by Alyssa Day
But it was real. And so was Liam. And reading the Atlantis informational packet, with its overview of Atlantean laws and traditions, had done nothing to prepare her for an up-close and personal confrontation with this man. Maybe teasing one of Poseidon’s warriors was a hanging offense, or she’d be forced to walk the plank at sundown. Not that this was a ship, but, wow, the man was frying her brain cells.
This man. He was unlike anyone she’d ever met before. Sure, he had the typical Atlantean tall, dark, and gorgeous thing going on, but Liam was . . . different. Something about him had caught her attention from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. Queen Riley had called him over to introduce them, and he’d stalked toward them from across the garden, all grace and power and pure, primal male. Jaime’s mouth had dried out, and she’d almost tripped over her own tongue, just trying to say hello. And, if she hadn’t been mistaken, there’d been a gleam of amusement or maybe sympathy in the queen’s eyes after Liam had gone.
Riley had smiled. “I had the same reaction to Conlan when I met him. They can be somewhat overwhelming, can’t they?”
Jaime had nodded, remembering a snippet of fact from somewhere that the queen had been—still was? —human. “He’s certainly that,” she’d agreed, staring at Liam’s delectable backside as he’d walked away. “Oh, boy.”
And now, the man’s eyes were glowing. Glowing. Deep, ocean-drowning blue, touched with liquid silver, as if his eyes were lit up from within like one of her jack-o’-lanterns. He was well over six feet of thickly muscled, deadly warrior, and his eyes were glowing with heat and danger. She should be scared to death.
Instead, she wanted to climb him like a tree and lick the side of his neck. Well, sure, he was spectacularly gorgeous, like every other Atlantean warrior she’d met, but there was just something more when she looked at him. Black, silky hair fell in waves to his collar, framing a fallen-angel face that must cause every woman on the formerly lost continent to fantasize about him. That warrior body, with broad shoulders tapering down to narrow hips and powerful legs, currently encased in dark pants, a carelessly tucked-in white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and leather boots, was enough to make any woman take a second look.
And a third, and a fourth . . .
It was the humor in his eyes that had caught her, though. That, and the kindness. That was all Liam, and it was perhaps what made it so hard for her to ignore him. But he was Danger with a capital D, not at all the type of man she usually went for. Her type was sweet and funny and nice.
And lets you boss him around.
No, that couldn’t be true. She wasn’t bossy. She was an event organizer. It was her career. She had to be organized.
So, she made lists. Lots and lots and lots of lists. Better to make lists and get things done than be the kind of person who falls into bed with the first Atlantean warrior who made her nipples tingle just by looking at her with his glowing eyes.
“Oh, boy,” she said, sighing and trying to think of anything else but tingling. “You, um, I—I’m sorry I teased you. I don’t really want to walk the plank.”
He tilted his head, but at least the glow in his eyes was fading, and she was almost positive he was fighting a smile. “What in the nine hells are you talking about?”
Even his voice was sexy, and all the rest of the parts of her that hadn’t tingled in a very long time woke up and noticed. Which was bad. Very bad.
“You have nine hells? We only have one. Um, never mind. The party is starting in only a few hours, and I have to finish placing the jack-o’-lanterns,” she babbled, wondering what had happened to calm, organized, Jaime, the most unflappable event organizer in Chicago. This was her, being flappable. Very flappable. Flapped, even.
She groaned.
“I can’t do you right now. Do this! I can’t do this,” she said, feeling her face catch on fire.
He leaned closer, and all the oxygen in the world disappeared. “Oh, you sweet, sexy human. I promise that I am looking forward to the time when you can do me, as you put it.”
“Pumpkins,” she blurted out, when it looked like he was going to kiss her. “I need to get these pumpkins unloaded.”
“Pumpkins?”
She pointed to a motorized cart, like a golf cart but with a bed in the back like a pickup truck. “Pumpkins. I have to go. Put jack-o’-lanterns all over the place. For the party.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Focus. She needed to quit lusting over the hot Atlantean and get on with things.
But then she felt his arms go around her waist and her brain short-circuited. Her eyes flew open and he was right there. In front of her. Staring down at her, laughter and something else in his expression.
Heat. The heat of a man who wanted her, and this had nothing to do with magic or glowing or anything else. This was wanting, pure and simple, and it tugged at her until she wanted to wrap herself around his body and cling to him.
Naked.
“I need to distribute the pumpkins,” she said instead, practically hyperventilating. This was why she’d tried to hide every time she’d seen him around since she’d been on Atlantis. Somehow, she’d known he’d be dangerous to her.
“Fruit again. You’re obsessed with fruit, I think,” he said, not bothering to hide the slow, predatory smile that spread across his incredible face. “I’d rather you were obsessed with me.”
“I need--"
He cut her off, his eyes filled with what looked like bewilderment. “I need, too. I don’t understand it, but you make me need. And want. Things that probably aren’t good for me; things that I can never have. I don’t even know you yet, but you make me want.”
