Games Of Desire

By Patti O'Shea

The union between a wizard and a demon is impossible. It's also undeniable.

Chloe has always been there to clean up after her little sister–a wizard who doesn't use her powers responsibly. But when she must search for her wayward sister after another prank gone terribly awry, Chloe finds a demon instead–a demon with taut muscles, irresistible dimples, and eyes burning with desire. Ever the good girl, Chloe tries to ignore him, but the mere sight of this demon undoes her.

Marax is searching for Chloe's sister, too.  Just like Chloe, he's driven by duty. And, just like Chloe, he can't resist the fiery attraction that burns between them.  

When Chloe and Marax give in to one night of passion, they find themselves bound in ways they never could have imagined–and battling a demon more powerful than anything they imagined...

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781488720291

Patti O'Shea

Nationally bestselling author Patti O'Shea has won thirteen awards for her writing and been nominated for many more. Her books have appeared on the Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, and Borders bestseller lists and have earned starred reviews in prestigious publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist. At various points in her life, Patti O'Shea wanted to be a doctor, a pilot, an archeologist, an astronomer, a figure skater, a ballerina, an oceanographer, a marine biologist, and a photographer before she discovered writing at the age of fourteen. That's when she knew what she really wanted to be when she grew up. By the time she entered the University of Minnesota, she realized she'd need a practical career. She chose the School of Journalism and took classes in nearly every discipline the college offered. After graduating with a degree in Advertising Copywriting (and far more credits than she needed), she promptly went to work for Northwest Airlines-in accounting. Since then she's moved throughout the company, working in departments like Technical Records, Tech Publications, and is currently in 757 Engineering. Born with a need to see everything, Patti has traveled to far off and exotic places like Papua New Guinea, Fanning Island, and the Yukon Territory in Canada. Along the way, she's had the opportunity to experience a lot of cool things. In Alaska, she saw a humpback whale breach near the catamaran on which she sailed; she's visited a salt mine in Austria and traveled to a lower level by sliding down a wooden rail; and she's seen a shark fin break the water in Australia right next to the small boat she was on. She's visited just about every one of King Ludwig's castles in Germany; watched the cliff divers of Acapulco; and was nearly mugged in a parking lot in Los Angeles. With her wanderlust sated, Patti finally decided to get serious about writing. She quickly discovered that her travel and her eclectic education were all training to become an author. It's helped her to know a little bit about a lot of things since she's had characters that have been computer geeks, army officers, private investigators, demons, thieves, and other assorted careers. She's even managed to incorporate pieces of some of the places she's visited into her stories.

Book preview

Chapter One

The club had been full when she’d arrived a couple hours earlier, but now it was so jammed, Chloe could hardly move. She hadn’t expected it to be this crowded on a Wednesday night, but maybe she should have guessed. Infinity was one of the few places in Los Angeles where vampires, demons and wizards could mingle without fear of being attacked.

She looked around, trying to find another likely candidate to question, but became sidetracked by tall, dark and demon. He hadn’t been far from her since she’d arrived and she wondered if that was because the attraction burned as hotly for him as it did for her. As if sensing her interest, he turned to face her. Damn, he was gorgeous.

Chloe tugged the hem of her skirt down to midthigh, but what she wanted to do was pull the dress off completely. She was burning, going up in flames from the inside out and all because of him.

Tall. At least six foot two, maybe more, with shoulders that went on forever and muscles. Lots of big, sexy muscles.

Dark. His hair was a sable brown and he had a light beard and mustache. Chloe could almost feel it tickling her skin as his mouth tasted her. Everywhere. She shivered, her nipples going taut. She wanted him more than she could remember ever wanting a male.

Demon. She shouldn’t forget that third label.

Chloe scowled and turned away. Why did he have to be a demon? And why did he have to look good enough to lick? He even dressed well—gray trousers, gray shirt with pale pinstripes with the sleeves rolled up and a black tie. Understated, but she liked that, too.

