Dirty Debt

by Lauren Landish

  “I was thinking . . .” I say, running my hand along his arm. Shit, I’m playing the seductress to the hilt. I even have my next line planned, something about how I’d like to have a little more sex . . . on his face.

  He raises a brow at me, and anxiety twists my stomach as I look into his eyes. I’m suddenly uncertain. He has to get more pussy than animal control. My ego can’t take a hit right now.

  But looking around the room, I realize one thing. He’s the only one I want. If I can’t have Jake, I’m going home alone.

  I suck in a breath. Fuck it—you only live once.

  “Look, would you like to go somewhere?” I cringe. I know I must sound so fucking desperate, like some slutty skank. But isn’t that what I came here for? I’m hot and heavy and this guy is doing crazy things to my ovaries just by sitting next to me. I need him.

  He turns, looking me in the eye. “Direct, aren’t we? I can’t imagine an angel like you . . .”

  I’m shocked when he seems to steel himself. He turns the bottle up and in one gulp drinks the rest, smacking it down on the bar, and growls almost ferally. “Let’s go.”

  He gets up from the seat and I jump to my feet. He puts his hand on the small of my back as he leads me to the back of the club. “Where are we going?”

  “Told you, I know the owners. There are . . . private places around here,” he says, and I dismiss it. Fuck, I don’t care if he takes me into the VIP bathroom. I’ll take it right now.

  The show is about to start for the band. I’m gonna miss it but I don’t care. He takes me through a door and into a hallway. We come up to another door, and like magic, he produces a key to get in. Before I can ask him why he has a key, he’s on me like a dog in heat, pushing me up against the wall and devouring my mouth in a hungry, fiery kiss.

  Our lips crash together, and he’s doing crazy things to my body, his hands roaming over my dress and lighting my skin on fire.

  “Take me,” I moan, my thighs trembling with need. Ten long months. And if that huge, hard cock pressing against my thigh is any indication, I want it right fucking now.

  “Not here,” he half-moans, half-slurs in lust, stepping back and taking me by the hand. He leads me down the darkened hall to a room. He opens the door and turns on the light. It’s a medium-sized room with a bed and some rugs in the center. What the fuck is a bed doing back here?

  But I don’t care about that. I want him.

  He’s back on me again, and we’re kissing, his hands tugging on my dress. With every inch of my skin that’s exposed, the fire in my stomach grows as I feel all the sexual frustration start to boil over.

  “I’m gonna give you a night to remember,” I growl in his ear as I pull off his shirt. “You’ll never forget Roxy.”

  Damn, call the exorcist. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like the devil himself has possessed my body.

  I rip off his shirt with an animalistic snarl. The air freezes in my lungs when I see the hard abs of his stomach. He wasn’t fucking lying about being the man of steel. The rest of him has to be pure perfection.

  “Your tits are amaaazing,” he says, his slur growing, his hands squeezing my breast weakly.

  What the fuck? Damn, how is he drunk already? He only had that one beer. I pay it no mind. I push him back onto the bed, tugging my skirt up to my waist and mounting his hips, feeling the hard bulge of his groin rub against my panties.

  “Fuuuuuck, baby,” he moans. His voice is sluggish. “I love how aggressive youuuu are . . .”

  “Shh, baby,” I tell him, slipping my dress down and showing him my breasts, turning my dress into just a band around my waist. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

  I swear it looks like he’s fighting to stay awake. But I don’t need long to send him to heaven. I trail my hands down his abs and down to his happy trail. Reaching his belt, I hungrily unbutton his pants.

  “Baaaby . . .” he moans, almost like he’s gasping for air. I take the gasps as if he can't wait to be inside me. Fuck, I can’t either.

  I get his pants down and am about to pull his cock out and slide on a condom when he grabs onto my breasts with the force of Zeus. He holds tight and lets out an unearthly gasp, his eyes fluttering.

  I stare down at him in shock as he takes one last breath and then seems to go unconscious.

  “What the fuck?” I know I was about to give him the most glorious send-off he ever had, but did he really just pass out? “Hello?”

