EXCERPT ONE

 

Steph

Fall, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

 

          “You’re mine!” Steph excitedly declared as she started frantically down the busy Rue Saint-Jean Street, one of Quebec City’s most famous shopping areas. Narrowly missing hitting a line of tourists, Steph failed to notice the old world charm of the district or the curious looks that she was getting from its patrons. She knew that she looked like a crazy woman, but for the sake of taking over this Pokémon territory for the Team Mystic, she would happily act silly. Her only problem now was finding the ‘gym’ where she could battle the Team Valor’s Mew Pokémon to take control of the area.

 

          “Gotcha cornered!” she all but shouted as she managed to find the elusive gym. She began swiping her screen again, trying to help her Arcanine to overtake Team Valor’s Mew.

 

          Frantically swiping away, the rest of the world faded away as it was just her and the battling Pokémon.

 

          “Miss? Are you okay?” a sexy accented voice broke her concentration.

 

          “Dear Lord! I must be getting too little sleep due to this game and The Celestial Prophesy. I’m now hearing Antonio Banderas!” she murmured to herself.

 

          She heard a clearing of a throat next to her, which made her turn her head. As her eyes traveled slowly up his chino covered legs, leather jacket covered chest, and up to a face that looked like one that she had seen on a cologne ad in the airport. His dark hair had highlights in it and was neatly styled. He had black stubble along his firm jaw that only added to his slightly piratical look. But it was his eyes, which made her gasp- they were an unusual dark obsidian that made her feel as if they were staring straight into her soul.

 

          “Miss?” he asked again, arching a black winged brow.

 

          She shivered at his intensity and instantly stood up. The branches that clung to her jeans were forgotten as she hurried to her feet, shoving her phone into her back jean pocket. Steph felt funny, like her brain was overloaded by his hotness. She tried to say something, but it was as if her mouth was filled with marbles.

 

          “Can I help you out of the planter?” he held his hand out to her and dipped his chin to indicate the planter.

 

          Dazed by his beauty, Steph looked down to see that she was indeed standing in a planter in the middle of the park in front of Quebec City’s grand church. I am so embarrassed! I hope he didn’t hear that Antonio Banderas comment. Should I mention it? No! I’ll let it go if he does!

 

EXCERPT TWO

 

Dante

 

It wasn’t that the tour of the eerie, haunted house wasn’t good, it was just that Dante could hardly concentrate on anything that the guide said. Steph had invaded all his senses, which meant that he must have seemed like a creepy stalker to the rest of the tour goers, since he was pretty certain he never pulled his eyes away from her. However, it had only gotten worse as they entered the Master Bedroom. Ever since they had passed the bedroom threshold, the tension between them had become palatable.

 

          Fuck! She has to feel it too! He told himself more than once. Even the other tour guest must have sensed something, because although he and Steph stood on other sides of the room, no one stood between them.

 

          He hated himself for making her feel that she had to avoid him. He both wanted to yell at her and lick every inch of her delicate skin at the same time. More than once, he caught himself subconsciously reaching down to grab his dick to shake off some tension. Luckily he had caught himself just in time, as he was sure that the other tour guests would not appreciate that peep show. Although, the gray-haired granny who had pinched his butt surprisingly hard earlier might…

 

          The cold shoulder she had given him throughout the tour had pushed him to the brink. He needed to say something to her. He needed to see her eyes spark with something other than dread. She was on the far side of the room, so when the other guests filed out, she was the last. Dante waited by the door. This was his chance to clear the air with her so that they could hopefully move on.

 

          As she approached him, she kept her head down, not meeting his eyes. “Steph? Look at me,” he quietly implored.

 

          Her eyes met his and he could see the passion in them. Her confusion and anger overtook that look after a moment.

 

          “What do you want, Dante?” She impatiently asked as she looked beyond his shoulder out the door at the last of the tour participants who were disappearing down the hall.

 

          “I want to talk to you,” he confessed as he tried to hold himself back from jumping her after hearing his name on her lips. His cock twitched as he waited for her to say it again. Instead, she gave him a look of exasperation, but all he could see was her plush lips parted.

 

          “Fuck it!” he ground out as he quietly closed the heavy wood bedroom door. Then as if some otherworldly force was propelling him, he reached out and grabbed the back of her head with his left hand and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Looking into her shocked eyes as he dipped his head to hers, he took her mouth in a more punishing kiss than he had intended to. He pushed his lips to her closed mouth, nipping at them, enticing her to open and accept his invasion.

 

          He had never pictured himself forcing his advances on a woman before, but he was damned if he could stop himself. At first she lifted her hands to his shoulders, pushing a little on them. He gave a little growl as he moved his mouth down from her lips and kissed his way to her ear, where he pulled her sensitive lobe into his mouth. She moaned with pleasure and her hands moved from pushing his shoulders to clenching his neck, holding him to her.

 

          He hadn’t expected her to take charge, he had expected her to slap him, but she grabbed his head and brought his mouth back to hers. Their tongues and teeth clashed as they both tried to gain the upper hand. It was like they were having a war of dominance. This turned Dante on more as he ran his hand from her waist down to her shapely butt, squeezing it as he bent his knees a bit so he could grind his erection into the apex of her thighs.

 

          He was thrilled when he heard her moan. He wanted to make her want him just a fraction of how much he craved her and would do anything he could to see that he succeeded.

 

          Hardly aware of his surroundings anymore, Dante’s focus centered on Steph. Backing her up to the master bed, he helped her lay down on the plush comforter. The only sounds in the room was their heavy breathing and kisses as he moved away from her lips and travelled down her neck. His hands moved to tease her nipples as his fingers traveled further down her body. Stopping at the button of her jeans, he looked up at her with questions in his eyes.

