by Dee Davis
"Every day." She reached up to cup his face, his blood still staining her fingers, his life held firmly in her hands. "I'll hold you to it."
He bent his head and touched his lips to hers, the kiss a promise of their life to come. He'd lost one quest, but in so doing, he'd won the one that mattered most.
He'd made a bargain with the devil, but in the end his father had been the one to set him free.
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An excerpt from Hell's Fury (the third book in The Devil May Care Series)
And next in the Devil May Care series and excerpt from Julie Kenner’s Sure as Hell
Lucia was having fun.
There was, quite simply, no other way to describe it. And while the emotion didn't exactly disturb her, the ramifications did. After all, she needed to be at her best if she was going to pull off this assignment. Distractions—especially of a sexual nature—would simply not do.
And yet...
And yet she couldn't bring herself to walk away from this man. There was something about his laugh. Something about the way he was willing to put himself on the line for her. The wager. The banter. All of it delighted her. And, yes, all of it excited her.
And when he'd suggested room service rather than a five-star restaurant ... well, honestly, the mere thought of being alone with this man in a room was almost more than she could stand. And after several millennia, Lucia had withstood a lot.
"Well?" He was looking at her, the query in his eyes as intent as the need she saw there. She recognized it, absorbed it, and reflected it right back at him.
More than that, though, she realized suddenly that he didn't know her name any more than she knew his. The realization sent shock waves of relief and lust coursing through her. Anonymity meant freedom, and with this man she wanted the freedom to do anything.
And why not? Wasn't she under the absolute worst kind of job stress? She needed a little stress relief. Not only that, she deserved it.
"Absolutely," she said, unable to hide her smile. "Room service sounds positively delicious."
His return smile matched hers, and that was all the response she needed to know that she'd made the right decision. After all, this was not a situation where she would be forced to try to complete her task with a clinging male dogging her every move. This man wanted exactly what she wanted—a quick fling. And the freedom to then move on.
"Your room or mine?" she asked, which broke her rule of never inviting a man to her room. But she was already breaking her rule of never seducing a man while on an assignment—unless he was part of the assignment—so she decided one more rule shattered wouldn't hurt. Besides, the room wasn't listed under her real name—or, at least, not under the surname she'd been using for the last dozen or so years.
Still, the fact that she'd so cavalierly offered made her uneasy, and she was about to rescind when he resolved the issue for her.
"Our room," he said, holding up his winnings with one hand while slipping his free arm around her waist and pulling her close.
"Ours?" The word sounded weak, and she had only his touch to blame. The man had already turned her ignition up high. The added heat generated as he pulled her close set her near to combusting.
He urged them forward. "Come with me, Mrs. Smith."
She kept in step with him, fighting a smile, because she had never once bowed to convention and checked in to a hotel with a man under an assumed name. With this man, though, the idea seemed not only brilliant, but erotic. And full promise.
They strolled through the casino toward the hotel registration desk, his thumb grazing her back, bare from the halter that tied at her neck and waist. Every few strokes, the tip of his thumb would ease below the waistband of her skirt, and each time it did, Lucia wanted to moan and beg.
She didn't show it, though. She prided herself on that. The intense lust was under the surface, as was his. He kept up the playful banter as they walked, his tempting finger the only clue that his mind was on a more decadent form of play.
The dichotomy was overwhelmingly erotic, and by the time they reached the front desk, she knew her panties were soaked. One touch, and she would surely come right there.
Considering her desperate straits, the five-star service was much appreciated. She'd been in many hotels, but never in her life had she seen a hotel staff scurry so fast. This staff did, and all her companion had to do was ask. In less than five minutes, Mr. and Mrs. John Smith were booked into an executive suite on the twenty-fifth floor.
She clasped his hand, practically dragging him to the elevators with a ferocity born of a need that she hadn't experienced in a very long time. Had she ever felt this way about a man? This desperate? This out of control?
Lucia was no stranger to lust. To wild passion and physical abandon. She was, after all, her father's daughter. But the hard-hitting drive of pure sex—while decadently wonderful—had an edge to it unlike what she felt with this man. With him, she wanted... what?
She didn't know, and she told herself that there was nothing else to it. She wanted sex. That was all.
Sex. Abandon. To lose herself in this man and in this few hours of freedom before she threw herself hard and heavy into her final assignment.
She told herself all of that, and yet she didn't quite believe it. Still, the truth hardly mattered at the moment, when all she wanted to feel was the press of his skin against hers, and as they moved toward the elevator bank, she barely even noticed the surroundings, the warm gold and dazzling gemstones little more than reflections of her own vibrant emotions.
The mirrored elevator doors reflected their approach—and her need. She could see it in her own eyes, and saw it equally matched in his. And it was that glimpse into the depths of his own desperation that convinced her that she was right to simply go with this. Tomorrow, she could be Lucia again. Tonight, she would lose herself in the heat of anonymity.
Check out these books by Dee Davis:
Romantic Suspense:
Last Chance Series:
Endgame
Enigma
Exposure
Liar’s Game Series (coming in 2014):
Eye Of The Storm
Chain Reaction
Still of the Night
Women’s Fiction:
The Matchmaker Chronicles:
A Match Made on Madison
Set Up In SoHo
Paranormal:
Time Travel Trilogy:
Everything In Its Time
Wild Highland Rose
The Promise
Devil May Care Series:
Hell Fire
Hell’s Fury
About Dee Davis
Bestselling author Dee Davis worked in association management before turning her hand to writing. Her highly acclaimed first novel, Everything In Its Time, was published in July 2000. Since then, among others, she's won the Booksellers Best, Golden Leaf, Texas Gold and Prism awards, and been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Holt and three RT Reviewers Choice Awards. To date, she is the author of twenty-two books and five novellas. When not sitting at the computer, Dee spends time in her 1802 farmhouse with her husband and cardigan welsh corgi.
Visit Dee
at http://www.deedavis.com or catch up with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/deedavis1 or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/deesdavis
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Photo: Marti Corn