Tip Jar Shorts science-fiction fare offers sexy flash fiction stories perfectly sized to read in one brief sitting. Your time might be limited, but your satisfaction doesn't have to be.
Featuring speculative settings, steamy couples, and futuristic relationships, these science-fiction shorts come to life and take you on a quick trip through Romancelandia.
So … pick up a copy of your choice, sink into a sexy, sensuous story, and escape for a short while.
Two
top pilots, Max Cutter and Maggie Harper, like to mix a little personal with
their professional life.
Follow the adventures of Max 'Ripper' Cutter and Maggie 'Magpie' Harper, two ace pilots at the top of their game. Whether it's surviving hell week, exploring uncharted space, or dealing with a unique family situation, Cutter and Maggie rise to the challenge.
SURVIVING THE TRAP $2.00 Tip [Item Number: MS001TDP]
One week of extreme training, two top guns, and a healthy dose of unresolved sexual tension equals two pilots pushed to their limits, looking for a way to get through the hellish experience and possibly into each other's arms.
[Science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, Top Dog Pilots, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Groggily,
Max glanced at the clock wondering why Maggie didn't just look for herself. "Twenty-two
minutes." Yawning, he sat up, blinking and trying to focus. "Why?"
Something seemed off with her, but he couldn't pin it down, so damned tired his
brain rebelled against anything taxing.
Maggie
grabbed his arm, tugging him out of his seat. "Come on." She led him
out of the ready room, not giving him time to ask questions. Questions she
wouldn't answer anyway if she didn't want to. "Come with me." Not
letting go, she made her way down the corridor and across a passageway.
Max tried
to play catch-up. By the second day of madness, he'd learned real, honest rest would
not be an option and trained his body to go on half-alert when not in the
cockpit, sort of like being on standby. He figured it the only way he could
catch some sleep. Maggie had effectively interrupted his schedule of a catnap
and bracing shower followed by hauling ass back to the hangar deck to run
pre-flight checks. The routine played like a mantra in his head. Nap,
shower, checks.
So, right.
Running a little behind here. Max didn't know what Maggie wanted, but she
seemed determined to drag him as far away from the ready room as possible. "Maggie,
where are we going?" And how the hell did she even have the energy to walk
right now. She almost crackled with vigor.
Maggie
slowed down, but didn't let go of his arm. "Cutter, just shut up and come
with me." Without another word, she rounded the next corner to duck
through an open hatch, quickly pulling Max in behind her.
He stumbled
a bit, barely clearing the raised threshold before she dogged the hatch. They
were in an empty causeway. One used if a fire broke out on the ship. It was
supposed to remain empty unless the fire signal had been activated. Clearly,
the lack of sleep had Maggie unhinged.
Reaching to
undo the hatch, he muttered. "You know we can't be here, Mags." Next
thing he knew, Maggie had him backed up against the bulkhead, her lips sucking
on his neck sending him into a state of shocked arousal. "What the hell?"
He shook his head, wondering if he'd maybe fallen asleep somewhere back on the
flight deck. "Mags?"
BUCKING CONVENTION $4.00 Tip [Item Number: MS002TDP]
Max
and Maggie survive hell week and start a relationship that works. Tragedy
strikes Max's wingman and when Maggie shows up as the replacement, she
discovers a very different Max. Not a good thing when he lives to fly… and
can't.
[Science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, Top Dog Pilots, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Captain Maggie Harper blew out a
deep breath, flipping the folder in her lap closed. She didn't want to read any
more details about the explosion that took the life of a fellow pilot. One she
was en route to replace on the roster.
It sucked to step in when a comrade
was lost. Worse, when she was personally involved in the fallout.
And it didn't get any more personal
for her.
She happened to be replacing Max
Cutter's wingman.
Max.
Her heart tripped a little. It
could have been Max's ship. The prayer of thanks she sent out might be rude, but
so be it. Maggie wouldn't apologize for being happy or relieved Cutter didn't
die in a freak accident.
They had a good thing going and she
wanted to keep it that way.
Six months and no signs of slowing
down.
Maggie smiled. Their interesting
Hell Week interlude proved to be just the thing they needed to get through that
particular bit of the insanity. But they'd stumbled a little after they
survived and danced around the idea of letting the sex remain a one-time thing.
Okay, she danced around it. The
fear of losing Max as a friend almost won out, regardless of the really great
sex.
