The Gifted and The Damned
Seduction was her gift...He was her weakness...
In the small town of Corydon Indiana, witches, seers, and shape shifters live hidden from the everyday world in plain sight. They live under the constant memory of the trials of Salem and live by a code of secrecy.
Ruby Malone, the only siren ever born to her family of witches, held the hearts of many men in the palm of her hand, making her the talk of the supernatural community, but there was only one man that she wanted. Making seer Archer Wallace hers was the only thing Ruby cared about until a war between the gifted and the vampires turned her world upside down.
Suddenly, the world that Ruby knows is gone. Archer is off fighting in the war and Poe Corvus, a rebellious shape shifter with a past, tempts her to be the siren she was born to be.
To help me celebrate, I'm giving away a beautiful necklace featuring an actual passage from The Gifted and The Damned! You can enter the giveaway below. There are several ways to enter including signing up for updates about the Gifted and The Damned Release!
The pre-orders should be up on Amazon later today and other retailers by the end of the week (hopefully). Be sure to get yours for the limited time price of 0.99!
Excerpt:
I saw her coming in my mind’s eye even before I answered the knock at the door. I opened it slowly and there she was...My curse, my temptation, the woman I could never forget. Ruby stood in the yellow glow of the porch light holding a large cardboard box.
“Dad noticed last night that some of your window panes were broken,” she said as she hoisted the box a little higher. “I thought I’d bring you some magazines and newspapers to fix them.”
I stared at her, drinking in the way the light caught in her eyes and how I could see the peaks of her nipples through her worn t-shirt. She shifted the box again before I snapped out of my fantasy and took the box from her.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as I took the box and stepped aside. “Come on in. I’m sorry, but Melina wasn’t feeling well. She went on up to bed. I know she’d love to see you, she always looks forward to your visits.”
I was rambling and I knew it. Why was this so hard? It was just Ruby. It shouldn’t be this hard.
I watched as she walked around the near empty living room. I saw her looking around, but I was too distracted by the sway of her hips to care about my blatant poverty. She was beautiful in a strong, earthy way that made me forget everything else.
“Everything looks so different,” she said as she looked back at me with those green eyes that pierced me right in the gut. I had a sudden vision of her naked body under mine, our limbs entwined.
I immediately blushed and looked away, clearing my throat before I could answer her. “Yeah, there wasn’t much left after the war. The whole place was pretty much trashed.”
She stepped closer, trailing her fingers across the scuffed wainscoting, “It still feels the same though.”
“Not to me.” I dared to meet her eyes, but there came another flash of our naked bodies on the floor.
“It doesn’t really feel the same to me either,” she said with a teasing smile. “I was just being nice.”
I nodded. “Yeah, everyone is always trying to be nice. I’m sick of it actually. Doesn’t it make you mad...The way everything has changed?”
Ruby shrugged, “It doesn’t do any good to be angry. I just try not to think about it.”
“I don’t see how you can do it. All I can do is think about it.”
Ruby crossed her arms under her breasts and shrugged, “If you think about it too much it will drive you crazy.”
I looked up at the ceiling to keep from staring at her delicious cleavage, “I feel like I’m already there.”
“Poor, Archer.” Ruby said teasingly as she reached out and stroked my hair.
I looked back down at her and my breath caught. I loved the way she looked at me, the way her green eyes tilted up. I looked from those feline eyes to those soft full lips that were always mine for the taking.
Suddenly, I had her in my arms. I couldn’t stop myself. I was kissing her and pulling her closer, crushing her against the hardness in my jeans.
Her skin was sweet as I licked at her neck. Her moans vibrated against my lips. She clung to me, pushing her full breasts against my chest.
“I’ve waited for this,” Ruby muttered between kisses. “I’ve dreamed about it every night.”
I covered her lips with mine, tasting her tongue as my hand slid up her side until I cupped the weight of her breast, my thumb stroking her erect nipple through her shirt. I could feel her shudder under my touch.
No bra...She knows how to drive me wild...
She was pulling me to the couch, pushing me down so that I was sitting there as she peeled off her shirt and slid out of her own jeans. Naked she straddled me.
There it was, another vision of us, her crying out as I thrust into her and me kissing her bouncing breasts. Her lips against my ear brought me back to the present.
“Do you want me Archer?” She whispered, “Do you want to touch me?”
Ruby reached out and took my hand. She held it up to her lips, her delicious pink tongue darting out to lick each individual digit. I held my breath as she then guided my hand between her legs and slid two of my fingers up inside of her.
You drive me crazy...
She rocked against my hand, arching her back and moaning. I suckled at her pink nipples as she burst apart again and again.
“You’re mine Archer.” She gasped between spasms, “You’ll always be mine.”
I didn’t argue. I kissed her again and then watched as she surrendered to me again. All I could think of was impaling her wetness.
Oh God...Oh God...
Ruby pulled at my shirt, pulling it over my head and then kissing me long and hard, her tongue darting about in my mouth. She knew how to drive a man to the edge, to take me right to the brink and then pull back.
She was so beautiful, so willing... And so naked. She rubbed her steamy mound against me. I ached with longing, actual physical pain, with wanting her. She pulled me down into the floor, forcing me on top of her.
“Tell me you love me,” she said as she pulled at my pants. “Tell me you love me and I’ll make every fantasy you ever had come true.”
Another vision assaulted me. I could see us making love, I could feel our bodies touching, and then I saw the pale figure appear in the doorway.
Melina...
I stopped, panting and swollen. I pushed up on my arms and looked down at her, “Ruby I—“
“I know that you love me.” She wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me back down on top of her. “I know that you do.”
“Yes, I love you.” I choked out as I untangled from her embrace and rolled off her. “But I can’t do this to Melina.”
“You bring her up now?”
“Ruby...I...”
She sat up and pulled on her clothes quickly, “Damn it Archer...Why can’t you just make up your mind what you want. Me or her.”
“I did make my mind up because I married her.”
“You are such a bastard.”
I hated myself for giving in so easily to my desires. I reached out to her, but she pulled away. Before I could even get to my feet, she was out the door and hurrying down the sidewalk.