The Devil Inside was my first novella, ever. I wrote it in late 2004 with Kensington Brava in mind, (back then they were the Hot line) and I even entered it in Lori Foster’s Brava Novella contest. It never made it past the first stage of entry, so for those who enter contests please remember, just because your story doesn’t place does not mean it isn’t good. The Devil Inside is good. I also entered it in a contest run by Ellora’s Cave author Tawny Taylor, where the top 3 went to her editor at EC. TDI did place in that one, and went to EC, but I never heard from the editor. So again, please remember when submitting that just because what you’re writing isn’t to someones taste, does not mean it isn’t good.
The novella did find a home and was originally published with Liquid Silver Books in early 2005. This review from Fallen Angel Reviews sums it up nicely. Check out the original cover art for it. 🙂
Near the end of the story the heroine’s, Gina, brother shows up. It wasn’t planned, I am a pantser, but when he and his partner (investigative, not gay) showed up a whole new world opened up in my imagination. My LSB editor’s immediate response after reading TDI was “Please tell me the brother is going to get a story now.” I agreed with her.
I really wanted to write his story, but that was right about the time that I’d started on BOUND, and then I sold to NY, several times over, and the brothers story got shoved to the back of my mind. Two years later when I got the rights back to TDI, I took advantage of my options to Kensington, and pitched it to my editor as a single author anthology, with the brothers story included. I was blessed with an editor who believed in me, and SEXY DEVIL (and the Hunter Protection Group) was born.
TDI is now the first story in that anthology, and the first in a contemporary-with paranormal elements- series that has been a blast to write. It all started with the idea of a blind date mix-up, and Gina, one of my favorite characters ever, ran with it.
“The Devil Inside”
Workaholic Caleb Mann used to think blind dates were a waste of time, but when his ex-girlfriend calls him boring in bed, Caleb becomes bent on changing his image fast. And fast is what he gets when he barely knows his date’s name, but he can’t stop fantasizing about replacing the sleek motorcycle between her firm thighs and letting her ride him all night long…
Want to read a sample? read on….
This is Chapter 3. Gina is the heroine, but she’s let the little devil on her shoulder take the reigns and is pretending to be Caleb’s blind date, Tina.
Enjoy…..
Chapter 3
She’d surprised him.
Not many people could do that.
Caleb wasn’t sure what he expected when they left the coffee shop, but this wasn’t it. When he watched her swing a slender leg over the seat of a sexy little crotch-rocket of a motorcycle, leaving her thighs almost completely bare, it had never entered his mind that they would end up in a gay bar.
Not that he minded. He didn’t judge people by their sexual preference. It just wasn’t somewhere he would’ve thought to take a woman he hoped to get intimate with.
A quick glance around the dark room made him reconsider. It was early and the bar wasn’t full, but it was busy enough. Yet, no one bothered them. No one even gave them a second look.
Couples, of all combinations, lounged on the various sofas surrounding the room’s perimeter. A small group of young guys were stationed in front of the bar, and a male couple was on the dance floor, swaying back and forth in each other’s arms.
He thought about it, and excitement pushed past his apprehension. It was the perfect place to get to know someone. Everyone there was so intent on doing his or her own thing that none paid them any mind. He wasn’t the boss, or the big brother to anyone in that bar, and that was surprisingly freeing.
Especially considering where his thoughts were taking him. With his back to the wall, he had a clear view of the room, and of Tina’s antics. They’d been playing pool for almost two hours, and despite the fact that he’d been in a constant state of semi-arousal through it all, he’d learned some pretty interesting things about her.
In fact, she fascinated him.
“You mean to tell me that you work at the coffee shop, making sandwiches and lattes for people every day, when you could easily support yourself with your illustrations?” It didn’t make sense to him. He could tell by the tone of her voice when she talked about her art that she loved it, so why would she want to work in a café when she could make a living doing what she loved?
A lush breast brushed against his arm as she reached past him for the cube of chalk on the edge of the table, heating his blood up another degree. Was she was deliberately trying to drive him insane with lust?
She continued to stroll around the table looking for her next shot as she talked. “My artwork pays nicely, but if I devoted myself to it entirely, I could easily become a hermit. Working in the cafe lets me deal with real people without getting too close to them.”
“You don’t like getting close to people?”
“I love getting close to the right people,” she said in a husky voice that made his cock swell. She bent over to take her shot, and he got an eyeful of plump womanly flesh cupped lovingly in fire engine red satin.
Swallowing hard, he dragged his gaze from her cleavage to her delicate face. The devilish glint in her dark eyes left no doubt in his mind that if he played his cards right, he could be one of the lucky ones. One of the ones she got real close to.
Tina was different than any other woman he’d every gone out with. No, not different, more. More sexual, more flirtatious, and more unpredictable.
More woman.
Flirting was one of those things he’d just never gotten the hang of. It was too much of an iffy thing, a grey area that was always open to interpretation. He preferred to deal in things that were solid … black and white only.
Unsure of how to handle such blatant flirtation without being a complete idiot, he ignored it. “Aspects of construction are like that too. I deal with clients if I have to, but I prefer to leave that side of things to my brother. He’s the smooth talking salesman of the family.”