Almost.
DRESS FOR DINNER $3.00 Tip [Item Number: MS003TDP]
Max and Maggie are
training up-and-coming pilots and life is great. But when Maggie's uncle, a
retired admiral, brings his new and much younger bride to the ship for their
honeymoon, Maggie takes one look at the woman and sees disaster. An emergency
makes her miss the full-dress dinner, leaving Max alone to deal with the hot, simpering mess.
[Science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, Top Dog Pilots, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Maggie observed her new auntie in
action. Her fingers lingered too long on the sleeves of the male officers. Her
eyes flashed promises at each and every one. She thrived on suggestive words
and innuendo. And she had a throaty laugh that seemed to be a mating call.
Maggie would bet the woman had claws when crossed.
She aimed to find out.
Working her way through the throng
of men packed around the vivacious red head, Maggie smiled sweetly. "Uncle
Artie suggested I show you to the head … sorry, the facilities, so you can
freshen up a bit." She turned to the disappointed masses. "Sorry,
boys. She'll be back later." Maggie didn't wait for Celine to respond. She
grabbed the woman's arm above the elbow and dragged her down the corridor.
Celine stumbled along beside her,
the heels of her fuck-me shoes skittering on the nubby surface of the deck.
Maggie shoved open the hatch and tugged Celine inside.
The other woman whirled around to
face her. "What. The hell?" She tossed her head and straightened her
shoulders.
Maggie smirked. "I'm sorry?
You weren't done holding court?" She turned the water on and rinsed her
hands. "I'm sure the guys will understand. None of them want to piss off a
retired admiral."
Celine rolled her eyes and snorted.
"Please. I've got Arthur wrapped. He finds it amusing when all those young
bucks fawn all over me." She moved to stand in front of a mirror,
adjusting the bodice of her dress.
Any lower and her tits would fall
out.
Maggie shook her head back and
forth. "You know, Celine. The thing about manipulative creatures like you
is … you always think you're smarter than anyone else."
Celine's lips curved up in a nasty
smile. "I usually am, darling."
Maggie shrugged. "Maybe. But
the other thing about your type…" She moved to stand behind the other
woman, meeting her gaze in the mirror. "And this is the best part, so pay
attention." Celine narrowed her eyes but said nothing. "You always
trip yourself up. You can't help it." Maggie backed away, giving Celine
room to refresh her lipstick. "Believe your own hype and eventually, it'll
bite you on the ass."
~*~
Furlough 99: The last stop before uncharted space. Welcome to the ass end of the universe.
The last stop before the emptiness of unknown space, Furlough 99 is inhabited with a myriad of personalities, each one looking for something different, something they can only find at the end of the line. With a bar called the Den of Iniquity and a whole station devoted to pleasure and hedonism, there's nothing that can't be found here.
SHYLER: FINDING HOME $4.00 Tip [Item Number: MS001F99]
Inspector Shyler Lumen always gets her man—even if she has to go through Marshton Grey to do it.
Inspector
Shyler Lumen and entrepreneur Marshton Grey don't have much in common. A
manhunt for a brilliantly mad chemist brings them together and sparks fly.
Shyler and Marsh can fight the wave of change … or grab hold and go along for
the ride.
[Furlough 99, science fiction romance, speculative romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Shyler smiled with satisfaction.
She had her shadow neutralized in under thirty seconds, but something didn’t
feel quite right. The guy had an incredible build. Solid. Muscular. Hard.
Why didn't he resist?
And dammit, she felt a zing. Did he
have to be so flipping handsome, too? She couldn't let herself be distracted by
super-hot shadow man.
She huffed out a breath to regroup
and got down to business.
She let go of his head, but kept
her legs strategically positioned. "Well, hell. I'd hoped you'd at least
try to fight back so I could use lethal force if necessary."
A whiskey smooth voice, answered
with casual ease. "My mother taught me to never argue with a woman.
Especially one who packs a punch."
Interesting thing for a mother to
teach her son. Shyler tried a different approach.
"You have five seconds to tell
me why you're following me." And explain the lack of trying to break free.
"Who are you?"
Her prisoner slowly lifted his
right hand. "If I may?" He made a downward motion, toward his back
pocket.
The man had a truly fine ass.
