Deadly Desires

By Shiloh Walker

Written by Shiloh Walker and Sydney Croft

These stories have been previously published. They have been revised and expanded for digital distribution.

Worlds collide as three bestselling authors deliver two tales of danger, suspense, and steamy encounters...

Don't Walk Away

by Shiloh Walker

Ten years ago, former Army Ranger Ethan Raintree made one hell of choice...keep on lying, or tell the woman he loved the truth. He decided to tell the truth, and she threw him out of her life. He never stopped loving her, not stopped wanting her.
Celeste Harper finally had everything she wanted—or so she thought. She’d escaped her past. She’d escaped her demons. But she couldn’t escape herself...or the man she’d left behind all those years ago. Looking into Ethan's eyes ten years later, she realizes it’s her turn to make choice...let go of that pain and take him back. Or walk away and face a future without him.

Code Word: Storm

by Sydney Croft

The extremely secret Agency for Covert Rare Operatives is the only thing that stands between the human race and complete chaos. Now, two agents with special abilities, Annika Svenson and Creed McCabe, are sent to stop a man who has harnessed the power of the supernatural world. But Creed and Annika have a history that puts them at odds -- and in closer, hotter contact than they'd like. In this ACRO story, which falls in the series timeline between Riding the Storm and Unleashing the Storm, Annika and Creed grow closer, despite their resistance. And with their lives are on the line, they find they must not only work together, but be together, or risk a terrifying fate that could consume them both...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shiloh Walker
• Release date: May 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9780989460507

Shiloh Walker

Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more...ah...serious works of fiction. She loves reading and writing anything paranormal, anything fantasy, and nearly every kind of romance. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest. She writes paranormal and contemporary romance, as well as romantic suspense.

Book preview

Don’t Walk Away

The woman he loved held a knife at his throat.

He was on his knees, on a filthy street and she stood behind him. Close. So close he could smell her skin. So close he could reach out and touch her…finally. After all of this time…

He could still remember how she had felt in his arms, how she had felt against him, under him. Damn, he’d loved her—loved her still. Wanted her still. Would have given anything to pull her into his arms.

Except there was the small matter of the knife in her hand. And he suspected she probably hated his guts. Somehow, he doubted the knife was her way of telling him how much she missed him.

He wanted to see her. But he held still. Her hand was shaking. He could feel it, feel the sharp edge of the blade pressing into his skin. If he moved too quick, she just might lay his neck wide open.

Bastard. It was the first thing she’d said since she’d come up behind him. It was dim in the narrow alley tucked between two low, squat buildings, Ethan Raintree had no trouble recognizing her voice.

Hello, Celeste.

Code Word: Storm

You tried to gain entry again last night?

Yep. And I have a lump on my head to prove it.

Normally, nothing could keep her out of a secured building, but Michael Bender wasn't your usual arms-dealing, bank-robbing, terrorist scum. No, this slimeball sold his services to the highest bidder, and he used the spirit world to do his evil work.

Making matters worse, he left behind no proof and no footprints, which had made charging him with any crime impossible for regular authorities. But ACRO had the resources to nail his ass to the wall, and now that they were certain he’d been responsible for several consulate bombings and political assassinations, he’d become ACRO’s number one target.

They’d been after him for months, and now that Annika had trapped him, he'd used his supernatural talents to make his house impenetrable—anyone trying to break in was going to get their asses kicked by things they couldn't fight...or see.

Sure, Annika could charge her body up to dissipate a ghost's energy, and usually, that was enough. But apparently, the entities Mike had enslaved could actually manipulate electricity, and the last time Annika had gone up against them, they'd drained her power and whacked her on the head with a brick.

Understood, Dev said. I've got backup on the way. Play nice.

The way her boss had said, Play nice, sent tingles of both dread and anticipation up her spine, because she knew exactly who he'd deployed for this mission.

Creed, she breathed, hating the way his name rolled so sensuously off her tongue. You're sending that—

I know there's no love lost there, he interrupted, but you two need to deal with it. The sound of Dev tapping on his computer keyboard came over the secure line, followed by a curse. Gotta go. Creed should be there any minute. Don't kill him.

DEADLY DESIRES

By Sydney Croft and Shiloh Walker

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Sydney Croft and Shiloh Walker

Initial copyright 2011

Stories Initially Published in The Mammoth Book of Hot Romance

Cover Art by Angela Waters

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and aren’t to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy. If you did not legally obtain a copy of this book, then you should purchase your own copy.

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Don't Walk Away

By Shiloh Walker

Chapter One

The woman he loved held a knife at his throat.

He was on his knees, on a filthy street and she stood behind him. Close. So close he could smell her skin. So close he could reach out and touch her…finally. After all of this time…

He could still remember how she had felt in his arms, how she had felt against him, under him. Damn, he’d loved her—loved her still. Wanted her still. Would have given anything to pull her into his arms.

Except there was the small matter of the knife in her hand. And he suspected she probably hated his guts. Somehow, he doubted the knife was her way of telling him how much she missed him.

He wanted to see her. But he held still. Her hand was shaking. He could feel it, feel the sharp edge of the blade pressing into his skin. If he moved too quick, she just might lay his neck wide open.

Fucking bastard. It was the first thing she’d said since she’d come up behind him. It was dim in the narrow alley tucked between two low, squat buildings, Ethan Raintree had no trouble recognizing her voice.

Hello, Celeste.

*

Hello, Celeste, he says.

She glared at the back of his head, hardly able to believe her ears. Her hand was shaking and she could hardly breathe. This wasn’t happening.

Hello, Celeste.

Ethan.

Ethan Raintree was here. This wasn’t really happening, was it? Couldn’t be happening, because if it was…

No.

Her throat burned, ached, and her heart