"I almost hit your cow," she told him as she slipped off one of her high heels and rubbed the insole with her other foot. It didn't stop the tingle of pleasure that was running up and down her legs. He could park his boots by her bed any day.
"Sorry about that. Bessie thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence."
He pulled a rolled-up rope off the saddle horn and swatted the end of it against Bessie's rump. The cow gave him a disgruntled look before ambling down the road.
His gaze returned to her … roaming over her … seducing her. "Are you lost?"
"On vacation."
He easily controlled the prancing horse beneath him. "Staying nearby?"
"At the Crystal Creek Dude Ranch."
His grin was slow. So, he did have all his teeth, and they were pearly white. She ran her tongue over her dry lips.
"My brother owns it," he said. "I'm helping him out. It looks like we might be seeing a lot of each other. Name's Cal-Cal Braxton."
His thumb idly stroked the rope. For a moment, she was mesmerized as she watched the hypnotic movement.
"You know, you shouldn't drive with the top down in this heat," he said.
She almost laughed. It wasn't the heat from the sun that had momentarily stolen her wits. Cal was good. Ah, yes, he knew all the moves that made a woman yearn for him to caress her naked skin. And he made those moves very well.
No hero comes close to MIDNIGHT'S MASTER, the latest from Cynthia Eden, out next month from Brava …
"Throw her out, Niol. You want the vamps to keep comin', you throw that bitch out."
The tapping stopped, and, because the vampire had raised his shrill-ass voice again, the nearby paranormals-because, generally, the folks who came in his bar were far, far from normal-stilled.
Niol shook his head slowly. "I think you're forgetting a few things, vamp." He gathered the black swell of power that pulsed just beneath his skin. Felt the surge of dark magic and-
The vamp flew across the bar, slamming into the stage with a scream. The lead guitarist swore, then jumped back, cradling his guitar with both hands like the precious baby he thought it was.
The sudden silence was deafening.
Niol motioned toward the bar. "Get me another drink, Marc." He glanced at the slowly rising vampire. "Did I tell you to get up?" It barely took any effort to slam the bastard into the stage wall this time. Just a stray thought, really.
Ah, but power was a wonderful thing.
Sometimes, it was damn good to be a demon. And even better to be a level ten, and the baddest asshole in the room.
He stalked forward. Enjoyed for a moment the way the crowd jumped away from him.
The vampire began to shake. Perfect.
Niol stopped a foot before the fallen Andre. "First," he growled, "don't ever, ever fucking tell me what to do in my bar again."
A fast nod.
"Second … " His hands clenched into fists as he fought to rein in the magic blasting through him. The power … oh, but it was tempting. And so easy to use.
Too easy.
One more thought, just one, focused and hard, and he could have the vamp dead at his feet.
"Use too much, you'll lose yourself." An old warning. One that had come too late for him. He'd been twenty-five before he met another demon who even came close to him in power and that guy's warning-well it had been long overdue.
Niol knew he'd been one of the Lost for years.
The first time he'd killed, he'd been Lost.
"Second," he repeated, his voice cold, clear, and cutting like a knife in the quiet. "If you think I give a damn about the vampires coming to my place … " His mouth hitched into a half-grin, but Niol knew no amusement would show in the darkness of his eyes. "Then you're dead wrong, vampire."
"S-sorry, Niol, I-"
He laughed. Then turned his back on the cringing vampire. "Thomas." The guard he always kept close. "Throw that vamp's ass out."
When Thomas stepped forward, the squeal of a guitar ripped through the bar. And the dancing and the drinking and the mating games of the Other began with a fierce rumble of sound.
His eyes searched for his prey and he found Holly watching him. All eyes and red hair and lips that begged for his mouth. He strode toward her, conscious of covert eyes still on them. He could show no weakness. Never could.
I'm not weak.
He was the strongest demon in Atlanta. And he sure as hell wasn't going to give the paranormals any cause to start doubting his power.
His kind turned on the weak.
When he stopped before her, the scent of lavender flooded his nostrils.
She looked up at him. The human was small, to him anyway, barely reaching his shoulders so that he towered over her.
She was the weak one. All of her kind were.
Humans. So easy to wound. To kill.
He lifted his hand. Stroked her cheek. Damn but she was soft. Leaning close, Niol told her, "Sweetheart, I warned you before about coming to my Paradise."
There was no doubt others overheard his words. With so many shifters skulking around the joint, a whisper would have been overheard. Shifters and their annoyingly superior senses.
"Wh-what do you mean?" The question came, husky and soft. Ah, but he liked her voice. And he could all too easily imagine that voice, whispering to him as they lay amid a tangle of sheets.
Or maybe screaming in his ear as she came.
He cupped her chin in his hand. A nice chin. Softly rounded. And those lips … the bottom was fuller than the top. Just a bit. So red. Her mouth was slightly parted, open.
Waiting.
She stepped back, shaking her head. "I don't know what you think you're doing, Niol-"
He stared down at her. "Yes, you do." He caught her arms, wrapping his fingers around her and jerking Holly against him. "I told you, the last time you came into my bar … "
Her eyes widened. "Niol … "
Oh, yeah, he liked the way she said his name. She breathed it, tasted it.
His lips lowered toward hers. "If you want to walk in Paradise, baby, then you're gonna have to play with the devil."
"No, I-"
He kissed her. Hard. Deep. Niol drove his tongue right past those plump lips and took her mouth the way the beast inside of him demanded.