SPIDER'S WEBB $4.00 Tip [Item Number: MS002F99]
Spider Smith, techno geek extraordinaire, meets his match when master thief Hailey Webb needs his expertise. When her carefully planned escape from a life of crime goes awry, Spider wants to help, but with his team out of commission, Spider has to fight the battle on his own.
[Furlough 99, science fiction romance, speculative romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Hailey Webb let her fingers fly
over the keyboards at a comm station, ignoring the four burly men standing
behind her.
Haj urged her to speed it up. "Come
on, come on, come on." He uttered the mantra under his breath, but it
pinged in her brain like a beacon.
Mal shifted his weight from foot to
foot. "Have you hacked in yet? Why's it taking so long?" No doubt
he'd be pacing the floor if they had any kind of space.
Which they didn't. The comm station
measured out at six by nine.
And, of course, Dom—the biggest of
the four men—added his opinion. "You'd better crack the system or our
plans are fucked."
Well,
no shit. Thanks for that stellar observation.
Taking the time to answer them
would only slow her down.
One man remained silent. And he
would be the one she worried about. Lou Bonera, their esteemed leader. An
ex-enforcer, he tolerated Hailey for her hacking skills, but considered her
expendable. Hell, he pretty much thought her only good for sucking his dick,
taking his cock, or catering to his sexual whims. Within twenty minutes of
meeting the guy, Hailey started referring to him as Boner in her head. And she
set him straight on their first encounter. She would not be his semen receptacle
… but she would make him as bleeding rich as he wanted to be.
He didn't appreciate her point of
view until she flashed her blade and promised to unman him the next time he fell
asleep. When she proved she could back up the promise of almost unlimited
funds, he'd settled down and kept a watchful and sometimes leering eye on her.
Two years and she'd avoided any
kind of physical entanglement with Boner. She found money and goods and hacked
security systems to get the team in. They grabbed the booty and split the
profits—her share being considerably less than theirs. She could live with the
cut. The men did the dangerous stuff. Hailey had the talent and know how. She
also had money stashed in slush accounts all over the galaxy.
Lou finally broke his silence. "Come
on, we don't got all day."
Fidgety and impatient never equaled
a good combination with the crew she worked with.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm
almost there. Give me ninety seconds." She prayed she had the time right.
Thirty to finish working through the firewall into the vault control mainframe
and sixty to lay the trail of kilobytes she hoped would be found on a timed
delay.
Her life might just depend on it.
She'd been a master thief since the
age of twelve. But at twenty-five, she'd taken a hard fall when her drop cord
failed, and she barely made her egress point before the ISP hit the scene.
Hailey missed the thrill of getting in and out under the nose of authority, but
the close call signaled her retirement—at least from the physical end of
stealing. She had to keep her hacking skills current, hence the necessity of
working with Bonero's team.
She accepted it would be dangerous.
Lou proved to be ruthless, but lately he'd become sloppy, too. He'd left bodies
behind on their last three jobs. Bodies
that didn't need to be dead. Hailey always worked an op from the angle of
no bloodshed unless absolutely unavoidable. And seriously … with the size of
the men she worked with, a gloved fist to the face would render most opponents
unconscious long enough for them to escape. Why chance leaving trace DNA? So
much smarter to get in and out, leave nothing behind. The first two deaths she
wrote off as shit luck of a coincidence. But the last heist … she knew, deep in
her gut, Boner murdered one of the guards … simply because he could.
Hailey took it as her cue to get
the hell out while she could. And she had a plan … a risky one … but she lived
for risk. What she didn't live for? A trail of corpses. She could totally do
without dead bodies.
She hit the last keystroke, laying
her plan into action. She'd picked the next target for the team with great care
and deliberation.
Her crew's next stop?
Furlough 99.
Her last chance to get the hell
out. A dim beacon of hope.
And the ass end of the universe.
~*~
High stakes adrenaline and hot romance create explosive combinations.
Meet the men and women of Capital City. They work hard on the front lines and behind the scenes to keep the city safe and sometimes … they find love in the middle of a tense situation.
Capital City Seasons is a futuristic series set on a different planet. The inhabitants are descendants of Earth ancestry, but the books don't focus too much on how they got to their current location but do mention historical points in their past.
MIDWINTER CRISES $4.00 Tip [Item Number: MS001CCS]
When a madman wants to blow up the city during the Midwinter holiday, it's just another day on the job for Ben and Jess.
