Lick of Darkness ~ Book One in the Lucifer's Play Ground Series (excerpt)

Title : Lick of Darkness

Book One in the Lucifer's Play Ground Series

Release date : Available now (purchase link under "Books" heading)

EXCERPT ...

Shifting on the seat of the stool, my eyes casually roamed over the crowd crammed inside the club. I resisted the urge to take another look at the time. Bryce hadn’t shown up yet.

Just as I decided he wasn’t going to show, a husky voice whispered heatedly behind my ear.

“Glad you showed up, Stella.”

My head spun around, and my brows inched up. Bryce’s face was so close to mine, I saw the flashes of varying shades of brown lancing through his irises.

I attempted to pull my head back, but one hand shot up, and tangled through the loose hair at the back of my head before it clenched into a fist, trapping the hair of the wig in his grip.

When his lips brushed over the top of mine, I was almost sick. I brought one hand up, and placed it against his chest.

With a firm shove, I put some distance between us, plastering a faux smile on my face. The tension from the fistful of hair he still had, tightened, pulling harshly on the synthetic scalp.

Mistress Hellion rose dangerously close to the surface. Squashing her from emerging, I lifted my free hand to the back of my head, palming over the top of his hand.

“Let go, please,” I demanded, keeping the sternness of it being an order from reaching my tone with the use of the word ‘please’. The tight pressure immediately released, and he extracted his hand.

As all the bar stools were occupied, Bryce slithered in between me, and the gentleman sitting next to me, earning a scowl from the patron as he shifted his stool to allow Bryce enough room to stand.

Bryce placed his hand on the edge of the bar, and his eyes immediately focused down on my cleavage.

“You weren’t kidding, were you?” he asked casually with an encompassing nod down my length. “You should be arrested for indecent exposure.”

Tonight, I’d chosen a seductive red corset, paired with an equally sexy skirt in matching color.

“No,” I shrugged dismissively. “I was about to leave.”

I tried to slide off my stool, but Bryce placed his hand firmly down on one thigh, preventing me from getting off.

“Why don’t you stay - I’ll buy you a drink, and we can get to know one other.”

He turned, and lifted his arm, attracting the bartender’s attention.

“I don’t know …,” I timidly began to reply.

“I do know,” Bryce stated, cutting me off. “I’d like to get to know more about you. I’ve been thinking about you all week.”

For the first time, the smile that graced my face was genuine. With a nonchalant shrug, I agreed. “Sure - why not.”

Bryce ordered his beer, then turned to me with a quizzical expression.

“What is your drink of choice?”

“Double vodka.”

His brow shot up in surprise, but he requested my drink from the bartender. Within a minute, both of us were nursing our drinks.

“So, Bryce, what do you do for a living?” I asked casually, bringing my glass up to my lips.

“I’m between jobs at the moment,” he responded cagily. “What do you do for a living?”

“I don’t work,” I answered, and a shocked look flittered through his eyes.

“Oh? Is there a Mister that provides for you, Stella?”

“No,” I responded with a quiet laugh. “There’s no Mister waiting at home for me.”

His eyes roamed down the front of my seated form, and I prevented myself from squirming with revulsion when I saw the heat begin to burn brightly in his gaze.

“Lucky for me,” he mumbled, and my lips stretched in another genuine smile.

“Lucky for you, huh?” I smirked playfully, pushing my shoulders back slightly to give him more to look at.

Come in, sucker.

Bryce remained silent for a while, blatantly studying every inch of my body.

“Yes. Lucky for me.” He picked up his beer, and drank thirstily, draining half the glass. When he placed it back on the bar, he stretched his hand out. “Care to dance?” he asked with a raised brow.

I looked down at his outstretched hand, knowing if I agreed, that hand was going to be sliding all over me. Choking back the bile that instantly wanted to come up my throat with that thought, I nodded.

“Sure.”

I placed my hand in his, and his large calloused hand engulfed mine in a strong grip. Sliding off the stool, I picked up my clutch, and tucked it under my arm.

Bryce led me to the edge of the dance floor, and pulled me in against him, wrapping his arm around my back. Whatever aftershave he was wearing, teased my senses. It smelled nice.

On anyone else, the scent would have awakened my arousal.

But on him, all it did was incite my urge to throw up.

His chest was hard, his shoulders broad. As he swayed with my body plastered to his, I allowed myself to run my palm over his pectoral muscle, and slowly down over the rigid bumps of some abs concealed beneath his collared shirt.

His breath became heavy with underlying lust when I intentionally thrust my groin into his hips.

Oh, he’s hanging out for a fuck. I can almost smell it.

