Gena Showalter - Dark Taste of Rapture

I wont go easy on you. Truth. He couldnt. Not if he was going to be rid of her. Maybe it was unfair of him to want her kicked out because he was attracted to her. Didnt matter. She was rich. Shed get over it.

Go easy on me? Why, Agent Mean, Id be disappointed if you did.

All right. Lets see what youve got.

Oh. Okay. Eyes gleaming, she lifted her tank and bra. Ive got thirty-six Cs.

The male trainees might have whistled, the females might have gasped. Hector couldnt be sure because he lost focus of everything but those perfect breasts. Honest to God, his thoughts derailed, his nerve endings going white-hot throughout his body.

Rose-colored nipples, beaded and ripe for sucking. She had no tan lines, was the same sweet cream and honey all over. And she was closing the distance between them, tempting him, daring him. Totally within reach.

He flexed his fingers; he wanted to reach.

She double tapped him in the mouth so hard he was spitting blood as he fell. Stars winked through his line of vision before he landed. And then, when he hit, his skull cracking against the ground, the stars vanished and thick black cobwebs took their place.

Lights. Out.

Turn the page to read praise for Gena Showalter and her bestselling novels of danger and desire

PRAISE FOR THE ALIEN HUNTRESS SERIES

Ecstasy in Darkness

A glued-to-your-seat kind of book. Pick it up and you wont want to put it down. The action is hot and fast-paced. Showalter is a master of creating unique, fun, and super-sexy characters. The banter between Victor and Ava will stick with you days after youre done reading.

Romantic Times

Seduce the Darkness

[A] compelling and entertaining story of lust, deception, intrigue.

Romantic Times

Savor Me Slowly

Hot, hard-hitting science fiction romance. Im so glad she took the characters to their sensual and emotional limitsand beyond!

New York Times bestselling author Susan Sizemore

Danger and sensuality are hallmarks of Showalters style. An intense read!

Romantic Times

Enslave Me Sweetly

Sizzling romance and nail-biting suspense. Entertaining. [A] roller-coaster-like adventure.

Booklist

Awaken Me Darkly

Mia Snow is perfect as the alien hunter with the secret.

Booklist

A heady mixture of speculative fiction, romance, and chick lit.

Romantic Times

Sizzles with intrigue. Similar to Laurell K. Hamiltons Anita Blake series. Brilliantly written. Amazing.

Fresh Fiction

A fantastic read. Fascinating characters. Gena Showalter has created a very interesting world that readers will enjoy visiting over and over again.

A Romance Review

The final spin will shock. Mia is a fabulous bad girl.

The Best Reviews

MORE PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF
GENA SHOWALTER

Gena Showalter delivers an utterly spellbinding story!

Kresley Cole, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dreams of a Dark Warrior

I love this author!

P.C. Cast, #1 USA Today bestselling author of the House of Night series

Gena Showalters sparkling voice shines the perfect canvas for her sizzling and enthralling paranormal imagination.

Deidre Knight, acclaimed author of Butterfly Tattoo

Showalter at her finest.

Karen Marie Moning, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowfever

Sizzles with sexual tension!!!

New York Times bestselling author Sharon Sala

All of Gena Showalters Alien Huntress novels are also available as ebooks.

Also by Gena Showalter

Awaken Me Darkly

Enslave Me Sweetly

Savor Me Slowly

Seduce the Darkness

Ecstasy in Darkness

Deep Kiss of Winter

Pocket Star Books A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Gena Showalter

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Pocket Star Books paperback edition September 2011

POCKET STAR BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Cover design by Lisa Litwack

Illustration by Cliff Nielsen

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4391-7578-1

ISBN 978-1-4391-7580-4 (ebook)

To my amazing editor Lauren McKenna, who saw the diamond in the rough, then helped me see it, too!

To the fabulous Louise Burke and all the wonderful folks at Pocket, for the support and enthusiasm (and such a gorgeous cover )!

To the awesome Megan McKeever, for helping me out any time I came a-calling!

And to the adorable pocket rocket Jill Monroe, for the pep talks!

And to the incomparable Kresley Cole for the love .

To you, my readers, for falling in love with Noelle and asking for her story!

T WO MEN STOOD IN the middle of a shadowed, barren field. Both were human. One was tall, muscled, with dark hair and a busted-up face. His syn-cotton shirt was torn, his jeans dirty, and his boots scuffed. There were telltale weapon bulges under his arms, at his wrists, and at his ankles.

Clearly, he was the bodyguard.

The other wore a perfectly tailored silk business suit, his Italian loafers freshly polished. His sun-kissed hair was expensively coiffed, and the only bulge he sported was the one in his pocket, where he kept his wallet.

Clearly, he was the money.

Acrid wind shrieked as if someone had cranked a hard rock song on a radio, dancing thick dirt granules in every direction, Money radiated impatience mixed with gleeuntil two other men materialized a few feet away, and the impatience vanished.

The newcomers had appeared in a blink, without walking a single step: a white-haired Arcadianan otherworlder with the ability to teleport, among other thingsand another human, this one wearing a suit as well, only his was ill-fitting and made from a cheap synthetic fiber.

The humans arms were cuffed behind his back. He smelled of pungent fear and urine. Poor bastard must have pissed himself.

Without a word, the Arcadian pushed the trembling male to his knees.

Nights about to get interesting .

The rust-colored sky appeared swollen, the storm-drenched clouds ready to burst. In the center, the sun was a hemorrhaging hook of gold, offering only a fraction of light. That hardly mattered to the witness. From high in the gnarled trees surrounding the field, his gaze cut through the gloom as easily as a knife through flesh.