Mixing the holidays with a guy who wants to blow up the city is just another day on the job for Ben Murphy and Jessa Muldoon.
Seeing each other in a tense situation six months after breaking up is not standard operating procedure.
[Midwinter holiday, holiday romance, science-fiction romance, speculative romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Capital City.
Where no one knew anyone's name …
especially during the Midwinter holidays.
Everyone went about their
self-prescribed traditions—too busy to care about anything more than spending
money and finding the next 'perfect' item so it could be crossed off a way too
long list.
But somehow, not even the sheer
volume of credits exchanged from Discovery Day to Midwinter's Eve managed to
quell the number of embittered and downtrodden who picked this time of year to
go off the deep end or make a stand for their cause.
And someone had to deal with them …
diffuse the situation, garner a peaceful outcome. If not, things could get very
ugly.
The someone people called?
Ben Murphy. A top negotiator, his proven ability and track record made him the
go-to person when wanting to avoid bloodshed.
Because why would anyone want that
to go along with their holiday cheer?
A lone man held the city hostage,
his metaphorical fist ready to destroy the main power grid. A person might
wonder how he'd managed to position himself to do it. That would, no doubt, be
addressed in the slew of after-action reports turned in once the crisis had
been averted. Heads would roll. Jobs would be lost. And none of those issues
mattered now that the guy had taken control of the central power facility.
What did matter?
Resolution.
Hopefully quick, painless, and
peaceful. No one wanted to watch the city grind to a screeching halt during the
most profitable quarter of the year. Not that Murph cared much about that
aspect, especially when the joy of the season usually got lost in the shuffle
of the crowds.
In fact, the holiday cheer being
piped through the sound system of his private transport grated on Murph's last
nerve. He tuned it out and focused on the view from the window, looking out over
the expanse of Capital City. As of now, everything remained bright, shiny and
lit up… and Murph loved the sight.
He should … he'd grown up with it.
He might not have seen much of it lately—his self-imposed exile from the city
and Jessa Muldoon prevented it—but he would always appreciate the sight.
For better or worse, Ben Murphy had
come home.
~*~
When one and done is perfectly fine
Sexy one-offs with sizzling romps, out of this world romance, and bright, shiny futures, these stand-alone stories are quick, fun reads. Whether it's on a space carrier, another planet, or something in between, these titles feature friends or enemies to lovers, space-faring shenanigans, or couples that can't escape each other's orbit. Choose your travel plan!
SPIRIT'S BRIGHT STAR $4.00 Tip [Item Number: MS001]
On Space Station Gamma, Courtney and Gib discover love while working undercover during the holiday season.
Courtney Caine and Gib Gallagher incur the head of security's wrath. The top man for Space Station Gamma punishes his two best shadow operatives by putting them in charge of all the decorations for the upcoming holiday season, and they have to pull off creating the glitz and glamor without blowing their covers.
[holiday romance, sexy romance, sexy short, m/f, science fiction romance, speculative romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Courtney Caine paced
back and forth in the small interview room of Outpost Five, Space Station
Gamma's security hub. The ass chewing she'd just received still burned and the
man who caused it offered zero help. And the new assignment to fix their screw
up sucked balls.
She stopped and whirled
around. "Dammit, Gib, how the hell can we pull this whole 'get the station
ready for every damned holiday ever' thing McCall wants?" Warren, the head
of security, had to be out of his mind.
No, more like pissed off
and looking to make two of his undercover agents pay the price.
Her fellow ass-chewee,
Gib Gallagher, tilted his handsome head to one side and pondered her question.
Courtney wished the guy didn't look good enough to eat. Tall, built, and rough
around the edges, the exact type she tended to go for. And a prime candidate
for the security forces, which put him out of her reach. She avoided workplace
relationships like the Tanthiac plague—who needed the awkward vibes after it
inevitably ended?
Gib snapped his fingers.
"I've got it. We could arrive under the guise of a brilliant omnisexual
designer with his overworked and harried assistant in tow."
She frowned. "You
couldn't pass for an omnisexual. No way."
Gib scoffed. "I'll
have you know if a hot dude or smokin' alien asked me for sex, I'd totally
consider it."
And if she asked? Yeah,
he'd absolutely entertain the idea. Alas, she would never broach the topic.
Couldn't. Even if she
wanted to.
Courtney rolled her eyes.
"Really? What kind of guy would you be attracted to?"
