I have to be honest with you. I’m not really sure what this theme is all about. I’m not really sure how to interpret it. I’ve been thinking about it all week and still … I got nothin’.

So, I’m going to give you what I think it should mean or what it would mean to me.

To me, ‘talk me down’ would be talk me out of something stupid, talk me down off a ledge if I’m on the verge of giving up or giving in or something along those lines. If I think about it that way, the only book I have that kind of speaks to a level of desperation is my first Ellora’s Cave book, The Demon is an Angel.

I’m going to use a snippet out of it, but it is definitely R even a bit X rated. Be forewarned…

Snippet:

She had to get away from him.

Angel waited until he’d stepped into the shower before quickly dressing. She closed her eyes, focused inward, and shimmered out of her bedroom. Seconds later, she appeared on the front steps of her brother’s home. She really didn’t like the disappearing thing and only used it on occasion, usually emergencies, and right now she classified this as a big one.

Delan’s cum filled the crotch of her jeans and the slick wetness had her aching to fuck again. Dammit. She was going to be addicted to him.

It wasn’t supposed to work like this.

He was immune to the heat inside her body when most couldn’t handle it without a condom acting as a barrier. Oh, she could cool herself, but it took the arousal with it, and what the hell fun was sex with little to no arousal? He was also immune to her tears that to most would feel like a flame licking their skin.

She turned the doorknob and threw the door open, trying not to wince when it banged against the wall behind. She wasn’t there to destroy Riko’s house, but she was upset, angry and so full of blinding lust that she couldn’t help lashing out.

“Riko!” she called out as she walked in and through the entrance foyer. When no answer greeted her, she went in search of him, checking out the downstairs rooms then climbed the stairs that dominated the center of the hall. All was eerily quiet. The demons must be out causing chaos and her brother… “Riko, I know you’re here.”

Go, Angel. Now is not a good time.

His voice sounded in her head as she neared the top of the stone staircase. “Tough. We’re going to talk so you need to get yourself decent.”

Angel…

Angel stood outside his chamber door, her hand on the knob, counted to three, and then figured she needed to give him three more. “I’m coming in.”

“Angel, I’m warning you.”

No longer in her head, his voice boomed from the other side of the door. She knew that tone. She always hated that admonishing, annoying tone. Oh fucking well, she thought, as she open the heavy wooden panel.

In his room, Riko lounged back on his bed surrounded by four naked slaves, two of whom were going to town in a sixty-nine with one another. The other two were wrapped in his arms, kissing each other across his chest.

At least he’d covered up from the waist down.

“What is so all-fired important, Angel?”

“The human. Get rid of him.” Her heart kicked up speed at just the thought of his name and she wasn’t even going to acknowledge what was going on between her legs.

“Ah. So, you have met him. And what do you think of him? Oh right, you want me to get rid of him. Why?”

“I don’t like him.”

Riko laughed. “I can smell him on you, little sister. You like him very much.”

The slaves performing oral sex on each other gave keening cries that echoed around the room as orgasms rocked them both. Angel watched her brother close his eyes and inhale deeply, the scent of sex so potent that it had her hair crackling and her skin sensitized to the very wisps of air.

She understood the driving force of sex in his life because, as she was sired from the same male sex demon, it drove her just as much. He reached over to stroke the ass of one of the slaves, and when the girl turned her face to him, he nodded in Angel’s direction.

“No, Riko,” Angel said, taking a small step back.

“You can use your old room.”

“No.” The word was clipped as her own scent wafted up her body mixed with that of Delan and the slaves in the room.

“Are you certain?”

Angel fought for self-control. She knew the girl would ease her need, knew that she could use the girl as roughly as she needed to be used herself but…she couldn’t. She clenched her teeth, reminding herself she was here for a reason. “I need you to call the human off.”

“You can use your own powers on him, ruin what’s left of his life. You don’t need me to get rid of him.”

She paced. Pacing helped her think, calmed her down. It was a wonder she hadn’t worn a hole in the floors of not only Riko’s home but her home as well with all the pacing she did. “No, I don’t think I can. I cannot make him crave me because he shows signs of it being a natural thing. I cannot read his mind, his thoughts. I can’t reach inside him and find his weakness. I can always tell what their weaknesses are right off, but not him.”

Riko’s smile made her cringe.

“He is your match, Angel.”

“No. No, he’s not. I don’t want him to be. I don’t want any man or demon to be my match. I know what it does to you, but Riko, I can’t. I can’t let him get to me, I can’t let him touch her[E1] .”

“Angel, for once, trust me.”

“I’m scared.”

“I know, but he will not harm you.”

She stopped and looked at him, at the softening of his features. He genuinely loved her and cared for her. He would never let any harm come to her. He was the closest thing she had to a best friend, to a father figure. She trusted him with her life, but this was asking too much of her. “He will destroy me.”

“He will tame you, and if my instincts are correct about him, he will love you.”

“No. I don’t want that either. You saw what that did to my mother, you saw it destroy her because our father couldn’t keep it in his pants, you saw what his leaving did to her.”

“Angel…”

“Love,” she spat.

She could feel it building, the heat inside her as the anger began to take over. She turned on her heel, again, for the third time that day, and ran. This time though, she was running toward something. She was running toward Delan. It made no sense to her. Nothing in the past couple of hours did. She was craving him just as much as he seemed to crave her, and if she didn’t get out of there quickly, every one of Riko’s slaves would be servicing her and it wasn’t them that she wanted.

In the blink of an eye, she’d left the stairway in Riko’s home and ended up in the doorway of her own. On the couch was her wanted but unwanted, very hot suitor. She could smell his lust and his hunger.

“Where’d you— Angel? What’s wrong?”

Looking at him and seeing the concern in his eyes, her resolve to resist began to falter. Fuck. “No. You only want sex. You want nothing more. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t look at me like it matters, like I matter. Go. You need to go. Now.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She tried to keep her anger stoked, the fire inside. She thought of her mother and how loving Angel’s father had destroyed her. But in the face of Delan’s nearness and the memory of the sex they’d had earlier, she was having a bitch of a time keeping her own needs beyond sex and connection at bay.

“You have to go, please,” she begged.

He took a step toward her and she flinched. “Your hair, Angel, it’s changing color from dark red and black to a lighter red with white ends.” Lightly he stroked the strands, letting it fall through his fingers. “Angel.”

“Please go,” she whispered, her tone softer, lighter. She was changing. She had to stop it. She didn’t want this, didn’t want the angel out. The angel would get hurt. Angels were no match for humans or demons.

“No.”

Don’t forget to check out the snippets from the following authors:

Emma Petersen
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
HelenKay Dimon
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
T.J. Michaels

Have a great weekend y’all!

~lissa