her free.

  About the Author

  Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a university in California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. She writes paranormal, contemporary, futuristic and erotic romance.

  To learn more about Crystal please visit www.crystaljordan.com. Send an email to Crystal at crystal@crystaljordan.com or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Crystal! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crystal-jordan

  Look for these titles by Crystal Jordan

  Now Available:

  Demon’s Caress

  Wasteland: The Wanderer

  Treasured

  Forbidden Passions

  Stolen Passions

  Fleeting Passions

  Unbelievable

  If You Believe

  Believe in Me

  Make Me Believe

  In the Heat of the Night

  Total Eclipse of the Heart

  Big Girls Don’t Die

  It’s Raining Men

  Crazy Little Thing Called Love

  Feel the burn.

  Demon’s Caress

  © 2012 Crystal Jordan

  Demon Heat, Book 1

  Usually, Mar
on is the hunter—a demon sent to earth to imprison evil souls and hurl them into the pit. It’s a dirty, thankless job, but someone has to take out the trash. By necessity, demons need a partner to tag ’em and bag ’em. Since her partner got roped into a Demon Triad, though, she’s stuck with just the tagging part until her boss sends reinforcements.

  Her backup turns out to be the last two men she wants to see. Two bonded demons who’ve been trying to seduce her into a Triad for months. Sure, the Triad’s sexual bonds generate phenomenal soul-trapping power. Give up her independence? Never. Still, it’s quite a thrill to be the hunted, for a change.

  Since a night of debauchery in which the three of them experienced a level of power that’s nothing short of explosive, Raum and Kobal have been maneuvering to complicate her eternity…and make her like it. She thinks she’s the most relentless demon hunter around? She ain’t seen nothin’ yet. They’re determined to claim her heart and body…if they can cage the evil soul they’ve been sent to capture.

  Warning: Three demons doing very wicked things to each other. Guy on guy, guy on girl, guy on guy on girl, and any other combination they can think of. Some anal, a little flameball throwing, a few evil souls sent down to hell. All in a day’s work. Hey, they’re born to be bad…and they’re so good at it.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Demon’s Caress:

  She was being hunted.

  Adrenaline pumped through Maron’s veins, made her heart pound and her breath rush as she darted between pedestrians and across a busy intersection. Horns blared and drivers swore at her, but she ignored them, a feral smile curving her lips. It was usually she who hunted—she who captured and claimed. Even now, she trailed a killer, the scent of his evil stinging her nostrils, and all the while she knew others of her kind—demons—drew closer by the minute. Seeking her. Wanting her.

  The dichotomy sharpened the experience.

  This was what she lived for. The thrill, the chase. The order of demons she belonged to tracked down evil souls and shipped them straight to the hot spot before they could hurt any more innocents. Once a person crossed over into true evil, the soul festered inside them, the stench enough to make Maron gag.

  If only humans knew the truth about what demons did on earth, keeping the baddies away from them. But it made sense that her kind would be demonized over the ages. You worked in the gutter long enough and it was inevitable you would end up knee deep in shit. Maron shrugged and let her body dissolve into nothing more than a shadow as she ghosted up a narrow side street. It really didn’t matter what people knew or not, she would do her job.

  And bringing in this piece of scum was going to be a pleasure.

  David Norris. Drug dealer, pimp, murderer. His stink was in her nose, sinking into her blood until her heart thrummed with the need to vanquish the evil. Her world came down to a single focus—find him.

  He was close. Very close.

  A high-pitched scream froze Maron in place. Every sense went on alert, and she eased around the edge of a building to see what was going on. Norris struggled with a teenage girl who looked way too clean and well dressed for this part of town, but her eyes and nose had the red-rimmed look of a junkie coming off a bender. He slammed her against a dumpster, cutting off her next scream. She gagged and sobbed for breath, tears streaking her make-up down her cheeks. He got in her face and growled, “Where’s my money, bitch?”

  “I’ll get it to you.” The girl squeaked when he shoved her again. “I swear I will, Norris. I’m good for it. Just give me a little more time.”

  “You said that last time.” He grabbed a handful of one of her breasts, squeezing and twisting. “Maybe I should take it out of you a different way.”

  Her hand locked around his wrist, her knuckles whitening as horror crossed her face. “No. No!”

  Shit.

  Maron wasn’t about to stand around and watch some kid get raped by this asshole. She was only supposed to reconnoiter, find the evil soul and wait for her back up. It didn’t look like that was going to be an option tonight. Her boss, Samael, was going to be pissed. She stepped out of the deepest shadows, rematerializing not far from where Norris had the teen pinned.

  “Hey!”

  Both humans jerked, their heads snapping in her direction. The girl’s look was pleading—the man’s enraged.

  “Get the fuck out of here, bitch. This has nothing to do with you. Unless you want it to.” He grabbed his crotch for emphasis.