He answered. "Someone
buff, tough, and rough. Oh… and tall. Maybe with dark hair." He waggled
his eyebrows.
She snorted. "You
moron, you just described yourself. That's not omnisexual. Hell, I don't think
there's a name for wanting to screw yourself." She shook her head. "I
don't even want to know what kind of alien you'd be into. Probably a
thick-skinned, scaly Scathian."
He wrinkled his nose.
"No way. Their scales would chafe too badly and the slime green coloring
kinda skeeves me out. Now the blue-toned Caprisians are another story—wait …
you think I’m buff?" He waited a beat. "Of course you do. That's how
we landed in this mess in the first place."
Damn. The. Man. She
would not take full responsibility.
She crossed her arms
over her chest. "Uh-uh. You're not laying the blame on me. How do you
figure it's my fault?"
He smirked. "You
shouldn't have been checking out my ass. We wouldn't have lost Beno if you were
focused on the job." His brow arched, daring her to counter.
~*~
LOVER'S DAY $3.00 Tip [Item Number: MS002]
Maxie Yearns is a woman on a mission who wants things with Nate Northampton to go back to normal. Without their best friend, Martin Comico, to act as their buffer, they struggle to find their footing again, but with Lover's Day fast approaching and a lucky draw at the card table, Maxie has just the plan to test the waters with Nate.
[Holiday romance, Valentine romance, science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance]
4 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Nate Northampton couldn't believe
his rotten luck. His four on a quad had been trumped by Maxie Yearn's full
ride. He pulled the most incredible hand he'd had in years and his best friend,
otherwise known as the new bane of his existence, topped it.
Seriously, how did she do it?
Maxie had a nasty habit of always
ending his hot streaks. Until she'd entered the game, he'd been up over
everyone. At least he'd achieved his main goal of letting off steam. And then
some. The fact that Maxie now had every last bit of his bounty couldn't take his
accomplishment away.
He watched her scoop up her
winnings, accept a round of congratulations, and down a freshly poured shot.
Nate decided to take his leave before she started crowing about coming out on
top. With as much as they'd had to drink, the innuendo wouldn't stop if it got
started. And sexy banter could take them places they didn't need to go.
They didn't have Martin—has it really been almost a year since we
lost him—to keep them on the straight and narrow anymore.
He'd learned his lesson a long time
ago. Never get started with Maxie if Martin didn't have his back. Too bad Nate
hadn't remembered the other important bit—never, ever bet against Bombshell … no
matter how great the cards in his hand.
The woman had more good fortune at
wagers than anyone he'd ever met. Whatever looked out for her in the universe
did a damn fine job. Nate almost wished she didn't have a butt load of skill to
back up the rest.
He'd almost escaped to the hatch
when Maxie cleared her throat to get his attention. "Hey Slapshot … you
still have to pay up."
~*~
BOYFRIEND'S BROTHER $5.00 Tip [Item Number: MS003]
Chloe Timmons and Jason McIvey are each at a crossroads.
On what may be her last weekend as just a girlfriend, Chloe quells her
restlessness by hitting the town and runs into her boyfriend's brother, Jason,
a fellow pilot in the area for an air show. A barroom brawl brings them
together.
Chloe thinks her boyfriend Marc may propose, and she's not sure she's
ready for marriage. Jason McIvey has to decide if he's staying in the military
or going civilian. When Chloe and Jason spend the night together—after a
barroom brawl brings them together—it doesn't make either decision easier.
Content Warning: Inferred cheating
[science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance, explicit romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Chloe ducked and looked up in Jason's
direction. "Little help here?" She stood back up, and Max's fist
connected with her jaw, her head smacking back against the wall.
Stars burst behind her eyelids, but
she shook it off. Jason sucked in a breath and winced.
He kept his tone light. "Thought
you'd never ask."
He stepped into the fray, grabbing
one of the guys and spinning him around to meet his fist. The guy went down,
but Jason got grabbed by the arm and Max got a solid punch in, splitting Jason's
lip in the process. Jason landed his own jab and knocked Max backward to land
on a pool table. Max didn't get back up, and Jason's face showed more than a
little satisfaction with laying the guy out.
He made his way over to Chloe, and
with their backs together, they slowly made their way out of the bar. Only two
of Max's friends made an attempt to follow, but the crowd more or less
swallowed them up when Jason and Chloe stumbled out the door.
