EXCERPT:
The time
seemed to pass quickly. Deziree had taken a second to pan around the room
and felt the mild pangs of disappointed when she didn't see Vegas anywhere. She
took a look over the main bar and realized that some of the bottles were
getting a low.
"Hey Danni,” she called to the bartender, “I’m going to
take a break on the roof. When I get
back, I will run out back and grab some refills."
As she stepped out of the roof-access door onto the flat
expanse of building, Deziree opened her pack of cigarettes, took one out, put
it to her lips and lit it. She could feel his presence as she took her first
drag. She exhaled and smiled when she
heard his voice behind her.
"Those are bad for you, you know."
When she spun around, he was standing a few paces away.
"Hey you." As Deziree gazed at Vegas, her smile
didn't attenuate. Besides the fact that he was her best friend, she loved to
look at him. He was by far the most beautiful creature she'd laid eyes on in
her extraordinarily long life. He was
stereotypically hot guy. Tall, dark and
every bit of him was dangerous. He was
six-two or three, the top of his smooth, bald head towering above her. She couldn’t imagine the number of razors
he’d gone through over the centuries to keep that look. He had the perfectly chiseled appearance of a
deadly hunter. Most people would have to
spend hours in the gym every day for a body like that, but his undead status
meant he didn't even have to try. He
would look like that forever. His eyes
were the only tell-tale sign that he was a vampire. Those irises – each a pure gleaming gold with
a dark-brown ring bordering the edge - were the only giveaway to the general public
of what he was. She, on the other hand,
could feel it. She could feel the
electricity crackle in the air whenever her was around. In more than four hundred years, she had
never met someone as exciting as Vegas, and she wanted him from the moment they
first met. Why did we fight it?
"Can I bum one off you?" He nodded his head toward the cigarettes.
"You would make a terrible spokesperson for anti-smoking
public service announcements," she replied with a snarky tone. As she
fumbled with the pack of cigarettes, he stepped closer to her. Her nerves
hummed.
With a predatory smile that revealed his intentions, he
closed what little remaining space there was between them. Reaching his hand around the back of her neck
and tilting her head, he brought his lips down to meet hers. Her head spun with euphoria. His scent washed away every negative thought
she'd had about him in the last two weeks.
When the kiss finally broke, it was not her doing. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes to
see that he had that his smile had grown wicked.
"You didn't answer me on the phone," he purred.
"Did you miss me?"
"Well, with the harem of men I have at my disposal, I
couldn't find the time to miss someone I only had a little fling
with." She stepped back and with a
smirk, she added, "I mean, I didn't even get breakfast."
Vegas dropped his gaze. "I honestly am sorry about that.
I don't want you to get the wrong idea.
I had a fantastic time and I didn't want to leave, but I was contracted
at the last minute and it was time-sensitive."
Deziree smiled. "I'm just fucking with you,
Michael. I'm not mad. I mean, I was initially. But I figured something must have happened. A call or a text would have been nice, but
shit happens, right?"
"Well," he said, his wicked grin firmly in place
and his eyebrow cocked, "let me make it up to you."
"We'll see about that," she replied as her heart
pounded in her chest.
“I can hear your heart racing.” Stepping forward, he leaned down and kissed
her again. When he broke away again, she
found herself wishing that she didn't have to go back to work. He leaned his forehead on hers and whispered,
"My place when you get out?"
"Sure," was her quick breathy reply.
"I have a few things to take care of," he said
quietly, "and then I will meet you here around the time you guys usually
lock up."
She nodded in response, and he turned, walked to the edge of
the roof and dropped off the side. After
standing there for a few moments in a daze, she finished her cigarette and
headed back through the roof-access door to finish her shift.
_______________________________
J.M. Gregoire was born and raised in New Hampshire, USA and despite her
abhorrence for any season that dares to drop to a temperature below seventy
degrees, she still currently resides there with her two children and her two
cats. Always a passionate reader, her love of urban fantasy books eventually
morphed into a love of writing them. She is currently working on the Demon
Legacy series and has an urban fantasy thriller project coming up that will be
co-written with one of her best friends and favorite authors, Ginny Lurcock
Find J.M. and her books
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The Devil You Know
Demon Legacy Series Book One
By J.M. Gregoire
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
Publisher: J.M. Gregoire Books
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Click here to add The Devil You Know to your Goodreads shelf!
Deziree Davanzatti is a thief by trade and to keep herself occupied between jobs, she owns and operates Onyx, a trendy nightclub for the supernatural citizens of New York City.
What else would a 400-something year old demon-human hybrid do with her spare time?
Following a drunken night of questionable decisions, the vampire Michael “Vegas” Tremayne leaves town with no explanation. Dez is left wondering if they made a mistake and if it cost her a price she wasn’t willing to pay – her best friend and confidant.
When he returns after two weeks of no contact, he comes bearing grave news that could potentially change the world forever….or end it all together. To make matters worse, they suspect that someone they know may be behind it all.
An extremely dangerous chain of events has been set in motion and it is up to Dez and Vegas, with the help of his brother Lucas, to find a way to stop it.
From the author of Burning, the short story prequel, comes The Devil You Know, the first full length novel in the Demon Legacy series by J.M. Gregoire.
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