#mwTEASE!

 Here is another snippet from the soon to be release third novel in the Descendants of Ra series. 

This wasn’t how Avery planned to spend his night, on a lumpy sofa guarding the one person he shouldn’t be near. He could kick himself for not letting EJ protect her. But his horny brother would make a play for Emeline and Avery didn’t want to have to kill him.

He balled his hands and pressed them against his closed eyes. Unrealistic dreams lead nowhere. That’s why he’d stopped following her. Following was a gentler word than stalking which made him seem like a sociopath. He’d kept telling himself he wasn’t, though he had to admit he did have some tendencies.

God, things hadn’t start out that way, but yeah, he’d stalked her. He’d seen her at a park in the West Village during the summer. An orange sundress fluttered about her legs like a flag, billowing every few seconds so every man within a two hundred foot radius glimpsed an exquisite pair of brown sugar thighs. He’d stopped and stared at her wide, almond shaped eyes, her heart shaped face surrounded by a dark mop of wild curly hair. All of her captured a man’s attention. And their lust. He’d almost gone to her. He would’ve asked for her name, taken her to dinner, taken her home, and…taken her sweetness.

She wasn’t the type of woman a man did a drive-by. She was the type a man got addicted too. Impossible in his line of work. So, he’d walked away. A job in the Middle East kept him occupied for three weeks.

When he returned, EJ had dragged him to RedZone. She was there, in the skimpiest umpire uniform ever made. Black boy shorts and stripped black and white cropped top hugged a sinful body. His skin shrink-wrapped. Sweat trickled down the center of his back like a coward. He’d wanted to turn tail, yet he forced himself to find a chair and watch her all night.

Watched, wanted, and ached. Watched her flirt with men. Wanted to kill each one of them for stealing bits of her attention that should be his alone. Ached to lick every curve and hollow, take her until the only man she allowed within ten feet of her was named Avery.

Eventually, her gaze found his. Her eyes widened and for a moment, he imagined a spark of desire. Then she turned and walked away. Rejection never tasted so bitter. And was never so necessary.

Hell! What the fuck was he doing here? There was no rational explanation for him being in her home, other than some masochistic wish to torture himself, and his presence placed her in danger.

Before he changed his mind, he had his phone out, his finger pressing seven digits. No ringing, no chance to change his mind. The connection went straight to voicemail.

“I have a client that needs protection. ASAP.” He didn’t leave his name.

He closed the phone and scrubbed a hand over his bald head. A wedge of cold fury settled in his chest. He should be happy. He’d kept his word. McIntosh would take over her care.

The coldness spread through his body to every nerve ending. The muscles across his back seized and that crawling sensation returned like the march of red ants swarming an unlucky grasshopper, chomp, chomp, chomping away.

Avery yanked off his shirt. In the mirror hanging over the sofa, he studied his body. Six months after the burn, a small black dot appeared on his back. Over time, the stain grew and changed, like a Rorschach painting with a will of its own.

Yesterday, it covered his upper back and half of his right bicep. Now, it stretched to his elbow and left shoulder. Never had it progressed so fast.  He twisted around and saw it had spread to the middle of his back. It had no discernible pattern, just a random blotch that had no meaning. What had changed?

Emeline.

He’d caught her scent when he took the water bottle from her, a desert rose mix that promised a dangerous ride, tortured him. His blood flashed hot and a different kind of fury took hold. He hungered, though not for food. And only one thing would satisfy. He looked at his phone still clasped in his hand and forced the regret away.

The memory of what happened at the lake surfaced and the thing that attacked him. Through the water and his clothing, her clammy embrace had immobilized and drained his will. Her voice had reverberated inside his head. Give me, it said. If EJ hadn’t pulled him for the lake—I can’t keep Emeline.

Shit! That came out wrong. I can’t protect her. Especially when something hunted him. She had to go to McIntosh.

A sound came from the kitchen, but he hadn’t heard Emeline come downstairs. He eased to the archway and listened. There it was again, the distinct scraping of a lock being picked. Avery used the remote to turn off the motion sensors and waited. Glass crashed to the floor, probably from one of the window squares in the backdoor.

Avery grabbed a glock and went to the archway. His heartbeat slowed as he shut down his emotions and focused on the kill, because anyone breaking into this house had a death wish he would fulfill. For the first time since entering the home, everything in him relaxed, as his body always had when facing a battle, even as the ants started nipping under his skin again.

He shifted and peered into the hallway.

COMING IN NOVEMBER

There is no such thing as a chance meeting.

There’s no room in Avery Nicolis life for an obsession, yet why else does he stalk Emeline Gamble. Lurking in the shadows, he hungers for a woman he can’t have. Between the secrets he guards and anarchy roiling in his soul, his only solace are his glimpses of Emeline. He will resist her, protect her from himself, and deny his desire to claim her heart.

Emeline Gamble was a Watcher for the Order—a secret society of women charged with monitoring the offspring of the gods. For months, she observed Avery Nicolis, an elite mercenary, Descendant of Ra, and enemy of the Order. Never knowing he had her in his crosshairs.

Trapped in a lie, Emeline is forced to accept Avery as her bodyguard. Compelled to spend time with him, she learns to care for his tortured soul and see the hero lurking beneath the assassin’s façade.

But every word out of her mouth is a lie. Every action a betrayal. Because to save her family she is forced to accept a new assignment, deliver Avery Nicolis to the Goddess of Chaos, alive…

And do not fall in love with him.

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