TITLE: BLIND PASSION
AUTHOR: PENNY BRANDON

Story Hook:
Adam Thornton was blind, gay, and a virgin, but completely content with his life, until Luke Ramos entered it. Luke made Adam realise he was missing out, big time, because with his imagination he let Adam see things in a totally different way. And when Luke was prepared to lead him down the path of discovery and teach him to satisfy every passionate desire, Adam knew there was only one thing that could make it better. But would the adventurous and wayward younger man accept what Adam wanted to give him in return, his heart?


First 250:
Adam lifted his head at the unfamiliar yet potent fragrance that reached him. His attention on the book he was reading disrupted, he took a deep unobtrusive breath through his nose and mouth.

This particular scent itself was unique, but Adam recognised it for what it was; the musky, rich aroma of an aroused male. Startled, because the only person it could come from was Luke, Adam turned in his direction. Then much to his dismay his body instantly reacted with an involuntary thickening and swelling of his cock that he had no control over.

Adam bit back a moan. Shit, this was not good. He sat as still as he could, listening for any sign that Luke had noticed the extra level of sexual tension that filled the room.

He knew he didn’t really need to worry though; Luke was as blind to other around him as Adam was actually blind. The young man was impervious or completely uncaring about anything else but himself, which was why the erection Luke was sporting had probably come from some daydream about a girl instead of him concentrating on the task Adam had given him. If it wasn’t for the fact that Luke’s arousal was making Adam uncomfortable, he wouldn’t give a damn what Luke was thinking about, but he was uncomfortable, on two levels. Physically, his cock was seriously hard and aching, and mentally, his own recent daydreams had been about Luke himself.

TITLE: MISTAKEN IDENTITY
AUTHOR: VANESSA ST. JAMES

Story Hook:
Reluctant at first, Hannah finally accepts the ultimate bachelorette party gift, a night of role playing and living out her sexual fantasies with a sexy stranger.

When Andy’s brother breaks his ankle, he asks him to housesit for him. However, what his little brother failed to mention was a sexy bride would be breaking into the safe in the upstairs bedroom.

As a homicide detective, Andy’s an expert on frisking suspects, but should he take his brother’s place and give the bride to be the perfect send off and a night she’ll never forget?

First 250:
Hannah had never done anything like this before and her stomach was churning. She’d been told to enter the house and walk up the stairs. When she reached the landing she was to head to the bedroom where she’d see a painting of a vase of flowers hanging one of the walls. Behind it would be a safe.

She lifted the painting off the wall and sat it on the floor. Hannah was now looking at the safe. She glanced at her palm where she’d written the combination. 23 right, 32 left, and 19 right. Her hands shook as she turned the dial to number 23. How had her friends talked her into doing something like this?

A bead of perspiration broke out on her forehead. She turned the knob right to number 19. The door flung open. Inside were boxes of various types of condoms, a bottle of lubrication, stockings and garters, some DVDs and a gift wrapped box bearing a huge bow.

Yea, maybe she’d made a mistake.

Her hand hovered near the button she’d been told to push when she was ready to move to the next level of the game.

Should she do it or should she run?

“Hold it right there,” a man’s voice said from behind her. “Now slowly turn around to face me. Keep your hands in the air where I can see them.”

Okay, this was it. Too late to run.

“Looks like I’ve been caught red handed,” she said.

TITLE: WILD CAPTIVE
AUTHOR: DAWN MONTGOMERY

Story Hook:
Marked for slavery and destined to bring the fall of an empire, Lady Devon races for freedom across the frozen lands of the far north. The last thing she expected to find was an ally, one that knew the ancient enemy stalking her people. One that turns her blood to fire and leaves her heart longing for a different life.

Kale is king to a dead people and slave to an evil warlord. The fates brought him freedom in Devon’s arms, but everything comes with a price. One he’ll risk to save everything. Even the world.


First 250:
There was something primal about a man wearing nothing but sweat and leather. The roll of a man’s hips, the way a slow grind can cause a woman’s pussy to tingle in just the right way. At that moment, Lady Devon would have given anything to slake her thirst on the body of the sleek-bodied slave dancing on stage. And for once in longer than she could remember, she was at one with the crowd of panting women, waiting for just a glance. It was not a comfortable place for her to be.

