Lilah is back home after two weeks away from the big, bad beast that is New York City, and with Kane by her side. The minute the chopper touches down, her phone rings. It’s a local forensics tech who has been stalking her online, but then, she soon learns, so is half the city.
Seems an online forum has popped up to follow Lilah, her serial killer mentor, and her drug lord husband. Call Lilah irritated as Kane is no drug lord, despite the cartel’s wishes that he follow in his father’s footsteps, her mentor is dead, and no one knows but those who buried the body. She needs the attention to go away, and now.
The worst part, or maybe it’s the best is there’s yet another serial killer on the loose who’s mimicking horror movie killers. Now Lilah has someone to take her anger out on, and arrest, not kill, because good girls don’t kill. But then, who said Lilah was a good girl?
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Mom’s) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
She loved him. He betrayed her. Nothing is what it seems.
One touch can change everything though, and it did. The minute he showed back up in her life, all deals were off. He touched her and she melted. He promised her everything, and she wanted everything. The question is: is he her salvation or her destruction? Love. Hate. Passion. Danger. It’s about to get hot in here…
Her lips press together. “Not to be protected. And too much, apparently. We’ve been in one place too long. We need to go. Do you understand?”
I want to know what “too much” means, but damn it, she’s not wrong. We can’t hang out on the street, not if we want to live through the night. “We’re not done with this conversation.”
“You might not be, but I am.” She tries to step out of my grip.
I hold her to me, cup her face, and kiss her hard and fast. “I’m not. I’m not done with anything to do with you. Not now and not ever.”
“Okay, that statement contradicts the past two years and makes me angry.” She tries to knee me, and I catch her leg. Undeterred, she adds, “And I’m not done with this conversation either.”
My lips curving with how easily I drew her into battle, how easily I’ve always drawn her into battle. It feels like us and I do fucking love us. I want to push her harder. I want to kiss her harder. Instead, I release her and for just a beat we stare at each other, the air ignited with conflict. She turns on her heels and starts walking. I let her go, but not too far. I fall into step beside her. Not behind her. Not in front of her. Beside her, where I forgot to stand.
I won’t forget again.
As for her version of too much, there’s no such thing, not where Ana is concerned.
If she wants to test me on that, I’m along for the ride.
If she wants to test me on that while naked, even better.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Mom’s) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
She called him the man she loved, she called him Luke. But then he proved he really is worthy of his nickname. Or so she thought. Nothing is as it seemed back then.
A man with a past. The only woman he has ever loved. Someone wants her dead. That someone is about to find out that yes, he is Lucifer when you dare to threaten his woman. Even if she doesn’t call herself that now. He does. But all he ever really wanted to be was Luke—the man worthy of her love.
I open the door. Ana’s sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the door. The instant she sees me, her lips part, and her eyes travel my body before jerking back to my face.
“You have to put a shirt on. You just—have to.”
My cock is pretty damn pleased with this reaction that says she wants me, but my brain is working overdrive, and for once, overpowering that plaything in my pants. “Why, sweetheart? You want to kiss the scar you gave me better? It’s too late for that. Or maybe, you want to lick me all over? You already did that. You don’t get to do it again. Not after trying to kill me.” I walk to the end of the desk where I left my gun, pick it up, and then lay down on the ground at the foot of the bed. My phone goes to the floor. The gun sits on my gut.
Ana moves to the end of the bed, and sits there, staring down at me. “What are you doing?”
I notice she avoids my name when she would normally do otherwise. I guess she just can’t figure out who I am anymore. Well, I know. And Lucifer fits. She knows, too. “I’m catching a few z’s, and protecting you from anyone that comes in the door. If it so much as jiggles, I’ll sit up and shoot.”
“It’s been a hellish night and morning. Lay on the bed. You can have the side closest to the door. Please.”
I glance up at her. “Sweetheart, if I get in that bed with you, I’ll have you naked in about thirty seconds, and while we’ll both enjoy that, you’ll just hate me for it after. Not to mention we won’t get any sleep.”
“I could say a lot of things to that response, but I probably shouldn’t. We’ll put pillows between us.”
“If you think a pillow will stop me from getting naked with you, you might have been right when you said you never really knew me, Ana. That was right before you shot me, right? I told you. I want to fuck you. I don’t want to sleep next to you.”
She buries her face in her hands and groans a frustrating sound and then glowers at me, all sexy and way too damn hot for my own good. “Fine, Lucifer. Sleep on the damn floor. Just do what you want.” She stands up and walks to the side of the bed before climbing on top.
