Teaser Tuesday: Adult Paranormal Romance
For a while now, I’ve wanted to share some teasers of books I’m working on but haven’t announced much about. One of them is an adult paranormal romance that stars another siren. This was originally going to be a novella called Moonlight Rhapsody, but I will be lengthening it into a book. So without further ado, check out this week’s Teaser Tuesday:
Book Description
I freeze in the doorway.
The Bargainer reclines against my
headboard, looking for all the world like a predator. Sleek, caged power and
dangerous eyes. He also appears far too comfortable in my bed.
His eyes move over me lazily. “My,
my, Calli, you’ve upgraded your lingerie since I last saw you.”
I ignore the way his words cut into
me; the last time he saw me I was a teenager trying to seduce him, and he
wanted nothing to do with me.
“Hello Desmond Flynn,” I say,
invoking his full name. I’m fairly certain I’m the only one who knows it, and
that information makes him vulnerable.
He gives me a slow, smoldering
smile that tightens my stomach even as it constricts my heart. “I didn’t
realize you wanted to spill secrets tonight, Callypso Lillis,” he says.
Unlike the Bargainer, I flinch when
I hear my full name. Only a handful of people know it; everyone else knows me
simply as the artist Callypso.
The Bargainer’s eyes devour my exposed
skin, and I feel like that fumbling teenager all over again. I take a deep
breath. I’m no longer that girl, even if the man in front of me looks exactly the
same as he did in my youth.
I cross the room and grab my cotton
robe from where it hangs on the back of the bathroom door. The entire time I
can feel his eyes on me. I turn away from him to slip it on. “What do you want,
Des?” I ask, cinching the robe at my waist.
“Demanding as always, I see.” I
yelp as his breath tickles my ear. I swivel around to face him. “Odd character
flaw of yours,” he says, his eyes narrowed, “considering how much you owe me.” His voice is husky and low.
The Bargainer stands not even a
foot away from me, so close I can feel his body heat. I didn’t hear him get up
from the bed and cross the room. Not that I should be surprised. The magic he
uses is subtle; if you aren’t looking for it, you won’t notice it.
This close to him I can see every
complex facet of his face. High cheekbones, aristocratic nose, sensual lips,
chiseled jaw. Hair so dark that it shines blue in the light.
But it’s his eyes that have always
captivated me the most. They’re every shade of silver, darkest at their edges
where a thick band of charcoal gray rings them and lightest near their centers.
The color of shadows and moonbeams.
It hurts to look at him, not just
because he is inhumanly beautiful, but because he shredded my fragile heart a long
time ago.
The Bargainer takes my hand in his.
It always surprises me how warm his skin can be when everything about him
suggests otherwise. And coming from him, even this chaste touch has the siren
in me begging to be released.
I glance down at our entwined hands
as he pushes the sleeve of my robe up. Underneath it, my onyx bracelet covers
most of my forearm, each bead a magical IOU for a favor I’ve bought off of the
Bargainer.
He twists my wrist back and forth,
assessing his work. I try to pull my hand away, but he won’t let go. “My
bracelet has made you famous,” he states. His bracelet.
I shiver at the thought. I don’t
know whether he’s speaking of the favor that made me initially famous, or my
now iconic piece of jewelry. Iconic because I never take it off. Ever.
No one knows that’s because I can’t
remove it. Even if it weren’t strung with spider silk—and thus too strong to
cut off—the magic that binds it to my wrist prevents me from removing it until I pay off my debts.
The Bargainer’s hand tightens on
mine. “Calli, you owe me a lot of favors.”
My breath catches in my throat as
my gaze meets his. The way he looks at me, the way his thumb is rubbing circles
into the soft skin of my hand … this is it, the moment I’ve been waiting over
ten years for.
I exhale. “You’re finally here to
collect.”
Instead of answering me, the
Bargainer’s other hand glides up my captive wrist, over all seventeen rows of
my bracelet, not stopping until he gets to the very end of it, until his
fingers grasp the last of my 322 beads.
“We’re going to play a little game
of Truth or Dare,” he says. His eyes flick to mine, and they gleam with
mischief.
My heart slams into my chest. He’s finally collecting his payment. I
can’t seem to wrap my mind around it.
His mouth curls seductively. “What
will it be, Calli?”
I blink a few times, still stunned.
“A dare it is,” he says gleefully.
Fear grips my heart. The Bargainer
is infamous for his steep payments. It’s rarely money he asks for; he has no
need for it. No, he usually takes something more personal, and every repayment
comes with added interest. Considering I have 322 unpaid favors, the man
essentially owns my ass. If he wanted to, he could order me to wipe out a small
village, and I’d be magically bound to until each and every bead winked out of
existence.
He’s a dangerous man, and at the
moment, he’s rolling the bead between his fingers and watching me with those
calculating eyes.
I clear my throat. “What’s the
dare?”
Instead of answering me, he steps
into my personal space. He lets go of my wrist. Never taking his eyes off of
mine, he tilts my head back and cradles it.
What
is he doing?
I stare up at him. A small smile
dances along his lips, and I notice his pupils dilate only a moment before he
leans in.
I stiffen as his lips brush mine,
and then my body relaxes as his mouth glides against mine. My skin illuminates
as the siren awakens. Sex and blood, that’s what she thrives on. Between the
concert and this kiss, she’s more than satiated, but just as greedy as ever.
I wrap a hand around the arm that
cradles my head. My fingers press against the warm skin of his wrist. Beneath
it, I can feel his unyielding muscle.
He’s
real, this is real. That’s all I have time to think to think about before
the kiss ends and he pulls away.
He glances down at my wrist and I
follow his gaze. The very last bead of my bracelet shimmers for a moment then
fades away. The kiss had been my dare; the kiss had been the first payment the
Bargainer collected.
I touch my fingers to my lips, the
taste of him still on my skin. “But you don’t like me,” I whisper, confused.
He reaches up to my face to trail
his fingers over my glowing skin. If he were a man, he’d be completely under my
spell at the moment. But he’s something else entirely.
The Bargainer’s eyes glitter. “I’ll be back
tomorrow evening.” His gaze sweeps over me again, and he raises an eyebrow. “Consider
the following advice a favor free of charge: be prepared for more than just a
kiss.”
***
Want more information on this project? Here’s the book description:
Want more information on this project? Here’s the book description:
Book Description
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last ten years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.
Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.
But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Calli finds the Bargainer in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.
But as the payment increases, turning both physical and emotional, Calli finds she’s got another problem. She’s already in a relationship with a shapeshifting bounty hunter, one who’s not too keen on sharing. When he discovers the Bargainer’s payment plan, the Bargainer finds himself on a paranormal hit list. Now Calli is faced with a dilemma: allow the Bargainer to die and free herself of her obligations, or save his life and fulfill them all.