Once Is Never Enough: Delta Heat, Book 5 (10 page)

He held so still for so long she was afraid she’d blown it. Her breaths shortened and those damnable tears welled in her eyes.

A second later, she was on top of him, his arms hugged her against his chest. She pushed up, a flare of anger giving her courage as she glared down at him. “Well?”

Mondo laughed, his white teeth flashing, that boyish expression lightening and softening his sharp, sexy features. “We will marry.”

She slapped his shoulder. “Mondo!”

His eyelids dipped and he stared into her eyes. “I have told you a dozen times that I love you. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Loving me now doesn’t mean you can love me forever. I have to know, because the deeper I fall for you, the harder it will be to watch you walk away.”

“I will never let you go. You must not be very smart,” he said, his voice deepening. “My friends have watched me fall like a sack of rocks. They’ve been laughing at me for weeks because I’ve been a wreck. I’ve been waiting for you,
mi amor
, to know this is real. That my love is solid. Lasting. The forever kind.” He framed her face with his palms, a tender gesture made more poignant by the dark promise gleaming in his eyes.

Sunny sighed. “You really want to get married?”

“Yes. Now,” he said, gaze steady and true. “This very second.”

She curved her fingers, digging them into his shoulders. “I won’t let you change your mind.”

“I am yours as you belong to me. That will never change.”

On a sigh, she lowered her head and met his fierce kiss with all the passion she’d hoarded inside her. She’d be his wife, his partner. But in their private moments together, she’d belong to him, her submissive heart having at last found its Master.

About the Author

Until recently, award-winning erotica and romance author Delilah Devlin lived in South Texas at the intersection of two dry creeks, surrounded by sexy cowboys in Wranglers. These days, she’s missing the wide-open skies and starry nights but loving her dark forest in Central Arkansas, with its eccentric characters and isolation—the better to feed her hungry muse! For Delilah, the greatest sin is driving between the lines, because it’s comfortable and safe. Her personal journey has taken her through one war and many countries, cultures, jobs and relationships to bring her to the place where she is now—writing sexy adventures that hold more than a kernel of autobiography and often share a common thread of self-discovery and transformation.

To learn more about Delilah Devlin, please visit
www.delilahdevlin.com
. Send an email to
[email protected]
or join her Yahoo! group to enter in the fun with other readers as well as Delilah:
[email protected]

Look for these titles by Delilah Devlin

Now Available:

Saddled

Stone’s Embrace

Undeniable

Lone Star Lovers

Unbridled

Unforgiven

Four Sworn

Breaking Leather

A Four-Gone Conclusion

Reined In

Delta Heat

Five Ways ’Til Sunday

Fournicopia

A Perfect Trifecta

Twice the Bang

The TripleHorn Brand

Laying Down the Law

In Too Deep

A Long, Hot Summer

Coming Soon:

Beaux Rêve Coven

Once in a Blue Moon

Who says it’s better to share your toys?

Twice the Bang

© 2013 Delilah Devlin

Delta Heat, Book 4

Beau McIntyre has had his eye on Pansy Patton for a while. But after their friends’ coming out party—where Pansy wears nothing but a sexy smile—Beau isn’t the only one jockeying for the best view of her pretty backside. Realizing it was a mistake to opt for a drawn-out seduction, Beau plans on staking his claim.

Billy Sorenson knows he’s out of his league with a submissive like Pansy, but it was lust at first sight. Now he’ll do whatever it takes to have her, even if he has to be penciled into her schedule for equal time.

A smoking-hot firefighter with ice-blue eyes, or a mysterious cop…what’s a girl to do? Pansy has the answer: refuse to choose and savor the consequences of both men pursuing her.

Doe she expect her lovers to play fair? Oh, no. She’s hoping they’ll play dirty.
Real
dirty…

Warning:
Contains m/f/m and f/f/m scenes, paintball and other sexy ball games, flogging, and one wild orgy of pleasure.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Twice the Bang:

As they drove to the Italian restaurant where Billy had made reservations, Pansy watched the handsome firefighter from the corner of her eye. He was all wrong for her. A vanilla guy who didn’t understand the first thing about what a girl like her needed.

And yet she couldn’t do the right thing. Couldn’t tell him take her home and forget about seeing her again. There was something about him she really liked.