She tosses a pillow down on top of me. I grab it and stick it under my head. “For the record, me down here and you up there is not what I want. It was never what I wanted, Ana. It’s just who we are now.”
“Yeah,” she says softly. “I know. “
That’s all she says and I want more. But then, I’ve always wanted more when it comes to Ana. And more was never enough.
BLP REVIEW – Tracy
I couldn’t put this book down. I love the Walker Bothers books and the spin off books featuring the guys who work for them. I’ve been looking forward to Luke’s story since LRJ announced it.
Not a whole lot happened in this first instalment of Lucas’s trilogy. So much of Lucifer’s Sin was setting the scene, discovering what happened in the past between Luke and Ana that made them appear to hate each other and introducing characters important to the story.
I’ve got a theory as to who might actually have been behind the chain of events that have lead Luke back to Ana and I’m almost certain at least one of these people were not who they led our main characters to believe they were. Time will tell if I’m right.
Even though I knew the cliffhanger was coming it still caught me out a little. I’m looking forward to book two and seeing how this pair deal with being back together – even if that’s just being in the same place.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Mom’s) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
What if I Never?, an all new must read steamy first book in the Necklace Trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is now available!
In the vein of her Inside Out series, New York Times Bestselling Author Lisa Renee Jones returns with the dark, seductive world of the Necklace Trilogy…
Allison Wright is delivered a package meant for a different Allison—a unique, expensive necklace. Determined to right the confusion, she seeks out the proper recipient, a journey that takes her to the doorstep of Tyler Hawk, a good looking, recluse billionaire who deals with fine collectibles such as the necklace. She also learns that Allison, his employee, quit her job registering and restoring his vast assortment of collectibles. Ironically, Allison is the daughter of a rather famous archeologist who is also employed by a local museum, and her love of such things has her jumping at the opportunity. Soon she is spending her evening and weekends immersed in the job the other Allison left behind.
As Allison begins diving into the job for Tyler, secrets about the other Allison begin to surface that have her concerned for her safety. And as she starts hunting for answers, her path crosses with the enigmatic famous author who has a business endeavor with her boss. Dash Black is a man who is dark and edgy, intense and yet quiet. Funny and yet somehow reserved. He draws her in, sets her pulse racing, and her body on fire. She knows there’s a dangerous edge to him, but she can’t seem to care. She’s addicted to everything he is and she simply can’t turn away, no matter what the cost. As Allison is drawn into the life and mystery of the other Allison, a mystery demands answers and passion burns hot. Allison will travel a path that leads to shocking truths and a side of herself she never knew existed.
His eyes soften and he catches my hand. “Come here.” I let him ease me closer, and when he pulls me onto his lap again, I say, “Am I going to end up with my hands behind my back unable to touch you again?” “Not unless you want me to tie you up and tease you.” There’s no denying the idea of Dash in control and me at his mercy, is a delicious prospect I won’t even try to deny. And so, I don’t deny anything. Instead, my arms slide around his neck, and I lean into him. “Not this time, Dash. Please.” “Well now, as long as you say please, you can have just about anything you want.” With his promise that I can have anything I want if I say please, Dash’s hands slide under the T-shirt I’m wearing and up my back. Molding me close, my breasts pressed to his hard chest. “For instance,” he says, his voice low, a rough sandpaper tease on my nerve endings. “I’ll lick you anywhere you want to be licked if you just say please.” I’m really, truly a rather shy person and no one has ever spoken to me so boldly as Dash has this night, but I’m different with Dash I’m starting to realize. More comfortable in my own skin and sexuality. I just can’t find it in me to hide from this or him. “What about where I want to kiss you?” “Where do you want to kiss me?” he asks, squeezing my backside and Lord help me I can feel the thick ridge of his erection between my thighs and through his jeans I want to be gone now. “Everywhere,” I assure him. His lips curve and he says, “Is that right?” “Oh yes, but you resist me, Dash Black.” “I assure you, Allison, I am not resisting you.” Somehow him calling me Allison in this moment is more intimate than Allie, and I don’t know why. “I want nothing more than your hands and mouth on my body,” he says. “But you’ll have to allow me to kiss you everywhere first.” He drags the T-shirt over my head and by the time it’s on the ground his hands are on my breasts, and when my hands cover his hands, his finger strokes my nipples. My fingers catch long strands of his light brown hair and I tilt his gaze to mine. Any control I’d thought to gain in that moment is lost when Dash pinches my nipples, sending darts of pleasure straight to my sex. I moan and he captures the sound with his mouth, kissing me with the kind of passion that a girl thinks she will never know because it can’t be real. Oh, but it is. It so is. My hands tunnel into his hair and when his gaze lifts to mine, I find hunger there. So much hunger, and all for me. He catches my hands and presses them behind me, bracing them on his powerful thighs, his arm wrapping my waist, securing me. Watching me now, he cups my breast and leans in, licking my nipple, sensations rippling through me, my sex clenching with impossible need, need for him.
