Playing For Keeps-Seduced By A Demon Book 3
Playing For Keeps is an Erotic Paranormal Romantic Suspense novella by Carolyn Rosewood
Damien Walker has just hired a sexy new bartender, and landed himself trouble, with a capital 'T'.
Teresa's on the run, but from something more sinister than human law. She's a demon on the lam from Hell, trying to hide away in this sleepy town. A job in Damien's bar seems the perfect cover. He doesn't ask questions and he's great eye-candy too. What could be better?
But Teresa isn't the only one with a secret identity and a past they'd rather not remember. Damien knows exactly who and what she is because he's hunted demons before and old habits die hard.
What's a Nephilim bounty hunter to do when one white-hot little devil walks into his bar and turns his quiet life upside down? She's a complication he could do without. She's also irresistible.
So she wants to cause him trouble? That's nothing compared to what he can do to her.
Excerpt:
He strolled toward her, moving slowly like a large cat. It was easy to imagine him as a panther. Dark, deadly, striking when least expected. The fact he was drop-dead gorgeous only enhanced the image. There was no way to stop her traitorous body from responding to his sultry moves. Her pussy was suddenly wet and her tank top felt way too tight. Images of fucking him silly on one of the tables in the bar flitted through her mind.
Instead of walking around behind the bar, he sat at the closest table and put his chin in his hands, still studying her face. “Before I tell you how I know, tell me why you’re hiding.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way, Damien. I took a chance coming in here tonight, trusting humans. I get to choose how much to reveal and when, not you.”
He stood up so quickly the chair fell backwards. “Who the hell do you think you are? I’ve known demons, Teresa. They don’t take the kind of risks you did tonight. You don’t seem stupid so that only leaves careless.”
His words stung but there was truth in them. She was careless. Had been for as long as she could remember, but it hurt to hear someone say it out loud.
“My customers are loyal to me and they lied tonight for my sake, not yours.” He took several strides toward her, his dark eyes flashing. “But don’t think for one minute I’m going to let you throw people around my bar every night. Sooner or later those same customers will begin asking questions. And when that happens, I’ll be minus one business and you’ll be back where you belong.”
Men fell at her feet and begged her to stay. They didn’t cross a room, full of righteous indignation, and lecture her. How dare he?
“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”
“The person who owns this bar, that’s who. You want to work here, you follow my rules.”
“I make the rules, Damien. I don’t follow them.”
“You’ll follow mine or you can leave right now. The choice is yours.”
He’d reached the other side of the counter now. Lust and anger rolled off him in waves. The combination was intoxicating, but he was only a man. Forcing her breathing to slow down, she weighed her options again. There were only two choices. Play along for now, or find another place to hide. Damien was one of the sexiest men she’d ever met. The fact he wanted her to leave made her more determined to win him over.
Lowering her eyes, she also toned down her voice. “I made a mistake, Damien. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re damn right it won’t because I want you gone. Tonight.”
As a demon, she’d never met a man she couldn’t persuade to do her bidding. She seduced mortals into signing away their souls using her body and her looks, and no man had ever dismissed her from his life as Damien was doing now. A bar owner in a one-horse town should be no challenge at all for her. What was so different about him? Why was he immune to her charms?
“You don’t mean that.” She held his gaze steady.
He faltered for just a second, breaking eye contact. “Stop that shit, Teresa. I know what you’re trying to do.”
Was that all it would take for him to let her stay, to seduce him? That shouldn’t be a problem. The sudden realization he wasn’t immune to her powers of seduction gave Teresa such a thrill she decided to change tactics. Why argue with him about who made the rules when all she had to do was get him into bed? She smiled and hopped up on the bar, giving him a nice eyeful of her hot pink thong as she swung her legs around. As she slid off the other side and inched toward him, he took a step back. Several emotions crossed his chiseled face, competing for control. “Stop what shit, Damien? Do I really need to use my powers to seduce you? You wanted me from the second you saw me in the bathroom.”
“You can’t solve this with sex.”
His voice was husky and unsure. Beads of sweat broke out along his hairline. His soft, wavy hair that she wanted to run her fingers through and bury her nose in. “Sex solves everything, Damien.” She closed the gap between them until they were only inches apart. His eyes were intense, searching. He was hanging on by a thread, and the realization she was that close excited her to the point of physical pain. “Sex is the great leveler between two people.”
“Is that all you want? To seduce me?”
“Would that be so terrible?” She took another step closer and ran a finger from the pulse at the base of his throat down his shirt, stopping at his navel. He drew in a sharp breath as tiny beads of sweat broke out along his upper lip. His full, thick lips that begged to be kissed.
“If you want me to leave, then so be it. But there’s nothing to stop us from having some fun first, is there?”
His face twisted into a mask of pain and confusion.” Dammit, Teresa I’m not immune to you, okay? But I know how to fight it because I’ve been there before. I want you to leave.”
“Liar.”
“Please get out of here,” he whispered.
“One night.” She ran her hands over his chest, enjoying the contrast between his rippling muscles and the soft cotton shirt. “Just one, and then I’ll leave and you’ll never see me again.”
“Why do you have to prove yourself?”
Teresa rubbed her fingers over his nipples under the fabric and he groaned. “I’m not trying to prove anything. I just want to fuck you.”
“Damn you,” he whispered.
She smiled. “Too late.”