Didn’t hurt he was easy to look at. Tall and thickly muscled
everywhere
, he looked like a Viking come to life. Only with short, bristly blond hair. And with pale, penetrating eyes that were completely swoon worthy.

The first time she’d felt that arctic-blue gaze settle on her naked body at the party, she’d felt an electric spark sizzle across her skin. She’d been so excited her nipples had tightened as though pinched by naughty fingers.

Or maybe it was the added bonus that Beau’s whole body had stiffened beside hers as Billy had approached. She’d been trying to get Beau’s attention for the longest while, every time he entered the club. At last, that night, he’d given a hint of jealous possessiveness regarding her.

Billy’s expression had been open for anyone to read. Predatory, stark, his gaze raking her nude body and snagging for long moments on her breasts and bare mound. His chest beneath his orange University of Tennessee T-shirt had expanded. His arms had tensed, both displaying impressive bulges, but not a show he’d purposely given. He’d just been in a rush to reach her. A heat-seeking missile homing in on a hot target like the ones she’d watched on the news.

She’d never gotten that reaction from a man before. She’d been nude in many settings—at the club, at private meet ’n’ greets, at BDSM conventions—but she was used to polite interest, not the hungry intensity she’d felt all the way to her bare toes.

She’d creamed on the spot and then wondered how to hide the evidence, clamping together her thighs.

Beau hadn’t missed much. His quiet, watchful gaze had studied her and then looked at Billy. If she hadn’t noted the tension lending a sharper edge to his already taut jaw, she wouldn’t have known he was jealous.

That was something unexpected, because Beau McIntyre was a bit of a mystery. The other female subs at the club wondered about him, talked about him in the female locker room. They knew he was Mondo’s friend, and that increased his cred exponentially, because every girl wanted a go with Mondo and paid close attention to his attractive crew of friends.

She’d played with Mondo, been his demo girl a time or two, but only that many because he liked a sub who could take a more intensive S&M session than she could endure. And truth be told, he scared her.

But Beau had always fascinated her. From his tall, buff frame, his bald head, and stark features, he was handsome enough to give her butterflies just looking at him. His heritage was a mixture of African American, Asian, and by his last name, Celt, but his expression was all inscrutable Asian. What he thought or felt was something he didn’t divulge. He posed a challenge.

For the longest time, she’d wanted to get him alone, get him naked and see whether he could manage to hide what he thought without giving a telltale twitch

Seeking sanctuary could be the hottest mistake she ever made.

Laying Down the Law

© 2012 Delilah Devlin

The TripleHorn Brand, Book 1

A lifetime ago, Zuri Prescott kicked the dirt off her boots and ditched her small-time small town for the glam city life—and lived to regret it. When she’s framed for a bank job, she lights out for home, seeking refuge with her old high school sweetheart while she figures out her next steps. Only she discovers that the boy she left behind is the last man she should trust.

Sheriff Colt Triplehorn knows trouble when he sees it, especially when it comes in the form of a familiar trespasser, caught naked between an angry bull and her underwear. Sure she’s up to her usual no good, he grants her sanctuary at his ranch—the better to keep an eye on her, and purge her from his system once and for all.

Reconnection is sweet and hot, but the heat can’t hide the truth. When Colt inevitably finds out the truth, it’s too late to put the fire out, and he’s got a career-compromising choice on his hands. Follow the letter of the law, or follow his heart.

Warning: When a sheriff captures the girl who got away, expect revenge so hot it leaves brands on two lonely hearts...

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Laying Down the Law:

Zuri bit back a complaint, wishing he’d quit hovering because he was keeping her on edge. But when he didn’t budge, she dragged her feet to the bed, scooped up the wash-softened cotton and turned toward the bathroom.

“Uh uh,” he said, tsking softly. “My house. My clothes.
My rules
.”

She glanced over her shoulder, not knowing if she’d heard him right, but that same hard challenge he’d issued when he’d demanded the kiss was stamped all over his granite features.

She knew she ought to ignore him and lock herself into the bathroom to dress and gather her scattered wits, but the underlying tension riding the edge of his jaw excited her.

Colt had never been this dominating…except when they had sex. She’d loved it then. Her body seemed to crave it now. Heat bloomed again, winding around her core. A delicious little thrill accelerated her heartbeats.

