Gambling on Her Dragon (Charmed in Vegas Book 2)
Read Gambling on Her Dragon (Charmed in Vegas Book 2) Online
Authors: Anna Lowe,Michelle Fox
Tags: #Vampires, #shapeshifter, #Las Vegas, #Paranormal, #werewolves, #Romance
Gambling on Her Dragon
Anna Lowe
Michelle Fox
Charmed in Vegas
Gambling on Her Dragon
Copyright 2016
Editing by Lisa A. Hollett
Cover art by Andy Atkins
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.
Get your free e-books now!
Sign up for Anna’s newsletter at
annalowebooks.com
to get three free books!
- Desert Wolf: Friend or Foe
(Book 1.1 in the Twin Moon Ranch series) - Off the Charts
(the prequel to the Serendipity Adventure series) - Perfection
(the prequel to the Blue Moon Saloon series)
Sneak Peek: Damnation (by Anna Lowe)
Shifter Trey Dixon can play poker like his wolf can howl, but what he doesn’t know about the shady underworld of Las Vegas gambling might just get him killed. By the end of one crazy night, he’s sucked into trouble — and falling hard for the petite dragon shifter who steals his winnings along with his heart. Before he knows it, it’s not just money at stake — it’s his destined mate’s life.
Kaya Proulx didn’t mean to fall for the mystery man who was supposed to be her ticket out of a tight spot. But that spot only gets tighter when her sizzling-hot lover leads her straight into a den of wolves. She has enough problems with vampires, gargoyles, and her missing sister. Now, the clock is ticking and her life is on the line. Can she trust her inner dragon and bet against the highest odds of all?
Before we start...sign up for our newsletters! Anna's will reward you with three free stories right away, and both will make sure you're the first to hear about new releases, great deals, and exclusive sneak peeks!
* * *
T
rey groaned and flexed his fingers, wondering where he was. He cracked an eye open and immediately let it slide shut.
Jesus, his head hurt. Which didn’t make sense because the rest of his body felt strangely satisfied. Warm, honey-in-the-veins satisfied, like he’d come straight from a hot tub and not a fogbank of blurry memories of the night before.
He really ought to force his eyes open and look around, but something told him reality wouldn’t be too good. Better to go back to that dream — the one with the redhead scratching his back, moaning his name. That was sure to be better than whatever reality he’d eventually have to wake up to.
God, he didn’t even know where he was.
Vegas
, his wolf hummed inside.
Nighttime. Not a full moon, so shut up and get back to sleep.
Vegas. That part, he remembered. But the rest…the rest was kind of fuzzy. The hum of a crowd, the electric ping of slot machines, the smacking shuffle of cards. The quiet
chink
of casino chips — a big stack of them, piled high by his left hand. And beyond that, a pair of lagoon-green eyes like none he’d ever seen. Like sea glass, glinting in the morning light.
His wolf let out a dreamy sigh, and his pulse quickened just a bit.
Christ, how much had he been drinking? What had he been up to last night?
He slid a hand under the sheets — crisp, white hotel sheets — and found something warm. Warm and soft on the surface, but nicely tight underneath. Something that begged to be stroked, admired. Maybe even kissed.
He snuggled a little closer and kept his eyes firmly shut, because his brain was most definitely not ready for visuals yet. His head was still throbbing, his memories a jigsaw puzzle.
Green eyes. Auburn hair. A mouth that was pure sin. He remembered that much, but the features refused to come together and came out like one of those mismatched Picasso faces instead.
His hand slid over a curve and arrived at something even softer, and a happy little coo sounded in return.
A woman.
Huh.
A headache
and
a woman. In Vegas. Why was he not surprised?
While the human part of his mind scrambled for an explanation, his inner wolf yawned and made him tug her closer.
Mine. All mine.
His human side groaned; his wolf let out a throaty rumble of satisfaction that traveled all the way through his body and back again.
The wires in his brain crossed, and instead of rolling away, he nestled closer. Nice and cozy, so he could inhale her lavender scent. He wrapped his hand the rest of the way over the glorious swell of a breast, resting his elbow in the perfect nook of a waist. The woman arched into his chest and purred, and his cock twitched.
Really, his brain should have gone on red alert right there. But the only part of his body that seemed to respond was his cock, and that, in double time. He pulled her closer — and closer still when she pushed the tight curve of her ass into his groin.
She rolled toward him, inviting his head to follow his hand to her chest. Familiar territory, somehow, because his lips found their way right to the world’s tightest, tastiest nipple and licked.
“Mmm,” she hummed, stroking his back.
His brain was still back at the starting blocks.
Whoa, what the—
Don’t overthink,
his wolf growled.
Just enjoy. Partake. Feast.
He was in human form, but the wolf was firmly in charge, because damn, did he feast. Suckled that sweet bud, kneaded the soft flesh. Growled with lust at the sounds coming from her.