About Lisa Renee Jones
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense. Sara’s character is strong, flawed, complex, and sexy – a modern girl we all can identify with. Inside Out has been optioned to STARZ, Paramount, and now Marvista Entertainment. Marvista has also optioned the spin-off series, Careless Whispers.
In addition to the success of Lisa’s INSIDE OUT series, she has published many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.
As far as Lilah’s concerned, her note writing stalker just gets more stupid every day. One, two, three, the cat is in the tree? What is that? And what does it have to do with a wedding turned bloody?
Lilah continues to hunt for the monster who killed a bride-to-be while she awaits news on Kane’s chopper that emergency landed in the ocean. She’s angry. She’s worried. She’s ready to kill the man she knows is responsible for Kane’s crash: Pocher.
It’s a race against the clock to save Kane and catch a killer.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Mom’s) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
They say all is fair in love and war, but I really don’t give a damn about fair. In fact, when protecting those I love, fair is the last thing on my mind. Now that I’m back in Candace’s life, those who have used her to try to control me, may well put up a final fight, but they will not win. They will lose and badly.
I stand willingly in front of Rick, naked while he is not. His gaze is hot, intimate. When his eyes meet mine, he says, “You hesitated.”
“I did not hesitate,” I say, closing the space between us and pressing my hand to his jaw. “I was thinking about the very first time you told me to undress for you. Do you remember?”
Tension slides from his shoulders as if my answer is the exact one he needs, and he wraps his arms around my waist. “I remember that night well.” His voice lowers seductively. “I spanked you.” His lips curve. “And you liked it.”
“Are you going to spank me now?” I dare, so far from intimidated by anything that happens between me and this man. He demands. And I have learned over time that while it defies my strong will and independence in the bedroom, I like when he’s in control.
“Not tonight,” he says, easing me onto his lap so I’m straddling him.
I wrap my arms around his neck and he adds, “All or nothing.”
“All or nothing,” I repeat.
His lashes lower, the lines of his face sharp. “I’m still Savage, Candace,” he says, his eyes meeting mine again. “That part of me still exists.”
“Why are you saying this?” I ask.
“Because this mission, this blast from the past, reminded me of who I am.”
“And you think I need to be reminded?”
“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “You do. You’re about to marry me.”
“I’m marrying the love of my life. And that’s you, Rick. All of you.”
“Love is blind.”
“I know who you are, Rick Savage. And for the record, you can’t deny who you are. Not and live a happy life. And I don’t want you to deny who you are. That’s never been my message.”
“I know that, too,” he says. “But I’ve tried anyway.”
That one statement terrifies me. I’ve tried anyway. It’s like a ball rolling toward a waterfall in slow motion, but eventually, it tumbles over the edge. My hands go to his shoulders, his muscles flexing beneath my touch. “That’s a problem for us. It’s a big problem.”
I try to climb off of him, but he catches my waist with a powerful arm around my body. “It’s not a problem,” he insists.
“No one should marry someone they can’t be themselves with. Every time you think you have to be something you’re not for me, it divides us.”
“I don’t want to be something I’m not with you, Candace. I want to be a better man for you.”
“I just want you to be you.”
“I want to be a better man for me, too. But you know, sometimes some people just need to die, Candace.”
I blink with the sudden shift from being a better man to wanting to kill someone. But that’s the point of all of this. That’s where he was taking me and us.
I’m flying blind right now, unsure about what happened to place him in this state of mind, but I know one thing: Rick is a good man. He doesn’t kill for money or pleasure. “I love you, Rick Savage. Be who you are and do what you do for the right reasons. And you do. Always.”
“Even if it means hunting down a bastard and killing him?”
He says it so matter-of-factly, but I know him. It’s anything but. Someone has made Rick’s personal hit list. There are no names on that list, at least, none that are living. “Can it be after the honeymoon?” I ask, quite seriously.
He laughs and cups my head and presses our foreheads together. “You really get me, don’t you?”
