Bianca has finally found her rightful place amid the powerful Constantines. But all is not what it seems in this glittering new world. And Tiernan Morelli refuses to give up her up…
BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE is the final book in the Dark Dream duet by USA Today bestselling author Giana Darling.
“Stop,” I choked out, panic roaring through me in wild surges.
I started to thrash against him, so hard I clocked him in the mouth with my chin. He started to bleed, but he didn’t let loosen his hold.
“I won’t let you go,” he repeated calmly as he held me like Peleus wrestling the ever-changing form of Thetis, determined to win me and keep me forever. “I won’t.”
“I don’t want you,” I cried out, but there were more tears on my face and a keen edge of desperation in my tone that shook my conviction.
“Such a little liar,” he reprimanded, darkness crossing his face as he pressed his groin harder into my hips, pushing my legs farther apart so he could cant his erection against my panty-covered sex. “Should I show you how badly you lie?”
“No.” I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face from him.
A part of me wanted it, a large part. For Tiernan to take from me. For him to press me open and pull me apart with the hard drive of his thick cock and the punishing hold of those strong fingers all over my flesh.
But another part was terrified. I didn’t have anything more to give to anyone, but Brandon. How could I trust anyone after a lifetime of being taken from?
I expected him to kiss me then. To take me with the same ruthless savagery he’d taken me on the beach.
Instead, he licked the path of a tear from the edge of my jaw up my cheek before planting a soft kiss at the corner of my closed eye. He smoothed my hair back with a big palm and I could feel his gaze hot on my face.
I didn’t dare open my eyes to see his expression.
I knew, whatever it was, I couldn’t bare it.
This was the side of Tiernan that eviscerated me. Those small glimpses of a warm heart and kind spirit that razed my resolve to the ground.
So, I lay still and sightless as Tiernan kissed me again. Hot, open-mouthed kisses down my cheek to my neck and chest. Each press of his lips to my body melted my resolve. Atom by atom I sank into the floor, into him, pliant and hungry in a different way than I had ever been before.
This wasn’t a flash fire. A burst of lust so intense it burned fast and clean.
Giana Darling is an USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Top 40 Amazon Best Selling Canadian romance writer who specializes in the taboo and angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man’s bike, baking pies, and reading snuggled up with her Golden Retriever puppy, Romeo.
Kimber Some people view nosiness as a character flaw. I prefer to think of it as a useful skill. Like a sixth sense or intuition. It’s my super power. And since I became a reporter for my small town newspaper, I like to think my super power puts bagels on my table.
A tiny (quite big, actually) mistake has me eagerly accepting a contract job investigating a resort being built in a small Colorado town.
But there’s one small problem. (6’4” according to his license—maybe my nosiness does go too far sometimes.)
What I didn’t count on was being double-booked in a cabin with Mack Boone.
Our families have known each other since high school, so it feels wrong to kick him out of my cabin.
Besides…he’s kind, he’s protective, and a great kisser.
Three qualities I admire in a man.
But when I find out why he is in town, I realize I’ve made yet another mistake.
No more kissing, Kimber. He’s the enemy.
Lines are drawn. (Literally.)
Wars fought.
Hills sledded.
Lips kissed. Oh right, I wasn’t going to do that one anymore. Maybe I’ll call it research…
The more I investigate the resort, the more time I spend with Mack…the more I wonder what I’m really fighting against. The more I wonder if I can take a chance on love.
What if the villain is really the hero in this story?
Mack was in the kitchen when I walked inside, stomping my boots on the rug. After shucking my snow gear, I went straight to the coffee pot and turned it on. Then I tried to reach into the cupboard with my right arm. My elbow seized up.
“What?” I gasped.
Why was my arm so sore?
Someone cleared their throat.
I glanced behind me to find Mack smiling while leaning against the stove, a pan warming up with a pack of bacon sitting beside it on the counter. I hadn’t even noticed him in my quest for a mug.
“You all right?” he asked, with a decidedly cheerful tone in his voice. “I’d be happy to massage that for you.”
“I’m sure you would,” I replied dryly. I tried reaching in the cupboard with my left hand. That elbow had the same problem.
And now I knew why T-Rex’s went extinct. They couldn’t reach their coffee mugs in the morning. Tragedies like that could always be explained if a person did enough research.
“Did you hurt yourself? Dang. I’m so sorry.”
His false sympathy nearly made me laugh. Nearly.
Gone was the sweet guy, and he was replaced with a snarky, poor winner.
I tried to reach into the cupboard again. My elbow creaked loudly. I didn’t know it was even possible for an elbow to creak. I glanced at Mack to see if he realized my dilemma. He finished dumping the package of bacon into the pan before he made any comment.
“Here, let me help you,” Mack said with a heavy sigh.
I happily stepped back, grateful that he was going to take mercy on me in my desperate state.
But instead of reaching into the cupboard himself, he wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me up. My back pressed against his front as he stepped closer to the counter.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I squirmed. “Helping you pick out your coffee mug,” he explained
USA Today Bestselling author Carina Taylor writes zany romantic comedies that make you ugly laugh.
When she’s not writing, you can find Carina ignoring her laundry pile (she’s hit expert level), pretending to work out, eating cheese, (pretending to workout WHILE eating cheese) and dreaming up the next story.
Hit on the sexy new firm partner looking him over…maybe?
For Aaron Cambrian, life is lived by checklists. No matter how promising, everything – jobs, potential partners, cars, drinks, food, etc – needed to meet all his criteria or he walks away.
Everything changes one night at the cocktail bar when his best friend challenges Aaron to abandon his list and ask the first hot guy who catches his interest if he can buy him a drink.
Thanks to his old nemesis alcohol, Aaron takes the dare! The next thing he knows, he finds himself in the condo of an absolute stranger! It was supposed to be one drink. One accidental kiss… Good thing he’d never see the guy again.
Wrong! When the sexy new partner at Kimball & Marks law firm turns out to be the hot stranger, Aaron is faced with a life-changing decision: keep the checklist or lose the hottest, most frustrating man who ever stole his heart.
You know that opening moment in comedy movies when the main character wakes up screaming? The frame freezes, revealing that stupefied face—mouth agape, eyes wide—once they realized they’d done something stupid in a drunken binge. Sometimes the director wanted to give the audience more chances to revel in their humiliation, so he has them pull the sheets to cover themselves. Sometimes they see their mysterious partner and fall out of bed.
You get the picture.
That was me after realizing I wasn’t in my apartment in yet another, probably humiliating, line of horrible relationship/hookup decisions. I didn’t fall out of the bed, but it took all my willpower to replace the horrified scream with a gasp. Don’t misjudge. I didn’t make a habit of going home with strange men, letting them sex me into a stupor, then waking up wondering what the hell I did—or let happen to me—the night before.
A multi-published author of mystery, both Urban and Paranormal, Stormie returned to her love of romantic comedy and contemporary romance. If you love spicy, humorous, and near-erotica stories featuring sexy male protagonists and the men who love them, then look no further. Stormie’s paranormal mystery won quarterfinalist in Screencraft’s novel to screen contest and is a competing finalist in Chanticleer’s International book awards. When Stormie isn’t busy dishing out a new, hot romance, she’s busy blogging her love of books and helping writers become authors.