 

          His breath caught as he saw her outlined by the moonlight streaming in from the bay windows behind her. She looked like a beautiful apparition that would vanish any moment if he didn’t find a way to capture her. The thought terrified him, but what frightened him even more was what he knew in his soul at that moment she owned him.

 

EXCERPT THREE

 

Dante

 

             As Dante lay on the bed next to Steph with his eyes closed, as he breathed in her sweet, unique scent. Even if he never saw her again, he would always associate the smell of honeysuckle with this moment and these feelings. He felt close to Heaven as Steph laid nestled against his body. Lazily, he ran a finger up and down the back of her delectably curvy legs. He knew in his soul that if he laid there forever feeling her body that he would die a happy man. She was indeed his moonbeam, for she could be seen, but was so difficult to catch.

 

             Footsteps rang out from somewhere in the house making Dante come back to reality. Fuck! The tour. Dante snapped up as he was ripped from his blissful existence looking at the closed bedroom door. He glanced down at their intertwined naked bodies and the rumpled sheets. How did we…? Were we really that loca?

 

             Dante would have loved to have feasted on Steph’s body more, but the footsteps were becoming heavier as they moved down the stairwell right outside the room. Dante jumped off the bed, knocking a sated Steph over onto her back on the bed.

 

             Dante stood motionless as he took in what had just occurred. Never had he acted so ungentlemanly and well… impulsively before. In his line of work, impulse usually lead to death, however now he was beginning to be an advocate in the unplanned.

 

             A drowsy Steph moved her hair out of her still closed eyes. “What the fu…?” she began.

 

             Dante quickly placed his finger over her lips. “Shhhh…” he cautioned as he looked into her startled eyes. Big mistake, he thought as he fought the urge to kiss her again. The feeling of her plush lips against his finger made him have all sorts of naughty thoughts.

 

             The tour guide began her speech somewhere downstairs, “The haunted mansion had fallen into disrepair until it was bought in 1935 by Albert Homme, the inventor of the light meter for…”

 

             Dante knew the moment that Steph finally woke up and realized how close they were to being caught. Jumping to her feet, she frantically gathered her underwear, jeans, bra, and sweater. Dante tried to be chivalrous and not peek, but her body was a sweet temptation.

 

             “We’re crazy! Is this a set-up?” she hissed at him as she wrestled with her jeans at the side of the bed.

 

             Dante pulled his shirt on and gave her a confused and hurt look. “What do you mean a set-up?” He asked, although deep down he knew what she was accusing him of. Whatever she thought of him, he never would have planned this, because if he had, he would have chosen somewhere more private.

 

             “You’re trying to make me look like a fucking fool before the big tournament!” she raged.

 

             “What?” Dante let out a little too loud. Lowering his voice he could hardly believe what she was accusing him of. “Why are you blaming me?! There are two of us here!” He pointed his fingers back and forth between them.

 

             Steph looked down at the ground and tapped her foot. “I’m not going to even talk to you about this. I can’t believe that I let myself get in this situation. Especially after the last tournament! Naked in a public place with a reporter! I’m an idiot!” She turned to look at him, “What are you doing just standing there?!”

 

 

             Dante looked chagrin. “You’re right. I’ve just lived in the crappy stuff for so long that anything with an ounce of light blinds me.”

 

             “I get that, Dante. I am sure you have seen awful things in your line of work and you just want the rest of the world to understand the justice that you seek for it, but this is not that story. This is a story of hope, of fun, and the technology of the future,” she softly declared.

 

             Dante gave a chuckle and then looked up to give her a heartwarming smile. Fuck! Stay strong! Steph told herself.

 

             “You’re so beautiful when you’re right,” he murmured.

 

             Steph moved further away before she did something she would regret. “Okay, thanks. But, I think we need to set some boundaries. I’m not that kind of girl. I don’t hook up with guys I just met despite…” she began.

 

             “I never thought that you did,” he interjected.

 

             “You may be used to playing Don Juan, but I need to focus on my game. Please do us both a favor and find someone else to seduce,” Steph heard herself saying; while in her head she kept thinking, If you even flirt with another woman, I will lose it!

 

             Dante took a step forward, crowding Steph more in the small foyer of her room. She slowly and nervously looked up at him and felt her eyes go wide and her traitorous body respond to the hungry look in his eyes.

 

             “You don’t mean that, Steph,” his voice gruff with desire.

 

             Steph put her hands up and found herself backing into the wall. Dante put a hand on either side of her head and leaned down until their noses almost touched each other. Looking him in the eye, Steph could feel the ravenous lust roll off him. She could hardly believe that she had attracted such a delicious specimen of a man, but then again, he probably was more attracted to her novelty job than her, she reasoned. His eyes blazed as he moved his head so that his lips teased her ear as he quietly spoke, “Tell me you don’t want me, Steph. Tell me and I’ll leave you alone.”

 

             “You just want a story,” Steph heard herself say weakly. Her resistance was fading fast and she was grasping onto anything to stay strong.

 

             Dante grabbed one of her hands and brought it to the front of his pants to feel the hard ridge of his impressive erection. “Does it feel like all I want is a story?”

 

             Steph heard herself give a little whimper as her fingers seemed to have a mind of their own and caressed him.

 

             With a groan, he then took her hand from his pants and brought it to his chest to lie over his pounding heart. “Does it feel like all I want is a story, rayo de luna?” He bit her earlobe sending pleasurable tingles along her body making her moan. “This pull that we have on one another has nothing to do with tournaments and stories. It has everything to do with the two of us and how we make each other feel. Do you want me?”