Mild-mannered Sarah McInnes just wants to be left alone. She’s looking forward to finishing graduate school and then working a nice, normal nine-to-five job as an accountant. But when fate interferes with her carefully laid plans in the form of the mysterious and sexy Dorian, her life takes an unexpected detour.

Dorian is a take-no-prisoners kind of guy. For him, duty comes first. So when he intervenes one night to save Sarah from the murderous hands of a daemon and discovers she has the innate ability to fight them, he of course steps in and offers to train her. Daemons notwithstanding, the job would be much easier and their relationship less complicated if Dorian didn’t also happen to be the hottest thing this side of hell.

Now instead of spending her nights in the library Sarah spends them with Dorian, keeping the city safe from monsters and sending them back where they belong. Whether she wants to or not, Sarah has to face the facts: daemons exist, she possesses the power to kill them, and she may never make it to Calculus on time again.

That’s the Trouble with Destiny...

Surprisingly enough, I had been completely naked for a full minute and Dorian still hadn’t touched me. I would have been worried, but I could tell that it was taking a lot of his willpower to refrain. His mouth was set in a grim, hard line and his hands were fisted at his sides. I should be cold, all the heat in my apartment came from a baseboard unit that only worked in July. But I wasn’t cold. Far from it.

“I want this, Dorian. I need this. Can you keep denying us both?”

“Sarah, you don’t know what you’re asking. You think you know me, but...” Even as he said the words, his eyes burned brighter. He lifted an arm, cupping my cheek with his hand, and I turned my head to kiss his palm.

“You don’t think I know who and what you are? You think those bright eyes of yours don’t give it away? Or the awesome power you so carefully keep reigned in? You think I don’t notice the way daemons look at you with utter terror and run as fast as they can in the opposite direction?” I know. I’ve known right from the very beginning. It doesn’t matter. It just made me admire him that much more for the strength it must take to deny his heritage and do what was right. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

“It should,” he said. Moving so fast I had no time to react, he pulled me into his arms. I could feel the bite of his belt buckle digging into my belly. My breasts were crushed against the hard planes of his chest. With one hand clutching my hair at the base of my scalp, he pulled my head back to gaze into my eyes. “But who am I to deny you anything?”

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Reviewer: Dawn D.

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