First Taste of Darkness Read online

  Jess’s brows rose. Europe?

  “A lost bit of history has been recovered. The fabled Night’s Heart, a rare black diamond that disappeared from a private collection over fifteen years ago, was discovered in the Marveau Museum in Paris this morning. Authorities have no explanation for the diamond’s appearance—it was found inside the museum’s vast gem collection, sitting right in the central display.”

  She turned toward the TV, her heart racing.

  The anchor shook his head and appeared perplexed on screen. “Experts believe that only a very talented thief could have gotten past the security in place at that museum, and this is certainly the first time any thief has returned a stolen treasure of that nature…”

  “If it’s returned,” said a low, familiar rumble from behind Jess, “then does the person still count as a thief?”

  Her shoulders tensed. No wonder his presence filled the house. Blake was there. “I guess master jewel thieves think they don’t have to bother knocking on doors.”

  “We usually just slip past them.” His voice was closer now.

  Her breath came faster.

  “Especially when we’re not sure what kind of reception we’ll get.”

  His fingers curled over her shoulders.

  Her eyes squeezed shut. “Y-you gave the diamond back.”

  “I gave…most of it back. Part of it was used to finance my business years ago, and I’m sorry, baby, but that’s long gone.”

  He was sorry?

  Her eyes opened and she turned her head to look back at him. “Why did you return the diamond?”

  “Because I didn’t want some other asshole ever coming after it—and possibly hurting you.”

  She swallowed.

  “And, because…” He shifted her body so that she faced him fully. “Because I wanted to show you who I could be. Not just a thief. Not just…a killer.”

  “Blake—”

  “I want us to start over, Jess. No secrets, no lies. I want us to have a chance.”

  “A chance at what?” The words were too husky and soft.

  “A chance to see if we can make it together. A chance to see if I can make you feel about me—hell, I want to see if you can ever bring yourself to love a man like me.”

  A man like him. “A reformed jewel thief? A Vegas playboy?”

  “A man who would do anything for you. Even throw away a heart worth billions…because he wanted to prove that he could be the man you need.”

  She stared into his eyes. No secrets. No lies. “I just don’t want you to-to throw away my heart.” There. She’d said it. Put it out there.

  He leaned toward her. “Baby, I swear, your heart is the most important thing to me. I want to make you happy. I want to do any damn thing necessary, to make you love me.”

  He didn’t get it. Her hand rose. Curled over his. “That isn’t how it works, Blake. You can’t make someone love you.”

  He flinched. Pain flashed across his face. He started to pull away from her. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

  “You don’t have to charm me. You don’t have to seduce me. You just have to be with me,” she continued, staring into his eyes and seeing the future that she’d never expected. “Because I already love you.”

  And she remembered…

  Gunfire on an elevator.

  Kisses against a window, high over the glittering lights of Vegas.

  A man who fought to protect her.

  A man who caressed her in the darkness.

  A man who’d given up a fortune.

  For her.

  She rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. “You’re the right man for me.” He didn’t scare her. He was the one who made her feel safe.

  Happy.

  Her tongue slipped into his mouth, tasting him once more.

  The first kiss between them had sealed her fate. She’d walked onto the wild side with him, and now, she never wanted to walk with anyone else.

  “Be sure,” he whispered against her lips. “Be sure, baby. Because I can’t have you…I can’t start thinking I’ve finally found the one good thing in my life, just to have you leave me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Not without him.

  She eased back a few inches to give him a hard glare. “And neither are you. No more vanishing without me.”

  “I had to leave and deal with my past. I didn’t want any more trouble finding its way to your door.”

  Jess glanced toward her door. “Even if it comes, I can handle it. We can handle it.” She wasn’t some delicate china doll that would break. “Don’t you get it, Blake? I don’t want you to be perfect. I want you just as you are, dark past included.”

  “Then that’s what you’re getting, baby, because I can’t let you go.”

  “You’d follow me anywhere?” She wound her arms around his neck.

  “To hell and back,” he promised.

  His arms curled around her. He lifted her up, and Jess tried to fight him. “No, your wound…”

  “I’m a fast healer, and to hold you, I’d stand any pain.”

  Oh, that was…oh. Jess wrapped her legs around his waist.

  “I love you,” he told her, voice deeper than she’d ever heard it before. “When Carson was going to shoot you, I thought I’d go crazy. I knew I had to stop him, no matter the consequences.” His hold tightened on her. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. I can’t lose you.”

  “You won’t.”

  Because he was the right man for her.

  And maybe, finally, this was the right time.

  He carried her into the bedroom. Shut the door. Blake lowered her onto the bed, but then he stilled.

  His hands clenched into fists. “I…didn’t trust you.”

  She pushed up onto her elbows. The setting sun and the coming storm sent shadows chasing across her room. The shadows covered him.

