Hot and Haunted by Megan Hart, Saranna DeWylde, Lauren Hawkeye Page A

roller skates?
    “Hi,” she said. “I’m Maddy. Have you come to play?”
    Lira and Mac exchanged a look. He stepped forward. “We’re looking for a safe place to stay.”
    “My dad says this place is the safest.” Maddy did a swirling circle on her skates and tossed them a grin over her shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you to where the grown-ups are.”
    As easy as that. It helped that Mac’s buddy vouched for him, so that even though some of the survivalists grumbled at opening their doors to a bunch of newcomers, the others, who were eager for news of the world outside, outvoted the naysayers. Most of the group also agreed they didn’t feel right turning away Heather, whose baby was still refusing to be born. Besides, as Mac pointed out, if a little girl on skates could make the rest of the place her personal playground, wasn’t the safety of their entire group undermined?
    Maybe it hadn’t been so easy after all, Lira thought as she closed the door behind a suspicious-faced woman who’d shown them to the private room with a completely fitted-out shower just down the hall. Group dynamics got more difficult, not easier, with more people. And more supplies didn’t necessarily make people more generous. Still, for now they were safe and secure, well fed and bathed and comfortable.
    None of them seemed sick, at least not yet.
    “I’m not sure about this,” Anthony said from the bed. He wore clean clothes, provided by the survivalists, and he’d availed himself of the shower too. He propped himself up on an elbow. “Too easy.”
    “Mac knows the guy,” Lira said. “That helped.”
    Anthony shook his head. “Still . . . all these people supposedly paid a lot of money to get a share in this place. You think they’d just let us in?”
    “Have you seen the size of it? There’s plenty of room.” Lira settled next to him. She ran a hand over his thigh to rest on his hip. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
    He laughed and pulled her closer to slip a thigh between hers. “So are you.”
    She tipped her face to his for a kiss, then pressed her face against his chest for a few seconds before looking up at him again. “It does seem weird here. Yes.”
    “Yeah, that kid. Maddy.” Anthony shook his head again. “What’s up with her?”
    Lira had no idea. “Well, we’re here now. Safe and warm, full of food. Not a bad place to be.”
    “No.” He stroked a hand over her damp hair.
    He kissed her again, a little harder this time. His mouth urged hers to open. The swift flicker of his tongue made her first giggle, then gasp. When his thigh pressed upward between her legs, rocking on her clit, Lira stopped worrying about the weird little girl or how easy it had been for them to be taken in by these strangers, or about anything else. There’d be plenty of time for caution and wariness . . . later.
    They took their time peeling away the borrowed clothes. When they were bare, Lira ran her hands all over his body, rediscovering all the places she’d already explored. Anthony lay back, hands behind his head, watching her stroke her palms over his chest, her fingertips tweaking at his nipples until his eyes closed, and he sighed. When she curled a fist around his cock and stroked downward, slowly, then up again, he smiled.
    His body was still a fascination. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it in normal lighting before. She looked up to see him watching her.
    “You’re so beautiful,” she said.
    Anthony snorted soft laughter. “That’s what I’m supposed to say to you.”
    She didn’t feel beautiful. Maybe that would come in time. For now, Lira let herself relish the lines and curves of his body: his flat belly with its crinkle of hair; his firmly muscled arms and chest and thighs. She lost herself in every part of him.
    Her mouth found his cock, thick and throbbing. She took her time, delighting in every sigh, every twitch. When his hips pumped upward, and his hand, at last, became tangled in