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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
512 Forest Lake Drive
Warner Robins, Georgia 31093
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Copyright © 2007 by Mary Wine
ISBN: 1-59998-574-8
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: June 2007
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Mary Wine
Mary Wine
Chapter One
“This is mean, cruel and I think prosecutable.”
Brenda only laughed as she offered up a glass mug as a peace offering. Antonia wasn’t willing to settle so easily. Okay, if it was a
really
good ale in that frosted mug, she might be willing to negotiate, but only if they were talking stout ale, on tap and brewed by a company that wasn’t located in the United States. And chilled. The August night was blistering. Even her slip-on sandals made her feet sweat. The sun had set hours ago but the air was still warm, promising another night of eighty-plus-degree weather.
“Stop whining, Toni. You used to love this place.” Brenda batted her eyelashes as she pressed the mug into Toni’s hand. “You need a drink and a little fun. So stuff it, sister, and chill out.”
Antonia sent her friend a sour expression before closing her hand around the mug. Her fingers tingled from the tiny ice crystals clinging to the glass as she lifted it to her nose. A little mutter of delight rose from her lips as she took a sniff of the brew. There was nothing quite like a true ale.
So what if she had odd habits? The rest of the Saturday-night crowd could drown in their beer, she wanted ale. Not that drinking her problems away was any sort of favorite pastime. But enjoying a cold mug would be a pleasant moment in between the bitter hours of heartbreak. The overhead fan at least moved the air around. A thin draft of air conditioning blew past, but the bar-slash-restaurant was too crowded for any machine to keep pace with the weather and the crush of people. Besides, the power had been going on and off for most of the week as
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residents flipped on the air conditioning in order to fend off the heat wave. It was Southern California at its best.
She fingered the menu but the only thing that appealed was the ice cream. With a little shrug of her bare shoulders, she laced her fingers around her mug. Who needed food when you had good English ale?
“You need to get laid.”
Toni choked on her ale and slammed it down onto the table.
“Brenda!”
Brenda rolled her eyes and smirked. “Well, you do and…” She held up a finger to keep Toni from blurting out another response. “And…you know it too. Getting dumped by one guy does not put you out of the game. Sexual tension turns even the sweetest gal into a bitch. Just admit you’re in the grip of a storm of hormones. That way, you can keep your friends. You shouldn’t let one guy spoil the whole relationship thing. Find someone else.” Brenda’s eyes closed to slits as she pointed a long, blood red polished nail at her. “Just don’t let him turn you into a bitch. You know, bitter, pitiful.”
“Depends on the guy.” Toni wasn’t impressed with her response. It sounded lame, even to her ears.
Brenda pushed the ale back towards Toni before giving a delicate wave of her hand. “There are plenty of fish in the sea.”
Toni lifted her mug to her lips to hide her frustration. Fish? Yeah, sure, but she wasn’t interested in normal guys. That was the main problem with tasting a real man. Now anything short of full-grown men had sort of lost all of their attraction. Getting laid wasn’t worth it if she wasn’t going to take a mature man home. Quality instead of quantity. She shook her head as she looked around the bar. So what if she wasn’t ready to get back on the horse? The bright side was that tomorrow morning she wouldn’t be worried about contracting AIDS. Besides, in this heat, body-to-body contact wasn’t the most appealing thing she could envision.
“Oh my…my…my.” Brenda grabbed Toni’s wrist as she stared across the bar to the game side of the place. All ten of the pool tables were in
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play and Brenda pointed at one of them. “I think your luck just changed.”
Toni followed the line of Brenda’s finger and hissed as she found who was on the other side of the bar. Her luck certainly had changed, but not for the better. Danton Reeves straightened up as the men watching his game nodded approval at him. Her gaze slid over his frame because she just couldn’t help but look at what she was still craving. Danton was one hundred percent lean man. His shoulders were packed with hard muscle, and his body tapered down to a tight abdomen. Looking good was one thing, but Danton knew exactly how to use his body. His control and focus made sex something so incredibly intense. She was still abstaining, because she hadn’t found anyone who was his equal, despite the fact that he’d tossed her over for another woman. No one sent a shiver down to her toes or drew her attention quite the same way. It wasn’t even a choice sometimes, her gaze just moved to his without any forethought. It was completely frustrating but too vivid to shake off. So she was a complete idiot. That didn’t alter the fact that Danton made her jumpy, just by being in the same room. He turned his head and caught her staring at him. His lips moved slightly before Toni jerked her gaze away from him. Just because she hadn’t gotten past their break up, didn’t mean she needed to share that rather stupid feminine response with him. Another thing the man did disgustingly well was read her emotions right off her face.
“Oh come on, Toni. Don’t freeze up on the guy.”
Toni glared at her friend. “Excuse me, but I’m not going to play a doormat for him.”
Brenda licked her lower lip. “I would, at least for one wild night.”
“Have fun. I won’t wait up for you.”
Brenda snickered at Toni’s sarcasm and crossed her eyes at her before standing up. “Fine, you win. Enjoy being a martyr.”