She could feel the covert glances sent her way, the rise of steam from her clothes as the ice melted from the frigid storm, the drip of water from her coat. A traveler. Nothing more. She willed their attention elsewhere and settled down for the rest of the show, unable to tear her eyes from the performance on stage.

A sultry voice crooned from a darkened corner, suggestive without being crude, something the Lady didn’t expect. The ache of her bones and her mount’s exhaustion told her this day’s travel was over. Even a furrbeast’s stamina could be tried in the frigid northern reaches. Thankfully, the gentle creature had already found a place to wait out the storm.

The heavy beat of the music became something harder, jerking her attention back to the stage. Without the songstress’ longing tones, all she could focus on was the firm edge of his body, the chiseled plane of his stomach.

TITLE: TOUCH OF A DRAGON
AUTHOR: KIM KNOX

Story Hook:
“Do you want to live?”

Half dead and under a heap of rubble, Leona Munro isn’t going to turn down that offer. Yet accepting, spins her life out of control. She is the Chosen and what that means no one will say.

Thrown into the world of magic she secretly craves, Leona must find the strength to survive. Too many people want to use what she is to their own advantage in the war between technology and magic. She can trust no one...least of all the sinfully attractive Samuel Blake.

First 250:
"Do you want to live?"

What the hell…?

I focused on the brown hand thrust into my face, held onto it like a lifeline. Everything else around me was a scorched blur. My heart beat hard and pain rode through my flesh. Did I want to live? Where was I? What had happened Panic bubbled and words burst out. "What sort of insane question is that?" I choked and agony shot over my skull.

"Make a choice."

I breathed slow, wanting to ease the fear, the pain enveloping me and refocused on the man's hand, on the ring on his third finger. Heavy, white gold and ornate, it gleamed against his smooth, brown skin. Something about it itched, tugging at my memory, but my dull brain couldn't help me remember. I concentrated on his question instead. Letting out a slow breath, my throat hurt. "Choice?"

More sensation worked its way through my fogged brain, breaking the pounding pain beating against my skull. Flagstones scraped against my cheek, my jaw. Cold air brushed against my skin and the thin taste of smoke, brick dust, the river’s damp air slid into my lungs. I swallowed and blood and grit thickened in my mouth. All right, I was lying down outside somewhere. Which made no sense. I'd been what…heading into work? And then what? Collapsed, passed out? Now some freak with insane questions had found me. Always my luck.

TITLE: A WARRIORS POSSESSION
AUTHOR: GEORGIA THORNE

Story Hook:
After war and famine there was no defense when the invasion came. Thinking that the worst is over Alana is shocked to find herself now part of a Warrior society where she has to marry immediately. Even more disconcerting, she finds herself at the mercy of the warrior who haunts her dreams Kai has fought his way up through the ranks of the warrior caste without mercy. Only through invasion were they able to secure enough brides for their growing numbers Now a chief, he vows to take the bride that he first marked during the invasion.

First 250:
Alana stared at herself in the holo-mirror and frowned. The wedding dress was archaic, a throwback to a time and culture that bore no resemblance to her own. Actually, the dress was more of pale yellow shift with some embroidery around the hem. A year ago she was only worried about the colony's survival, working hard to restore the environmental damage wreaked by the last wave of internecine strife. Now, after the invasion, all that mattered was survival. Alana took a deep breath and smoothed her palms down the sides of the sheer dress. The clock showed only fifteen more minutes until she had to stand in the joining ceremony and wait to be chosen as a bride by a Mokken warrior.

She took a deep breath but the action was only momentarily soothing. Everything she had ever dreamed of having had disappeared in the ruins of war. As a scientist she knew that there was no way out of this but as a woman, she wanted to run while screaming at the top of her lungs. If ever there was a time to break down and have hysterics, your impending forced wedding to an alien warrior was definitely the time. She held out no hope that help would come from Terra. They had severed ties years ago. Alana and the other single women who were left on Unae were on their own.