The stark confession tore at something inside her. Looking into his eyes, she almost thought she could glimpse an aching void of loneliness, just for an instant.
“You make me want, too,” she admitted. It was a moment out of time; a moment that needed honesty.
A flash of purely masculine triumph crossed his face, and then he bent his head to hers. “Then let us taste what is between us, just for a moment.”
Her laugh was shaky. “Yeah, okay. Maybe we can get it out of our systems.”
His smile faded. “I don’t think so.”
And then he took her mouth, and gravity stopped working.
Electricity sparked between them, inside her, around her. The heat of his big, hard body against hers, the touch of his skin, the taste of his mouth—it all overwhelmed her with sensation. Someone was moaning, and she thought it might be her, but she didn’t even care; she clutched at his shoulders, trying to get closer, needing to get closer, to climb inside him and curl up, wrapped in the sensual heat of his kiss.
Liam’s hands were suddenly on her butt, pulling her even closer, and she twined her hands into his hair, touching his head, his face, his neck, while he kissed her in a way she’d never been kissed before.
Heat seared through her; heat and need, heat and want. She moaned again, against his lips, and he made a low, growling sound that shuddered through her body like an earthquake.
He finally raised his head and stared down at her, and both of them were breathing hard, like they’d been running. It occurred to Jaime that it was exactly what she should be doing. Running. As fast and as far as she could, to get away from this man who had sliced through her defenses like a sword through a pumpkin.
Laughter bubbled out of her. “Oh, wow, that’s it. You’re a fruit ninja.”
Buy Halloween in Atlantis
Books by Alyssa
THE TIGER’S EYE MYSTERY SERIES:
Dead Eye
Private Eye
Travelling Eye (a short story)
Evil Eye (coming in 2017)
POSEIDON’S WARRIORS SERIES:
Halloween in Atlantis
Christmas in Atlantis
January in Atlantis
February in Atlantis
March in Atlantis
April in Atlantis
May in A
tlantis
June in Atlantis
July in Atlantis
August in Atlantis
September in Atlantis
October in Atlantis
November in Atlantis
December in Atlantis
THE CARDINAL WITCHES SERIES:
Alejandro’s Sorceress (a novella)
William’s Witch (a short story)
Damon’s Enchantress (a novella)
Jake’s Djinn (a short story in the Second Chances anthology, to be available in 2018 as a stand-alone)
THE WARRIORS OF POSEIDON SERIES:
Atlantis Rising
Wild Hearts in Atlantis (a novella; originally in the WILD THING anthology)
Atlantis Awakening
Shifter’s Lady (a novella; originally in the SHIFTER anthology)
Atlantis Unleashed
Atlantis Unmasked
Atlantis Redeemed
Atlantis Betrayed
Vampire in Atlantis
Heart of Atlantis
Alejandro’s Sorceress (a related novella; begins the Cardinal Witches spinoff series)
THE LEAGUE OF THE BLACK SWAN SERIES:
The Cursed
The Curse of the Black Swan (a novella; coming as standalone June, 2018, originally in the ENTHRALLED anthology)
The Unforgiven (book canceled)
The Treasured
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Random
Second Chances
NONFICTION
Email to the Front
About the Author
Alyssa Day is the pen name (and dark and tortured alter ego) of Alesia Holliday. As Alyssa, she writes the New York Times and USA Today best-selling Warriors of Poseidon paranormal romance series, Tiger’s Eye Mysteries paranormal mystery/urban fantasy series and the Cardinal Witches paranormal romance series. She has won many awards, including the RT BookClub Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Paranormal Romance novel of 2012. Her books have been translated into a zillion languages but she’s still holding out for Klingon.
As Alesia, she also has won many awards, including Romance Writers of America’s coveted RITA award for excellence in romance fiction. Alesia writes comedies that make readers snort things out of their noses, and is the author of the award-winning memoir about military families during war-time deployments: EMAIL TO THE FRONT.
She’s a diehard Buckeye who graduated summa cum laude from Capital University Law School and practiced as a trial lawyer in multi-million-dollar litigation for several years before coming to her senses and letting the voices in her head loose on paper. She lives somewhere near an ocean with her Navy Guy husband, two kids, and any number of rescue dogs
You can hang out with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorAlyssaDay) and Twitter (@alyssa_day), where she talks about her rescue dogs and her future pug ranch, and her blog, where she talks openly about her struggles with depression and hosts Mental Health Check In Fridays (www.alyssaday.com/blog).
If you’d like to get a sneak peek at upcoming books, read continuing free short stories, hear the scoop on swag and prizes, find out where Alyssa will be making personal appearances, and more, please text ALYSSADAY to 66866 to join her newsletter.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
Christmas in Atlantis Copyright © 2017 by Alesia Holliday
Cover design by Authors on a Dime – www.authorsonadime.com
Halloween in Atlantis Copyright © 2016 by Alesia Holliday
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
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Author contact info:
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Email: [email protected]
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