  It takes some effort, but I’m able to disengage his death grip from my breasts. They ache, and I wonder if I’m going to have a few bruises on them tomorrow. “Hello?” I repeat, leaning in closer. “Jake?”

  I shake him, and when he doesn’t respond, I give him a little slap on the face. He doesn’t move at all, and fear starts to clench in my belly.

  Hands shaking, I place my hand on the side of his neck. I don’t feel anything, and I’m getting more worried. What the fuck?

  My heart pounds in my chest as I stare down at him in disbelief.

  The Man of Steel is dead.

  Want to read the rest? Get Heartstopper HERE.

  Preview: Mr. Fixit

  by Lauren Landish

  Cassie

  The blistering heat envelops me as I step outside with a glass of cold water in my hand. Immediately, the humidity makes my thin cotton tank top cling to my body even before I’m halfway down the steps.

  “I get it, I get it,” I mutter to myself, glancing up to the heavens. “I’ve been such a bad girl that I have to spend the summer living next door to the gates of hell. Doesn’t mean you have to throw in the mugginess too.”

  At least the weather’s good for one thing, I think as I feel a droplet of sweat trickle down the back of my thigh. I can barely stand to wear anything at all, so I’ve spent most of the past few days in nothing but crop tops and Daisy Dukes. Sure, I might be looking just a tad bit skanky, but I think I can pull it off. And it’s done wonders for my tan.

  I hear the buzzing of the small gasoline motor, and I come around the corner of the house, knowing what I’ll find. After a delay in getting some of the materials that we need, Caleb and I decided to tackle something else. A friend of his was willing to let us borrow his big riding lawnmower, so we’re tackling the one-acre space behind the house, taking it from a jungle to a half-tamed space. We’ll worry about making it a lawn later, but today’s all about at least getting it so that I’m not worried about snakes or other creepy crawlies if I want to take a walk back here.

  Caleb and I have been working together all morning to try and get the lawn done, alternating between driving the mower and using the other tools. We’ve been through six gallons of gas in the big mower, but the ten huge bags of cut grass stand as a monument to the amount of work we’ve accomplished. But now, he insists on running the weed whacker, saying my bare legs are in danger. The way he keeps looking at my legs and ass, I’d say he’s the one in danger . . . and that’s just the way I like it.

  “Do you need some wa—” I yell, but the words freeze in my throat at the sight in front of me. Caleb’s peeled off his shirt while I’ve been inside, leaving him in just a pair of jeans that hugs his lean hips like a glove, and I get a full view of the long muscles of his back and the swell of his arms and shoulders as he shuts off the motor. Just looking at the sweat glistening on his tanned skin makes my internal temperature ratchet up a few more degrees, and I’m tempted to drink half the glass of water myself. I’m burning up inside.

  “Hey,” he says, turning all the way toward me and shrugging off the gas trimmer. Watching his chest and arms flex with easy strength and the bead of sweat that trickles down his pecs before coursing its way over the deep ridges of his abs has me gasping for air.

  I’ve always known that Caleb was a fine, sexy specimen of manhood. But the recent change in our relationship has me looking at him differently. I’m shocked at how turned on he makes me. These past few days, I’ve noticed him not as an opponent, not as a playmate,
but as a man. And no matter how much I want to deny it, I want him with every fiber of my being.

  Why couldn't I see this before? It makes sense. From the moment I saw him, I wanted to beat him, to show him that I was worthy of his notice. Every mean trick I played on him, every time I’ve tried to show him up since we’ve started working together, it’s always been to get his attention. Sometimes, I’ve been subtle, like with a slight joke or making sure I wore my thinnest bra today underneath my thinnest tank top. Other times, it’s been as in your face as a bucket of water poured over his head. Yeah, I did that too.

  And now, I can’t deny it. I can’t get enough of him.

  The corner of Caleb’s lips curl up into a cocky grin as he watches me, and I realize I’m staring at him, the glass of ice water frozen in my hand. “You okay?”