TITLE: BAD CHOICES
AUTHOR: LEX VALENTINE

Story Hook:
Operatives Anthony Devlin, Cooper Gordon, and Peyton Johnson were friends since middle school. When Cooper’s fiancé Dev dies and Peyton escapes being held hostage, they get out of the spy business. A year later, the two friends embark on a sexual relationship, condoned and encouraged by Peyton’s wife. Although Cooper has always loved Peyton, she isn’t completely comfortable with the situation. Then she reconnects with Dev’s former partner Marcus and begins to fall in love. Torn between two relationships with men she cares for deeply, Cooper must reconcile her guilt and her past if she’s to have any real happiness.

First 250:
“Shoplifters and kleptomaniacs feel it when they take something and get away with it. The rush, the sensation of doing something wrong, something forbidden, with no consequences… That rush of adrenaline is more exciting than passion. It’s the rush that climbers get when they reach the summit, snowboarders when they outrace the avalanche… It’s better than sex and people use it to fuel passion and creative forces… like painting.”

Cooper’s eyes flicked over the enthralled art students from the local design school. This speech always got them. The boys – men really since they were in their early 20’s – had half hard cocks in their jeans. The girls had stiff nipples poking at their thin shirts. Some of them would leave her gallery and go home to paint. Others would go find someone to fuck. She hoped the ones who left to paint had talent.

Winding up her mini-lecture, she reached out to shake the professor’s hand, and spun on the leather soles of her high-heeled pumps, heading for her office. Her eyes never wavered from her goal even when a tall, lanky man unwound himself from his position leaning against a pillar. He fell into step beside her, his long legs matching themselves to her purposeful strides.

She pushed open the door to her office, walked to her desk and sat down. Her eyes met the sky blue eyes of the man who followed her in and locked the door. One perfectly plucked brow arched up at his audacity.

TITLE: POSSESSING CHARLIE
AUTHOR: GEORGIA THORNE

Story Hook:
Charlie fled Atlanta to save her life. Moving to a cabin on a remote Texas ranch to escape the terror of a deranged stalker wasn't something she'd figured into her life plan, but then neither was her overwhelming attraction to her landlord Cade Galler.

Cade had no idea what the curvy little city girl was doing out in Texas all by herself but he knew no matter what kind of trouble she was, it didn't matter. Once he set eyes on Charlie he knew he wouldn't rest until he possessed every part of her, body and soul.

First 250:
North Texas was a lot colder in winter than Charlie expected. Coming from Atlanta, there wasn't much need for heavy duty winter gear. Just looking at the snow starting to accumulate on the ground in front of her car made her shiver. Reaching down she turned the heat up a little more and checked her rear view mirror. She was going to have to get some serious winter gear if she was going to make it. She was waiting for the landlord that she'd rented her cabin from to meet her outside of the local feed store. She'd called Mr. Galler as she'd pulled into town and he'd volunteered to come and guide her to her new place. Nobody said it but they both knew no city girl was going to find her way to the remote ranch with a snowstorm bearing down.

Charlie tried to suppress the shiver that rolled through her remembering the rough timbre of his voice. It was the sexiest voice she'd ever heard. She had no business getting involved with a man out here. Hell, it was because of one deranged man that she was out in the middle of nowhere Texas in the first place. She'd never been brave enough to follow her dreams and move away from home. The farthest she'd made it was 100 miles from her hometown. It turned out in the end that it didn't take bravery for her to move, it took fear.

TITLE: THE WARLORD'S COMEUPPANCE
AUTHOR: GAIL KOGER

Story Hook:
Stealing from a warlord and giving him the one finger salute as I made my getaway was not the brightest thing I'd ever done.

First 250:
The Sharqi Pleasure Palace is a male’s wet dream. For me it was an utter nightmare. Species from every corner of the galaxy swarmed the dimly lit, disgustingly gaudy interior. All with one thought on their feeble minds. Sex. Lots and lots of sex. Not a problem since the joint was full of willing, overly enhanced females and all available for a price. For me it was a really big problem. Trying to keep out of reach of the grabby paws, claws and slimy tentacles was annoying. As in pulling my laser pistol and shooting every one of them in the balls, annoying. Only the memory of Thea’s tear streaked face kept me focused as I upped the potency of my psychic lure. My hips shimmied and shook as I gyrated around the tables in an erotic hypnotic frenzy, trying to lure, Dogon, one particularly vile male closer and closer with the promise of utter sexual ecstasy. Unfortunately, all I seemed to be doing was attracting every other vile creep in this hellhole. Yuck, just kill me now. I winced as another adoring fan left another bruise on my ass.

