Teaser Scene from “Fatal Desires”, Book 1 in the new Fatal Cross Series:

Because I had to push the release date further out, I wanted to at least give you a little bit of Coraline and Taylor’s book…

This is raw and unedited.

Enjoy!

My phone rang, disrupting our moment. I cursed when I saw it was my bandmate and the lead singer of Fatal Cross.

“Hey, Ace,” I said, greeting him with more enthusiasm than I felt. “What’s going on?”

“Hate to bother you, man,” he sighed. “We just fired Jose.”

“What? Why?” I asked, shocked at his words. Jose was the guy who’d been our tour manager for the past six years.

“He was arrested last night,” Ace cursed. “He’s been selling drugs when he wasn’t working for us. Looks like he was deep in the drug trade here in Seattle. They found a few hundred thousand dollars of coke in his house. He’s going to be put away for a long time.”

“Son of a bitch!” I roared. How many people did we know that had their finger in the very thing we were trying to stay away from? “I swear, we are going to have to start doing drug tests on our crew.”

“That very thought has crossed my mind,” he sighed. “I called because we need to find a new tour manager, like yesterday, man. We leave for London in three weeks. I know you will be over there already, but I need your help finding a replacement.”

My eyes locked with Cora’s and she was already shaking her head, but I ignored her. She’d planned on a lengthy vacation after this tour, but I wasn’t going to let her get away from me this time. She wasn’t going to run…no, not this time. I had to keep a strong hold on her or she’d leave me in her dust as she found a secluded place somewhere on this planet to sulk in her own self-induced exile.

“I’ll get back to you,” I said, hanging up the phone after a promise to call him back soon.

“No,” she growled. “I like my quiet time. I need a break, Taylor.”

“I’m not giving you an option, Cora,” I said, using my knuckle to direct her chin back in my direction. She squirmed to get out of my lap, but I locked my other arm around her tightly. She wasn’t going to run from me this time.

“You can’t make me go,” she cursed. “Taylor, please. Don’t make me…I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” I asked, looking deep into those hazel eyes that hid so much, but also showed so much pain.

“I can’t be around you,” she whispered, tightening the hold around her stomach. “It…hurts too much.”

“I know it does, baby,” I said, pressing my forehead to hers. I felt her shoulders begin to shake and I knew she was about to break down again. “I’m not asking you, Coraline Maddox. I’m telling you that you will work for me on this next tour. It’s time we work things out. You and I both know that being apart doesn’t work for either of us.”

“You sound so sure of yourself,” she barked, but I saw the relief in her eyes. She was going to cave and come to work for us.

“You know I’m right,” I said, cupping the side of her face. I peered into her eyes and did the one thing that I’d wanted to do ever since I pinned her to the side of the bus when I first got here.

I finished the kiss I started when she ran away from me.

Her lips were just as soft and warm as I remembered. There was a salty taste to the bottom one when I bit it to demand she open for me. On her gasp, my tongue invaded her mouth, tasting, plundering and marking her as mine. She only protested for a second. Once I deepened the kiss, she melted into my embrace. By the time we parted, she was panting just as heavily as I was, her tiny body was formed against my chest as if she was made for me.

“Come on baby,” I said, kissing the tip of her nose. “Let me feed you and then we can get to work. You have another tour to prepare for.”

I didn’t give her the option of telling me no.

Copyright © 2016 Theresa Hissong