  “I listened to Carson, and I rushed down here, convinced that you’d betrayed me.”

  She waited.

  His shoulders were tense and straight. “But then I got here. I saw you. And I realized that I still wanted you, still needed you, and I didn’t even care about what you’d done.”

  “Blake—”

  “I don’t have…my usual control where you’re concerned. I don’t think I ever will.” He seemed almost ashamed as he made the confession.

  “I’m glad you don’t,” she told him. She rose up higher and reached for him. “Because I don’t have any control with you. I want you, I need you, and when we’re together, nothing else matters.”

  “I should have trusted you.”

  She tried to see his eyes in that growing darkness. “You were about to walk out of the door, but you didn’t. You came to me, right here in this room. You thought I was a thief, but you came to me.” She paused. “Why?”

  “Because you were worth more to me than the diamond.”

  Jess smiled at him. “You loved me, even when you thought I’d betrayed you?”

  “Yes,” he rasped.

  That admission shook her.

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he promised her, a desperate edge to his voice. “I swear, you’ll always know that I trust you. You’ll always know—”

  “Kiss me, Blake,” she ordered him. Because she did know.

  Her dark and dangerous lover might not even realize it, but he’d put her first. Before the diamond. Before the life he’d built in Vegas.

  Before everything.

  She didn’t doubt his love. She didn’t doubt him.

  His lips took hers. This time, it wasn’t just about need or lust.

  It was about love.

  And that was exactly what she tasted in his kiss.

  ###

  A Note From the Author

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read FIRST TASTE OF DARKNESS. I hope that you enjoyed the story.

  If you’d like to stay updated on my releases and sales, please join my newsletter list www.cynthiae
den.com/newsletter/. You can also check out my Facebook page www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage. I love to post giveaways over at Facebook!

  Again, thank you for reading FIRST TASTE OF DARKNESS.

  Best,

  Cynthia Eden

  www.cynthiaeden.com

  If you enjoyed FIRST TASTE OF DARKNESS, check out the MINE books…

  Mine To Take (Book 1)

  Sometimes you want someone so much…

  Sometimes you need someone so much…

  Lust can become love.

  And love can turn into a deadly obsession.

  ***

  Skye Sullivan knows that someone is watching her. Not just watching—stalking her. Months ago, Skye was involved in a dangerous car accident. The accident ended her dancing career and sent her fleeing back to Chicago. Skye is convinced that her stalker caused the crash, and she fears that he won’t stop pursuing her, not until she’s dead.

  When someone breaks into her apartment in Chicago, Skye turns to the one man she believes can protect her—Trace Weston. Once, Trace was her lover. Two lost souls, they’d come together in a firestorm of need and desire. But then Trace had pushed her away. He’d joined the military, vanishing from her life. She’d put all of her emotion into dancing, and she’d tried to forget him.

  Now Trace is one of the most successful men in the United States. Rich, driven, and carrying dark secrets, he agrees to help Skye. He’ll protect her from the danger that lurks in the darkness, but Trace wants more than to just be a guard for Skye.

  He wants her. And he’ll take her. The years have changed him, hardened him. He’s not just a poor kid from the streets any longer. Now, he can have anything—or anyone—that he wants. And the one woman he has always wanted has just come back into his life. He won’t let her go again.

  But with the threats mounting against Skye, she suspects that her stalker may be intimately close. He’s a man who knows her too well. As his attacks grow ever more dangerous, she realizes that if she trusts the wrong man, she could be making a fatal mistake.

  Lust. Love. Obsession.

  Just how far would you go in order to possess the one person you want the most?

  Mine To Keep (Book 2)

  Love is the most dangerous obsession…

  Skye Sullivan is trying to put the pieces of her life back together. She survived a brutal stalker and escaped his abduction, and now she is looking to the future—a future that includes Skye’s lover, billionaire Trace Weston. Skye thinks the danger is finally over for her.

  She’s dead wrong.

  When Trace’s past comes back to haunt him, Skye discovers that the man she loves isn’t quite who he seems to be. Trace has been leading a double-life. An ex-special forces agent, his military training turned him into the perfect killing machine. He made more than his share of enemies during his time in the military—and as he built his security empire—and one of those enemies is striking back.

  He won’t lose her.

  Skye is the one weapon that can be used against Trace—his only vulnerability. But he won’t let her go—he can’t. Trace will do anything necessary to protect Skye. Anything. Yet when she discovers the secrets that he’s tried to keep hidden, Skye’s pain and rage may send her running directly into the cross-hairs of a killer…

  Mine To Hold (Book 3)

  She was one man’s obsession…

  Nine years ago, Claire Kramer’s lover brutally killed her family, and he tried to kill her. She escaped, but she’s been haunted ever since that attack. Too afraid to trust another man and too worried that her past will catch up with her, Claire never gets too close to anyone. But then she meets Noah York.