I snaked my arms high above my head and clicked the zills on my fingers to the beat of the drum. A Hoochee dancer’s costume leaves very little to the imagination. A tiny metallic green bra with a beaded fringe that barely covered my nipples and a matching beaded skirt that twirled around my bare legs, bare butt and you get the picture.

TITLE: HALF A SOUL
AUTHOR: ANNABETH LEONG

Story Hook:
About to celebrate one year of sweet, fun, sexy romance with John, Rikki thinks she’s found her soul mate at last--until a demon shows up wearing John’s body. True love, it turns out, didn’t strike by luck alone, but at the price of half of John’s soul. The demon who comes to collect is happy to bargain with Rikki in a dangerous game of risk and pleasure, but the stakes quickly rise from half measures to winner takes all. Can Rikki win back her lover and save both their souls from the fires of hell?

First 250:
Rikki heard John’s key in the lock and rushed to flip her laptop closed and stash it. She’d been doing final debugging on the program she’d written for his birthday next week -- a recreation of an old arcade game that he’d loved as a kid -- and she didn’t want him to get any clues about the project. She jumped off the couch and went to meet him at the apartment door.

As he pulled it open, she spread her arms to block his way, grinning. “You’re home early,” she said. “Did you skip the gym today?” John seemed sweet and a little quiet to most people, but, alone with Rikki, he let out his sense of mischief. She loved the first sight of him in the evening, when he greeted her with a smile that spread wide across his face as they planned their adventures, feeling each other up between sentences. She couldn’t wait to see what he had planned for their Friday night date.

But today, a thousand little things about his demeanor unnerved her. He’d undone the blond ponytail he usually wore, and his hair partially screened his brown eyes. He clenched his jaw so hard that she heard his teeth grind and saw his neck muscles bulge. And the way he stood seemed wrong, as if he’d rearranged his skeleton.

Rikki frowned in concern. “You all right, babe?”

Instead of answering, John rushed at her, sweeping her into his arms and kicking the door shut behind him.

TITLE: THE WIZARD AND THE WEREWOLF
AUTHOR: AMBER KELL

Story Hook:
When Peter, the werewolf king, agrees to harbor his brother-in-law’s brother for a week he gets a lot more than he expected. Jason is nothing like his shy brother, Cyrus, he’s tall, lean and drives a motorcycle like he’s making love to it. When the two alphas meet it makes a combustible combination especially when it turns out they are fated mates. Mix together an alpha werewolf, a jealous best friend, a council of wizards and an unrepentant bad boy and watch the sparks fly.

First 250:
Cyrus knocked on the king’s office door with a shaking hand ignoring the tall guards on either side. He tried to calm his nerves with a long breath knowing the others could smell his nervousness.

“He isn’t going to bite you know, Liz would kill him.” Said George, the wolf guarding the left side of the door gave him a friendly smile. The older werewolf was well liked for his talent for putting others at ease.

As jumbled thoughts spun in his mind the door was ripped open and the king’s right hand man and best friend stood before him.

“Cyrus.” Jake gave him a wide smile and a manly hug. “You could just walk in. You’re now a member of the royal family. Marrying into royalty counts you know.”

Cyrus gave a shy smile at Jake’s teasing. He wasn’t exactly the alpha wolf type. His wife was more alpha than he would ever be but it worked in their relationship. For them it was the perfect bonding helped along by the fact they were soul mates.

“I’ll remember that next time. Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Jake stepped back letting him pass.

Cyrus tried not to look intimidated. Jake was at least five inches taller and almost twice as broad.

Unfortunately as Cyrus walked past and into the inner chamber he was reminded that the king was even larger. The king’s height rivaled his brother’s. The brother he was going to ask a favor for.

TITLE: HOT AND BOTHERED
AUTHOR: G.H. WORTH

Story Hook:
Jason Whitley is trying to stay out of trouble, which means hiding his attraction to his boss's daughter. When he learns the sexy older woman's contemplating a relationship with another man, he's driven to make his move. That means showing Cassie his dominant side and claiming her for himself, before it's too late.

