Hotter Than Hell

Hotter Than Hell

Cathryn Fox

www.spice-books.co.uk

“Am I dead?”

Jadyn Callahan’s shaky voice echoed all around her, bouncing and reverberating off the long, sunken walls that had suddenly seemed to close in on her, shaping and molding her small frame.

A long pause and then, “Yeah, baby girl, you’re dead.” The deep, mysterious voice came from the shadows and had her heart pumping like she’d just received a shot of adrenaline.

Sweat broke out on her body. A lump lodged in her throat. Oh, God, how could this be?

Jadyn squinted, but could see very little in the hot, narrow cavern. The only visible light was coming from the mouth of the cramped cave a few feet away, just out of her reach. Confused and disoriented, she put her hands out on either side of head, racing her fingertips over the broken and jagged rocks, trying to find her bearings, as she trekked onward toward the light,toward that raspy voice that did lascivious things to her body without even trying—things she couldn’t believe she was feeling under the circumstances.

The air felt thick, suffocating, and a dry blazing heat—a heat unlike anything she’d ever felt before—enveloped her and practically blistered her skin. Struggling through the discomfort, a survival mechanism she’d learned early on in life, she continued to make her way to the end of the blackened corridor. The pungent scent of hot garbage and rotten eggs reached her nostrils and made her gag. Sulfer. Her exploratory hands trailed cautiously along the stone wall until she came to the scant opening.

Moments before she stepped through the portal, an ominous feeling curled through her and brought on a shudder. She took a deep, fueling breath and fought to establish her location.

Where the heck was she and how did she get there?

She searched her mind and drew on her last memories. After pulling double duty at the emergency room, she’d been driving in her car on her way to her friend’s bachelorette party, and the next thing she knew she’d found herself in some noxious cinder passageway.

Jesus, she couldn’t be dead, she just couldn’t be. She had too much to do, too much to see, and she was just now getting her life in order. And her sister…her sister needed her. Jadyn’s body stiffened, and her head throbbed as she shook it adamantly, refusing to believe that she was dead, to accept it.

Ducking, she breached the crevice and poked her head out. Her eyes widened in shock when she glimpsed the hedonistic acts taking place around an enormous glowing fire pit. The hot coal stones gave off an orange luminescence, providing sufficient light for her to see the sprawl of naked, lustful bodies contorted into various sexual positions, shocking even a bold, adventurous woman like herself.

Jadyn gulped air as she emerged from the tunnel and stepped into what felt like a fiery kiln. Her lungs filled with the chalky, ash residue.

“Is this hell?” she asked, her voice as shaky as her hands while she waited for that same deep, masculine voice to answer her, unsure if she really wanted to hear his response.

A moment later, a large body stepped from the shadows and moved in front of her. “Yeah, baby girl, this is hell.”

There was something eerily familiar about the way he called her “baby girl.” She took a moment to work through the chaos erupting inside her head so she could digest and understand his words. The fact that she’d landed in hell shouldn’t have surprised her, considering her jaded background and all, but nevertheless, since she’d changed her wicked ways, she still held a modicum of hope that she’d go up in glory, instead of down in flames.

She twisted around to look into the long, black passageway from which she’d just come, fight-or-flight instincts kicking in. Even though she spoke withsurety, she couldn’t keep the tremor from her voice. “I think there’s been a mistake—”

“There’s no mistake about it, Jadyn.”

She caught the inflection in his tone when he called her by name. Cocking her head, she stole a glance at him, but his dark eyes were clouded, unreadable, and his mouth was set in a straight line. Pushing down a burst of panic, she drew on calm and logic, the way she would when dealing with an outpatient emergency. “How do I get out of here?” she questioned, striving to keep composed.

“You don’t.”

Two large arms circled her and anchored her in place, shocking and exciting her at the same time. Taking her by surprise, his alluring heat whipped through her blood and aroused all her senses. When he cemented her to him, her nipples tightened in painful bliss and her pussy throbbed, clamoring for attention. His attention.

“What the hell?” she said.

“Precisely,” he replied and dipped his head. Warm, chocolate-brown eyes with a slight amber glow met her glance. It was that seductive strike of amber that acted like a catalyst to her flesh, sparking and igniting a fire deep in her loins.

She should be afraid, she knew, but something about his touch intrigued her, comforted her.