“Trey…God, yes. Trey…”
He wracked his muddled mind for her name, but he kept coming up with a blank. Shit. Cindy? Laura? Tara?
His body sure seemed to know hers, though, because their legs didn’t tangle so much as mesh. He recognized the peach-cream scent of her skin, the tight checkerboard of her rock-hard abs. The lift of her mound and the glorious plunge to heaven, hidden between her legs.
Legs she wrapped around him, opening herself, drawing him in.
His fingers slid south from her belly button like they’d traveled that delicious path a hundred times before.
“Trey,” she panted.
Good thing his wolf filled in with a lusty growl, because he had no clue what to say. No clue why the hell his entire body was on fire for her instead of just his dick. No clue why this moment felt like a major milestone and not just another roll in the hay.
Christ, maybe he hadn’t just been drinking, but smoking some weird shit, too, because his soul was sobbing and singing hallelujah at the same time. The messed-up, joyful sob of a man who’d found something he thought he’d lost forever.
Which was really weird because Trey hadn’t lost anything. Hadn’t been looking for anything, either. Nothing other than a six-week road trip and a bit of fun before settling down to a new job back on the East Coast.
Man, that truck driver he’d hitched a ride into Vegas with was right.
You gotta be careful in Vegas, son…
His eyes finally joined the party and the sight of the woman knocked the breath right out of him. Glossy auburn hair splayed over the pillow, shining so brightly she seemed to glow. A row of ivory teeth flashed in a blissed-out smile. High, Audrey Hepburn cheekbones cast shadows over her face, forming a landscape of their own. Her lips opened and closed and sighed as she breathed his name.
Her eyes slid open, and he lost his breath again. Like she’d just shoved aside a sky full of clouds and let summertime shine down, filling everything with happiness and light.
Yeah, he’d definitely smoked some weird shit last night. But God, he’d go with the flow right now, because nothing had ever made him feel quite this good. The only one of his senses that wasn’t completely on fire was his strangely muted sense of smell, which still appeared to be asleep. Not that he needed his nose to enjoy
this
.
“Trey…” she begged.
It was like one of those crazy Greek myths he’d read about in fifth grade, where a goddess would come down to Earth to screw a hapless shepherd who’d caught her eye and eventually set off a whole series of unforeseen events. Like pissing off her immortal god husband who’d summon storms, flood rivers, and permanently skew the seasons to obliterate the poor sap caught balls deep in heaven. A god who would change the world forever, all in the name of revenge.
Trey tried to shake the crazy feeling away, but one part stuck. The part about the world changing forever. His world, at least.
He let his body slide over hers, hoping to hell there was no pissed off god standing by with a couple of lightning bolts, and let his cock hone in on its goal.
“Trey…”
The muscles of her chiseled swimmer’s shoulders flexed, and she extended her arms overhead, lifting her breasts. He plunged in, and even in the searing heat that blurred his vision for the next few seconds, his hands found hers instinctively. Their fingers interlaced as he pushed forward, burying himself to the balls.
“Kaya…” He moaned at the fireworks rocketing inside, then allowed himself a ridiculously proud grin. He knew her name, which meant he wasn’t a total prick. Just a messed-up guy wondering how he’d found heaven in a city that seemed a lot closer to hell.
“Deeper,” she urged him. “Faster.”
They started pumping in rhythm, both of them, with him sliding forward and her bucking to meet him and sighing a little each time. God, she was tight. God, she was perfect. And buff, because she greeted every hot, hard slide with a firm squeeze of rippling muscle as he plunged deeper, deeper — Christ, so deep — with her milking him all the way.
“Kaya…”
Now he was the one crying her name. Losing it completely. But then again, a guy couldn’t be expected to keep his cool with a goddess, right?
A goddess who rocked her head from side to side and cried out. Her six-pack stomach rippled — yeah, he looked, because how could he not look? — and he could feel her tight grip on his cock from the inside. Could almost see it, like he was a god now, too, with X-ray vision that let him see the slick inner slide that grew hotter every minute. More insistent. More urgent. He drank in the sight of his shaft, disappearing inside her. The sight of her face, twisted in ecstasy.
His wolf growled as he dipped his head and licked the hollow of her neck, where her pulse danced under his tongue.
Now. We take her now!
His canines pushed through his gums and scraped along her skin.
“Yes…” she whispered.
He couldn’t see any more. Couldn’t quite hear. Everything boiled down to the raging heat in his body and the overwhelming need to claim.
Take her! Make her ours!
What should have sounded crazy sounded just right. Make her his. Seal the future, right there and then. He could keep this goddess forever and—
Every alarm in his body started clanging, including one that sounded like a submarine, ready to dive deep.
A-woo-ga! A-woo-ga!
Whoa, whoa!
He wrestled his wolf back into its inner cage and threw his full weight against the door. Mentally, at least. Physically, his body was still pumping hard, pushing her closer to orgasm, hurtling toward his own release.