Tamaria Soana: Take the Heat by Skye Warren

The ultimate bad boys, criminals capture our attention and awaken our darkest desires. Celebrate the illicit in this romantic suspense anthology, where handcuffs are used for more than play. These stories are shocking, sexy, and thought-provoking.

In New York Times Bestselling Author Skye Warren’s Magnolia Hotel, meet the heroine who pays her brother’s debt to a loan shark—who happens to be her childhood crush. Find out if the jury made the right decision in Acquitted by award-winning author Giselle Renarde. Explore a dark and sensual psychology with New York Times Bestselling Author Pam Godwin in Unlawful Seduction.

Ride the edge of desire and see if you can TAKE THE HEAT…

Skye Warren – Magnolia Hotel

Cynthia Richards – Captivated

Pam Godwin – Unlawful Seduction

Sheri Savill – Slipknot

Shoshanna Evers – This Might Hurt A Bit

Candy Quinn – The Bombshell

Tamsin Flowers – Playing with Fire

Elizabeth Coldwell – Disposing of Donnie

Audrey Lusk – Surprise Witness

Trent Evans – Last Day

Giselle Renarde – Acquitted

FROM “MAGNOLIA HOTEL” BY SKYE WARREN

Maybe Liam still had that spark of humanity, of compassion, I’d once loved as a child. And even if I knew my brother was partly to blame for his situation, I couldn’t leave him to the wolves. Namely, one wolf. Liam.

I turned to my childhood friend who looked so different now with the glint of scruff on his face, with a bend in his nose where it had been broken. He looked some much more distinguished. In fact, he looked intimidating.

“Please let him go. Even if he… I know what he did. But he’s my brother. I can’t leave here without him. Take the two thousand. I’ll get you more, soon. I promise you. Just don’t hurt him.”

“Do you know how much he owes me, Grace?”

I swallowed. “Five thousand dollars?”

His face pulled into a slight grimace. He sighed. “Fifteen.”

I stood there, stunned. Unable to gasp or even breathe. Fifteen thousand dollars. I would never have that much money, not ever. But he was my brother.

“Please,” I whispered, reduced to begging.

Liam looked away, and for a horrible second I thought it was a refusal. My stomach pitched wildly, in fear and doubt and desperation. How could I fix this? I couldn’t, I couldn’t. My brother was going to be beaten or killed.

Then he turned back to me, a hard glint in his gunmetal eyes. “There is a way you can help. You can be mine, Grace. Mine to do whatever I want with.”

Seconds passed with excruciating slowness as my mind protected me. Then reality slammed into me—all at once. He meant sex. I was almost sure he meant sex. Then I laughed at myself, hollow and jaded. What else would it mean?

I hadn’t thought it possible to hate Liam more, but I did, because he’d setup an impossible choice. For fifteen thousand dollars—and for my brother’s safety—I had to agree.

What did that make me? A prostitute? A sex slave?

I looked at my brother as the offer stood in the air. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. Couldn’t he at least put up a token protest? At least try to protect my honor? But I was getting a clearer picture of Benny than I had our whole lives. Letting himself fall to this level was one thing, but dragging me into it was the last straw. I would do this for him—and that was it.

“Never again,” I whispered.

I would never drain my bank account and come running to help ever again. Never sell my body for him. Never trust my brother again. It was like losing a family member. The only one I had.

Benny nodded, or maybe he was just drifting out of consciousness, his head bobbing slightly. Who knew? I was done. I would do what Liam required of me, and then I would be finished. Finished with family. Finished with criminals.

I’d be alone then.

I nodded grimly. “I’ll do it.”

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