A Peek into EDGE OF MOONLIGHT

Here's a little taste of EDGE OF MOONLIGHT, available Friday from Ellora's Cave.

Excerpt:

How cruel would fate be to throw him back in her path now?

Pretty fucking cruel. She’d met the Etruscan Goddess of Fate. Nortia had a mean streak.

Taking another deep breath, she knew absolutely that John was here in the bar.

How had she missed his scent the first time around?

Blessed Goddess, she must be further gone than she’d thought. To have missed someone’s scent like that… It was unthinkable for a lucani.

But you aren’t just lucani, are you?

Shit. Shit.

She had to get out of here. Now. She needed to leave. She couldn’t see him.

Just one look.

Goddess, she wanted to see him again. How the hell could someone she’d spent so little time with, and who was horrified by her very existence… How could he make her heart race like this? Make her fingers ache to touch him, her arms to hold him? To be held by him?

Tinia’s teat, she had to get out of here. If he saw her and she didn’t see a spark of recognition in his eyes, she might just crawl into a hole and not emerge. Not ever.

No. No, this pity shit wasn’t her. Her back stiffened.

Gods damn it, she wasn’t some weak-kneed, pansy-assed girl. She was sicari. Her king trusted her to handle whatever mess he threw at her. Her commanding officer trusted her to watch his back and the backs of her partners.

She just needed to get the hell out of here. Now.

Away from him. Away—

“Hi.”

She froze, like a rabbit in sight of a larger predator. His voice, deep and raspy like one of Duke’s favorite metal singers, stroked against her alcohol-loosened libido and made her go wet.

Barely able to breathe, she couldn’t believe he was standing next to her. For two months, she’d dreamed about him, longed for him.

“Hey, I don’t mean to bother you, and I know this is gonna come off like a bad pick-up line but… Have we met?”

Forcing a polite smile, Kaine lifted her gaze to his, bracing herself for impact.

And had to bite her tongue to force back tears.

Gods, he was just as handsome as she remembered.

His brown hair was a little longer than it had been. He actually had to comb it now where before it’d been military short. His sharp green eyes watched her every move but it was his smile that nearly made her lose her grip on the tears.

She’d never seen him smile. It made his usually solemn expression lighten in ways that urged her to get closer. To put her hands on his face and draw him down so she could taste him, run her tongue across his lips and tempt him to invade her mouth with his tongue.

She felt her will literally tremble. She wanted to press herself against him, feel the firm muscles she knew he possessed beneath the white button-down. He wasn’t made to wear dress shirts and silky dark pants, no matter how well they fit him. He was meant for worn jeans or tactical pants and tight t-shirts.

He wasn’t made to be confined in a corporate job. He’d been a soldier. Like her.

Now… What was he doing now?

Did she even want to know?

“No, sorry. I don’t think so.”

She nodded then, as if dismissing him. Or giving him permission to leave.

Why the hell had he approached her in the first place?

Her brain locked as the implications of that thought worked through.

Had the streghe spell wiping his memories not worked? Did he remember something, anything from the few days he’d spent with the lucani? Did he remember her?

With an effort, she gave him one more brief, polite smile and dropped her gaze back to her drink, willing him to go away.

He didn’t take the hint.

“Yeah, look,” he said with a sigh. “I know you’re trying to get rid of me, but can I tell you something before you send me packing?”

She should tell him to get lost, blow him off or freeze him out. She’d been told she was good at the freeze-out. She’d been told that several times, as a matter of fact. Actually, most guys just told her she was a frigid bitch.

She couldn’t do it to John.

Taking a healthy sip of her drink, she prepared to torture herself.