Without a saying a word, she walked back to the bed and tossed down the clothing. Then keeping her gaze glued to his, she slowly untied the belt and let the robe fall open. With a sexy shrug, she let it slide off her shoulders and pool behind her on the floor.

Colt blinked first. His gaze trailed downward. His throat worked around a tense swallow, and Zuri couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. He might think he was in charge, but she knew better. Colt liked what he saw.

His quickening breaths were the first clue. The curving of his fists the second. When he opened his stance, just a few inches, she nearly crowed.

Reaching for the cotton pants, she wished she had something sexier to slide inside, then wondered if she’d lost her good sense to think that way. She had enough problems on her plate. But how could she dress and prevent him seeing what this was doing to her? Bending and opening her legs to step into the sweatpants made her feel vulnerable, exposed in a way that just standing there naked hadn’t. “I don’t understand you, or why you’re doin’ this.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I guess that’s true. It’s been a long time.”

“You didn’t know me then.”

She pulled the pants upward, over the curve of her bottom, feeling a little less off-center now that her lower half was hidden from his view. The waist of the pants settled on her hips and she rolled the band to gather up the excess fabric. “Guess that’ll have to do,” she muttered.

As she dragged the T-shirt over her head, she reminded herself why she was here. Definitely not to play games with her ex-boyfriend. She needed a safe place to stay. And she needed to keep Colt clueless until she had a chance to find her car and get rid of the damning evidence before the police found it. Her story might sound a little more believable then.

When she’d pulled the fabric down, fully covering her body, only then did she raise her glance to Colt’s again.

His brows pulled together. “Gonna tell me what’s going on? Why you’re here?”

“I’m a little hungry,” she said, knowing her attempt to stall was completely transparent. “I don’t suppose I could eat first?”

Colt dropped his fists and stepped closer, forcing her chin higher to hold his steady gaze. “If you’re in trouble…”

What? He’d help? She didn’t think so. Colt appeared to be the same inflexible cowboy. He’d always judged a person’s actions as either black or white, right or wrong. No interesting muddying of the colors accepted. She’d forgotten that about him.

She pondered telling him part of the tale, but worried he’d use what he learned to play with her some more. He seemed to like that fact he held the reins.

Zuri licked her lips. “I need a place to stay. Just for a little while.”

His gray eyes, once so warm and open, narrowed. A muscle flexed alongside his jaw.

She waited him out, knowing he wasn’t satisfied with her response. The longer the moment stretched between them, the more uncomfortable she grew. Still holding his steady gaze, she shifted her bare feet, supremely conscious of the fact she wasn’t wearing a stitch of underwear and that his clothing, while freshly laundered, still carried the hint of his unique scent. She was at his mercy. Completely.

Colt inhaled deeply, and then issued a soft, masculine grunt. He reached down and closed his hand around hers, then tugged her closer to the bed. He sat on the edge, staring at their hands before he looked up. “If you stay…you’ll sleep here,” he said, his voice tense and ragged.

Zuri wet her lips with her tongue because her mouth had suddenly gone dry. What he proposed sounded both so…wrong, yet incredibly tempting. She couldn’t get words past her tightening throat. If she could have, she didn’t know whether she would have told him to go to hell or given him a breathless yes. Instead, she squeezed his fingers.

So many thoughts swirled in her mind. Their past, her impossibly complicated present. It sounded so simple. She’d sleep beside him. Make love with him. Maybe she’d even find out that her memories of their being together were painted in rosy hues because she’d been younger, and he’d been her first.

Perhaps in exchange he’d give her clothes and money so that she could make a graceful exit.

Zuri crowded closer to his knees, tilting her chin.

Colt’s lips curved slightly at the corners, and although his gaze remained narrow, he scooted back.

She climbed over his lap, facing him, her thighs sliding over the outside of his, not saying a word, following her instincts although they’d led her down treacherous paths before. She slipped her hand alongside his neck, felt the heavy thrum of his pulse and bent down, her mouth hovering above his. “Think you can keep this uncomplicated, cowboy?”

A deep, throaty groan seeped between his lips, and she leaned into him, settling over the ridge throbbing beneath the placket of his jeans. She could do this. She could take what she wanted from him without losing her heart again. It was just sex.