When in Rome...

Here's an excerpt from Crystal Tide for your Book Teaser Tuesday. Actually, I love this scene so much that I'm sharing the whole chapter. Enjoy! You can find Crystal Tide and read Kay and Xieran's whole thrilling, sexy story on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited here.

Falling. Falling or shooting or hurtling; Kay couldn’t decide which. She’d been pulled out of King Amphere’s bed where he’d bound her so cleverly and thrown into a panic. All the water in the portal disappeared in an instant. She burst up through the travel tube just as the door opened and landed in a heap on dry land.
“Ahh,” she groaned, face down in the dirt, so much for the nice clothes.
She’d lost a shoe too. Pushing up off the ground, she turned her head to find the stiletto lying a few feet from a bush. Gingerly, she rose up to retrieve it.
With no idea where she was, she looked at her surroundings, miraculously catching sight of Xieran moving down a road. He should have been the last person she wanted to see, but she was relieved. Maybe she could tail him until she figured out where to go. It was the middle of the night and there wasn’t anyone around so she followed him from a distance.
Hermes had said he was going to Rome. Looking back at where the tube had spit her out, her ankles wobbled again.
Holy shit!
The aqueducts.  She never thought she’d get to see them. Rome was a bucket list item, sure, but this was crazy. To just appear somewhere out of thin air! It was too much to take in but Xieran was about out of sight so she curbed her amazement and hurried after him.
He made his way into the city where things got busier then went down an alley behind a large building. Kay waited. She didn’t want him to find her out. The clacky heels were a dead give-away even though she was getting much better at walking in them, thank you very much. Still, she had to walk carefully.
Xieran punched a code into a keypad and she thought this was where she should probably part ways with him to find her own way through the city. But then she heard something at the other end of the alley. Two men were coming her way and they didn’t look very nice. One of them yelled something as they both started to rush up on her. Terrified, she ran to the door Xieran had just disappeared behind. It was easing shut when she got there so she grabbed the handle before it clicked into the lock then slipped in and yanked it closed behind her. Panting, she leaned against the door but jumped when the men began to pound on it, yelling in a language she couldn’t understand.
She scurried away from the door trying to think what to do next. Xieran was here and she should avoid him seeing her but there was no way she was going back outside in the dark.
Squinting to see, she found herself in yet another storage room. Everything was covered with sheeting and tarps. Light shone from across the room as Xieran passed through another door and she ducked back into the shadows. What was he planning to steal now?  Before she could think better of it she tip-toed after him, dogging his steps until he came to a big open stairwell then started down. Waiting a few seconds so as to keep a safe distance, Kay pressed herself into the cold stone column at the top of the stairs then ran on her toes again to peek over the banister.
Xieran stopped and started to look up but she ducked back out of sight in the nick of time. After a moment, he continued down. Lifting herself up a bit, Kay could see over the railing. She followed him with her eyes until she could see him make his way into a big open room full of sculptures. It was then that she realized they were in a museum. He halted again to look up and she barely slumped down behind the stairwell before he saw her because she was so intrigued. This was how he and Hermes got all of their art.
Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She held her breath until she heard Xieran start moving again. Then, slowly, she lifted up to peek over the edge of the staircase. She couldn’t see him so she scooted forward in a crouched position, rising up along the wall to lean over. It sounded like he was right underneath her so she pushed a little further to get a better look. Just as she spotted him though, she felt the slippery sole of her shoe slide on the floor. Too late, she knew she was done for.
The last thing she thought about was all that stone and marble. Where were those pillows from Amphere’s “resting room” when a girl needed them?
“Ahhh!!!”
She screamed as she went over the edge. The break to her fall was a mix of Xieran’s hard body and alabaster, neither one forgiving. That was going to leave a mark. She didn’t have time to think though before Xieran moved under her and she was sent rolling across the floor, grabbing a clump of broken statuary as she went. There were voices shouting in the distance, people coming their way.
Scrambling up to her feet, Kay hunched over and held the stone piece in her hand out like a sword. Turning in every direction she prepared to ward off whoever might be coming for her next – museum guards, police…Xieran. He was just a few feet from her, dusting off his suit. How many times had she crashed into him now?
He turned, lancing through her with his stare.
“Miss Laurens. What. Are. You. Doing?”
Kay’s chest heaved.
Shouting and the sound of footsteps got closer, then Xieran was stalking toward her. He looked very annoyed…and very handsome. Always that. Kay backed up, pointing the weapon in her hands at him.
“Don’t come any closer!” She shouted.
He stopped. His eyes went to her hands. He looked back up at her, then lifted an eyebrow. She frowned but brought her hands up to eye level so that she could see what exactly she was threatening him with.
There, right before her eyes, in both hands and to her horror, she found that she had a death grip on an enormous stone penis!
Stunned she stared at the clay wonder. In her tumble through the open air, she hadn’t realized that the room was filled with giant nudes. Her cheeks started to burn. She raised her startled brown eyes up to his. He wore a damnable, ‘all right crazy girl, now what?’ smirk on his face.
