Checkmate (24 page)

“No way.”

Aislinn hid a smile at Chris’ outright denial. “I was kidding,” she consoled and watched Chris’ shoulders droop. A second later her friend’s back went ramrod straight.

“Speak of the devils.”

Aislinn looked through the wall of glass at the three men making their way across the expansive lobby from the elevators. Her pulse sped up and her breath hitched the same way it did every time Kyle Turner III came near. Which was strange considering she never wanted to be with a man again.

“Way too much testosterone right there if you ask me,” Chris grunted.

“For someone who says they can’t stand TJ and Jonathan, you sure talk about them a lot.” Aislinn stood and gathered up the message slips, a memo pad and a pencil. Kyle was a creature of habit and liked to have her attention first thing in the morning.

She shrugged off the feeling that he asked her to join him for coffee for more than catching up on what she’d done in the hour before he arrived.

Chris’ mouth opened and closed and her cheeks turned red. “I do not,” she hissed, keeping her voice low as they drew nearer.

“Uh-huh.” Aislinn agreed.

“Morning ladies,” Kyle said, sauntering up to them like he owned the place.

Oh yeah. He did. Anybody who employed two bodyguards on a ‘round the clock basis certainly owned the business.

“Lunch, Ais? Later? Right. I’ll see you then,” Chris babbled and hurried off, gaze glued to the floor.

Totally unaffected by TJ and Jonathan.

“Are you ready?” Kyle’s deep voice rolled through Aislinn’s body, giving her goose bumps and the insane thought he was talking about more than work.

“Absolutely,” she said with a smile, and fought the temptation to lean into the warm hand he placed at the small of her back as he guided her to his office.

She’s his target…and his mate. Aw, hell!

Carinian’s Seeker

© 2007 TJ Michaels

Available February 20, 2007 from Samhain Publishing

Beautiful genius Carinian Derrickson wants to live long enough to date a man from the future generations of spacemen, complete with ray guns and starships. She’s not crazy, she’s just afraid of dying young of some dreaded disease, like all the rest of her family. Her research into gene therapy has shown her the way to extend her life is by emulating traits only before seen in fiction. Vampire fiction. Only the beings that shouldn’t exist are very real indeed.

Unknown to her, there’s a bad boy vampire in the lab next door with a goal quite the opposite of hers. If he has his way, he’ll bring the Vampire Council of Ethics (V.C.O.E.) to its knees.

Jon Bixler is a Seeker for the Council—an assassin and undercover operative in a world of humans. Bix must get close enough to this rogue to find out exactly how he plans to dismantle the Council. And Carinian is just the ticket. But when he meets her, all his vampire common sense flies out the window as his libido leaps off the charts. What’s he going to do now that the woman is in danger and secretly trying to do the impossible?

Bix and Carin can’t deny the combustion of love and lust between them. They accept their mating. But can they stay alive long enough to enjoy it?

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Carinian’s Seeker
:

“Dr. Carin?”

Yaaaah! She jumped a mile out of her skin, frazzled and panting. At the first gasp of distress, Carin found herself sheltered behind Bix’s wide back. One of his strong arms pinned her hard against his body until her face was muffled between his shoulder blades. Tense and ready to spring, he stood between her and whoever had walked into her lab unannounced. The man was so still, the play of muscle on his back was the only movement.

Too short to look over his shoulder, Carin tapped his forearm. He relaxed just enough for her to wiggle free of his hold.

She stepped around him and nervously straightened her already straight lab coat. One glimpse of his face had her struggling between the urge to draw back in amazement or let her own hackles rise and make it known that she ran the show around here.

Bix’s lips were drawn tight into hard lines and the hazel-gray of his eyes glinted through narrowed slits. He was a predator ready to pounce, a contradiction of the demanding but tender man who’d been kissing her mere seconds before.

The tech at the door backed up two steps. Her gaze traveled from Carin to the tall, menacing man and her eyebrows rose in comprehension.

“Sorry, Dr. Carin, the door was open, and, uh… Sorry, I should have knocked anyway.”

“No worries, Shell.” She smiled sheepishly at the lab technician. Great, now she was blushing like a schoolgirl who’d just been caught making out with her first boy. What had she been thinking, kissing her project coordinator? Let alone kissing him in a lab with an open door, knowing the quality techs ran in and out all day. The answer—she hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d been feeling. The last time she’d done such a thing was…well, in Colorado when he’d kissed her good night outside her hotel room. Okay, no more kissing in the lab. In fact, she was supposed to be mad at him, so no more kissing period.

“Now wait just a minute. You can’t just cut me off now,”
he protested into her mind as his neck snapped sideways to look down into her face.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Who the hell are you cussing at, damn it? And will you frickin’ get out of my head, Bix?”

Lifting his hand, he smoothed a bit of smeared lip gloss off her bottom lip. With a cheeky grin, his tone smooth as ice, he promised, “I’ll check in on you later, Carin.” Turning away, he moved slowly towards the door.

She wanted to cut him off? When they’d just found each other she thought she’d nip him in the bud? Carin had a lot to learn about how much a prime male would take from his mate. May as well start her lessons now.

On his way to the door, he sent her a few private thoughts. A triumphant grin spread across his lips at her swift intake of breath. In his mind he imagined a warm caress beginning at the top of her head, then sent the heat simmering down each individual bone of her spine until he’d weaved a smoldering trail all the way to her little toes. Bix filled her head with thoughts of what he’d have from her in addition to such sweet kisses. And those thoughts were deliberately nasty.

A backward glance revealed a wavering smile plastered on her face as the lab tech handed her a clipboard. The pen moved shakily across it. He wondered if she had any idea what it was. But he heard her clear enough.

“Oh Lord, how do you do that?”
she wailed, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“Same way you can, sweetheart. Like this.”
The thoughts he bombarded her with transformed into images. Naked, sweaty, straining images.

She blushed a deep shade of caramel. He was sure the space between her legs was growing moist and her panties getting a bit uncomfortable. All in the space of a few seconds.

“Oh good gracious. Oh, my God. This is
so
not fair,”
she protested hotly.

“I know, sweetheart, but I don’t play fair.”
He looked back just long enough to wink, then disappeared out the door and down the hall.

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