Sweet Saturday Sample

The sample today comes from my paranormal romance, e-book, Pandora’s Box, Book one in the Road to Hell series, which releases August 19, 2011 from Decadent Publishing. To learn more about Pandora’s Box, go to my website. I invite you to read the Life Lessons, which is a free prequel to the series. They’re listed in numerical order at the top of my blog. Hope you enjoy today’s sample!

PANDORA'S BOX SATURDAY SAMPLE:

Instead of “Hello,” she received a gruff, “Nix,” when he answered his cell.

“Hey, sexy,” Madison said, forcing cheerfulness into her tone. She leaned her elbows on the rail of the balcony, phone tucked beneath her chin.

“Mads?” She thought he sat up.

“Yeah.” At times like this, she wished she smoked. Any nasty addiction to turn to for comfort would suffice.

“What’s wrong?” He definitely sat up this time, the rustling of covers and the squeaking of bedsprings loud through their connection.

“Nothing.” Everything!

“Mads….” He whispered furiously, the sound of a door opening and clicking closed coming through on his end, loud and clear. “You didn’t call me at two a.m. to tell me nothing was wrong.”

Madison expelled a long, shaky breath. “I think we made a mistake tonight.”

Concern tensed his voice, “What’d you do?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just released a genie from its crystal prison.” And used Pandora’s Box to bust him out. Oh, and let’s not forget how dirty she felt now with the magic still thrumming through her, hard, rendering sleep impossible.

He whistled low. “Sounds diabolical.”

She laughed. Nix could lighten any situation. “He had to be trapped for a good reason, right?”

“Depends.” On what? “Where are you, Mads?”

“Mexico.” She scanned the Mexican city, poverty stark in every direction. “You?”

“South Beach, Miami.” The sound of his husky voice said enough; she didn’t have to see his expression. “The news said a level six earthquake struck Chihuahua, Mexico today.”

Yeah, that earthquake was little ole’ me channeling the awesome power of Pandora’s Box. “South Beach, huh?”

“Yeah, beautiful beaches.”

Skirt-chasing Nix would be in his element there. Jealousy made more vibrant by Pandora’s magic hit her hard. She hoped her phone call interrupted something naughty before it happened. “I guess there aren’t any hot babes there.”

“None as smoking hot as you.”

“Flirt.” The corners of her mouth turned up at his compliment anyway.

“Guilty.” From his end came the honking of horns and the revving of engines. “Tell me exactly where in Mexico you are, and I’ll be on the next flight.”

“No.”

“You need me, or you wouldn’t have called.” His voice turned a shade darker. Agitation, maybe—hard to tell without seeing his expression.

“I don’t need you here.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. She shouldn’t have called Nix. No need for him to worry along with her.

“What do you need?”

Loaded question.

“I don’t know.” She tapped her fingernails on the rail. “Someone to tell me we made the right decision.”

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