“How have you been keeping? You know, since the last time you summoned me,” said Elyaas, the demon.

“What?” Magnus asked.

“You don’t remember me?” said the tentacle demon.

“I summon a lot of demons,” Magnus said weakly.

There was a long pause. Magnus stared into the bottom of his coffee cup and desperately willed more coffee to appear. This was something a lot of mundanes did too, but Magnus had one up on those suckers. His mug did slowly fill again, until it was brimming with rich dark liquid. He sipped and looked at Elyaas, who was shifting uncomfortably from tentacle to tentacle.

“Well,” said Elyaas. “This is awkward.”

“It’s nothing personal,” said Magnus.

“Maybe if I jogged your memory,” Elyaas suggested helpfully. “You summoned me when you were searching for a demon who cursed a Shadowhunter? Bill Herondale?”

“Will Herondale,” said Magnus.

Elyaas snapped his tentacles as if they were fingers. “I knew it was something like that.”

“You know,” Magnus said, enlightened, “I think I do remember. I’m sorry about that. I realized right away that you weren’t the demon I was looking for. You looked kind of blue in one of the drawings, but obviously you are not blue, and I was wasting your time. You were pretty understanding about it.”

“Think nothing of it.” Elyaas waved a tentacle. “These things happen. And I can look blue. You know, in the right light.”

“Lighting’s important, it’s true,” said Magnus.

“So whatever happened with Bill Herondale and that curse a blue demon put on him?” The cecaelia demon’s interest seemed genuine.

“Will Herondale,” Magnus said again. “It’s actually rather a long story.”

“You know, sometimes we demons pretend we’re cursing people and we don’t really do it,” said Elyaas chattily. “Like, just for kicks? It’s kind of a thing with us. Did you know that?”

“You could have mentioned it a century or two ago,” Magnus observed frostily.

Elyaas shook his head, smiling a slime-bedecked smile. “The old pretend-to-curse. It’s a classic. Very funny.” He appeared to notice Magnus’s unimpressed expression for the first time. “Not from your perspective, of course.”

“It wasn’t funny for Bill Herondale!” said Magnus. “Oh, damn it. Now you’ve got me doing it.”

My eyes narrowed on her. “I’m not telling him yes.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re mad. I totally get that, and you have every reason to be, but you haven’t looked at one guy since he left and you’ve definitely been looking at Dez.”

“Who wouldn’t look at Dez?”

She giggled and then her eyes darted to my door at the sound of a throat clearing. Oh, no. I scrunched up my nose, and Danika winced.

Dez, I mouthed.

She slid off the bed, and that was answer enough. As she hurried across the room, I turned. Dez stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

Danika gave him a quick wave as she all but bounced out of my room. He nodded and then stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He was in my bedroom. Again. He’d been in here many times in the past, but that was before, and everything was different now.

“I love you, Jared,” she said breathlessly in my ear, and I closed my eyes.

My heart filled up so much that it hurt.

“We can wait,” I choked out, never in a million years thinking that we could actually stop what was happening.

She shook her head slowly, a little smile played her lips. Lifting the hem of my black t-shirt over my head, she ran her hands down my chest and up my back. I tensed as she fingered the scars on my back.

But then I just let out the breath.

Her hands were going to be on every part of my body sooner or later. May as well get used to it now.

“You messed up,” I said, stealing his words.

Blood curdled from his mouth and I removed my blades as he slid to the ground. I bent and wiped my knives off on his jacket. His mouth opened and shut like a fish out of water but I couldn’t conjure up any compassion for him. Instead, I stood over him and placed my boot over his heaving chest, pressing as much of my weight into him as possible.

“You will burn in fire so scorching you’ll beg for this moment over and over again.”

“Are you a fan?”

“Of yours, I am.”

Putty in my hands is what she is. I take another drag and exhale away from her. I’m a dickhead, but at least I have manners. I pull her closer and run my nose along the underside of her jaw inhaling her perfume. It smells sweet and sugary, not feminine at all. It’s a warning sign for me. It’s always the young ones that smell like candy. I can’t be too careful and definitely can’t afford any bad press.

“How old are you?” I ask, pulling back.

“Tonight’s my twenty-first birthday. We had plans until we saw your tweet. We drove an hour to get here.” Maybe I like Twitter after all.

I pick up a few strands of her blonde ponytail and twist them around my finger. She steps closer and puts her hand on my chest. She’s shy. Her hand shakes. She’s expectant even though I can tell she’s never done something like this before.

“Do you want a birthday kiss?” I ask, fully aware of what her answer will be. She nods, biting her lower lip. Her eyes go from mine to my lips and back again. I lean in, taking my time. I want to put her on the edge with just a little kiss, because that’s the game I like to play with the fangirls.

You know that Abby Abernathy unexpectedly became Mrs. Maddox. But what do you really know?

Why did Abby pop the question?
What secrets were shared before the ceremony?
Where did they spend their wedding night?
Who else knew about it . . . and didn’t tell?

Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!)—and as with all good stories, this one will definitely have been worth the wait.

PLEASE don’t hate me, but I’ve come to a difficult decision. I’m nearing the end of the first Ever Trilogy book and I’ve decided I can’t release it. It ends in a way that is very raw and emotional. I’m worried that if book 2 isn’t readily available too many readers would be really upset. SO, I have decided to release both book 1 and book 2 together instead. They will release the week of Christmas. I promise you it will be worth the wait. Thank you ❤

IAD News, new title, schedule. Finally got my schedule firmed up– for now through the fall of 2014 and wanted to pass it along asap:

December 16, we have Part 1 of my steamy new erotica series, The Professional [cough-sexiest thing I’ve ever written-cough] Parts 2 & 3 will follow in January. After that, we’ve got the next IAD installment, Lanthe and Thronos’s story, coming August 5. And the title is . . . DARK SKYE! It’s already available for pre-order! (cover to be revealed early 2014). October brings the third book of the Arcana Chronicles, title to be announced.

I’m really excited about these books and can’t wait for you to read them! More soon!

To pre-order Dark Skye, click here:
Kindle: http://amzn.to/17mV0Hi
iTunes: http://bit.ly/17t4JRA

To pre-order The Professional, click here:
Kindle: http://amzn.to/19dWiFQ
B&N Nook: http://bit.ly/1dp2DBg
iTunes: http://bit.ly/169NdRZ
Thanks so much!

Gallery Keeps Clayton At Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint, Micki Nuding signed a new four-title deal to keep bestseller Alice Clayton at the house. The world-rights MAJOR deal, which Karen Solem at Spencerhill Associates negotiated, is for three full-length books and a novella. The first book, Rusty Nailed, will launch a new series called Cocktail, featuring characters from Clayton’s popular Wallbanger (Gallery, Feb. 2013); it is scheduled for June 2014. Rounding out the series next year will be Screwdrivered and Mai Tai’d Up, set for September and December, respectively.

Mal Ericson, drummer for the world famous rock band Stage Dive, needs to clean up his image fast – at least for a little while. Having a good girl on his arm should do the job just fine. But he didn’t count on exactly how much fun he could have being with the one right girl.

Anne Rollins has money problems. Big ones. But being paid to play the pretend girlfriend to a demented drummer was never going to be a good idea. No matter how hot he is. She’s had her sights set on her male bestie, Reece, for years. And now that she’s supposedly taken, he’s finally paying attention. If only the chemistry between her and her rock star would stop hitting new heights.