Chaos came running at them after that, getting louder as a band of security guards burst onto the scene. Everyone stopped and stared. At her! Why weren’t they looking at Xieran? Surely he was more menacing than she was. He was stealing from the museum for fuck’s sake! But they all had their eyes trained on her like she was some unhinged psycho – armed and dangerous. And she was…with a huge phallic!
Dammit, he was the criminal here. Guess that didn’t matter when you were the one standing there with a dick in your hands. Oh god!
She gasped, dropping the thing. It rolled around on the floor, forlorn and detached. Some angsty poet could probably put the image to good use. Kay scowled at it, but then Xieran was on her, grabbing the top of her arm.
“You, Miss Laurens,” he said in her ear, “are such a fucking beautiful disaster.”
Then they were running. When they neared the guards, Xieran swung her up in his arms at just the right angle to crash through two of them as he did a full turn then set her down and kept moving, pulling her along with him. The man was slick. That and the guards were dumbstruck. She figured at least half the credit went to her though for the little distraction she had provided. He was welcome.
Slipping and sliding across the tile in her heels, Xieran dragged her around a stone pillar. Faking right, he moved across the hall to a doorway on the left but not before he had held up some kind of remote control device and brought down a metal barricade all around the sculpture exhibit. The guards were locked in and the two of them were safe in a closet before anyone knew what had happened.
Xieran flipped on a light in the small room, pushed her up against the wall then shocked the hell out of her by kissing her hard on the mouth.
She melted. After their first kiss, her body craved him. Even when she’d dreamed of Amphere, it was with the real man—Xieran—still in her mind. He drew her to him, his hands strong on her arms.
“What are you doing here?” He breathed. “How did you find the access?”
When she didn’t answer right away he gave her a little shake.
“B-bathroom, I found a door in my bathroom,” she told him. “I saw you and Hermes…”
Just then they heard the guards running past, shouting.
“We have to get out of here,” Xieran said. He moved around, searching for something. Kay felt deprived of his heat even when he was only a foot away. Rubbing her arms, she pressed her lips together, still tasting him. Remnants of all the lustful sensations he stirred in her and a fair amount of adrenalin hummed through her body. Something crashed above her in the next instant though, clearing her head and making her jump.
He’d busted a panel in the ceiling with a mop handle.
“Come on,” he said reaching for her. He dragged her right under the hole he’d made then spun her around. “Jump!”
“Wuh?” was all she got out before his hands were on her hips and she was being hurled up through the tight space.
“Ahh,” she squeaked, landing in a cloud of dust on the other side of the ceiling panel. This night was proof that she could not be trusted with designer clothing. Added to that was the fact that every bone in her body ached from the many falls she’d taken recently.
Xieran popped up through the hole easily then hoisted himself upright before noises below indicated that the guards had crashed into the closet. Kay’s heart beat fast and hard while Xieran seemed unfazed. But this was nothing new for him. He was probably on the lamb all the time she figured.
Grabbing Kay’s hand, he pulled her up off the floor. The man never missed a beat.
“Where are we going?” She asked the back of his head as they moved.
“Quiet,” was all he gave her for an answer then pulled her to the back of the attic.
He found a fresh air vent on the wall.
“Stand back,” he said, pushing her aside.
He pulled back sideways then rammed the vent with his shoulder. It didn’t move so he tried it a second time. Finally, the screen gave way, falling with a clatter onto the pavement below.  Xieran reached for her, pulling her in behind him.
“Stay close to me,” he said as he dropped down then jumped through the opening. Kay poked her head out just as he was rising. He reached up to her with both hands.
“Jump Karina,” he called.
It looked too far. Kay bit her lip but then the sound of sirens approached.
“Hurry,” he said, “I’ll catch you.”
She swallowed then leaped out of the hole and into his arms. As soon as he set her on her feet, they were on the run again.
Dodging between buildings, they managed to avoid the cops, coming out on the street where things were busier. Xieran pulled Kay under an awning, stood her with her back to the wall and came directly in front of her.
“Wrap your arms around me,” he said.
She did, just as a group of law enforcement ran past. He whipped out his phone and started dialing.
“Anthony,” he said. Kay remembered hearing that name recently but she couldn’t think where. She watched him as he talked.
“Yes, I’m in Rome. We’re out on the street but we’ve hit a snag. Can you send a car?”
He chuckled at something the other speaker said then gave their location.
“Okay, thanks,” he said then disconnected.
“Who was that?” Kay asked.
“A friend,” he brushed her hair off her face, “don’t worry, he’ll help us.”
She stared into his deep green eyes for she didn’t know how long then, incredibly, the next thing she knew, a black Audi s8 was roaring up next to the curb where they stood.
“Here’s our ride,” Xieran said as he turned her toward the vehicle and opened the door.
“Nice car,” she said. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight as he moved his head toward the car door.
“Get in, Miss Laurens.”

Crystal Tide, Tides of Atlantis on Amazon
www.amazon.com/dp/B07DYXVWHK

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Read the Tides of Atlantis series for free on Kindle Unlimited here.

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