Free The Position by Izzy Mason Page A

with a tray of water glasses and small, white dishes of lemon slices. Travis falls silent, waiting for privacy. I take the moment to jump to my feet.  
    “I’ll be right back,” I stammer. “Bathroom.”  
    I hurry away before he has the chance to respond. How many times have I wished Travis would say what I suspect he’s about to say? In my geekiest moments, what I wouldn’t have given for the chance to bed the guy whose standards of female beauty were far beyond anything I could ever hope to be. Yet now I feel like running away as far as my heeled boots will take me.  
    Scurrying inside, I find my way down a ridiculously long hall and up a flight of stairs to the bathroom. Inside, the sinks are gilded rimmed porcelain and the stalls towering, narrow doors of polished wood. A mirror runs across the opposite wall, where there’s also a counter and several soft furnished stools. I sit down and face my reflection. As always these days, it’s a stranger who stares back.  
    Was life harder or easier before my grand renovation? If I’d never tried to make myself pretty, everything would still be simple. But as I stare at my lost, pale green eyes, I remind myself that Travis told Liz he’s felt this way for a long time. Travis loves me for who I am. Even Lazarus liked the old me. But it’s outward beauty that men clearly can’t resist. And it complicates everything.
    I stand up and pace around the empty room, thinking about what to say. But nothing comes to mind. Just grow up and face it, I tell myself. Be honest. It’ll be okay. But I still have the terrible feeling I’m about to lose my best friend. I take a deep breath and walk out the door.  
    The second I step into the hall, someone grabs me from behind. I gasp and my body springs to life, ready to fight. A large hand covers my mouth and strong arms pin my arms to my sides. My body hums with adrenaline. I turn my head, straining to see the man’s face.  
    It’s Lazarus. His amber eyes are wild. He throws open a nearby door and pulls me inside.

The Position Series

    The Position unfolds over the course of multiple short novels following the exploits of Michaela Clark and Jude Lazarus. There will be five books in all.  

    For more information and to sign up for email announcements about the launch of The Position 3, go to www.sexynewadultromancestories.com.  

    Turn the page to check out a free sample of Izzy Mason’s free standing novella, Plata .  

Plata

Chapter 1

    The club was dark and lined with mirrors. Colored lights flashed on a long, narrow stage, where a chubby woman with thick, black hair was grinding against a pole. The air was thick with cologne. Mexican strippers in short dresses were scattered throughout the crowded room, draped flirtatiously over men’s laps, skirts hitched to mid-thigh, fishing for cash. Along a velvet covered bench at the back of the room, a fleshy bleach blond in a tiny red thong was sitting on a mustached man’s lap, riding him like a rodeo horse as he squeezed her breasts and nodded his head to the thumping bass of the music.  
    Madison had never been in a strip club before. And why would she? They were places that existed in the exclusive netherworld of men, along with brothels and pornography. She was only nineteen, after all, and sex was still relatively new to her. Still she had to admit, it was something she found deliriously thrilling. But there was sex, and then there was this : a sordid display of desperate libidos, so drunk with lust that they didn’t care who saw them doing what, which embarrassed her immediately.  
    She looked at Enzo and furrowed her brow. “You’re serious?” she said in Spanish, which was the only language they ever spoke to each other. After all, Enzo’s English was terrible, and Madison’s Spanish was flawless.
    Enzo was wearing one of his casual-chic tee shirts tailored to flatter his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and she could see a lot of the dancers watching him