My hand finds his face. “And you get me. Rick—”
I never finish my sentence. I don’t even remember what I was going to say. He pulls me closer and claims my mouth, and it’s a tender kiss, a kiss void of the dominance I’d expected from him only minutes before. I moan with the sensations that spiral through me and just that easily, the air shifts, and our mood darkens, roughens. Suddenly, we are wild, kissing as if we will never again. Touching each other everywhere, and I’m tugging at his shirt. He pulls it over his head and tosses it, and my gaze falls on the heart that says San Antonio in the center, the heart I know he got for me. Because that’s where we met, that’s where he left me and found me again.
My fingers curl on top of it and I whisper, “You really never forgot me.”
“Never,” he says, and as our eyes collide, he says it again, a rasp of emotion in his voice. “Never.” And then he’s kissing me again and I’m touching him and arching into him…
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series.
In addition to the success of Lisa’s INSIDE OUT series, she has published many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists. Lisa is also the author of the bestselling WHITE LIES and LILAH LOVE series.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.
The third and final book in a Walker Security trilogy featuring Adrian Mack…
He was dirty, then he was bad, now he’s just plain wild. Like all the men of Walker Security, when he fell for his woman, he fell hard. Some might call his love for Priscilla a weakness, but you might as well call her a weapon.
You hurt her, vengeance is coming and his name is Adrian.
If she can’t handle that dark, hungry, far-from-gentle part of me, then she can’t handle the rest of my story.
Any other time, that would be enough for me to pull back.
But not tonight. Tonight, I need her to understand everything is not roses and chocolates. It’s fucking, just to get a high that makes you forget the blood and pain, and that is not even a little bit gentle. That’s not lovemaking. That is grinding it out, roughing it up, until nothing exists but pleasure. And it’s about control. It’s about the world stripping it away and my need to claim it again, which is what I’m trying to do with Waters. But she isn’t listening. She has to listen.
I now know that means no turning back.
“You trust me?” I challenge softly.
Her lips part and she whispers, “You know I do.”
“Show me and I’ll tell you anything you want.”
“I’ve already shown you,” she says. “You know I trust you.”
She doesn’t understand but she will. “Show me again,” I say.
“All right,” she says. “What do you want right now, Adrian? Tell me.”
Her. I want her for the rest of my life, but even above that, I want her alive and happy. Her life over my life. That’s what this is about. The room darkens, the cloud just behind Pri outside the window is heavy with the promise of rain, ready to burst. An ominous reminder of how explosive and ready to burst our situation has become.
“Let’s see how much you really do trust me, Pri,” I say. “I’m in charge. You are not. You do as I say when I say it.”
Her rebellion is instant. “And if I don’t?”
“I’ll punish you,” I say, my voice absolute.
Her eyes go wide. “How?”
I leave that question unanswered. “Undress,” I order softly.
I step backward and sit on the couch that faces the window, leaving two oversized—and perhaps useful before this is over—chairs free. I’m now in a position to watch her, to dominate her, and there is a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes that tells me she’s aware of this fact. She’s a woman who prefers control. Giving it away will not be easy for her. Giving it away is a sign of ultimate trust.
Her eyes narrow on me and for a moment I see rebellion, but then there’s a softening of her expression that I know to be the first hints of submission.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
The third and final book in a Walker Security trilogy featuring Adrian Mack…
He was dirty, then he was bad, now he’s just plain wild. Like all the men of Walker Security, when he fell for his woman, he fell hard. Some might call his love for Priscilla a weakness, but you might as well call her a weapon.
You hurt her, vengeance is coming and his name is Adrian.
If she can’t handle that dark, hungry, far-from-gentle part of me, then she can’t handle the rest of my story.
Any other time, that would be enough for me to pull back.
But not tonight. Tonight, I need her to understand everything is not roses and chocolates. It’s fucking, just to get a high that makes you forget the blood and pain, and that is not even a little bit gentle. That’s not lovemaking. That is grinding it out, roughing it up, until nothing exists but pleasure. And it’s about control. It’s about the world stripping it away and my need to claim it again, which is what I’m trying to do with Waters. But she isn’t listening. She has to listen.
I now know that means no turning back.
“You trust me?” I challenge softly.
Her lips part and she whispers, “You know I do.”
“Show me and I’ll tell you anything you want.”
“I’ve already shown you,” she says. “You know I trust you.”
She doesn’t understand but she will. “Show me again,” I say.
“All right,” she says. “What do you want right now, Adrian? Tell me.”