Cassie thinks the new young foreman working for her father is a hunk, and he's what she'd like in a lover. Yet, despite their mutual attraction, she's twelve years his senior, making her determined they not get involved. Jason has other ideas. Ideas he wants to share.

First 250:
Justin Whitley was hot, tired and so hard he thought his dick was going to explode. Who was he kidding? He knew exactly why his cock was as hard as a well-seasoned board. He was hard because of her, her being the luscious and desirable, Cassandra Blackthorne. Sweet, kind and beautiful Cassie. The only woman who threatened to destroy his control and it was slipping more each day. Today he was barely hanging on…by his fingernails. Since taking the manager job at Fitzgerald Construction four months ago, he lived in a near constant state of arousal. All he needed was to think of his boss's green-eyed daughter, hear her voice, or catch a whiff of her scent and he was aroused, instantly and often inconveniently. So aroused, it felt as if a pole was stuffed inside his jeans, making it painful to walk, uncomfortable to sit and difficult to think. Since meeting Cassie, he spent so much time aroused, he now wore his long-tailed T-shirts outside his jeans, trying to cover the erection that never went away. All Justin needed was for his boss to discover he wanted to throw the man's daughter onto her back and plunge his aching cock into her hot, wet body, and he'd be unemployed. Fast. No matter how well he and Joe got along.

The pick-up truck sheltered him, as he adjusted his dick away from the zipper digging a deep groove in his tender, swollen flesh. He needed to get laid and soon.

TITLE: TELL NO LIES
AUTHOR: G.H. WORTH

Story Hook:
The death of his parent's turns Damien's world upside down, and he leaves the army to care for his young brother. It also lets him pursue a relationship with a man for the first time in his life. DJ finds what he's looking for when he rescues Win from a leather bully at a gay bar.

Win's lonely and decides a night on the town is his answer. He doesn't expect to need rescuing or to fall for his hunky rescuer. His problem. Find the right time to tell his daughter that his lover isn't a woman; it's a man.

First 250:
“I don't understand why you're being so difficult? I'm trying to help.”

Win Morgan groaned at the word help. Help? He didn't think so. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want or need your help. I'm an intelligent, responsible adult and able to find my own dates.”

“But you don't.” The voice coming through the cell phone sounded cajoling, setting his teeth on edge. “I know several women who'd love to go out with you. I'd be happy to give you their numbers.”

His mouth dropped open, then slammed shut again, his teeth clacking together so hard, Win was afraid he'd cracked a tooth. Women. She'd said women, as in more than one. He didn't want one woman, much less two or more. What he wanted was for his friends and family to stay out of his personal life, and to stop shoving strange woman in his face every time he turned around.

“I understand you want to help, but it doesn't change the fact I'm not interested in going on any date you arrange. More importantly, I don't understand your persistence when you know it pisses me off?”

“Because you deserve a little happiness,” the female voice snapped back, “and I'm determined you get it.”

Win gritted his teeth, and recited the first ten elements in the periodic table to keep from yelling like a frustrated lunatic. How many times did he have to say butt out, before it sunk in?

TITLE: THE DUNGEON GOURMET
AUTHOR: NARA MALONE

Story Hook:
The Marquis de Bond blogs about cooking and kinky sex. While it may be easy to blog about sensual domination, applying it in real life has challenges. Recipes for love don’t follow plans: new ingredients show up unannounced, other ingredients turn stubborn and refuse to be what they are.

Sarai's free-spirited submission drives Bond crazy but captures his heart. Sarai doubts the survivability of a relationship forged in fantasy. To prove her wrong, Bond invites the one man capable of stealing her away to join their sex play. Are two dominant men a recipe for love or war?

First 250:
A blond hostess dressed in black corset and stockings invited Bond to follow her. At one time the soft rustle of silk, the whiff of perfume and the wiggle of bottom, would have lifted his desire like mercury in a column. Now his only thought was to wrap up this meeting and escape. He’d closed the sale he was in town to make and was almost to the Beltway when a text message came through – an urgent plea for five minutes of his time. A friend he couldn’t refuse. Another delay he couldn’t avoid.

Who would have thought that he’d be looking forward to a weekend of sipping iced-tea and listening to crickets? Well, there would be other amusements, a sweetly curved amusement. He found himself craving an evening breeze laced with honeysuckle and the sound of Sarai’s bare feet padding across the front porch to join him.

