STORY EXCERPT

If I had to smile at one more idiot or shake one more clammy hand, I was going to scream. Why my agent had suggested I attend this stupid party, I would never know. I was really starting to think I needed to find a new agent. I was nothing but window dressing at this damn thing.

The number of people who thought they could feel me up because I was a model was staggering. I was pretty sure I had bruises on my ass from being pinched so many times. And if one more person tried to get their hands down my pants, I was going to hurt someone.

This was ridiculous. I had been at this party for over two hours already, and I was so ready to go home. I glanced at my watch. It was only eleven. The party would not doubt go on until the wee hours of the morning. I had a shoot in the morning. I couldn't do wee hours. The photographer would have my ass in a sling if I had bags under my eyes.

Maybe I could slide out without anyone catching me. It wasn't like I'd be missed. This party was all about being pretty. There were at least ten models here who were by far more attractive than me. I wasn't even the most attractive waiter. Soon enough, there would be someone prettier than me to take my place, and I wouldn't have to endure these horrid cocktail parties.

I hated them.

I wasn't putting myself down. I knew I had the right looks for this business. My hefty bank account attested to that. Most models made about what I did. I just invested better than most and didn't spend frivolously.

It wasn't like I needed all that much. I had a spacious loft apartment. I had gotten it cheap because it was above a Cuban restaurant. The smells were intoxicating. The music was lively but played all too late in the evening.

Strangely enough, I had grown used to it.

There was always some sort of buffet on the shoots, so I ate relatively cheap. I didn't own a television, but I had the top of the line computer set-up. My biggest expense was my sweater budget. As most of my clothes were provided for my shoots, I didn't need much else. I usually showed up for shoots in my jeans and sweaters.

I had a strong addiction to cashmere. I liked how soft it was, how it felt against my skin. I liked how it made me feel. Cable-knit was my next favorite. I owned three pairs of well-worn jeans. I had over forty sweaters. Five Armani suits. Two tuxedos.

I didn't even want to contemplate how many pairs of shoes I had.

I didn't indulge in drugs or over-drinking. I wore one piece of jewelry, a silver bracelet given to me by my grandma before she passed away. I never took it off, even for photo shoots. I didn't travel all that often, and when I did, my travel expenses were paid for by whoever I was modeling for. I had actually been around the world on someone else's dime a couple of times.

The trip to South America a few months back had been all on me. Just knowing my cousin Hank was really alive, and now living happily with his boyfriend made any amount of money I had spent chartering a plane and arranging everything more than worth it.

No matter how much I'd had to dip into my savings to pay for that trip, I didn't regret one bit of it, except the car. I regretted that damn car...if it could be called a car.

Metal box from hell came easily to mind.

I was going to regret a whole of a lot more if I didn't get some fresh air. The air inside was stagnant, stale, and filled with the overwhelming stench of smoke and sweat. I moved toward the balcony. It was a bit chilly to be outside, but if I didn't, I was going to gag.

I pushed open the double glass doors leading to the balcony and stepped through them. I took in a deep breath of fresh, clean air—or at least what qualified as clean air in the city—and realized almost immediately that I wasn't the only one out here.

I could smell at least four...no, five people out here, and one of them smelled very familiar—and delicious. I craned my neck to get a better view of the balcony. It was actually quite a large space with several different seating areas, an infinity pool, and an unmanned bar.

The sound of a scuffle reached me. Considering who I was scenting, that couldn't be good. I moved around the large wall divider and spotted several men standing by one of the seating areas. They did not look as if they were having a friendly conversation.

I tilted my head and lifted my ear toward them, shamelessly eavesdropping.

"Who are you?" someone snapped. "Why are you here?"

"I told you. I was just out here having a cigarette."

The sound of flesh hitting flesh made me wince.

"Who are you? What did you hear?"

When I heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked, I knew I had to do something. All of my instincts were screaming at me. Considering who—or rather what—I was, that was saying a lot.

"Darling," I called out as I stepped around the corner. "Are you done with your cigarette yet? I'd like to head home."

I plastered one of my award-winning smiles on my face as I strolled toward the small group of men. "There you are, love. Are you ready to head home yet? I have a shoot in the morning. I need my beauty sleep."

When I reached the men standing there staring at me, I sent them all a friendly smile before leaning up and pressing a kiss to the lips of Sgt. Dennis Cooper.

My eyes widened just a bit when I felt an electrical zing zip through me at the contact.

I hadn't been expecting that.

ADULT EXCERPT

"God, you're an ass."

My eyebrows shot up. "Me?"

I was the ass?

"After you helped Ian rescue Hank, I thought you were someone who could be depended on, but you're just as flaky as I first thought you were."