Her. I want her for the rest of my life, but even above that, I want her alive and happy. Her life over my life. That’s what this is about. The room darkens, the cloud just behind Pri outside the window is heavy with the promise of rain, ready to burst. An ominous reminder of how explosive and ready to burst our situation has become.
“Let’s see how much you really do trust me, Pri,” I say. “I’m in charge. You are not. You do as I say when I say it.”
Her rebellion is instant. “And if I don’t?”
“I’ll punish you,” I say, my voice absolute.
Her eyes go wide. “How?”
I leave that question unanswered. “Undress,” I order softly.
I step backward and sit on the couch that faces the window, leaving two oversized—and perhaps useful before this is over—chairs free. I’m now in a position to watch her, to dominate her, and there is a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes that tells me she’s aware of this fact. She’s a woman who prefers control. Giving it away will not be easy for her. Giving it away is a sign of ultimate trust.
Her eyes narrow on me and for a moment I see rebellion, but then there’s a softening of her expression that I know to be the first hints of submission.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Moms) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
I move on to what I know. “The Poet, an organized killer, a planner. Highly intelligent. Well employed. These types like to appear stable and we’re most likely looking at someone in a circle of family to shelter himself, even convince himself he’s normal. None of this is on paper. And I don’t feel like I have room for error on this one.”
“The Poet?”
“That’s what I’m calling him.”
“Whatever you call him, do you really think he’s a serial killer?”
“Iknowhe’s a serial killer. We just have to find his victims.”
“I’ll get you your profile for peace of mind.”
“Thank you, Wade,” I say, gratitude in my voice.
“Thank me by being careful. If this asshole came after Roberts, you could be next.”
“If Roberts was his type, I am not.”
“Be careful, Detective Jazz,” he says, and this time he uses his bestSpecial Agent Wade Millervoice, the detective title meant to make the “I’m serious” point.
“I am.I called you for a reason. I’m going to get him before he ever has the chance to get me.”
We disconnect a few seconds later and I pull up the poem compilation Chuck put together for me on my MacBook. I gravitate toward the poem The Poet left called “Fate, The Jester.”His message could be in those few lines or in another verse inside the full poem. I read it all slowly, all eight paragraphs, dissecting each one, but I return to the three lines he left in Summer’s mouth:
Who laugh in the teeth of disaster,
Yet hope through the darkness to find
A road past the stars to a Master
A master, a statement that seems to reference superiority and drives home my earlier thoughts. The Poet judged Summer beneath him. Perhaps he judges us all beneath him. He believes he’s above the law, and that’s dangerous to those who come into contact with him.
That means I need to become dangerous to him, and quickly.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Mom’s) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
FBI agent Lilah Love leads a complicated life. She’s engaged to Kane Mendez, a man most call dangerous, but hey birds of a feather, do flock together. She’s dangerous, too, and in ways only Kane understands. As for their happily ever after, well that might have to wait. Right now, an old enemy who should be dead is still living, Junior, her mystery letter writer, is stirring up trouble, and her family is trying to prove they’re crazier than her. On top of that she has a new case: a dead woman in a bloody wedding dress. And since Lilah knows all too well there is no such thing as coincidence, clearly someone is sending her yet another message.
By the time I’m in the garage at the house, Kane is waiting for me at the door. He studies me with intensity, intensely unreadable. He’s assessing, questioning, but not talking. God love him and his understanding of how I operate.
I’m in my head.
I need to stay there right now.
He backs up to allow me to enter the back hallway and I’m quick to do just that. Once we’re both inside the warm house, I strip off my wet boots and he takes my coat before I follow him to the kitchen. I settle onto a barstool in front of the marbled island, while he prepares, and then hands me a hot Bailey’s coffee with whipped cream. Yes, the dark, dangerous Kane Mendez put whipped cream on my coffee. And still, we haven’t spoken a word.
He joins me, claiming the spot next to me while I sip my coffee, the warm, sweet liquid sliding down my throat and helping me come down about two notches.
Ready now, for more than my own mental ping-ponging of thoughts, I grab my phone, thumbing through photos until I find the image of the jar of blood. I set it in front of Kane.
“That was left for me in the refrigerator of the crime scene.”
He glances at it and then me, arching his dark brow. “The victim’s blood?”
“Pig’s blood,” I say matter-of-factly. “That’s not confirmed, but it’s going to be pig’s blood. I know it.”