Tina’s lips twitched up on one side but she didn’t say anything about his lack of response to her flirting. She just let the conversation move on, and continued to kick his ass at pool.
It wasn’t surprising she was winning. Watching her bend and stretch over the green felt that somehow reminded him of his bed was much more distracting than playing with one of the guys. Yet, he felt like he was getting to know her better than he ever could while sitting across from her at a dinner table.
“So you enjoy working with your hands then?” she asked in reference to his last comment about preferring to work with his crew instead of just supervising. The comment itself wasn’t sexual, but to his fogged brain, everything she said and did had sexual connotations. He was having a hard time being the gentleman he’d always prided himself on being.
Thoughts of getting to know her better in any way but the physical disappeared as she stretched a bit further to line up another shot, and her skirt rose another inch. Half an inch more and he’d know what color her panties were – if she even had any on.
Which he didn’t think she did.
In his mind’s-eye, he undid the zipper of his jeans and stepped up behind her. Lifting her skirt that final bit, he’d thrust into her from behind. She’d grip the edge of the pool table and push back against him. If they were quiet, no one would even notice.
Ungluing his gaze from her legs, and the temptation they represented, he shifted his stance. He glanced around the bar in an effort to distract his mind and keep his zipper from splitting, but it didn’t help much.
What the hell? He’d never had a problem with control before. Tina’s body was calling out to the caveman in him, and his baser urges were fast erasing his common sense. Along with his ability to hold a decent conversation. What had they been talking about?
He watched the cue stick slide through her purple tipped fingers and bit back a groan. Hands, she’d asked if he liked to work with his hands. “Yeah,” he tried desperately to get his mind back on topic. “There are few things as satisfying as looking at a completed project, and knowing you built it with your own two hands.”
He’d never fantasized about sex in public before. Hell, he’d never even had sex anywhere other than in a bed. He and his brother had been raised to treat women like ladies. He wined and dined them if he wanted to get to know them. And unlike his brother Gabriel, he always got to know them before going to bed with them.
A lightning bolt of realization hit him between the eyes and he groaned softly. His head fell back, thunking against the wall, and his eyes slid closed in misery.
He was a boring lover.
“What’s wrong?”
Her small hand burned through his shirt, leaving an imprint right over his pounding heart. He straightened up and looked down at the sex kitten standing in front of him. A party girl his wild younger brother had set him up with. What the hell had he been thinking? He couldn’t please her!
Tina cocked her head to the side and studied him for a minute. A flame flickered to life in the depths of her dark eyes, her full lips slowly tilting into a naughty smile.
Without another word, she stepped closer, her body brushing against his as her breath danced across his chin. His pulse jumped and regret fought with desire as her hand slid around his neck and pulled his head down. She didn’t know what sort of a letdown she was setting herself up for.
Her tongue darted out, and he watched it teasingly wet her lips before they pressed softly against his and all thought ceased. She leaned her body against him fully, nudging his lips apart with the tip of her tongue. Determined to shake his insecurities, he thrust his hands into her silky hair and dove wholeheartedly into the kiss.
He needed this. Needed to feel the hot eagerness of a woman against him, sighing in pleasure and wanting only him. Tongues tangled and heat burned through veins.
A deep groan formed in his chest and he tore his mouth away as she boldly rubbed against him. Burying his face in the curve of her neck, he nipped at the soft skin there and tasted her flavor as his hands roamed greedily over her curves.
He spread his thighs, pulled her tight against him and she pressed against the ache of his confined cock. Unfortunately, the eager gyrating of her hips only encouraged him to lose control.
The abundance of her rounded ass filled his hands while he held her still and thrust against her soft warmth. Her sharp teeth nipped his earlobe just before he trailed his lips across her collarbone and down to the swell of her breasts. He couldn’t get enough.
Closer, he needed to get closer. Her clothing was in the way. He inhaled deeply of her sweet scent before nudging aside the hem of her shirt in search of bare flesh.
A distinct pain bit into his skull and his head was pulled back sharply.
“Down boy, we don’t want to get arrested now, do we?”
Tina’s husky voice brought him back to reality with a shudder. She was breathing as heavily as he was, and her fingers stroked soothingly through the hair at the nape of his neck – the same hair she’d pulled to get him to back off.
A groan escaped and closed his eyes against the truth of it. If she hadn’t stopped him he didn’t think he would’ve stopped. How was he ever going to make her pant and beg and call out his name, if he couldn’t even control himself in public?
“Sasha White’s Sexy Devil is a hot surprise and a true roller-coaster of a ride—two linked stories of sex, love and danger with fascinating characters and a compelling premise. All is not as it first appears, but White proves that opposites do attract. I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil Inside and Devil’s Jewel.” —Kate Douglas, author of Wolf Tales
“These two stories are highly erotic; Sasha’s readers expect nothing less! Hot sex alone doesn’t make for a good story… I want a well-written, thought-out storyline, likeable, intelligent characters, and intrigue — Sasha never fails to deliver all of those things.”– Laurie’s Laudanum Reviews
* Length: Novel * Release Date: November 27, 2007