"I want you to take my virginity..."

Those were the last words that Swordmaster Chan expected to hear from his best friend and tenant. And it was the question awakened desires he had carefully hidden from Marlena.

But the fates conspired to bring them together and they will have their way amidst an explosion of terror that could not be believed, and passion only imagined.

In the face of danger, angst, and a paranormal passion, Chan will prove himself to be the perfect man (kind of) her dark defender, and the only male to ensure that her cherry is well and truly crushed.

"I want you to take my virginity."

Chan choked on the mouthful of wine he'd just sipped.

With a grin that she knew was mischievous, Laney observed her best friend sitting across from her at the dinner table.

For once he seemed speechless. This was an amazing first for a man who seemed to have an esoteric quote for every situation in life.

"You want me to what?"

Wow, she thought. I never knew his eyes could get that wide.

"Take my virginity," she explained.

"Why?" he asked, reaching for a linen napkin to blot his mouth clear of the sprayed wine.

"Chan, from the moment I met you, I respected you. It was something that I never had to learn, and you have earned that respect several times over. I trust you more than anyone I know and I have never been proven wrong by putting my faith in you. I don't have the time or inclination to date; it's kind of crazy out there, as I am sure that you are well aware of. And I'm very serious about the...act."

She ticked off her list of reasons one at a time on her fingers. "Besides," she looked down at her hands for a moment, before lifting her head to stare into his eyes, her lips in a devilish smirk, "Cara said you were fantastic in bed." Her smirk grew in direct coloration to the red hue spread over his otherwise golden face.

Chan...handsome in face and form in an exotic, mysterious way. His Asian heritage boldly obvious in golden cat eyes and straight black hair, but the rest of his body maintained an ecliptic mix of races that never failed to excite her. He possessed a rather large proboscis…but that never bothered Laney; she had always been a huge Allen Rickman fan.

To Laney, Chan looked as if he belonged lording it over a harem in the desert or yielding a holy sword to smite evil dragons instead of running the nondescript dojo downstairs.

"She told you that?" he asked, sounding…well, embarrassed.

"All of your old flings talk to me." Her voice grew husky as she leaned forward. All of them."

***

"There hasn't been that many," he groused. "And besides, she was way before I started with Ash. And…."

Marlana laughed, and his words sputtered to a halt. He stared balefully at her and then pouted, a man's only real defense against the mysterious creature known as woman.

Chan thought back over his past loves, Ash the last in a short line of intense females. All had touched him in some important way.

Ash wanted training in the art of Reiki, spiritual healing, and had spent several weeks in his dojo and in his bed. She had recently left to make a pilgrimage to Japan to complete her training, leaving a hole in his bed if not in his heart.

Though Ash had been special and understood his heritage better than most, she was not permanent. She was more like Cara, who was a vibrant woman who had just gotten out of a long relationship and wanted a short fling to ease their shared condition of loneliness.

But now Laney had asked this of him. His Laney, his cute and sweet Laney. Oftentimes he thought that she was 'not all there', as they said in the city, but he found her perfect just the way she was.

Now his Laney had asked something of him that he'd forced himself never to contemplate—issues that he always pushed aside.

Laney needed protection, not lust.

Laney, with her big, slanted brown eyes and rich brown skin…. Laney was someone special, someone otherworldly and untouched. Yet it appeared she was—for lack of a better term—going into heat!

Laney horny? It just didn't seem right. Laney lusting after him? That sounded good, no bad! Lust and Laney? That was a bad combo….right?