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

If only I could stopper Joey, pocket him, keep himwith me.


As if he senses the shift in my mood, Joey slaps my back and, keeping his hand between my shoulder blades for leverage, pushes himself up off the bed. “Come on, Mr. Philosophy. Enough mind-bending for now. It’s about time to go back and get Dad.”


“You just leave him there all day?” I ask, sitting up. Joey’s hand falls from my back and brushes across my ass, a faint, barely-there touch that I feel all the same. “What’s he do there, do you think?”


Chapter 27