The hostess seated him in a booth. Fine black leather gleamed in the soft light. “I’m Katie. We have Ginger to entertain you. Lady Krush will join you shortly.”

Bond looked across the rows of empty tables, and sparkling glassware. A redhead was taking her first seductive swing around the dance pole. Music throbbed. Katie brought his drink. He sipped and smiled, recognizing St. Armand ale. Krush must be buttering him up for something big.

A crash, followed by a nerve-severing scream, sent what should have been his next swallow sloshing over his white shirt.

TITLE: HIS BROTHER'S KEEPER
AUTHOR: ALI KATZ

Story Hook:
After six wonderful months, Jess and Sal are still living the honeymoon. Life couldn’t be more perfect.

Enter Jess’s little brother, Teddy. A kid is the last thing the lovers need in their life, especially a strange and tempestuous teen. Yet, they manage to face the daily challenges together, until Teddy is attacked and Sal falls under suspicion. Now the real challenge begins as they struggle to hold fast to love while immovable forces try to tear them apart.

First 250:
Sal recognized the neighborhood the minute they turned onto Western. The Blacklite, a sleazy gay bar his college roommate had frequented, was just up the block. Not a bad place for a pickup, if you liked your men in drag, and probably a reasonable place to look for the boy considering the half dozen youths loitering under the harsh glow of the halogen lamp at the corner.

"Oh my God, that's him." Jess had been silent so long, Sal startled at the sound of his voice.

"Are you sure?" He leaned forward in the back seat of the rented limo to study the kids. They stood in groups of two and three, except one. His eyes fell on the loner balancing on the curb watching the car approach and wearing the face Jess must have worn ten years ago. "Okay, slow down and circle the block, Jess."

The car crept past the boy. He looked up with a smile. His gaze aimed for the passenger’s eyes through the blackened glass and followed as the car eased around the corner. Two fingers raised in a provocative come-hither before he disappeared from Sal’s sight.

"He looks so young." Jess’s voice was tight with pain.

"That's what he's selling, babe," Sal whispered. He wished for a way to soften the blow, but if they were going to do this, Jess needed the reality check. One look at the boy’s carefully constructed innocence told Sal Jess’s baby brother knew exactly what the customer wanted.

TITLE: THE FALCON AND THE JACKAL
AUTHOR: JAY DI MEO

Story Hook:
James had never been attracted to a man before. But Horus, the Egyptian god of the sun, is not just any man. Drop dead gorgeous, Horus is also the harbinger of bad news. He proclaims James to be Seth, his dark godly counterpart and ally, and warns that Osiris, god of the dead, is about to take over the world once more. Caught between a game of power and falling in love with Horus, James must remember his past and regain his powers, or he’ll lose everything—his future, his former lover, and his own life.

First 250:
“James, I swear you like that amulet more than you like your girlfriend.” Dan winked from the museum’s ticket desk.

James winced. Yet another relationship he’d been unable to keep. “Can I just have my ticket, please?”

“At least give my niece a call, will ya?”

James avoided the man’s gaze. “You know we’re not together anymore, Dan.” Ticket clutched in his hand, he strode into the quiet museum and took a deep breath, inhaled the familiar smell of floor polish and recycled air. Maybe he really should make up with Elisa. He should take his finance studies more seriously, patch things up with his mother. It was past time he got his life in order.

But instead he stood in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum’s brightly lit entrance hall, between Tuaret, the bloated hippopotamus goddess, and Bes, the dwarf god of fertility. Their eyes were accusing.

Damn it.

James rushed down the deserted aisles. In half an hour the museum would close. Flickering lights illuminated cases with statuettes and painted sarcophagi. He caught a glimpse of his crinkled t-shirt and mussed blond hair in the glass, and frowned. It had been a long day. Smoothing back the short strands, he entered the temporary exhibition hall. He hastened between stone carvings and mummy portraits, and came to stand before a plain black display case.

The amulet.

A disc of pale silver, delicate designs of snakes entwined around its border. In its center, an inlaid, underlined circle in shiny jet.

TITLE: HEALER
AUTHOR: CASSANDRA GOLD

Story Hook:
For years, Dr. Tristan Matheson has hidden his abilities, pretending to be an ordinary doctor. He's eluded detection--until now. When he's targeted, Cam, a mysterious shapeshifter, becomes Tristan's only means of escape.

