Bad Moon On The Rise (Sample)

CHAPTER 1

The air was so heavy inside the Stillwater Bar and Grill, it felt like it was suffocating Leila Dupree, and she could feel the sweat sliding down between her breasts. The joint was packed tonight, just like every night, as there wasn't much to do in this one stoplight town. It smelled of cheap perfume, cigarette smoke, beer, sweat, and pheromones. Of course, ever since she had been turned, Leila could smell things more sharply. She preferred the open spaces of the great outdoors to appease the wildness that lived just beneath her surface.

She paused to lean against the bar and fanned herself with a cocktail napkin. Her eyes drifted to the corner of the bar, where Grandpa Roy strummed his acoustic guitar and sang into a beer smelling microphone about losing his true love. Tonight, he had a bandanna tied around his forehead to soak up the sweat, rather than imitating one of his inspirations Willie Nelson. The old man's button up shirt was also baptized in sweat, and his face as red as coke can. Leila had already given him three bottles of water on the house, and worried he would suffer a heat stroke.

She waited for Grandpa Roy to finish his song, before she shot a glance at the bartender. Sterling Mount stood behind the bar with ruddy cheeks and his usual knee-weakening grin. He slid a double shot of whiskey across the counter to the awaiting palm of a regular. Even though Leila had enough of men, and had sworn to stick to self-pleasure for those undeniable urges, it was impossible not to notice how irresistible and well sexy as hell the young bar owner was
.
He had a head full of thick, brown hair just enough for a gal to run her hands through, but not so long to make his mama scold him for. His chiseled jaw was crowned with just the right amount of stubble to give him that rugged look without obscuring the perfect shape of his jaw. Or his pleasantly shaped bow lips. But Leila decided she liked his bright, cerulean eyes best of all. A girl could get lost in those bedroom eyes of Sterling Mount.

A girl could also enjoy the feel of his taut biceps and rock hard abs beneath his tight, cotton shirt. Right now, christened in sweat, the fabric curved deliciously over his skin, nearly making it transparent. She could see the peak of his hard nipples. She wondered what they tasted like. She wondered what he tasted like. She felt her own nipples begin to peak in response.

At least until she remembered she had sworn off men, and contented herself to making purchases from the online store Miss Lucy's Pleasure Trove, for the rest of her celibate life. Besides, she always got hornier and more restless the night before the full moon. She reasoned that was why she was currently eyeing her boss like he was a piece of meat she would love to devour. That and this damn heat, was getting to her head.

She waited until Sterling caught her eye across the bar, and her heart fluttered inside her chest when she was on the other end of that smile of his.

"What can I do you for Miss Leila?" he crooned, in that deep, raspy voice of his.

"Could you please check the ac again Mr. Mount? Some of the customers are starting to complain."

She fanned herself again. But being that close to Sterling Mount alone was enough to make the sweat slip down the length of her spine. You really need to get it together girl, she scolded herself as she eyed him so long it was obvious. She stopped herself before she licked her lips.

"Sure thing Miss Leila. Right on it."

He slung the towel he had been wiping the bar with across his broad shoulder and walked out from behind the bar. Leila couldn't help but notice how well his Levi's fit him. Particularly in the backside. She bit her bottom lip and talked herself down from pouncing on him right then and there.

She really should have taken the night off, locked herself inside until dawn, getting by on cold showers and burning through batteries on her toys. No man in Stillwater was safe tonight from the prowess of Leila Dupree.