Happy Hump Day! This weeks sensual snippets are from a blast from the past that I came across scrolling my Kindle shelf- studiously avoiding my monster TBR behemoth pile. Storm Born by Richelle Mead caught my eye and I was instantly inundated with waves of nostalgia. Storm Born is the first book of the Dark Swan series, a urban fiction romancey series that is one of the absolute best of its kind. Give Storm Born its roses! It truly deserves! An absolute page turner from beginning to end. A unique plot with characters that were so authentic and polarizing, I raced through the pages, making and breaking alliances and reveling in the turmoil of it all! I can not say enough about Storm Born and the Dark Swan series. Even though I still have residual rage for how Mead chose to end the series (SERIOUSLY EUGENIE!!!!!) it remains top of its class! PS. there is a significant love triangle and I detest love triangles, but MAN did it work impeccably and unfold cleverly in Storm Born!

Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants…

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl’s got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy—one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie’s first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne’er-do-well, and the ones who don’t want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her…

Indecent (Fae) Proposal

“I want to make love to you while that indecision still torments you, while you’re still not sure if I’m a god or a monster or simply a human like you. I want to be with you in that ultimate moment of vulnerability, when your desire wars with your instincts and every touch of my body triggers both fear and pleasure in you.”

“Fear? Are you threatening to rape me like every other gentry lately?”

“No. I told you, I don’t take women by force. But it doesn’t matter. You’ll come to me by choice.”

“Not likely.”

“Oh, very likely. Your own nature is conflicted, Eugenie. You’re attracted to things you know you shouldn’t be, even if you don’t realize it consciously. You like playing with danger—it arouses you. That’s why you fight the creatures of this world so aggressively. That’s why you’ve come for this girl—despite how foolhardy you know it is. And that’s why you’ll return to me. You won’t be able to help yourself. You want to walk that line, put yourself at risk, see how far you can let yourself go. You protect yourself so fiercely from the things you fear that the thought of letting down your defenses and submitting excites you. Now, you won’t let someone you hate—like Rurik—touch you, but me? You don’t hate me. Not quite. I’m the perfect mix. The perfect way—the safe way—to give in to what you want.”

First Time with a Kitsune

…“Hey,” I said, breaking off slightly. “There are people around.” Amusing, I thought a moment later, that I was less concerned about him doing it than being seen doing it.

“People only notice if you make a big deal about it.” He kissed the side of my neck, just below my ear, and when he spoke, his words heated my skin. I let him kiss me again and didn’t say anything else about the hand that continued to stroke the curve of my breast and tease my nipple into hardness beneath the shirt. His other hand slid down to my ass and ground me closer to him, letting me feel exactly what was underneath his jeans. The fact that we were doing this in public suddenly made it a lot sexier. I let out a small, trembling sigh and then broke away from the kiss again. Only this time, it wasn’t because of any prudish feelings. It was from need. My body’s suddenly urgent and excruciating need.

“Are you staying next door?” I asked, indicating the hotel adjacent to the bar.

“No. Out at the Monteblanca.” I let surprise show on my face. That was in the region near where I lived, in the Santa Catalina foothills.

“That’s not a hotel. That’s a resort. A really nice one. Veterinarians must make a lot.”

He smiled and brushed his lips against my cheek. “You want to see it?”

“Yes,” I told him. “I certainly do.” Chapter Four We were on each other before we even made it to his room. If our actions on the dance floor had been racy, our grappling in the elevator was downright X-rated. Fortunately no one else rode up with us, which was a good thing, considering the disheveled state of our clothing when we finally made it inside. All the while, some reasonable voice in my mind kept whispering, You don’t do this kind of thing. But I was. And I wanted to, very badly.

…Everything about him was perfect: the shape of his body, the sculpted muscles, the tanned skin. His eyes were dark and demanding in the dim lighting, black depths that wanted to wrap me up. There was an intense quality to him, something primal and feral. He regarded me in a similarly scrutinizing way just before pulling me down onto the bed with him, laying his body across mine. All he did was kiss me at first. Everywhere. He tasted my lips again and then my neck, tracing its shape with his tongue. My breasts held his attention for a long time after that, but then, breasts occupied most guys’ attention as a general rule. He held them and kissed them, biting the nipples, keeping his eyes locked on mine the entire time. For me, it was like traces of fire shooting under my skin, like his touch was some kind of drug my body needed to survive. When his face moved between my legs, it was only to nuzzle against the sensitive skin down there, to run his tongue along the place where my thigh connected with the rest of my body. He inhaled deeply, burying himself against me as though he needed to take more of me in. He moved back up so that we were face to face once more, his body again on top of mine. My own body was in agony, uncertain as to why we weren’t expediting things. I don’t know what look was on my face, but he smiled at me. It was a knowing smile, an animal smile.

“There is nothing in the world,” he said in a soft, burning voice, “like the smell and look of a woman about to let you have her.”

“Have?’” I laughed. “Are you calling me a possession?”

“We’re all possessions during sex, Eugenie.”

“Look at me,” he whispered. “Look at me.”

Our eyes locked as the pressure within me finally exploded, sending my body thrashing and shaking. My screams faded to one low moan, the only way I could give voice to the feelings coursing through me. One might have thought Kiyo would slow down after that, but he didn’t. He kept up the same ardent pace, still holding me, and it was almost too much after that orgasm. I could see from his face that my reactions aroused him, drove him on further. I was his possession in that moment, just as he had said. My combative, fighter nature flared up just then. I decided that I didn’t want to be the possession anymore. Dominance and power ruled my days; it would with sex too. I moved my hands from his back to his upper arms and shoulders. Relying on the element of surprise, I rolled him over, using my legs to pin him down, wrapping them around his hips. Pleased surprise poured over his face. He hadn’t expected me to be so strong. He shifted as though he might try to throw me, and I shoved him down. It turned into a rougher motion than I intended, but he didn’t mind. If anything, it made the passion on his face grow.

“You submit now,” I growled, pressing my palms down onto his chest. A smile twisted at his lips.

“Sure.”

Storm Born is available via Kindle or wherever books are sold. Kindle also has a bundle for the entire four book Dark Swan series (getitgetitgetitgetit) on sale for $12.99.