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THIS SITE IS INTENDED FOR A MATURE
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UNDER 18 PLEASE CLICK HERE
Chapter One
by
Michelle M Pillow &
Mandy M Roth
When Mandy caught up
to Michelle near the
large dance floor,
she was sure
Michelle would be
good and mad at
Dmitri’s overbold
comments. She
grinned. Foolish
lycan. If he thought
he was going to get
Michelle into bed,
he’d have to try
harder than that—a
lot, lot harder.
Instead of the tirade she
expected, Mandy heard Michelle ask, “Is that author Shel Stephan on the
floor with…oh my, is that Jag Karey?”
“The Jag Karey? The most
gorgeous to-die-for actor in the entire universe, Jag Karey? America’s
hottest actor, Jag Karey? Where?” asked Mandy, eagerly trying to crane her
neck. “You had better not be teasing me, Michelle, or so help me….”
“I’m not, they’re right
there,” Michelle said, squinting through the rapid movements of the dancing
couples. “Do you see—?”
“No,” Mandy cried,
desperately. She began to climb up onto a chair and Michelle pulled her
back.
“Look, right there,” said
Michelle, pointing. “See Shel in the tight black pants and hot pink shirt?”
“No,” said Mandy with an
excited giggle. “Where is Jag? Do you know how long I’ve daydreamed about
him? Sure, he’s human, but for him I’d make an exception. Do you know how
long it’s been since I had a hu—?”
“Too much sharing,”
Michelle stated.
Mandy laughed harder.
“Didn’t we just get Shel’s new book in for review?”
“Yeah,” Michelle said.
“Yeah, the girls were fighting over it. But they know the rule. All new
books are read by me first and then assigned a reviewer.”
“How can a girl with so
little adventure in life have such an adventurous reading habit?” Mandy
leaned her head on Michelle’s shoulder and made a move to snap playfully at
her jaw while making a mischievous growling noise.
Michelle flinched, pushing
Mandy off. If not for Mandy, she’d be at home curled up in a warm blanket
watching an old horror flick.. “Sex is safer when you have it in books. And
at least they don’t try to eat me right after.”
Mandy’s mouth opened.
Michelle held up her hand and shook her head.
“You dragged me out of the
house,” Michelle said, “the least we can do is make a contact for work.
Look, here Shel comes, let’s see if we can’t get a quick interview lined up
for next week’s edition.”
“You get the interview,”
purred Mandy, eyeing the famous actor as if he was popsicle and she was
suddenly standing on the sun. He stood nearly six and a half feet tall, all
muscle, with the kind of full waves of dark black hair that drove women mad.
If seeing his picture made a girl weak, the real life version could make you
nearly swoon. “I’ll get an autograph.”
As Shel neared, she began
to smile. A lycan stumbled drunkenly out from the crowd, nearly knocking her
over. Jag gently swept her out of harm’s way. Mandy sighed, loudly and
dreamily. The lycan lifted his hands and backed off.
“Hey,” Michelle called,
“aren’t you…?”
Jag looked over nervously,
as if expecting to get mobbed by rabid fans—again.
“…Shel the author?”
finished Michelle.
Shel turned her attention
and smiled. She walked easily over the dance floor. Jag lifted his hand,
unconsciously guiding her as she moved. “Yes.”
“I thought that was you,”
said Michelle. “I’m a writer for the Nocturnal Journal. We just got your
latest release in for review and I recognized you from the bio. We’ve been
trying to get a hold of you for an interview.”
“Oh, that would be great.”
Shel smiled. Her waist-length red hair swung lightly as she moved and her
brown eyes shone brilliantly. Suppressing a chuckle as Mandy practically
drooled over her good friend, Shel said, “I haven’t been in the office as
much as I would’ve liked. Jag here has been in town for the week visiting,
and we’ve been sightseeing. He leaves to shoot a movie tomorrow.”
Jag gave a bold grin and
bowed his head. His captivating hazel eyes glimmered sexily, as if he
couldn’t help himself. Michelle reached and quickly shook his hand. Mandy
smiled dreamily up at him and didn’t let him go so easily. Jag frowned at
her and sharply drew his hand back, stating he wasn’t interested. Mandy
frowned and made a ‘your loss, buddy’ face.
“We go way back. Actually
he’s been my inspiration for my latest novel,” Shel said, chuckling at
Mandy’s infatuation.
“Oh, how interesting!”
Michelle exclaimed. “And are you two dating in real life?”
Before he could answer, a
loud song sounded on the jukebox. Michelle and Shel both flinched. Jag
leaned over and whispered into Shel’s ear. She nodded at him in return.
“We were just on our way
out,” Shel said. “It was great to meet you and your…” Shel looked around and
shrugged, “your friend.”
Thinking of her friend,
Michelle noticed it was a little too quiet. She turned, only to see that
Mandy had struck out with Jag and had turned her attention elsewhere—to a
table full of beautiful, albeit pale, creatures. For some reason she was
compelled to glance over to the bar. Armando stood there with the rude
lycan, Dmitri.
Armando’s eyes stared
pointedly at Mandy’s back. If she didn’t know better, Michelle would have
thought him jealous. Then, seeing the grey eyes of his wolfish friend on
her, she grimaced and quickly looked away.
“Well, you guys have fun!”
Michelle shouted to Shel, ready to tell Mandy she wanted to go home. The
noise was starting to get to her, not to mention the attention of Dmitri.
“Make sure you contact the office for that interview.”
“Oh, I sure will. I love
your guys’ work and can’t wait for your next joint, Pleasure Island, to be
release!” Shel threaded her arms into her escort’s and winked.
Michelle smiled politely.
When she turned to look for Mandy, she saw her friend was no longer at the
same table. Sighing, she looked at the next logical place—the bar.
With a groan, she found
Mandy leaning on the bar shooting her teasing glances at Armando. He smiled
back and handed her a drink. Michelle went to tell Mandy she’d booked the
interview with Shel. It would be a great feature for their magazine, though
Mandy would probably lecture her about working while she was supposed to be
partying.
Suddenly, a large chest
loomed before her face, blocking her path. Michelle instantly frowned,
trying to artfully slide past without looking at who it was. When he stepped
in front of her, blocking her path a second time, she muttered in
irritation, “Do you mind?”
When she looked up,
Michelle grimaced, for before her stood old lover boy, Dmitri. She should
have known. She’d probably injured his enormous ego when she walked away
from him. Flatly, she grumbled, “Oh, you again? Isn’t there someplace else
you could— do you mind?”
“No, I don’t mind the view
at all. How about a dance?” Dmitri said, glancing down at Michelle.
She rolled her eyes and
looked over at Mandy.
Armando leaned forward and
smiled at her friend. “What a good idea. Would you like to dance?”
Mandy wrinkled her nose
and let out a small laugh. “Silly, who’d watch the bar while you’re out
cutting a rug?” With that, Mandy gulped the rest of her drink and headed
back to the table full of vampires.
Michelle watched as
Armando’s brows drew low in irritation. He was jealous, that was plain to
see. She made a move toward Mandy and was met with Dmitri’s persistence.
“So, how about that dance?”
“I would rather have hot
pokers rammed through my eyes than dance with you. Now, move!” Michelle let
out a grunt as she pushed the overbearing, sexy lycan out of her path and
headed straight for the door.
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