  I tear my eyes away from his sweaty abs. “Yeah, a bead of sweat just fell in my eye.” I lie my ass off, trying to maintain at least a little bit of control of myself. I’m not quite that desperate that I want to fall on my back in the freshly mown grass and spread my legs, begging him to plow me. At least, not yet. I wipe at my eyes with the back of my hand, holding out the glass of cold water. “Here. You look like you need it.”

  Caleb reaches out and takes the glass from my hand, my eyes fixed on his Adam’s apple as he downs half the glass, his throat making me even more breathless before he stops and gives me a curious look. “You sure about that?”

  He steps closer, and he’s so close I can feel the heat emanating from him, heat that has nothing to do with the blistering sun. I swear my internal thermometer is rising through the roof. Standing next to him, the only image I have in my head is of my entire head exploding like a cartoon thermometer, but I can’t tear my eyes away from him.

  “I’m sure,” I finally reply, my voice husky. “How much more do you have to do?”

  “Not much,” Caleb admits, not looking anywhere but at me. “There’s a few bushes that need trimmed, but that won’t take long at all.”

  If you want to see a nicely trimmed bush, I’ve got one for you, I think, but instead, I nod. “Okay.”

  The sounds of the summer fade away as I watch him finish off his drink, a trickle of water running from the side of his mouth and down to his chest, making me want to lick the clear droplet off his skin. He licks his lips, and all I can imagine is feeling his hands, his lips, his tongue licking me that way, and I moan lightly, my thighs trembling with desire.

  Caleb finishes the last bit from the glass before crunching one of the ice cubes that I’d put inside, smiling. “Delicious. Just what I needed.”

  Please, please, PLEASE run that ice cube over my nipples, I want to beg him, my heart pounding in my chest like a sexual drum. “Yeah. I was just going back inside. I was going to get that list of stuff for the bathr—”

  Trying to keep my eyes in a safe place, I fail utterly. Every glance at Caleb makes me want him more, and I stammer, unable to find a single square inch of his body that doesn’t leave my heart fluttering, my stomach twisting, and my pussy aching. Finally, in a desperate bid for keeping control, I turn to leave, but I freeze when I feel a powerful hand grab my wrist.

  “What are you doing?” I gasp as Caleb pulls me back around, my body pressing against his. I can feel his heart pounding against my chest, and between his legs is a throbbing, thick heat that leaves my knees weak.

  Caleb grins at me, his eyes twinkling in a way that I’ve never seen before. “You didn’t call me names like you normally do.”

  “Oh,” I whimper weakly. “I just forgot. This heat has me burning up.”

  Caleb lowers his lips until I can feel his breath on my ear, and I whimper again, my nipples hardening inside my top. “I think you’re burning up all right. And I know just what to do about it.”

  “Oh, is that so?” I ask as my hands clutch at the full, hard muscles on his chest.

  “It is,” he purrs, pressing himself into me. I can feel the rapidly hardening growth of his cock, and my legs seem to spread on their own to let him have access to me. I want him so damn badly I can taste him already.

  He pulls me tighter, and I moan, unable to form words. He’s got me right where he wants me. Caleb whispers in my ear, “You have a problem, and I have the tool for the job.”

  He grabs another one of the ice cubes from his glass, gently dropping the glass to the grass. I bite my lip as he brings the ice cube to my jawline, tracing the line and then letting the drops run down my neck. He dips his head down to lick at the river of drops from the quickly melting ice, humming in satisfaction.

  “Mmm, even more refreshing than I thought. Are you cooled off now?”

  Knowing it’ll drive him crazy, I smirk and shake my head. “Not even close. In fact, I might be even hotter now.”

  “We can’t have that, now can we?” he says as he trails the little bit of remaining ice down toward my cleavage. I press my tits together, creating a little crevice for the water to puddle, and Caleb’s eyes focus there. Moving his hands over mine, he cups my breasts together even higher, lowering his head to dip his tongue into the pool, lapping the water up and running his tongue along the upper crest of my breasts. My head falls back as I groan. The water gone now, he moves to slip the neckline of my tank down, giving him more access. Kissing down, he slurps my nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the peaked tip. He’s driving me crazy, and I know my panties are already soaked.