Once outside, Chloe leaned up
against the exterior, slowly sliding down until she crouched close to the
sidewalk. Still seeing stars, she figured she hit her head harder than she
thought. Looking over toward Jason, two of him hovered in her line of sight,
but she attributed that to the alcohol. She let out a chuckle that ended on a
groan.
Jason sucked in the cool night air,
then turned to check on her. Her cheek burned, and she'd lay odds she'd have a
big purple bruise along her cheekbone. Bet that would look really lovely
tomorrow.
He used his thumb to wipe the blood
off his lip. "Well, that was fun."
~*~
MIA'S CHOICE $5.00 Tip [Item Number: MS004]
Doctor
Mia Sinclair finally has her doctorate and embarks on a work-trade assignment
to a new space station. But when she runs smack into Captain Hal Manning—and
her past—she has to face her demons, which isn't easy because she promised
she'd never be under any man's control again.
Content Warning: mention of emotional and mental abuse, coercion
[science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, m/f, sexy short, sexy romance, reunion romance, explicit romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
"Am I supposed to forget I knew you? Grew up with you?" He struggled to keep the girl he'd known separated from the woman she'd become. "What the hell happened?"
He couldn't keep up with the myriad of emotions crossing her face. Hurt. Shock. Rage.
Hal wanted to take the words back as soon as they left his mouth. His intention hadn't been to hurt or provoke her.
And he failed miserably.
Her mouth thinned and her nostrils flared. And Hal braced for a verbal tirade. One he probably deserved.
It never came.
Instead, Mia sucker-punched him. Balled up her fist and let it fly. He hadn't expected it, didn't see it coming until her knuckles connected with his face.
His head snapped back and slammed into the support beam by his desk. Stars burst and an acute throb centered at the back of his skull. The room spun and everything went fuzzy and gray for a second. Shaking his head, he lifted a hand to rub the spot and winced when it hit the bump. Damn. She packed a punch.
But the passionate anger behind the jab struck a familiar chord. "Now there's the girl I used to know." He looked in her direction. "Why are there two of you?" He blinked and the room faded behind her.
Uh-oh. He'd hit his head harder than he'd thought. Not good.
Mia opened her mouth to respond, but Hal couldn't hear anything over the roar in his ears. He tried to move, to walk forward, but a wave of nausea hit him, and he dropped like a stone.
Mia's cool hand on his throat turned out to be the last thing he remembered before everything went dark and blank.
~*~
BOMBS AWAY $3.00 Tip [Item Number: MS005]
A power struggle, an explosion,
and communication breakdowns.
Soldiers Kiara Ungaro and Ronan
Sidwell have a spectacularly public breakup. Both have regrets, but neither can
take the first step to resolving their differences … until a bomb rocks their
base of operations. Shaken to their foundations, Kiara and Ronan have to take
the lesson learned about lack of communication between two powerful foes and
apply it to their broken relationship.
Sometimes solving a conflict
takes a really big boom to move things in the right direction.
[science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, m/f, sexy romance, reunion romance, explicit romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
Stiff from sleeping in an upright
position, she bumped into Ronan on her way back to quarters. She gave him a
tentative smile, ready to admit he'd been right about Carmody. She didn't get
the chance. His cold gaze froze her on the spot.
The shit would rain down. And she
hadn't even had coffee yet.
Still dressed in her party finery,
shoes in hand, Kiara leaned against the bulkhead. "What? Just tell me
straight up."
Ronan stared at her. "You
haven't seen the news? It's all over the wireless. 'Pilot Puts Politician in
His Place'." On a roll, he continued. "You'll be happy to know you're
running fifty-fifty. Half the world thinks you're a hero … the other fifty
percent believes you're trying to keep Carmody from being elected to stop the
peace process."
Kiara cringed. She should have
known the press would get hold of the story.
She met his gaze. "And you're
pissed." She made it a statement. She knew a pissed off Ronan better than
most.
He barked. "No."
Corrected himself. "Yes. I am pissed. He's been a big damned problem. We
saw it coming and you didn't squelch it when you had the chance."
She gave him credit for keeping it
under control. Too bad it wouldn't last.
Pushing off from the bulkhead she
smoothed down the wrinkles in her dress. "So, this is about you being
right and me being wrong." Not the thing to say, she knew it, but couldn't
stop the words.
Ronan exploded. "Great maker!