My eyes narrowed. "Flaky?"

I definitely hadn't had enough coffee for this.

"Fuck you, Cooper."

"No, fuck you."

"Get out of my house." No one looked good enough to take that shit. "Get out!"

When Cooper just stood there and sneered at me, I threw my coffee cup at him. My eyes rounded as I realized what I had done, and that I was probably going to die in the next ten seconds.

My skin prickled when Cooper growled. I wasn't sure I'd ever heard a sound like that come out of someone's mouth before and certainly not from a man looking at me the way Cooper was looking at me.

This man wanted to consume me.

Made sense. I wanted to be consumed.

The lust burning in Cooper's green eyes was almost blinding. His chest heaved with his heavy breathing. The man looked tense as if he was ready to pounce.

"Cooper?" I whispered as I took a step back. I wasn't afraid. I would never be afraid of Cooper, but the man looked really intense. Cooper's fists clenched. The corner of one lip curled up, but I didn't know if it was a snarl or a sneer.

I wasn't sure it mattered.

My eyes widened when Cooper pounced. I was quickly pressed against Cooper's body, the man's arms wrapping tightly around me. I groaned when Cooper nuzzled the side of my neck. I dropped my head fall back, exposing my vulnerable skin to the man's questing lips. I felt the heady sensation of Cooper's lips against my throat all the way to my soul.

I tasted a hint of copper when Cooper's lips smashed against mine. There was a hunger there that made me melt against him. The man's kiss was hard and desperate and I loved every second of it. I groaned again, giving myself freely to the passion I could feel in it, the need.

A hot ache grew in my throat. I needed more than a kiss, as earth moving as it was. I needed to feel Cooper's body pressed against mine, to feel the man's naked skin. I jerked Cooper's shirt out of his cargo pants and pushed my hands up under the material, moving across the well-defined muscles of the man's smooth chest.

Cooper suddenly tore his mouth away from mine and looked at me. Our eyes locked as our breathing came in unison, hot and heavy.

My breath stuttered in my chest when Cooper yanked my pajama bottoms down my legs, tossing them to the floor. I was lifted into the air then gently laid back on the counter. Nearly six and half feet of hungry male stood between my legs. Cooper moved a lot quicker, pulling his shirt off and pushing his pants down his legs.

I hissed when I was yanked back into Cooper's arms, the large man looming over the top of me. The closeness of our bodies was like a drug to me, lulling me into a passionate euphoria that I was helpless to escape.

I didn't want to escape.

When Cooper's hands began to move over my skin, I bit my lip to stifle my outcry of delight. My heart seemed to rush to every spot Cooper touched. I didn't know my body was so sensitive to Cooper's caress until it happened, and then I could only beg for more.

"Cooper, please."

I groaned loudly and pushed up against the powerful body above mine when I felt Cooper's thick lubed fingers slide effortlessly into my ass. My senses leapt, and a delicious shudder heated my body.

Cooper began thrusting his fingers in and out of my tight ring of muscles. At the same time, he leaned his head down and licked around my nipple, biting at the sensitive nub before moving on to the other one.

All of my senses, every nerve in my body, fired up at the same time until I didn't know where I ended and Cooper began. My heart hammered in my ears only overshadowed by the heartbeat of the man hovering over the top of me.

My entire body trembled when I felt the man's cock replace his fingers. Cooper slowly slid into me and time suddenly stopped. Then Cooper started moving. It didn't matter to me how slowly the man moved, I felt every inch of his cock move in and out of me.

Cooper made no attempt to hide the fact that he was watching me. He didn't move away. He didn't look away. He just stared down at me until the intensity in his eyes became stronger than the pull of desire in my body.

A hot ache grew in my throat. My eyes watered with unshed tears. My heart beat frantically in my chest. I cried out, my head falling back as an orgasm suddenly flowed through me so intently that spots danced in front of my eyes.

My body melted against Cooper's and my world was filled with the man as I shattered into a million glowing stars. I breathed in deep, soul-drenching drafts of air as Cooper cried out above me, filling me with the burning sign of his release.

I slowly moved my hands over Cooper's back, his sides, rubbing up to wrap around the man's neck. I held Cooper to me, our sweat soaked bodies pressing together as our heartbeats slowed.

I snuggled against Cooper, our legs entwined. I didn't ever want to leave the haven I had found in Cooper's arms. I sighed with pleasant exhaustion as Cooper's lips moved over my skin, a small kiss placed against the pulse in my neck.

I sighed when Cooper finally moved off of me. I could have easily laid there for a hundred years, snug in the man's muscular arms.