A lluring TALES Awaken the Fantasy  VIVI ANNA, SYLVIA DAY, DELILAH DEVLIN, CATHRYN FOX, MYLA JACKSON, LISA RENEE JONES, SASHA WHITE  Contents Lover’s Locket Cathryn Fox 1 Kili ’s Ice Man Delilah Devlin 49 The Hottest One- Night Stand Lisa Renee Jones 89 Out of the Shadows Myla Jackson 155 Tempting Grace Sasha White 201 A Familiar Kind of Magic Sylvia Day 239 Quick Silver Vivi Anna 287 Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher Lover’s Locket Cathryn Fox . To Mark, who loves me enough to accompany me to Atlanta to hang out with two thousand other romance writers. I love you. One “S o . . . how did your date with Brian go?” Caira glanced up from the three- tiered wedding cake she’d just finished icing and watched her best friend, Nikki, breeze in through the back entrance of her bakery. Blue eyes wide with anticipation, Nikki rubbed her palms together and grinned. “Tell me everything. I want all the juicy details. Every last drop.” Caira quirked her lips and gestured toward the cake. “Let’s just say I won’t be making one of these for myself any time soon.” Nikki plopped herself onto a nearby stool and scrunched her nose. “Was it that bad?” “I think the word bad is an understatement.” Caira brushed powered sugar from her fingers and continued. “Try painful. I spent hours listening to Brian recite stories about how won- derful he is, and then he intimately introduced my tonsils to his tongue when he tried to give me a good -night kiss.” 4 Cathryn Fox Nikki bobbed her head in agreement. “Yeah, I guess he does think highly of himself. But he’s cute enough, and I heard he has a huge co—” With a wave of her hand, Caira cut her off. “If one can get past his overinfl ated ego, one might enjoy his other attributes.” She paused and carefully placed the groom onto the top layer of cake. “Unfortunately, I am not that one.” Caira stood back and admired the fi nishing touches on the wedding cake. As she adjusted the small groom fi gurine she sighed regretfully. Would she ever find her very own Prince Charming? She’d made enough cakes over the years to know other women discovered their true love. The one man they were destined to be with. Why couldn’t she? Was she too picky? Too set in her ideas of what qualities her Prince should possess? Was it too much to want a man with deep soulful eyes that looked at you, not through you? A man with long, midnight hair, a strong angular jaw, quiet confidence, richly bronzed skin, and a body that oozed strength and sexuality. A man like the one in the portrait hanging in her living room. The one that had been handed down in her family for generations. With his blond hair, blue eyes, and boyish twin dimples, Brian was the antithesis of her ideal man. Surely Nikki knew that. Knitting her brow together, Caira glanced at her best friend. “Whatever gave you the idea that we’d hit it off?” Nikki shrugged. “He’s a wedding photographer.” She paused and waved her hand through the air. “And you own Lover’s Locket 5 your own bakery shop specializing in wedding cakes. I just thought you had a common interest.” “The only thing we have in common is we both breathe oxygen. And for a while there I wasn’t even too sure about that. I had a sneaking suspicion he came from another planet. Planet Narcissist to be exact.” Nikki chuckled and jumped from her stool. “Come on, let’s go shopping. I’ll buy you something nice to make up for it. I hear there’s a new boutique that opened up on Fifth Street and I’m just dying to check it out.” Caira uncoiled the apron straps from around her neck and eyed her friend. “No more blind dates okay?” She pulled the plastic clip from her nape, letting her blonde curls tumble over her shoulders. Nikki raised one brow, a wry grin curling her lips. “Not even if he has a huge co—” Groaning in exasperation, Caira nudged Nikki toward the back door. “No, not even if he has a huge cock.” She tossed her apron aside, and followed her friend outdoors. A short while later Caira found herself peering through the frosted, curbside door of a store called The Magic Boutique. She shadowed the afternoon sun from her eyes and turned to Nikki. “What is this place?” Nikki shrugged. “Let’s go find out.” Tiny bells jingled over- head when she pulled open the thick, opaque glass door and stepped inside. The small store was overcrowded with unique, antique items, rich in history, and undoubtedly, family secrets. Caira’s senses were immediately enticed by an exotic blend of jasmine and vanilla incense. Soft rays of light from