  I’m this close to letting him take me right here in the backyard, whoever can see be damned, when I hear my phone blare out. “Work hard, play hard.”

  “Shit,” I gasp, pushing away from Caleb and going over to his truck to grab my bag off the tailgate. My phone’s still singing its digital ass off, and I know from the ringtone that it’s work. I pull it out and see that it’s Martha. “Fuck!”

  “Well, that was sort of what I had in mind,” Caleb teases, grabbing my hips from behind and pulling me closer, but I pull away before I can be swept away in the sexual passion coursing through me.

  I hold up a finger to signal for him to hold on a second, answering the call. “Hey, Martha, what’s up?”

  Caleb realizes it’s work and is professional enough to not do anything too naughty. Good boy. “Hey, Cass,” Martha says. “I hope you’re not waiting on me.”

  Oh, shit, I forgot . . . Martha is supposed to come to the house today. It’s a good damn thing she didn’t pull up just now or she would’ve gotten a bit more show than she’d planned on. “Oh, um, no, Martha, not at all,” I quickly reply while trying not to facepalm myself. I’ve done that before, and it’s not a good thing to do while you have your smartphone to your face. “Actually, we’re just finishing up the yardwork. Why?”

  “Well, I guess we’re both lucky then,” Martha says with a relieved sigh. “I was getting my hair done, and you know how the salon can get on the weekends. Is there any way you could meet me at the office in an hour instead of my driving out there?”

  “Yeah, no problem,” I say, relieved. “I’ll see you there.”

  We hang up, and I turn to Caleb, who looks disappointed. “Sorry.”

  “Work?” he asks, and I’m counting the minutes in my head even as I look down. An hour. That means we have about ten minutes to . . .

  No, stop it, dammit, I tell myself.

  “Yeah, work. I promised Martha I’d go over some documents with her. She’s gotta send them off Monday morning or else.”

  Caleb sighs but nods. “I understand. Well, at least I know I can make you lose all track of time.”

  I laugh, shaking my head. “Probably because you’re so boring you put me to sleep.”

  “Is that what you call it when you scream my name and pass out? Boring. I’ll remember that.”

  Want to read more of Caleb & Cassie’s explosive antics? Get it HERE.

  Sneak Peek: Matchmaker

  by Lauren Landish

  Coming Oct. 20th!

  Hayden

  It’s mad early for break
fast, but since ending our date, I’ve felt like I can’t get my mind off of Emily. As I’m rounding a corner, I see her, dressed in a beautiful white dress, her long, sexy legs on display, heading into a door ahead. A grin spreads across my face as I rush up the hallway and sneak in behind her.

  I try to be quiet as I come through the door, but Emily immediately senses my presence and she turns around with a gasp, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Hayden, what are you doing in here?”

  I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself. I move in closer, crowding her body with my own. Her breathing slows, becoming heavy and a little ragged. In that moment, I know she wants me. It’s only my enormous self-restraint that keeps me from seeing just how far I can push it.

  “I dreamt of you last night,” I tell her, my voice a soft growl. “And I wake up today, walk out of my room, and here you are, right in front of me like a figment of my imagination. I had to follow you to see if you were real.”

  Emily bites her lower lip and looks away for a moment, blushing. “I might’ve thought about you last night too,” she admits. She spreads her fingers inches apart to indicate just how much. “Just a little.”

  Desire courses through my veins as I move in even closer. “Oh really?” I growl. “And what did you think about?”

  She’s practically shaking, and the corner of my lips curl up into a grin as she searches for words. “Nothing. Just… our date.”

  I arch an eyebrow, placing a hand on the small of her back and pulling her closer. “Are you sure that’s all?”

  “Y-yes.”

  She’s lying, but it doesn’t matter, I’ll let her off the hook.

  “I had a great time talking to you yesterday,” I say, “…and you know, after.”

  “After?” Emily asks breathlessly. The smell of her desire is in the air, her warm lush body making me hot as hell. “What do you mean—”