Toni narrowed her eyes, but her effort was wasted as Brenda moved across the floor with a slow sway of her hips towards a group of her friends. Her loose sundress slithered around her thin body.
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Toni wasn’t a martyr.
She was selective. Captain of her own destiny. Her gaze moved back towards Danton and disappointment shot through her. He was gone. Vanished, just like he had three months ago. If Brenda hadn’t seen the man as well, Toni would be questioning her own eyes. It was an honest fact that she thought about him too much. He pranced through her dreams in spite of numerous self-inflicted lectures to forget him. Falling in love was a high-risk thing because sometimes you ended up being alone with the emotion. In spite of months of lonely nights, her fickle mind refused to let his memory go. Her pager went off, and she grabbed it gratefully. She recognized the local sheriff’s station’s number and was already walking towards the back of the bar before she reached for her cell phone to call in. A social worker had to be on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week but tonight she was grateful for a reason to slip out of the bar early. She was going to let her job be the cover for her quick exit. It wasn’t grand, but it would serve as an escape route. The only part she didn’t like was the fact that she’d have to put on a blazer to make herself presentable in the professional work world. Anything with sleeves made her frown; a suit jacket was cause for profanity.
She moved towards the back door, looking for a quiet-enough spot to hear the desk sergeant. People were crowded into every square inch of the place in an effort to soak up the air conditioning. Pushing through the back door, she flipped open her cell phone. The night air was warmer than it had been inside but the door closed off the music. She punched in the first digit of the sheriff’s station’s number. She never got to the second. The phone shut as her hand was gripped in a much larger one. She opened her mouth to let out a scream, but a hard palm covered her lips as she was pressed up against the wall behind her. A moment of terror gripped her, sending her heart into a frantic pace that made her lungs draw deeper breaths. The scent filling her senses was recognized instantly. She shivered as Danton’s solid body held her captive with the door behind her. Her nipples tightened into twin points that stabbed into his chest. It was that quick and beyond her
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control. There was no thought, only reaction. Her temper exploded as their eyes met in the dark. Only Danton did this to her. One touch, one stroke, and her body transformed into a traitor. It just made it worse that the arousal came in the wake of him scaring her half to death. Men were inherently jerks. It was a cruel twist of fate that she wasn’t a lesbian and therefore immune to males.
“Hello, Toni. I’ve missed you.”
He leaned completely against her and she gasped as the clear proof of his statement made itself known. His cock was hard. The muscles of her belly quivered as he pressed against her, while he watched her intently. She was helpless in his hold, but true to his nature, Danton never tightened that grip enough to hurt her. The amount of weight he used to secure her bordered on suffocating but he managed to keep it from becoming painful.
That was one of the things that frustrated her the most; his control. In everything he did, the man was a study in focus. Even the most intimate things became soul-meshing experiences under his tight handling.
The man could make her scream.
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Chapter Two
“Let me go. I need to call in before I lose my job.” Toni shut her mouth because her voice was too needy. A corner of Danton’s mouth curved. The damn man always knew when he was getting to her. Just like a shark smelled blood and moved in for a kill.
“No you don’t. I arranged the page.”
“Bull—” Toni shut her mouth once again before she finished her comment. If anyone could pull a string at the local sheriff’s department, Danton was that person. The man had friends in every form of law enforcement, civilian and military. “Fine, get off me. It’s too hot for body hugs, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
Another lame excuse but at least she wasn’t reaching to complain about the weather.
He leaned closer instead. “I enjoy hugging you, Toni.”
A shiver raced through her body and his eyes flashed in response to the telltale motion. Her lower lip was suddenly too dry, and she licked it before logical thought rose up to warn her against the impulse. Danton’s gaze dropped instantly to her mouth as his chest rumbled with a low growl. That was the other thing about him that made it vital to escape. He responded to her like oil tossed onto an open flame. They mirrored each other’s passion back and forth until it became a firestorm beyond any kind of control. Only the idea of getting as close as possible remained in her thoughts. No barriers, no distance, only deep and primitive contact.
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“We need to talk, Toni.” Danton stepped away from her and her nipples ached with disappointment. That lament traveled down to her clit as she watched his face tighten with the same unanswered need. His gaze swept down, lingering on her chest. The thin tank-top dress wasn’t any help in hiding the twin points now that they were hard. Well, at least she wasn’t alone. His jeans were bulging at the front too. It was small comfort but she’d take what she could get. Misery loved company after all.
Danton showed her a half grin before offering her a helmet. She licked her lower lip again as she looked past him to the motorcycle parked right next to the back door. Oh Lord…she remembered that machine. As powerful as its owner, the thing was sleek and lean. Climbing onto the back of it would ensure a victory for Danton over her protesting better judgment. There was no way she could wrap her arms around him and hold onto any idea of keeping the man out of her bed. Hell, she wouldn’t need a bed, just the hard body of the master of the mean machine. She could feel the first drops of fluid easing down the inside of her passage as she stared at the helmet. Temptation was a mean, cold-hearted bitch tonight.