I was awake and standing in a crouch beside my bed before I really knew why. My hand was on the electronic lock on top of the gun safe and I was already punching buttons when I heard the pounding on my front door. When you live in the woods, pounding on the door usually means a neighbor in trouble, but the hair on my arms was standing up, and over the years on battlefields both wild and urban, I'd learned to trust my body when it moved into that kind of a primal response.
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Things had been rough the past few months, what with Joe's company filing for reorganization and the threat of him being unemployed and the pressures at home that it created. All we seemed to do is fight and it was tearing us apart. It was a welcome intrusion when Janet called and asked me to go out for a girl's night out. Joe acted so glad to get rid of me and Janet said that Rob was all for it.
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Another loud roar of laughter erupted from the dining room. Yumi glanced up from her English book for the third time, staring wistfully at the door that connected the kitchen to the more formal dining area. It was "Poker Night" in her exchange family's household. Mrs. Gillespie had abandoned the house for the night, off to see her sister who lived all the way across town. In his wife's absence, Mr. Gillespie took advantage of the situation, inviting over some of the men he worked with for beer, poker, and the football game.
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Kara entered her house a little unsteadily. She had just gone to the third Halloween costume party of the week and was drunk as well as fed up. The party had been her friend Christine's. "It's all the same, every year," she thought to herself. "I'm always the single woman at these damn things. I walk in, and everyone asks, 'Who did YOU bring, Kara?'
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I don't consider myself to be gay. I have never kissed a guy, and have no desire to. I don't want to stick my dick up another man's ass, nor would I like one stuck up mine. I have never met a guy whom I wanted to have sex with. Despite all that, I had what can only be described as a steamy sexual encounter with my best friend from college, Lance.
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The bookstore was crowded with last minute holiday shoppers. I stood in a long checkout line and finally worked my way up to the front and was able to pay for my items. I was purchasing a few last minute presents, as well as, a book for myself. The checkout girl scanned the bar code on my book, then looked up at me with a knowing smile after noting the title of the thick volume.
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Annie and I sat a table in the back of the bar, drinking slowly. It had been an interesting and stimulating night. She had asked me to meet her for drinks. I wanted to get out of the house, and welcomed the excuse. I had driven the forty or so miles to her apartment, and we had walked to the bar, and started drinking. It loosened both of our inhibitions, and before we knew it we were into talking about sex, hot and nasty.
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Valerie Nicholls had found her motivation to work out regularly. His name was Connor, and he owned the gym that was incongruously tucked away behind an upscale European furniture store in what most people probably assumed was an area of tony shops and places where you paid four dollars for a small pastry that was wrapped up for you to take away in a small box tied with a ribbon.
At forty-two, Valerie had been divorced for six years and was content enough with her situation not to settle for less than what she wanted and needed in a mate.
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The sweet smell of blood caught Nolan by surprise. Not that he was surprised by the blood, it was the full moon after all, but the fact that he found the smell to be sweet. As a half wolf shifter and incubus, he had sampled more than his fair share of it but never had it smelled like this. Sweet yet seductive. His wet, wolf's nose was practically quivering as it tried to hone in to the source.
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"Perfect," she said out loud to no one. As if the night couldn't get any worse, now her costume was ruined. The piece of shit car had just barely held onto life long enough to chug and puff into the gas station before it died with one last horrible cough. She had put the hood up and tinkered around in there the best she could – Karen didn't know anything about cars except how to fill them with gas.
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