The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

It takes another ten minutes to find my keys—for a breathless moment I think that asshole back at Kelly’s stole them out of spite, just snitched them from my pocket when I wasn’t looking because one fuck wasn’t enough for him. Then I remember I drove home so they have to be here somewhere, and a pat-down reveals them dangling from my back pocket. I don’t recall putting them there. Just as well.


The screen door creates more unwanted noise—the neighbors will be up at any minute, yelling at me out their bedroom windows or calling the police. So much for being quiet, I think, fighting to get the key into the side door lock. The thought strikes me as funny for some stupid reason and I start to snicker. The sound blossoms into laughter that I tamp down when the door swings opens to crash against the stairwell. “Oops,” I say, stepping inside. To the empty kitchen, I apologize. “Sorry.”


Chapter 21