Free Her Dark Lord by Mel Teshco

Chapter One
    “It isn’t over between us. Not by a long shot.”
    Kia Montana hid a smile as she rolled up her sheer stockings and clipped them to her lace suspenders. Pushing her feet into the high-heel shoes she’d tossed aside so carelessly the night before, she glanced over at the gorgeous man sprawled out on her hotel bed.
    Passion emanated from him, scorching and hot. She gave him a cool smile, resisting an impulse to sashay over, lean forward and trace her tongue along the salty warmth of his collarbone, and down over the hardened buds of his dusky nipples.
    Even harder to withstand was the urge to sink her fangs into his delectable throat, taste the pulsating warmth of his essence while he brought her to climax just once more.
    She breathed slow and deep, and his glittering, gunmetal eyes held her gaze when she said, “Sorry, but I don’t do relationships.”
    “Don’t apologize,” he drawled. And as she slipped into her crimson lace bra, a savage light sparked deep in his stare. “I know just how to change your mind.”
    Her breasts, still tingling from his mouth, his clever hands, hardened under his scrutiny as she clipped the bra into place. Her pulses jumped, but it was his declaration that kick-started her heart into high speed.
    She inhaled slowly, gaining control. “Oh?” she queried with an Oscar-winning note of boredom.
    “You want access to all of Sydney’s underworld places. As your escort, I can offer you that.” He smiled at her silence. “A ticket to where only an exclusive few have been.”
    Her heartbeat surged into a frantic gallop as excitement writhed deep inside. When she’d seen him at last night’s shindig, moving through the crème de la crème of the Sydney crowd as if he owned each and every partygoer there, her instincts had clamored.
    He held the key.
    She kept her face an impassive mask. This could be her one opportunity to get close to Sean Maximillus, the reclusive, centuries-old Vampire Lord.
    She managed an idle smirk. “Running short of eager, beautiful young women to parade around?”
    A crack of laughter shot from his sexy mouth. “Never. Quite the contrary.” His eyes drank her in. “Apart from your obvious charms—” he shrugged “—you intrigue me.” He sat up, dark hair tousled. Abs rippled beneath his golden skin while he ran an outstretched hand over a strong jaw already shadowed with growth.
    Such masterful hands, she mused. They’d stroked and caressed her in all the right places, until she’d quivered with lust and undulated with pleasure. She forced back the memory and a sudden, feverish ache.
    “Really?” she asked, arching a brow. “I guess you’re bored with simpering women?”
    A muscle jerked along his unyielding jaw. Then he grinned and pushed to his feet before taking a few strides her way. The pad of his thumb brushed beneath her chin. “You’re extraordinary, do you know that?”
    Something passed between them, some kind of magnetic pull that held her breathless and still. “You have no idea,” she whispered.
    His eyes widened, and his hand dropped. Spell broken. “You’re so sure of that?”
    She looked away, disoriented. Never before had it felt as if all her highly developed senses had short-circuited, leaving her vulnerable. Exposed. She swayed, perversely thankful for the hands that immediately lifted to frame her hips, steadying her.
    “Kia?”
    Her vision blurred, and she closed her eyes for a second before stepping out of his hold and looking back up. “I never told you my name.”
    Hardness lurked beneath the brilliant shimmer of his stare. Without warning, his head dropped to hers. His mouth covered her lips in an openmouthed kiss that jump-started every nerve ending in her body and made her forget, for just one moment, her single-minded purpose.
    Just as quickly, he pulled back, his expression fierce. “ Amore . You didn’t need to tell me who you are.”
    What ? Her blood simmered, her pulses leaping into