A member of the Delphic Institute, Cam is capable of taking the shape of anyone he's ever seen. Retrieving Tristan was supposed to be an ordinary mission, but the feelings he stirs are surprising and unwelcome.

Tristan and Cam have a bigger problem, though. A war brewing between groups interested in “recruiting” humans with special talents could tear them apart before they ever get together.

First 250:
So tired.

Tristan shook his head, hard. Focus. They were coming for him. The instant the two suited, ominously similar men appeared on the security monitor, he'd known. He had to finish before they found him.

“It hurts.” The plaintive voice of little Cara Mason broke into his thoughts. She gripped his hand and struggled to make her brace-encased legs move the few short steps he'd asked her to take, her big brown eyes filled with pain.

He smiled down at her despite his worry. “I know, honey. Hold on just a minute longer, and you won't hurt anymore.”

“You promise?”

Her hopeful yet skeptical expression broke his heart. “I promise.” He always kept his promises. No matter what the cost.

Tristan knew he shouldn't do it. Each time he risked exposure. Still, he couldn't bear to leave Cara in pain. Besides, they already knew he was here. He had nothing to lose.

After a quick look behind him to make sure Cara's mother had left the room, he closed his eyes and focused. Heat. Cold. Pain. He shivered, but forced himself not to release Cara's hand.

Searing agony radiated down his spine and into his legs, nearly buckling them. He let go and staggered backward. For a moment the pain took over, blocking out everything.

Cara cried out. His eyes flew open. Wide, happy brown eyes stared into his. “I'm walking, Dr. Tris! And I don't hurt, just like you promised!”

TITLE: LAIR OF THE JAGUAR GOD
AUTHOR: MARIE DEES

Story Hook:
In the steamy Guatemalan jungle, Kit finds himself fighting to prove his archeological skills while struggling with his attraction to the seductive Tony, who arouses feelings he is desperate to deny. Tony has his own secrets. A were-jaguar, he is still bound to the ruined Mayan city he once protected, but instinct draws him to the reluctant Kit. But what power does the young man have over an immortal Mayan god? Will Tony find out before looters destroy the last remains of his ancestors, or will he lose everything, including a chance for freedom?

First 250:
"Virgin. Completely untouched."

Kit jerked upright so fast he slid off the duffle bag he’d been using as a cushion and landed on the Jeep’s bed with a thud.

Professor Owen glanced over his shoulder. "You doing okay back there, Kit?"

"Yeah." He stared at Owen's gray ponytail, wishing he could sink beneath the pile of supplies and disappear. Who'd told him?

"Jungle covered it completely." Owen waved a tanned hand out his window. "I suspect Tony knew it was there all along. He just helped me accidentally find it. Kit, I think you'll like Tony," He shot over his shoulder. "He'll enjoy having someone new to show around the place. His jungle, as he calls it."

Kit nodded and stared out into the trees. He could feel his cheeks burning. Virgin. Of course, Owen meant the jungle. He'd been rambling on about it and the dig since they'd left Guatemala City. He'd probably rambled about it on the plane, but Kit had been stuck in a middle seat between Mark and Gator. Which was why he'd chosen to spend the rest of the journey bouncing along with the professor's supplies. The duffel bags were better company. He pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees. He'd been introduced to a few guys he was supposed to "like" during his first year of college, and it had taken him a while to catch on. Just because he hadn't --with a girl. Didn't mean--.

TITLE: MUSIC TO MY EARS
AUTHOR: DILUAIN

Story Hook:
Ginger chooses Martin to be James’ next boyfriend, and Ginger is never wrong. But while James is relaxed and down-to-earth, Martin is an insufferable snob, a former concert pianist fallen on hard times. Though he can see the fragility behind Martin’s sneer, James isn’t all that happy to find himself cast in the role of rescuer. James is going to need more than just his trust in Ginger to make this one work.

First 250:
James had to admit that Ginger had excellent taste in men. She had introduced James to the only serious boyfriends he’d ever had; she had just bounded up to them, no shame or hesitation at all, and had the guys charmed before James could even catch up to her.