Focus. She needed to focus. The goal was to track down her irresponsible sister, not find a sex partner. Despite herself, she looked over her shoulder and met his eyes. The demon smiled at her and she lost her breath. He had dimples—the club wasn’t dark enough to hide that. Her entire body flushed and she squeezed her thighs tightly together.

As if she hadn’t found him attractive enough, he had to have dimples, too. They were one of her weaknesses.

Almost desperately, she scanned the club. The walls had ridged features that were continually bathed in colored lights—pink, purple, blue, orange—and as soon as she became used to one shade, it changed. Despite the distractions, she spotted a pair of female wizards. Chloe didn’t know them, but that didn’t matter. She walked up to their table.

Hi, she shouted to be heard over the music and chatter. Have you two been here awhile?

The two women glanced at each other, then the brunette said, Yes. Why?

I’m looking for my sister. She called and asked me to meet her at Infinity tonight, but I haven’t found her and I’m wondering if she really is here or if she flaked out on me. That was mostly the truth.

Do you have a picture of her?

Chloe nodded and pulled her phone out of the purse she wore with the strap crossing her body. This wasn’t the first time she’d flashed Olivia’s image. She tapped the screen to bring it back to full brightness and turned it so the two women could view it.

After a moment of study, both of them shook their heads. Sorry, the blonde said. She might be here, though. It’s hard to spot anyone in this crush.

True. Thank you for your help. She walked away from the table, trying to find an out-of-the-way spot to stand.

There was no point in asking more questions and Olivia might not have come here at all despite what her message said, not given the situation. In the voice mail her sister had left, a demon had angered her at the club last night and she’d dropped a potion in the drinks he’d ordered for himself and his friends. A potion that temporarily turned skin green.

According to Olivia, the two young males affected were furious, and why wouldn’t they be? But the situation hadn’t been beyond repair. What her sister should have done was waited for the demons to calm down, then offered an apology and the antidote.

That wasn’t the course of action she’d chosen, though.

Chloe loved her sister, but she saw her faults. Olivia wasn’t the type of person who dealt with the consequences of her actions head-on, and returning to the club to find the demons she’d messed with and resolving the situation definitely counted as handling her own issues.

Knowing her darling little half sister as well as she did, it was much more likely that she’d decided to lay low until Chloe had solved the problem for her.

With a frown, she tucked her phone back into her purse. It pained her to admit it, but Olivia was conniving enough to leave a voice mail saying she’d be here just so Chloe would come out. Then, if those teenage demons were present tonight, Chloe would spot them.

Her sister knew she’d step in to take care of it, and why wouldn’t she believe that? That’s exactly what Chloe had always done. It wouldn’t be simple this time, though. She didn’t have a clue which potion Olivia had used to create the temporary skin discoloration, and without that, she couldn’t concoct an antidote.

She sighed. Chloe was tired of being the responsible one, the one who never did anything without thinking it through first. Just once she’d like to go with her impulses the way Olivia did and do something completely crazy.

Crazy, yeah. It took her about five seconds to locate her demon in the club. He stared at her. She stared right back. A one-night stand fell into the wild and irresponsible category. It was probably more insane than she was ready to tackle yet. She should start out smaller—say, with jaywalking—and then work her way up to the truly deranged ideas.

But there was middle ground. She could dance with him—nothing more. Why not try that?

Before she could talk herself out of it, Chloe crossed the distance separating them and stopped in front of him. His eyes were blue. With his coloring, she’d expected brown, but behind the irises there was a red glow, a sign of high emotion that demons couldn’t hide.

Run, the logical, careful part of her screamed, but she could barely hear it over the pounding of her heart. Dance with me, she said.

One side of his mouth quirked up, flashing a single dimple. Yes, we can begin with that.

The deep rasp of his voice sent her pulse into double time. It was just a dance, she reminded herself. It wasn’t as tame as jaywalking, but it wasn’t as if she was skydiving, either. He