Eclipsed by Midnight by Kristina Canady

work.” Erik begins to shuffle from the room, Roman hot on his heels.
    “Hey, brother mine, quick favor?” His blond brow quirks as he halts. In the background the kids joke around with one another and Aiden’s eyes linger a bit too long on Liz. Ang and her family need to get the hell out of town, fast. Aiden’s hormones are about to be on vamp overdrive, which won’t help him think clearly and he doesn’t need to drag Liz down that path.
    As I walk out into the hall, Erik follows me. “So, what would it take for you to babysit in the TV room a bit longer while I cloud a human? Oh, and also have you help Ang plan a month-long trip overseas for her and her family using my trust fund?”
    He blows out hard through pursed lips. “Have you talked to the boss about this?” Erik wavers.
    “No, why should I?”
    “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.” His stern brow tells me all I need to know. He won’t budge until the captain has signed off.
    “Fine. Can you please set them all up with a move in the theater while I run it past the master?” I smart as my hand waves exasperatedly toward the basement door. The basement held many wonders aside from our private suite at the back.
    “Sure thing, princess.” He chuckles to himself as my blood boils at the title, and I turn on my heel to find Etienne.
    When I follow our bond, I find him seated on the back porch under a heat lamp as he and Christian smoke cigars and sip on whiskey.
    “It’s a bit early for that, don’t ya think?” My chin lifts to their glasses, and they pointedly ignore me. “Lil, a minute please?” I pull on our invisible connection for added influence and head back into the house to camp out in the mudroom and wait. Finally, after a few tortuous minutes, he excuses himself and joins me as Christian finishes his cigar in peace.
    “Oui, Anu?” He stalks me across hall, and I back into the wall as his palms come to rest on either side of my head. His large figure dwarfs mine as my thighs squeeze together on their own. Close proximity has always been difficult. Our bodies are drawn together.
    His breath is laced with whiskey and sin as he licks his lips and stares into my eyes. A girl could get lost there and forget her purpose. Quickly shaking his effect off, I remember my cause. My mouth quickly moves to give him a rundown of all that has transpired while I struggle not to lose focus in his presence; my knees begin to go weak as he traces the tip of his nose ever so slowly down the column of my neck. The heat of his breath fans out and across my skin, making me clench certain regions and quicken my breath.
    “For fuck’s sake, Lil. Now is not the time to be messing with me like that.” I groan in frustration, longing to be wrapped up in his arms as our naked bodies become one.
    “Tsk-tsk-tsk. What have I said about that mouth?” He drops his hands to my hips, fingers digging in hard, and I immediately tremble. He knows exactly what that does to me.
    “Pleeeease, Lil!” I beg and bite my tongue, needing a taste of pain to keep my lust under control in the face of our guests.
    “I do love it when you beg like a good girl.” Purring, he nips at my earlobe before feathering light kisses on the skin just below it. He barely needs to touch me at any given moment to make my panties dampen. “Hmm, if I say yes, you are going to have to do some time in the restraints for me.” He grinds his hard dick into my stomach, the height difference making it so that I’d barely have to bend at the waist to take him into my mouth. And I am pretty sure he could titty fuck me while standing if he came up on tiptoes. Nuzzling my face between his pecs, I drink in his heavenly sent.
    “Okay,” I hesitantly agree. He’s been trying to get me in those things since before I was captured. We had one good night with a form of them after Belize, but it took a lot of coaxing. Then, after I got home, my PTSD wouldn’t quite allow for it. He’s