“Not that I’m complaining,” he whispered in my ear. “But why do you wear such sexy outfits? Is it to torment poor blokes like me by showing such a tantalizing sight of what may be on offer?” He leaned back to look me in the eye, still swaying to the beat of the song playing. “You’re a naughty girl going out dressed like that.”

Mistress Hellion bubbled up inside of me … and this time, I couldn’t silence her.

“If anyone’s going to dish out punishment, it’ll be me,” I stated boldly, holding his gaze.

With a chuckle, he drew me close once again.

“Well, now,” he crooned in my ear, his tone still holding some amusement. “And why is it that you’ll be the one to dish out some punishment? In my opinion, you should be the one punished for the alluringly seductive outfit you’re almost wearing, that is driving every male inside this establishment wild with mindless desire, hoping for a more intimate glimpse if only that skirt of yours rode up just that bit higher.”

Bryce’s hand began to slide down over the curve of my ass. Cupping the lower curve, he pulled, crushing my groin into his swaying body.

His burgeoning erection pressed against my lower stomach. But his hand kept sliding down over the back of my thigh. His fingers toyed with the top of my thigh highs, the tips briefly sliding in beneath them, before they began their upward journey.

Every part of flesh he touched, crawled with disgust. When I felt them divert, and try to edge beneath the hem of my skirt, I bent my free hand around to firmly halt his hand from reaching its intended destination.

“No-one touches Mistress without consent,” I bit out, unable to contain myself as I withdrew his arm from around me, and stepped away from him.

“Mistress?” he asked with a touch of confusion mixed with speculation.

“Mistress Hellion,” I responded with stern emphasis, and his brow rose.

“What’s with the ‘mistress’ part,” he asked inadvertently.

My eyes left his, and pointedly roamed down the entire length of him, before I lifted them, and met his gaze.

“I don’t know if you’re the sort of person who would appreciate someone with the title of Mistress.”

I’ve thrown out the line - is he going to take the bait?

“Oh?” he asked casually, stepping closer, raising his brow even higher. “And what sort of person appreciates someone with the title of ‘mistress’,” he emphasized as his hand snaked back around my back, pulling me into him.

“Someone who’s willing to give up control. You don’t look like you’d give that up,” I answered frankly with a challenging tone in my voice.

He wrenched his head back, and stared at me for almost a whole minute. I didn’t break eye contact. I didn’t earn the title of Mistress by being a shrinking violet.

“Control of what?” he finally asked as if seeking clarity of something he already thought he knew.

“Of yourself.”

His eyes narrowed, and the top of his nose scrunched up as he thought about my answer.

“In what way?” he asked slowly, pinning me a measured look.

Oh, is that a challenge growing in your eyes, Bryce? I smirked dirtily, and leaned forward, bringing my lips near his ear as if I was about to tell him a naughty secret.

He inclined his head just that little bit closer, and my lips briefly brushed his ear. I heard the sharp inhale of his breath when I blew a slow steady stream of hot breath over the outer shell.

“Mistress Hellion will dominate your body,” I whispered heatedly. His inclined head inched a few millimeters closer. Now his ear was resting against the outer curve of my bottom lip. “She can drown you in the sort of pleasure you’ve only ever dreamed of,” I emphasized quietly.

Then I slowly drew back, regaining eye contact with him.

“The sort of pleasure I’ve only ever dreamed of, huh?” he smirked, and pulled my groin in even closer. He never looked away from my intense hold. He arched one brow. “Prove it,” he challenged, and I watched the flames of heat begin to dance in the depths of his eyes.

The brown color deepened, and his eyes turned to an intense chocolate, an arousing inferno raging in their depths.

His bulky frame towered over me, but his face was so close, we were almost touching noses. Turning my face broke the intense hold of my gaze, and I leaned forward, bringing my lips back to his ear.

“I’ll give you half an hour to think about completely surrendering yourself to me,” I paused, and slowly licked along the outer edge of his ear. He was holding me so close, I felt the slight tremor of desire roll through his body. “If you decide all power is mine, to do with as I wish, meet me on the third level of the carpark across the road. I’ll be in row F.”

I leaned back, and used my hand to push against his hardened chest.

His hand dropped away from the small of my back, and he stood up to his full height. The carnal smirk pulling at his lips had mine turning one up in return.

The two reasons vastly different.

I didn’t utter another word. I turned, and made my way through the crush of patrons milling about inside the club, fully aware of his heated gaze raking down the back of my retreating body.

Mistress Hellion was firmly awake.

© Copyright Carol Delmornay 2017

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