Ginger had met plenty of men since Darien had moved to New York, but apparently thought none of them good enough for James. He was settling in for a long stretch of enforced celibacy when, out of the blue, Ginger met a man she liked.

James and Ginger had just entered the lobby of his apartment building when she darted off and started giving her best performance to a man James had never seen before. He was gorgeous – good job, Ginger – tall, blond, with an expensive business suit hugging his slim body.

The man looked up and met James' gaze, green eyes narrowing behind his slim glasses. He was not enjoying Ginger. Not at all.

“Ginger,” James called. “Back off.”

Ginger stepped back from the man, gave James a questioning look, and reluctantly returned to his side.

“Sorry about that,” James muttered.

“I hear there is a leash law in this city,” the man said, his tone icy and clipped. “I suggest you comply.” With that, he turned into the stairwell, leaving James and Ginger staring after him.

“Are you serious?” James asked. “Him?”

Ginger looked up at him and wagged her tail.

TITLE: SUBTLE DARKNESS
AUTHOR: ELA LOGAR

Story Hook:
Galeb Grey is a trained assassin on a simple mission, but his target turns out to be more that he had barging for and fate gives him a new master, dangerous and beautiful, who forces him beyond his limits, crushes all his believes and shows him the future that was written a long time ago.

First 250:
Galeb Grey cast a last look down to the ground four meters below, the red glow that announced to the world that the building was a brothel lighted the side of his black-clad body. He pulled the hood lower on his face, then climbed through the window into a dark room. Hiding himself behind the heavy velvet curtain, his eyes saw through the darkness, traveled over the love-seat flanked by two living room chairs and the low, fragile looking table between them, then zoomed on the big,canopied double bed that ruled the other side of the room. He moved along the wall, his steps silent, his body just a shadow, until he drew parallel to the head of the bed. There, within the light fabric that hung down from the bed-frame and danced in the light breeze from the opened window Galeb had used as an entrance, lay Galeb’s target, the assignment his master had given him and the Oracle stones had
approved.

Silently as a thief-- which he wasn’t, he was something worse -- he slipped out between the curtains and went toward the bed. He leaned over the target, his violet eyes on the exposed skin of the throat, a knife in his hand, and then a slash of the blade so fast that the movement couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.

He frowned when the sharp side of his slightly curved knife stopped a centimetre above the throat, and though he pushed down on it...

TITLE: AMAZING GRACE
AUTHOR: TRICIA BRYANT

Story Hook:
Take four desperate brothers willing to do anything to obtain their one. Add an ordinary woman and an abduction so smoothly executed that the victim isn't aware that she's been taken. Deliver her to a covert research facility that specializes in genetic alteration. The result-a subtle, unconscious transformation into a sensual, submissive pet.

Grace thinks her run of bad luck has finally ended when she falls off a stool into the arms of two breathtakingly hot men. She has no idea that she's been targeted and ruthlessly maneuvered until she has only one choice left- to be theirs forever.


First 250:
Grace awoke to blazing hot pleasure. Someone was nibbling, sucking, biting her lips with intensely sensual kisses, his tongue soothing the tiny bites. A second, equally skilled mouth at her pussy caused more devastation. A voice murmured, “Wake up pet, we're almost home. Wake up. Open your eyes, open your mouth, open for us.”

She obeyed without thinking, too aroused, her senses out of control, her body on fire. She looked up into a vaguely familiar face as the sensual assault continued, then looked down the length of her body to a second man. She moaned, disoriented, unable to process the overwhelming pleasure. Fingers rolled her nipples. More fingers pulled her clit, milking it. Another probed her vagina. A thumb invaded her ass.

What…??

Before she could finish the thought, a shock wave moved through her, tightening every muscle in her body before exploding outward, completely demolishing her.

“That's it, pet. Come for us. Good girl.”

The same voice that coaxed her awake now crooned with pleasure at her response, and the hands that pulled the orgasm from her as she awoke now petted her soothingly as she lay limp with pleasure, coherent thinking still impossible.

“That was beautiful. How about another one? Come for us again?”

The men renewed their erotic attack- kissing, licking, caressing, taking her higher and higher. This time she managed to gasp, “Wait! Wait! What-?” Panicked, she struggled futilely to sit upright, held captive by hands at her breasts and shoulders wedged between her thighs.