Just One Bite Volume 2 by Brenda Williamson Rosalie Stanton Dahlia Rose Linda Palmer Virginia Nelson Bethany Michaels Amanda McIntyre Karalynn Lee Tracey H. Kitts Jambrea Jo Jones Yvette Hines Marie Harte Kathleen Dienne Victoria Blisse

steal time together.”
    “Yes. And no one must know.” She knew that those of both Heaven and Hell would never let them be together.
    “But you really must stay away from my ward,” he said, his embrace tightening possessively.
    “I don’t care about him,” she said. “I went to the castle to look for you. Where were you?”
    “I was in the garden, trying to save a flower from the storm.” He let go of her and bent down to pick up something he must have brought earlier then dropped. “I found this and thought of you,” Baraqiel said, handing her a black rose.
    Even wet, its petals were softly furred and exquisitely gentle against her skin as she breathed in its scent. That he gave it to her, she knew, meant that he forgave her. “Do you know why I like gardens?” she asked him when she raised her head.
    He sighed. “Because that’s where you first tempted a man.”
    “The man was one of many,” she said. “But I will never again be in a place as beautiful as Eden.” She remembered the verdant richness, the sweetness of the very air. There was an old ache within her.
    His expression softened. “The way is guarded,” he said, by which she knew he meant he would have taken her there otherwise.
    She kissed him. “When I’m with you, it reminds me of how I felt when I was there.”
    “Close to Heaven?” he asked, puzzled.
    “Happy,” she said simply.
    He held her face in his hands and pressed his lips to her forehead. That was his blessing, which no demon had ever received before, she knew. Then he kissed her mouth. That was his love, and even rarer.
    She was a demon—she could never reach Heaven. But in her moments with him, she could reach Paradise.

Unforgettable
    by Amanda McIntyre
    Gunner flipped his worn leather wallet shut and stuffed it into his faded jeans. The picture, the only one he had of her, taken in one of those funky photo booths, was faded, crinkled by time. Time…it’s all he had now.
    The main street of the sleepy little town lay deserted stretched out like an asphalt runway. It was as good of a place as any other he figured for the tribe to meet. A flash of light burst in his brain and his head snapped up. The hairs on the back of his neck sensed life nearby. Human. Feminine. Alone.
    He stepped back into the shadows, his heart beginning a familiar predatory thud. His acute hearing honed in on her breathing. She walked with a rapid gait, as though she knew it wasn’t safe to be out at this hour. Her labored breathing slowly began to match his, a special gift not many of his kind possessed—being able to fall in line with another’s breathing, be able to detect the nuance changes due to any number of reasons, most often, passion or fear. There were those in the tribe jealous of his special talents, while others revered him as special. Gunner could care less what anyone thought. If it helped him to survive, he’d use it.
    He raised his nose in the air and caught the light scent of the woman’s fruity shampoo mixed with the smoky interior of a bar. There was the slight hint of wine on her lips, mixed with a familiar sweet cotton candy scent. His memory, both blessing and curse, remembered her lithe, delicate body arching against him in their one night of passion. He wondered if she remembered him and more important, what was she doing here? His hand eased over his crotch already roused by thoughts of her. Damn. He’d tried to forget—for the better part of five years he’d managed to avoid thoughts of her, and  freakin ’a , if she wasn’t right here in the obscure, little backwoods town that the tribe had chosen for their Samhain Centennial. Every one hundred years they met to elect a new leader. The present leader, Aidian was stepping down, his reign over, but with a dual purpose, to spend his days with the woman he loved.
    Gunner sensed that she was less than a block away and walking home, if he figured it right. He glanced around at the dark storefronts of the