Exotica - Erotic Fiction - Mini-short

A darkened room…hurried breaths…frenzied touches…impulsive decisions…

Wanting her on sight, he manipulated a tryst. Angry and betrayed by another, she let him. Mutual desire leaves no room for rationale.

After all, there’s something to be said for a good…rebound.

When she finds herself bound to a stranger’s bed, former cat burglar Cleo Moran knows she should’ve stayed in retirement. However, the thought of ending the cursed dreams that plague her sleeping hours was simply too enticing to resist. She also feels a strong sensual pull to her captor—but knows better than to act on it.

At first, Sasha Michaels wants only his captive’s professional expertise and contacts to track down the man who attacked his sister. Then Cleo wakes up and, with words and action, stirs something much more primitive within him. Neither understanding nor willing to accept her resistance, Sasha attempts to bind Cleo to him with sexual ties.

Their tentative relationship, however, is jeopardized by secrets on both sides…and a common enemy who is escalating in violence. 

Mercy Jansen's dreams are filled with erotic interludes with a man whose face she never sees — and she always awakens before the scraping of sharp teeth along her skin turns into something more dangerous.

While uneasy about her subconscious mind, Mercy goes on with her daily life, which includes organizing a costumed fundraiser at the museum where she works. The event attracts more people than she'd expected, including a man who makes her knees go weak — and proceeds to turn her preconceived notions of reality upside-down and inside-out by pulling her into a shadowy, violent world where her erotic dreams threaten to become an all-too-real nightmare.

After being shot three times in the chest and left for dead by his last lover, Jake Duquesne decides the middle of nowhere is a good place to recuperate. And it's perfect…until someone decides to sneak up on him, gun drawn and cocked. Unfortunately for his would-be assailant, Jake's ability to overpower is legendary — in more ways than one.

Waking up handcuffed to a strange bed wasn't part of Katarzyna Delaney's plans to heal after being jilted at the altar for the third time. Jake's dark sensuality, however, makes her realize plans should be flexible. Even without a wedding, she decides she can still have all the intense sexual perks of a honeymoon — and there's no one more intense than Jake.
 

When his latest case falls on him and his partner—quite literally—Detective Nick Markov knows the demolition of his car by a not-yet-cold body is the least of his worries. The dead body is that of prominent businessman Andrew Langan, and suicide is swiftly ruled out after Nick pursues the killers down twenty-seven flights—and loses them.

To his superiors' frustrations, Nick doesn't buy into the popular belief that Langan's soon-to-be ex-wife Augusta is behind the murder, even though she has the motive, the opportunity, no alibi and a shady past. The only reasons Nick has for going against logical dictates are the feeling in his gut and the constriction in his chest.

Augusta soon finds herself thrust back into an unwanted spotlight and her quiet life shattered. Then things go downhill. In between dodging the media, Augusta fights off a mugger, deals with a kidnapping attempt and confronts goons better dressed than she. With Nick Markov, who dredges up a past she'd rather forget and feelings she'd rather not admit to having, Augusta must race to unravel her deceased husband's perilous legacy of deadly secrets before she finds herself skydiving without a parachute.