Thinson1987

I look her body up and down as I circle her. Mine? I smile a devious, deviant, I'm-gonna-make-you-sorry-you-ever-started-playing-this-game-with-me smile. And then I take her hand. I lead her to the elevator. We go up to my apartment. I tie her wrists together with rope. Raise her arms above her head. And chain her to the ceiling. It's my turn.

I lived in the dark for three years. My whole world revolved around the whims and happiness of three men. It was just a trip into the forbidden. A way out of a bad situation and forward into nothingness. Quin, with his easy smile and charming good looks. He was always there for me...until he wasn't. Smith and his dispassionate attention. He was never there for me and he never regretted it. Bric, the one who listened, but only to himself. Self-absorbed, self-obsessed, and self-serving. He was never the one I wanted. And now he might be the only one I have left.

I've never been afraid of the dark...but that doesn't mean I wanted to live in it. Maybe everyone wants what they can't have, but I should've thought it over before I unlocked the door to their forbidden world. Number One is mostly silent. He watches me very carefully. Number Two is mostly gentle. But it's the other side of him I like best. Number Three is mostly reserved. It was carnal, it was sensual, and it was erotic. That's it. That's all it was supposed to be. A trip into the dark. A peek into the forbidden. I just didn't expect to like them.

My father called them messengers. He once told me they walked among us and that somewhere in this dark and godless city, there shined a faint sliver of hope. I had only to look for the signs. Well, I’ve spent my whole life investigating the inexplicable and all I've found are the unsettling vestiges of iniquity—the evidence of another world shrouded by the obscure. Purgatory to some, where depravity hides in shadows, and girls like me are little more than delicious bites of temptation. Others call it Nightshade.

Just when I thought I'd finally found happiness, the nightmare I've been running from finds me, and my world goes dark. Taking more from me than one person should ever have to lose, I end up on a new path, discovering I'm capable of things I never imagined possible, not even in the darkest parts of my imagination. So much blood. So much pain. So. Much. Death.

My tormentor knows no bounds, and I'm done being his prey. In another new city, I'm hoping this is the place where I finally find peace and those parts of myself I've lost along the way. New name, new hair, new clothes…new me. I'm determined for it to stick this time, desperate for a quiet existence to escape the horrors chasing me. The last thing I expect to find is more of what I'm running from. Violence. Murder. Manipulation. Except here, three dangerous men have me in their sights.

What can I say about Chess Copper? The woman is capable of bringing me to my knees. I know this about five minutes after getting naked for her. No one is more surprised than me. The prickly photographer my team hired to shoot our annual charity calendar isn't my usual type. She's defense to my offense, a challenge at every turn. But when I'm with her, all the regrets and darkness goes away. She makes life fun. I want to know Chess, be close to her. Which is a bad idea.

NFL center Ethan Dexter's focus has always been on playing football and little else. Except when it comes to one particular woman. The lovely Fiona Mackenzie might not care about his fame, but she's also never looked at him as anything more than one of her brother-in-law's best friends. That ends now. The bearded, tattooed, mountain of man-muscle looks more like a biker than a football player. Rumor has it he's a virgin, but she finds that hard to believe. Because from the moment he decides to turn his quiet intensity on her, she's left weak at the knees.

The last thing star tight-end Gray Grayson wants to do is drive his agent's daughter's bubblegum pink car. But he needs the wheels, and she's studying abroad. Something he explains when she sends him an irate text to let him know exactly how much pain she'll put him in if he crashes her beloved ride. Before he knows it, Ivy Mackenzie has become his best texting bud. But then Ivy comes home, and everything goes haywire. Because the only thing Gray can think of is being with Ivy.

Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy, right? Too bad he's committed to making her break every rule.