He doesn’t freak out but then I don’t expect anything but calm, thoughtful contemplation from Kane. He doesn’t even ask why I make that assessment. He simply asks, “Is this Pocher or a Roger protégé?”
Just that easily he’s already in my headspace. And the question spoken at just the right time grounds me in logic rather than the emotion that had me storming out of Emma’s kitchen ready to kill Pocher.
“Logically,” I say, “the dress and the jar could point to either. Of course, my first reaction was Pocher. We just found out he came back. And when I saw that dead woman and then saw the jar of blood, I was ready to kill him.”
“Andrew influenced that. He already believed it was Pocher when he called you to the scene.”
“True. And it could be Pocher.”
“But your gut isn’t reading it that way. I can tell.”
I sip my coffee and add, “With the dress, and without the jar of blood, this would have read like a classic jealousy crime. The groom was already neglecting the bride and she had a side dude. And yet, it wasn’t a crime of rage. We’re not even sure how the woman died.”
“Meaning what?”
“She seemed to have a rupture from her throat, but there was no obvious cut.”
“Poison?” he asks.
“The new medical examiner doesn’t think so.” My cellphone rings with Lucas’s number where it still lays between me and Kane. His jaw clenches.
“I called him to hack for me, and he’s coming to dinner. And before you scowl, he was going to be alone, Kane.”
He downs his coffee, every last drop, and stands up, his spine stiff. Fuck. I answer the call on speaker. It’s better that way, with Kane’s ear where my ears are right now. “Lucas,” I say, and I don’t warn him that Kane is in the room. If he’s not smart enough to figure that out, he deserves whatever he gets. “What do you have for me?”
“I pulled Danica and North’s records. I’m sending them in a secure file by maildrop for you to accept. But there’s nothing exceptional there to see. And before you bitch, I’m digging deeper, but that will take time.”
“What about the victim and the men in her life?”
“Both her dead husband and her fiancé have donated to various Pocher-driven campaigns. That was easy to pull. Her fiancé has actually donated to your father’s campaign. But Lilah, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in this town who hasn’t pandered to Pocher’s power. And that’s all I have now. I’m drunk. I’m still drinking. No more updates tonight.”
“Yes, but—”
“No,” he says, “and I’m hanging up.” He disconnects.
I grimace and I’d call him back, but I decide better.
Kane at this point has filled a whiskey glass and is leaning on the counter in front of the sink. I stand up and close the space between us. I step directly in front of him and he downs his drink and sets the glass down. His hands are on the counter behind him. He doesn’t even think about touching me and I know it’s about Lucas. Which is exactly why I want him to know that I’m not thinking about Lucas, but rather those donations that connect Emma’s fiancé to my father. And I’m thinking about his words, his declaration that we’re dangerous to the Society. “What if—”
He grabs me and pulls me to him. “If you say that woman died because we’re together, and turn this into another reason to take off my ring, I swear to God, Lilah, I’m done.”
I can be hard. I can be cold. I can apparently be a killer. But I love Kane Mendez. He’s hard, too. He’s cold as ice. He’s forever in control. But he’s not those things with me. And it’s in this moment, for the first time ever, I realize how much I hurt him when I left him. Just how much I cut him.
“I regret every moment we were apart more than you can know. I’m not taking off the ring, Kane.” My hands settle on his chest. “Not ever. I’m not—”
His mouth closes down on mine, his hand on the back of my head, and just that easily, he reminds me I’m human again, capable of wanting, loving, needing, and forgetting all but the moment. But more so, he reminds me that he’s human. He isn’t always in control. He has emotions, torment I can taste on his tongue, even desperation he’d allow no other human to know he’s capable of feeling. I’ve pushed him away. I’ve hurt him. But I’ve always loved him and he doesn’t yet know that I’m done fighting against this, against us.
He just doesn’t know that.
And that’s a problem.
Kane picks me up and I don’t fight him. He has this thing about taking me to his bed, now our bed, as if that establishes some sort of ownership of me and us. Not that I could ever be owned, but deep down, I know we own each other. We always have. We always will. And if that’s what he needs, to feel that ownership, I’m not at war with him. I’m at war with Pocher and the Society. But he doesn’t take me upstairs and to the bedroom. He walks to the living room, neutral territory, and I understand his message. The tide has shifted. The demands have changed. Either I’m in this as his equal or I’m not in this at all. And neither is he.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones writes dark, edgy fiction including the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series and the upcoming, crime thriller The Poet. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland and Bad Moms) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned a multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a cat that talks too much, and a Golden Retriever who is afraid of trash bags.
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