  Maron rolled her eyes at the crude gesture, which just made Norris even more furious. Too bad. She flexed her fingers, held her hands out in front of her and unleashed the power deep inside her. It rushed up eagerly, the hot, consuming force of it shaking her to her bones. Flames danced at her fingertips, and she shot forward an arrow of fire. It sizzled on the concrete in front of Norris, and he shouted, jumping back. She drove him farther away from the girl with one ball of flame after another.

  The teen cowered against the dumpster, snot and tears dripping from her chin. Maron spared her a glance when they drew even. She felt the fire flickering from the corners of her eyes, and her smile was a simple baring of teeth. “Run, little girl. Stay out of dark alleys from now on. And don’t do drugs. They’re bad for you.”

  The kid’s eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets, and she nodded so fast her hair flapped against her pale face. Then she ran like her ass had been scalded. Smartest thing the kid had done that night. Sadly, she wouldn’t remember her encounter with Maron. That was the thing about demons. They faded from your memory the moment you left their presence. The fire and lightning and soul-stealing power was just a bad dream. Unless they’d come for you.

  Once the teen was safely away, Maron spread her fingers, and a ring of fire whipped around Norris. He screamed, the sound as terrified as the girl’s had been. Maron’s smile deepened.

  Can two lost souls find their way to love?

  Worth Everything

  © 2013 Karen Erickson

  Worth It, Book 4

  Anastasia Renaldi’s life is a complete lie. Disinherited from the family fashion-accessory business and informed she’s the illegitimate daughter of the famous—and long-dead—Michael Worth of Worth Luxury, she has no one to turn to. No real family, no job, no identity to claim. Lost and confused, she turns to the one man who can help her obtain what is rightfully hers.

  Attorney Gavin Westmore is hired to discover the truth. Does Stasia Renaldi have a stake to claim in the Worth empire? From the moment he meets her, Gavin knows what sort of woman Stasia is. Calculating, devious—she won’t let anything or anyone get in the way of her pursuit of a fortune. As long as he can collect his generous fee, he’s fine with it.

  But Gavin soon discovers his perception of Stasia is wrong. She truly is confused, a sweet, ambitious woman who wants what rightfully belongs to her. Soon they’re spending lots of time together—and it goes beyond the attorney/client type meetings. The only question is, after untangling the web of lies to get to the truth, whether there will be any room left for love.

  Warning: A secret Worth sister? Yes, indeed. Not only will you catch a glimpse of all those delicious Worth brothers one last time, you’ll get to know their sweet, feisty sister—and the man who’ll tame her. All in the name of love.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Worth Everything:

  Stasia watched him eat, afraid to say anything for fear he’d snarl and growl at her again like some sort of feral beast. She’d had no idea the polished, handsome attorney could turn so coarse and rough in such a short amount of time. It had surprised her.

  Aroused her.

  Frowning, she pushed her food around on her plate, her appetite having fled. She didn’t want to fight with Gavin, but she didn’t want him to think so terribly of her either. This driving need to know this other, lost part of her life had nothing to do with money and everything with her half-brothers.

  She had six of them. It was crazy to imagine, let alone realize that it was indeed true. Six brothe
rs, every one of them older than her.

  And not one of them wanted to be with her. Well, the three she’d been raised with were trapped by the restrictions of their father’s will and their own very busy lives. The other three looked at her as if she were some sort of interloper they wanted no part of.

  It hurt, all of it. She’d never felt so exposed, scrubbed so raw. Gavin’s accusations were like salt rubbed into her wounds, stinging and burning until she could hardly concentrate.

  She knew Gavin wouldn’t give, though. No he wouldn’t apologize or offer any sort of sympathy, not that she expected him to. This last month she’d learned to harden her heart, not to count on anyone to help her. Everyone in her family had abandoned her, even her mother. She had absolutely no one.

  More than anything, she needed to remember that.

  “Stasia.” His deep, calm voice broke through her painful thoughts, rippling her nerve endings like a rock skipping across an otherwise smooth pond. “I don’t want to argue with you.”

  “Well.” She met his gaze, found herself momentarily lost in that stark green gaze. So stupid. “You must be a mind reader, because I don’t want to fight with you either.”

  “Misunderstandings are futile.” He tried to smile, but it wasn’t sincere. It didn’t even reach his eyes. “Perhaps we can start over and discuss the matter in a more…civilized manner.”

  She remained quiet, contemplating him. He seemed like a man who preferred polite conversation. Who did everything by the book, never diverting, never daring to break the rules or do something that would damage an attorney/client relationship.

  A few minutes in her presence and it was as if he was ready to throw away the veneer of perfection and argue with her until they ran out of breath. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. His reaction to her, their reaction to each other, made no sense.