  He must have her.

  Noah York is a man with secrets. The world sees him as a billionaire hotel tycoon, but Noah has a dark and dangerous side. For years, he worked covert military operations before he built his fortune. When it comes to death, Noah is a master. He knows that he should steer clear of Claire, but the white-hot attraction Noah feels for the delicate beauty is instant—and consuming.

  He will never let her go.

  Someone else is just as consumed by Claire—someone who will kill to possess her. And if Noah can’t stop the hunter in the darkness, he may just lose the one woman that he can’t live without.

  Mine To Crave (Book 4)

  HE TAKES WHAT HE WANTS.

  From the moment that billionaire casino owner Drake Archer sees Jasmine Bennett, he’s obsessed. Consumed by desire for the mysterious redhead, Drake will do anything necessary to claim her. Yet as desire rages between them, danger is stalking ever closer. Drake’s past isn’t dead, and the ex-Special Forces agent will soon have to face the ghosts he left behind.

  SHE’S HIDING SECRETS.

  Jasmine isn’t who she pretends to be. She’s a woman on a mission—and she’s supposed to be stealing secrets from the mysterious Drake. Falling for him isn’t on her agenda, but when lust and love tangle together, all the rules get broken.

  AN ENEMY IS CLOSING IN…

  When Drake learns of Jasmine’s betrayal…all hell breaks loose. He knows that he should turn his back on her, but it’s too late for him. He can’t let her go, but he can teach her a lesson. No one betrays him…not without paying a heavy price. Drake will destroy all of the enemies on his trail, he’ll bury his past, and he’ll teach Jasmine to want only him…just as much as he craves her.

  Her Works

  List of Cynthia Eden's romantic suspense titles:

  MINE TO TAKE (Mine, Book 1)

  MINE TO KEEP (Mine, Book 2)

  MINE TO HOLD (Mine, Book 3)

  MINE TO CRAVE (Mine, Book 4)

  DIE FOR ME (For Me, Book 1)

  FEAR FOR ME (For Me, Book 2)

  SCREAM FOR ME (For Me, Book 3)

  DEADLY FEAR (Deadly, Book 1)

  DEADLY HEAT (Deadly, Book 2)

  DEADLY LIES (Deadly, Book 3)

  ALPHA ONE (Shadow Agents, Book 1)

  GUARDIAN RANGER (Shadow Agents, Book 2)

  SHARPSHOOTER (Shadow Agents, Book 3)

  GLITTER AND GUNFIRE (Shadow Agents, Book 4)

  UNDERCOVER CAPTOR (Shadow Agents, Book 5)

  THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Shadow Agents, Book 6)

  FIRST TASTE OF DARKNESS

  WICKED FIRSTS

  SINFUL SECONDS

  List of Cynthia Eden's paranormal romance titles:

  THE WOLF WITHIN (Purgatory, Book 1)

  MARKED BY THE VAMPIRE (Purgatory, Book 2)

  ANGEL OF DARKNESS (Fallen, Book 1)

  ANGEL BETRAYED (Fallen, Book 2)

  ANGEL IN CHAINS (Fallen, Book 3)

  AVENGING ANGEL (Fallen, Book 4)

  IMMORTAL DANGER

  NEVER CRY WOLF

  ETERNAL HUNTER (Night Watch, Book 1)

  I'LL BE SLAYING YOU (Night Watch, Book 2)

  ETERNAL FLAME (Night Watch, Book 3)

  HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT (Midnight, Book 1)

  MIDNIGHT SINS (Midnight, Book 2)

  MIDNIGHT'S MASTER (Midnight, Book 3)

  WHEN HE WAS BAD (anthology)

  EVERLASTING BAD BOYS (anthology)

  BELONG TO THE NIGHT (anthology)

  E-book only titles by Cynthia Eden

  BOUND IN DEATH

  BLEED FOR ME

  FOREVER BOUND (A Vampire & Werewolf Romance Anthology that includes the following titles: BOUND BY BLOOD, BOUND IN DARKESSS, BOUND IN SIN and BOUND BY THE NIGHT)

  A VAMPIRE’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

  Please note: All of the BOUND stories are also available separately:

  BOUND BY BLOOD

  BOUND IN DARKNESS

  BOUND IN SIN

  BOUND BY THE NIGHT

  About The Author

  Award-winning author Cynthia Eden writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader best-seller. Cynthia is also a two-time finalist for the RITA® award (she was a finalist both in the romantic suspense category a
nd in the paranormal romance category). Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over thirty novels and novellas.

  Cynthia is a southern girl who loves horror movies, chocolate, and happy endings. More information about Cynthia and her books may be found at: http://www.cynthiaeden.com or on her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage. Cynthia is also on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cynthiaeden.