Stephanie Vaughan

Excerpt: "Off World: Ceremony"

When he finally found 10 Buell, Cal was ready to crawl out of his
skin. Every step he took felt like a hand caressing his dick and the
silky stroke of the material across his nipples might have been the
delicate whisper of a lover's breath. The drape of cool cloth down
the crack of his ass had Cal clenching in anticipation of a
penetrating body.

Whatever it finally turned out to be, the payoff had damn well
better be worth it.

Aroused and about so far past ready to fuck that it could be
measured in light years, Cal approached the door of 10 Buell. He
raised his hand to knock, but, what had the card said? Go inside.

He was pretty sure that's what it had said, anyway.

What the hell.

Cal was just irritated enough not to care if he didn't have the
instructions letter perfect. He'd followed the trail of breadcrumbs to
Grandmother's house or whatever the hell this was supposed to be.
Sarhaan would just have to deal with it if he hadn't gotten things
exactly right.

Somehow not surprised when his palm placed over the thermal
imaging reader released the lock, Cal shoved the door open. He only
realized how edgy he was when nothing happened and his lungs
began screaming for oxygen. Releasing the breath he hadn't realized
he'd been holding, Cal stepped cautiously inside.

It didn't look like much from the outside, but inside the nondescript
squarish building seemed intended as living quarters. The walls were
actually finished out—not the bare beams and tantalum rivets that
most businesses made do with. Small, bare but clean were the
impressions that his mind recorded in the couple of seconds he took
to sweep the room.

Before he spotted Sarhaan.

Sarhaan and the sword.

Posed facing away from Cal and the door, Sarhaan stood with an
enormous sword—unsheathed and gleaming dully in the dim lighting
of the room—point resting on the floor, clasped lightly in his hands
as he held them behind his back.

Sarhaan's very naked body.

© 2007, Stephanie Vaughan, Torquere Press
All Rights Reserved

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