Temptation in a Bottle
In a Bottle
Book 2
Shona Husk
Genre: paranormal romance
ISBN: 9780992423902
ASIN:
Word Count: 22000
Cover Artist: Helen Katsinis
iTunes ARe Smashwords BN
Book Description:
His only wish is to be free…
For centuries Gage has existed only to fulfill the most intimate desires of the woman who holds his bottle. Now Gage has a wish of his own—to be a real man and a have a real life even though he knows it’s an impossible dream. This time he plans to take his bottle and break it just to see what will happen.
Paramedic Sasha Watts has seen the damage falling in love does to people and she has no intention of being another of Cupid’s victims. She accidentally frees Gage without knowing what he is. After one kiss he walks away and she never expects to see him again, but the goddess Inanna has other ideas.
As punishment for breaking his bottle she erases Gage’s memory of everything but Sasha. Only Sasha can give him the life he longs for and only Gage can be the man she’s always dreamed of, but first she’ll have to open her heart and he’ll have to finish the job Inanna gave him. If he fails, he’ll cease to exist.
Book Excerpt
Gage let out a breath and sucked in the cool night air as Sasha walked away. He wanted to follow but held his ground, resisting the burning in his blood to hold on to the woman who’d set him free and started the spell with a kiss. How long until it ended?
Around him, the noise of the party continued. Above him, the stars were dull pinpricks. They’d been so bright the first time he’d been summoned from his bottle. At least they were familiar—even though they were in different patterns. Despite the flood of information, he was still reeling from being brought out of the quiet bottle and thrust into a party. Noise and confusion had overwhelmed him. All he’d understood was the goddess-born compulsion to get on the bull and hold on.
He refocused on his surroundings. The machine in the middle of the yard was throwing people off like the wild animal it was supposed to be. This was definitely his strangest appearance. It topped the Venetian masquerade ball, and that had been a very odd affair with too many wishes to fulfill and too many desires to be sated.
By the time the mechanical bull had thrown him off, he’d gotten a handle on where he was and who he was supposed to be doing. Sasha. He was the man she was craving. The need to be with her and fulfilling her unspoken wish thrummed in his blood. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the new desires swirl around him.
This summoning didn’t seem too different from when he’d played a knight for a lonely Lady waiting for husband to return from a Crusade. Honor, respect and doing the right thing. He flexed his fingers. A few hundred years ago, he would’ve enjoyed playing the part.
His problem was he was tired of bit parts, even if they lasted for months. He wanted everything—or nothing. He’d heard rumors of other Inanu who’d broken the spell and been freed from their bottle to become human. He couldn’t be the man Sasha desired, or needed, not if he was going to find his own destiny. Yet his gaze searched her out in the crowd, and his feet wanted to take him to her. His body responded without thought. The need to do what he’d been released for wouldn’t leave him and would only grow worse the longer he stalled. Fighting the will of a goddess was difficult, but not impossible.
He pulled a drink—beer, a thought filled in—out of the ice. Ice. These people must be rich to be bringing that in for a party. New information corrected him as the goddess Inanna filled his head with what he needed to know. Ice was commonplace. Every house had ice.
He glanced around. Prohibition was obviously over, since everyone was drinking freely. He twisted off the cap and took a cautious sip. As the alcohol slid down his throat, he relaxed. Beer was much better cold than it was warm. Over the years, he’d learned to be cautious with food and drink. It was never what he expected or was used to, and he never ate anything unless Inanna explained what it was and filled his head with the facts. He’d learned that the hard way. Goat testicles. Delicacy, Inanna’s arse.
Now Sasha, she was a delicacy. His gaze was drawn to her by the magic that gave him life. Her short blond hair was spiked and she wore a tight pink top and a knee-length black skirt that swirled around her legs when she walked.
Gage’s hand strayed to his necklace. A tiny silver hourglass hung from a chain and rested against his chest. The green sand that timed his stay was barely moving. He had plenty of time. Although he’d made that mistake last time he was released—he’d given in to desire and dallied too long. When he’d fulfilled her needs, he’d been sucked back in to the bottle before he could gain his freedom. Not this time. He wouldn’t let it get that far with Sasha.
About the Author:
Three time ARRA finalist Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn’t looked back. Drawing on history and myth, she writes about heroes who are armed and dangerous but have a heart of gold—sometimes literally.
With stories ranging from sensual to scorching, she is published with Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing and Sourcebooks.
You can find out more at www.shonahusk.com
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