To Tempt

By Nicole Banks

Ever wonder what happened between Marco and Syra that one night six months ago?
Take a peek behind the pages of To Tempt and find out just how intriguing their time together was before Allure.

Marco prides himself on being a man of action.
In life and business, he gets what he wants.
Except for Syra.
She’s the one who got away . . . and he still can’t get her out of his head.

Syra shouldn’t be back in Lockwood. This is Marco’s town, who she hasn’t seen since she left him for his rival five years ago. But her best friend has a new job, and Syra’s divorce will soon be finalized, so it’s time to celebrate!
The instant Syra and her friends step into his club, Marco locks onto her like a targeted missile. He wants to pretend her leaving him didn’t shatter his heart. But watching her sway on the dance floor awakens his long-buried desires for her.

Syra thought she put the past behind her. Until Marco presses his body against hers and whispers delicious threats in her ear. Against her own better judgment, she finds herself lost in him all over again. With her soon-to-be ex-husband refusing to let her go, Marco is a complication she can’t afford... or resist.

One night— nothing more.
That’s what he offers.
And she accepts.
But that’s a lie neither are buying.

Not when they know how hot the passion burns between them. Can they convince themselves to walk away after one perfect night? Or will their cravings for each lead to more problems than either can fathom?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicole Banks
• Release date: Aug 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215929902

Nicole Banks

Nicole Banks graduated with a Bachelor’s in forensic psychology from John Jay College. She was born and raised in New York. She loves writing, music and dancing. Shattered started as a school assignment for one of her free writing college courses and it has morphed into so much more. She is currently working on Volume 2 of the Shattered Series. Nicole's book won the 2012 Professional Publications Facebook Writing Contest.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

handscuff

The lights flashed, cascading the otherwise dark club in stolen moments of brightness, throwing certain customers into the momentary spotlight. The bass vibrated around the throngs of people moving their body in tune with whatever the DJ was playing. Drinks flowed, people sang off-key, and there was even a couple on the dance floor fucking—thinking the cloak of darkness shielded them from prying eyes.

It didn’t.

Marco didn’t fault the couple. He knew what it was like to taste passion to the point of consumption. He knew what it was to be driven mad by the mere existence of the person he was into, to the point he didn’t give a shit if everyone watched the way the object of his affection had come undone by his cock, his fingers, and his tongue. He knew how hot it was to be surrounded by strangers watching him fuck and in turn how hot it was to watch someone else find their pleasure.

Even in the darkness of the night club, Marco used those moments of flashing lights to watch the couple on the dance floor, unabashedly and unashamed. He had a front row seat to the ecstasy splaying across the woman’s face as her partner fucked her from behind. Marco’s own cock twitched behind his slacks when he watched a hand creep up the front of the woman’s dress, slowly tugging it down. It wasn’t enough to expose her nipples, but just enough to see the creamy tops of her full breasts.

Marco took a swig of his whiskey, as images he wanted to ignore flashed in his mind. He scanned the crowd more out of habit than a need to find what plagued him. He was getting antsy sitting in the VIP section. He didn’t want to be here, but if he stayed home, his mind would be on a certain business venture he’d been waiting to close and on a woman he couldn’t seem to forget.

Your mind still seems to be on her no matter where you go.

Being in this club with the flashing lights brought to mind the memories his whiskey couldn’t chase away. He remembered how he fucked his estrellita behind the DJ booth. The vibrations from the speakers sent her to a quick climax before he had a chance to slide his cock inside of her. He could still smell her flowery scent tickling his nose—a garden full of temptation he could never keep his hands off of.

They’d been two wild young adults fucking like rabbits, but it had always been more to Marco.

I want to give you everything, estrellita. You deserve the world—you deserve a chance to show your art to the world. Let me make that happen for you.

His gaze found the couple again, and he felt his anger spike as his past blended into his present. He shouldn’t have come out tonight. This club—this city—held too many memories of a woman who turned him inside out only to leave him like yesterday’s news for a man who still had his teeth in her.

Do you think they know they’re being watched? Asli asked, amusement was clear in his voice.

That’s part of the thrill, Asli. Or has your time away made you forget all the things we used to get into? Marco felt the smirk on his face before he could mask it, and new memories took hold of him.

Asli and Marco had been friends for a long time—blood couldn’t make them closer than what they were. They’d been thick as thieves as kids, sharing everything between them, and that hadn’t changed as they got older and their tastes for things started to change. They used to live together, had become business partners, and often shared women.

Marco had spent enough nights with Asli in a club just like this one, fucking women in the club bathrooms and on the dance floor when neither of them could wait to make her cum. They’d take her back to their condo and pull as many orgasms out of her as her body would allow. It was a good time until Marco had fallen for someone in Asli’s absence and gotten his heart shredded for his efforts.

I’m not the one who’s forgotten. Asli’s quiet laughter made Marco grit his teeth. In fact, I’m not the one who changed either. You hardened your heart, and your cock pays the price. That could be us on the dance floor, sandwiched between a beautiful woman desperate for release. We would swallow her pleas with a kiss or one of our cocks, torment her with clever fingers and maybe take her back to the penthouse.

Asli painted an intriguing picture, and Marco could hear the question in his voice. Asli wanted to play, and the club was ripe with women they could have, but it wasn’t what Marco wanted. Not tonight anyway.

Of course, Asli chuckled. He knew without Marco having to utter any words where his mind was—where it always went. You’re content to be holed up in the VIP section, drowning in your sorrows. You’ve been more annoying than usual since her name came across the company’s email.

Marco didn’t bother to respond. He knew better than to lie to Asli. The bastard would pick it apart with ease, and it would cause an argument Marco didn’t have the patience or energy for. His gaze went back to the crowd, wondering how long he’d stay out tonight. He wasn’t one for the night life, but Elena, his childhood friend and part club owner, begged him to come out of his dungeon as she called it. She worried like a mother hen, always had, and it had gotten worse when she decided to settle down.

Elena thought it would do him good to party like they all did before life had required them to become adults, and while he wasn’t one for the nightlife, he knew if he hadn’t seen Syra’s name come across the company email, he would have indulged in what Asli wanted, but seeing her name conjured up things he wished he could ignore.

I’m leaving, Marco. This was never supposed to be more than what it was.

Marco cursed and downed the rest of his whiskey, trying to drown out the last memories of her. The tears she had shed made it seem like she was forced to walk away from him, and that had planted a foolish seed of hope. He had thought there was a chance for him to do something to win her back when he finally got his head out of his ass, but that hope quickly died when he found out she was married to the man she left him for—the man he and Asli had been in business competition with.

You’re hoping she shows tonight, aren’t you? Asli chuckled beside him. I don’t think she’s in Lockwood, Marco. From what her business partners have said, she’s still in Ivywood handling personal things.

Marco tried to keep his face neutral, tried to mask the surprise he felt at her still being in Ivywood when her husband was in Lockwood, constantly trying to steal property Asli and Marco had their eyes on.

The war between Marco and Syra’s husband, Joel, had gone on since Marco was forced into the world as a business owner. His family's legacy of owning everything in Lockwood had fallen into his lap after his parents’ death. It was a legacy he didn’t want any part of until Joel had come along and tried to steal it right out from under him.

Marco had to restructure thanks to Joel. He opened Garrison Inc, taking on his mother’s last name as a way to honor her, and