No, it's not about that. It's about setting flame to a powder keg and hoping it
doesn't blow." His voice dropped to a growl. "Well, it blew, Kiara.
And it's a great big fireball of fubar."
She took a step forward and poked
him in the chest. "So … what? It's my fault Carmody likes to play grab
ass?" She pinned him with her gaze. "You better be very careful when
you answer that."
Ronan yelled at her. "I didn't
say that! Do you really not understand the ramifications? There's talk of
removing him from the ballot. Carmody might be a giant perv, but he's got a
good shot at brokering peace. And, dammit, that fact completely sucks balls,
but I don't have to like it." He gave her a hard look. "I just have
to deal with it."
Her back went up. "You mean
deal with me, right?" Pissed off again, her voice rose. "That's it,
isn't it?" Damn all men to hades.
Ronan shouted back. "Yeah.
That's a big-ass part of it." He turned and continued his rant. "One
brief conversation with that asshole and none of this would have
happened." He spun back around. "Do you have any idea of the position
I’m in right now?"
Oh yes, she did. And it sucked, but
no way in hell would he put all the blame on her. "So … we're back to
that." Her heart broke … just a little, because he only had one way to go.
He snarled. "Yes. We're back
to that." He wanted to say more but clenched his jaw to keep his mouth
shut.
She moved in close. "Fine. Let
me fix this for you, then. I'll make sure Carmody gets let off the hook, so
everything remains copacetic in your world." She paused, then lowered the
boom. "And I'll go one further for you. By removing myself from your life
altogether. No muss, no fuss." She backed up, turned, and started for
quarters. A shower, long and hot, followed by coffee … she needed both badly.
Ronan grasped her arm, halting her
progress. "Kiara. You don't have to go that far. Just … you don't have to
end it."
She jerked her arm away. "Oh,
yes. I do. We're through, Ronan." She turned away again and had to push
her way through a crowd of crew mates.
~*~
SECURITY RISK $2.00 Tip [Item Number: MS006]
Two
military intelligence experts share a strong attraction, but exploring their
feelings could make them the security risk.
Quinn Kavanaugh and Izzy Nance are military intelligence
experts and are tasked with keeping the peace during a planetary summit. But
when they act on their attraction for each other, they have to keep their
feelings in check or potentially become a security risk.
[science fiction romance, speculative romance, military romance, m/f, sexy romance, explicit romance]
3 Firecracker heat level
Excerpt:
He dove right in. "What's the
deal with recommending the block on Delegate Niambi's wife?" He dropped
down on the seat across from Izzy, noting the still tired lines around her
eyes.
Izzy frowned. "She threw up a
red flag. A great, big, shiny one." Izzy fished through the pile of papers
on the table. "See, look at this." She pointed to a highlighted
passage on a security report from at least a decade ago. "She got tagged
with an extremist group and hauled in for questioning." She leaned back in
the chair and crossed her arms, ready to do battle.
Quinn sighed. "Iz, it was at
least ten years ago. And that group disbanded not long after the incident in
question. Don't you think she might have changed?" He cocked his head from
side to side, trying to work out the tension in his neck.
Izzy scoffed. "Not my job to
know if she's turned over a new leaf. My job is to find security risks and
eliminate them. That's what we do,
Quinn."
"Not in this case." Quinn
shook his head. "They're married, Iz. We can't block her."
Izzy snorted. "Yes. We can. We
have the final say for who gets through the doors."
Quinn argued. "Uh-uh. It'll
cause too many problems if we ban her."
Izzy got mad. "I don't see
how. If we say she can't be here … she can't be here."
Quinn sighed. "Izzy, did you
read any of the books I gave you about the cultures we're dealing with?"
He rose and crossed to the desk in the corner.
A guilty flush stained her cheeks.
"No. I, uh, had other things to read."
Quinn rolled his eyes. "Yeah,
like the latest issue of Guts and Guns."
He rounded the desk and pulled down a book.
Izzy shrugged. "Yeah, well, I
get more out of G&G than the pomp
and etiquette stuff."
Quinn snorted and flipped to a page
in the middle section of the huge protocol tome. "See, the Neophytes, once
married, do not travel without their spouses. It's a cultural thing regarding
the importance they put on the sanctity of matrimony."
Izzy flopped back against the
cushioned seat. "Shit."
Quinn closed the book and returned
it. "Yeah."
~*~
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