If you haven’t yet discovered the awesomeness that is Elisabeth Naughton’s Eternal Guardian’s series then you need to correct this immediately. It has become one of my favorite paranormal series. Bound her latest book is one I’ve been looking forward to reading ever since I finished Enslaved I’ve been waiting for Bound and Titus’s story. It’s finally here and we have a snippet for you today that will make you want to go and get this book immediately.
Natasa stared into Titus’s mesmerizing hazel eyes and swallowed hard. She tried to resist, but there was something about him. Some pull she couldn’t seem to fight. Some need growing inside her with every passing second.
She licked her lips. Shifted her knees forward even though she knew she shouldn’t. Her gaze flicked to his bare chest. To his arms resting at his sides against the blankets, the shredded ropes still wrapped around his wrists. To his chiseled six-pack abs, rising and falling with his shallow breaths.
She wanted to touch him. Wanted to know if he was as hard and smooth as she imagined. As she’d felt pressed up against her in those trees. She lifted a hand, held it out, hesitated over his bare skin, her mind warring with common sense. “I—”
His hand captured hers, and a cool sensation slid from his fingers into hers. He tugged on her arm until her palm landed against the rock-solid surface of his chest.
A slow, gentle sigh escaped his lips.
The air churned around her. A fresh gust that filled her lungs, eased the fever she lived with every hour, and blew a calming breath all across her skin.
She drew it in. His spicy, masculine scent filled her nose. Tingles rushed over her flesh, soothing her irritable edges. And oh, he washard beneath her hand. Silky skin over carved muscle and bone. Reflexively, she brushed her fingers against his muscles, loving the texture, the dips and angles of his rib cage, the way he groaned with every tiny movement.
As if she were the one who could soothe him. As if he needed only her.
Rough fingertips caressed the back of her hand and sent stimulating sensations all along her flesh. She glanced down, his tanned skin such a contrast with her much paler hand, then looked at his face. His eyeswere once again closed, but unlike when those guards had touched him, this time pleasure toyed with his features. And a wicked, tantalizing smile curled his tempting lips.
That pull to him grew stronger. The irritability she was so used to eased. Normally, around others, she felt boxed in, trapped, and every breath was more stifling than the last. But next to him…touching him…all she could think about was what it would be like to brush her fingers over other parts of his body. What his naked skin would feel like sliding over hers. How thick and exhilarating he would be pushing deepinside her body.
“Gods,” he whispered. “That feels so damn good.”
It felt good to her too. She scooted closer and licked her lips again. “It doesn’t hurt?”
“Are you kidding?” He chuckled, and vibrations zinged up her fingers, shooting straight to her center. “You feel like heaven.”
Heat grew in her belly. An ache condensed between her legs, sending scorching threads of desire all through her core. The kind that overwhelmed the senses. The kind that begged to be sated.
His free hand closed over hers against her thigh. The frayed rope tickled her leg. He tugged again, not gently this time but quickly, until her weight shifted out from under her, and she fell against every hard, muscular inch of him.
She gasped, but the sensations rushing from his skin into hers were so invigorating, so restorative, she couldn’t stop the sigh that slipped from her lips. And then she didn’t want to because—oh gods—he felt good. The length of his body was flush against hers, easing the burn, calming her frazzled nerve endings, making her want in ways she never had before.
“You’re so hot, ligos Vesuvius.”
His sensual voice cut through the haze. Pressure builtbeneath her ribs. “Too hot?” She tried to sit up. “I—”
His arms closed around her, and he held her tight as if he didn’t ever want to let her go. “Not too hot. Never too hot.”
Her lashes lifted. Slowly, she met his gaze, and her breath caught. Energy crackled between them. A sizzle and arc she felt everywhere. His eyes seemed to be looking deep inside a part of her no one else had ever seen. Little warning flags fired off in her mind. “You…you shouldn’t be near me. I’m not what you think I am.”
“What do I think you are?”
She had no idea. She just knew she didn’t want to hurt him. Not like she had that guard. And the longer he stayed with her, the greater the chances she’d do just that. “I think…you’re blind to the real me.”
A chuckle rumbled through his chest, permeated her own, and brought another rush of refreshing tingles to her skin. His hand moved from the small of her back to her hair. His thick fingers sifted through her curly locks. “You know, the ancient Greeks thought having red hair was a sign of being a vampire.”
She lifted her head to get a better look at his face. “You think I’m going to suck your blood?”
His whole body tightened beneath her, and a smile played with the edges of his mouth. “At the moment, I’m hoping you’ll suck something else.”
He was cracking jokes. She couldn’t help it. She laughed. And oh, it felt good to laugh. To smile. She couldn’t remember the last time the pressure in her chest was gone and a lightness like she was experiencing now floated through her limbs. “Titus, I—”
He lifted his head, and before she could get the rest of the words out, his lips pressed against hers.
TITUS—To most his gift seems like a blessing, but for him it’s a curse the other Eternal Guardians—those who protect the mortal realm from threats of the Underworld—seek to exploit. One he would gladly trade for the chance to be free…
Obsessed. Her touch is like a drug. From the moment he met her, Titus knew she was different. Even dangerous. Yet though his guardian brethren are convinced Natasa is working for Hades, Titus can’t stop thinking about her. Can’t stop fantasizing about her. Can’t stop craving the one thing he knows could lead to the downfall of his world.
Possessed. Faced with stopping Natasa or joining in her quest, Titus falls to temptation and is thrust into a world of lust, deception, and deadly treachery designed by the gods. Her touch—only hers—frees him from his bonds, but desire may just condemn him. Because before the end he’ll have to decide which is more important: duty and honor to those he took an oath to defend, or a woman who could very well be the biggest curse to them all.
